STAR TREK celebrated its 55th Anniversary virtually on Star Trek Day last week (Sep 8), with a 2-hour line-up of panels and more, hosted by Paramount+ in the US.
The franchise has been seeing a resurgence and attracting a whole new generation of fans in the decade. Red Dot Diva thinks it is mainly due to the more accessible pop-culture-y 2009 Star Trek movie written and directed by J.J. Abrams. The movie featured a younger cast, like Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana, which helped bridge the gap to original Trek. But, you may beg to differ.
In any case, for those who missed the anniversary livestream, here's a summary of the key Trek news that had been announced.
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY
While there was no Star Trek: Discovery trailer released during the 55th Anniversary livestream, the flagship series announced the premiere date of its 4th season. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) will return in the captain's seat of the USS Discovery on 18th November, with a new episode aired weekly.
The Discovery crew has faced a lot together since its first episode aired in 2017. They have battled the Klingons in the Mirror Universe, and fought a rogue AI which propelled them like whooosh, into the 32nd century. There, they discovered a fractured Federation, facing an impending galaxy-wide disaster called ‘The Burn’.
In the coming adventures, things will feel familiar as all of the principal players are back in the Discovery. Captain Burnham will find that being a leader is not easy, and the crew will also face challenges concerning a new non-living threat.
Season 3 ended with Stamets having major issues with Burnham's decision to leave Dr Culber in the radiated nebula, so Red Dot Diva would love to see how the dynamics of that relationship is going to play out. It has also been confirmed that Saru (Doug Jones), who returned to his home planet Kaminar, has a big part to play in Season 4.
Plot details are still sparse at the moment, so do look out for more tidbits about the new season in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, here is the trailer that was released back during First Contact Day in April 2021.
STAR TREK: PICARD
The STAR TREK: PICARD series brings back an old fan favourite to our screens, with Sir Patrick Steward reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard, now retired and being quite a recluse, living in a vineyard with 2 Romulan pals Laris and Zhaban.
For a legendary character like Jean-Luc, Red Dot Diva found the Picard series to be a mixed beast. It was much slower in pace and uneven in its execution for most of the story-telling.
Is the 92-year-old Picard still the hero we remember him to be? Not quite, as the first season threw him back to the time when he chose to leave Federation, and his grief over the loss of his enduring true friend, the soulful android Commander Data (Brett Spiner). During Picard's personal mission to save an android called Soji (Isa Briones) from Romulan spies, he also became tangled up with a rag-tag crew on a ship owned by mercenary Cristóbal Rios (Santiago Cabreba), who incidentally, sounded like a more sullen version of Han Solo.
Red Dot Diva hopes Season 2 will have a tighter storyline, especially with a familiar villains in the mix. The godlike Q (John de Lancie) is back creating trouble with a Dark Side-ish alternate reality, and Picard, his friends including Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) travels back in time to ‘turn back the clock’. An old nemesis the alien Borg Queen (Annie Wersching) also enters the fray. How will Picard, who was once transformed into a Borg, square off with the cybernetic aliens and their obsession with perfection?
Check out the STAR TREK: PICARD Season 2 trailer released during the 55th Anniversary celebrations:
Get ready to engage with Picard's Season 2 in February 2022. The series has also been renewed for Season 3!
STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS
One of the most highly decorated starship captain, Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) beamed right into Season 2 of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY in the most silver foxy way. His charm, hopefulness and innate goodness earned him the respect of his crew on the USS Enterprise, plus a horde of new fans (including Red Dot Diva, of course) who could not get enough of him.
Trekkies clamoured for Pike to return to the screen together with iconic characters like his first officer Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Science Officer Spock (Ethan Peck). So, in 2020, a new spinoff series called STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS was announced. Like the original series, STRANGE NEW WORLDS will be structured to be more episodic, with standalone stories.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, filming only kicked off in Toronto earlier this year. However, the cast are all ready to boldly go where no one has gone before, and ceremoniously released an introduction video during Star Trek Day. In the announcement, more new actors are playing some of the original series beloved characters - Celia Rose Gooding as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel and Babs Olusanmokun as Doctor M'Benga.
STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS is set to premiere in 2022.
STAR TREK: PRODIGY
While Star Trek's second animated series LOWER DECKS is more adult in content, the upcoming STAR TREK: PRODIGY will be kid-friendly and have a different focus. The series, developed and produced by\ Nickelodeon and CBS Studios, will premiere with a one-hour episode on 28 October, for Paramount+ subscribers in the US.
The long awaited trailer for PRODIGY was revealed during Star Trek Day by Kate Mulgrew, who will be reprising her role as Captain Kathryn Janeway in the series. Check it out below:
STAR TREK: PRODIGY will follow the adventures of 6 young aliens who commandeer a USS spaceship called Protostar, with no prior knowledge about Starfleet. While the alien youngers - Dal (Brett Gray), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), Zero (Angus Imrie), and Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) - escape from the series' villain Diviner (John Noble) in search for a better future, they discover more about the Delta Quadrant and will learn how to work together.
What a great time it is to be a Star Trek fan! The franchise has finally caught up with the times, with fresh new ideas and characters, while retaining its legacy past.
There's just one thing Red Dot Diva wished had happened on Star Trek Day. Where was the cast of the JJ Abrams' Trek movies? She wished they were somehow included in the celebration too. Don't you agree?
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