Star Trek debuts very Short Trek son Star Trek Day.
Star Trek Day hasn’t provided much in 2023. The writers’ and actor’s strike has sidelined anything unique and impactful for the day to present and fans are left with a rather empty holiday feeling. The much balleyhooed stream featuring Jerry O’Connell left a lot to be desired, and there was really no franchise shaking announcements to speak of.
Just a new look website, a Kid Cudi merchandise crossover and some game news. Though, one of the things that the fans did get was the debut of the very Short Treks. The new five-part animation series is done in the design of the 1973 Star Trek: The Animated Series, and features several very interesting talents returning to the roles they played in live action.
For instance, Ethan Peck is back as Spock in the very first episode, “Skin a Cat”. It features James Kirk, Spock and comany doing their thing, though Kirk keeps running afoul with various members of the crew for his choice of word play.
Kirk isn’t played by Williams Shatner, Paul Wesley or Chris Pine, but instead comedian Pete Holmes. Cristina Milizia, Bonnie Gordon, and Eric Bauz round out the cast for the first episode of the new mini-series.
Star Trek: very Short Treks delivers but only kinda
The gimmick to these admitted non-canon shorts, are that they’re done in the vein of the 1970s animated series, but have a Lower Decks sense of humor. They’re interesting, and they certainly do bring back the vibe of the original cartoon, especially with its animations and prologuned firing sequences, done to extend the run time of the show.
But the humor is a bit rough, and dare I say, gratuitous. While this seems to be fine for the Lower Decks fandom, not every Star Trek fans appreciates the more ‘out-there’ humor and so the mini-series won’t strike a cord with everyone.