Star Trek Day is one of the most exciting recurring event to come out of this era of Star Trek, affectionately dubbed “NuTrek” by fans the world over. Year after year Paramount has hosted both live and virtual panels for Trekkies and Trekkers the world over to engage with the most exciting up-and-coming news in the world of Star Trek. Star Trek Day has become so beloved, in fact, it rivals in-person events like Star Trek: Las Vegas and Mission Star Trek (hosted in Chicago this year and headed to Seattle next year).
As life-long and avowed Trekkies, we always have our eyes on Star Trek Day when it’s upon the horizon. The anticipation of pouring through programming announcements and carefully planning what you are going to watch from which most comfy spot in our home - is it the adirondack chair outside your front door? The new teal reading chair placed artfully in your living room just so? Or tucked into your bed with a perfect cup of Earl Grey, hot to keep you company? - as it is to watch the Starfleet-centric news rolled out of your screen and right into your synthetic brain.
To make Star Trek Day as stress free for you as possible we’ve gone through the list of programming and curated a list of must watch material! There’s only seven (7), panels total, but not all panels are created equal.
We also recognize not everyone has the privilege of being able to watch the feed all day long and we’re hoping this list may also help you choose when to carefully time breaks or lunches for maximum Star Trek power!
7. Star Trek: Picard
It’s not that we don’t all love the nostalgia boost of serotonin Picard affords viewers week after week. When considering the programming possibilities surrounding Picard in the wake of all the announcement and revelations we saw at San Diego Comic-Con we’re just not sure what else the Picard presentation can offer outside of a trailer and a release date.
6. Star Trek: Discovery
For much the same reasons as stated above about Picard, we already know quite a bit about Discovery. It’s the flagship show of the franchise and, thus, produced and monitored the most. As with Picard we know Discovery returns to streaming in 2023 for its fifth season. What we’re likely in store for is a new trailer and a release date. This is not to state we’re uninterested in trailers and release dates, there’s just more to be mined with other franchises.
5. Welcome Remarks
Tawny Newsome (Star Trek: Lower Decks), and Paul F. Thompkins (Star Trek: Lower Decks), are both super funny performers in person and in animation. The choice to have them co-host the opening remarks for Star Trek Day is awesome! In-house talent with a vested interested in celebrating what is best and brightest about all things Star Trek. Here at the Geek History Lesson Mind University we also happen to be big fans of both Newsome and Thompkins. The only reason their shared presentation doesn’t fall higher in our ranking is it’s “Opening Remarks”. This is certain to be one of the shorter showings on all of Star Trek Day and spend a good amount of time on drier information rather than anything surprising. That in mind - we’re still excited!
4. Nichelle Nichols Tribute
In light of the recent passing of Nichelle Nichols we’ve seen a lot being written, spoken, shot, and presented about her. Her import on-screen as Lieutenant Uhura and in the larger cultural sphere (not just pop culture, but American culture), as Nichelle Nichols - actor and activist. There has been much sadness and much celebration of her life and it is fitting to highlight her excellence this Star Trek Day. We don’t necessarily think anything revelatory will arise and the tone is certain to be somber and sad. Our recommendation would be to have a box of tissue and a soft pet at your side for comfort throughout.
3. Star Trek: Lower Decks
Lower Decks is airing right now, as we sit here typing this blog. Fun fact: it’s the first animated show in the NuTrek era (following up Star Trek: the Animated Series in betweenThe Original Series and The Next Generation). The premier episode of the season has debuted with nine more episodes to come in the third season. Lower Decks has hands down the funniest most off-the-cuff entertaining cast and crew in all of Star Trek which means, no matter what, this panel is certain to be the most entertaining in all of Star Trek Day. However, with eight episodes of screeners already in the hands of reviewers there is likely very little news to emerge. Tune in for a good time, though maybe not as shocking a time as can be expected in other presentations.
2. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
From the moment Anson Mount’s Captain Christopher Pike debuted on Star Trek: Discovery it was clear he, Number One, and Spock were going to take NuTrek by storm (we even wrote a blog post on the Top 5 Captain Pike Episodes of Star Trek ahead of the first season of Strange New Worlds). The first season of Strange New Worlds debuted just a couple months ago to immense popularity in the fanbase. Knowing nothing about the next season or when it’s coming out way there’s huge potential for announcements, video footage, cameos, surprises, and hopefully answers on #JusticeForHemmer!
1. Star Trek: Prodigy
Prodigy is unique in the world of Star Trek for a couple different reasons. It’s the first co-production with Nickelodeon and it’s the first Star Trek show aimed directly at a young audience. The first season had a 20 episode order but only 10 episodes aired last year! “Later in 2022” is the phrase that’s been bandied around since the finale aired on February 3rd, 2022. Personally, we love Prodigy, so there is a real bias in us putting it in the top spot on this list, but there’s a good chance we’ll see new footage, get a release date that should be right around the corner - rather than months away! - and even the potential to meet new castmembers who were announced when the series was introduced to the world, but haven’t yet made their on screen debuts. We’re eyeing Jameela Jamil (She-Hulk), and Daveed Diggs (Snowpiercer). Of everything coming our way on Star Trek Day there is nothing we’ll be watching closer than the Prodigy presentation!
BONUS! The Red Shirt Diaries: The Complete Series
If you haven’t yet watched our 31 episode Star Trek parody webseries then you are in for a combined 2.5 hours of TOS-inspired comedy! Professor Ashley stars as Ensign Williams, the youngest ranked Ensign on Captain Kirk’s Enterprise who is always just around the corner from all the action of The Original Series. Professor Jason served as showrunner and plays about 20 roles over the 31 episodes - bonus points if you can name each character he takes on. Each episode is about 3 minutes long and makes a perfect bite-sized experience.
Alright, Students! Star Trek Day is right around the corner. We hope if you don’t have the time to sit and indulge in the full presentation we’ve inspired you to share in some of the Trekkie goodness we’ll be tuning into. Let’s all tune in and celebrate the world of Trek together!
You can watch everything Star Trek Day right here September 8th, 2022.
header image courtesy of StarTrek.com