The original Star Trek animated series turns 50 this year, and while there’s certainly at least some animation from the boldly going adventures of the Trek universe still in the works at Paramount, the network is getting into a celebratory mood in the weirdest way possible.
First revealed at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year, Paramount has now lifted the lid on our first look at a series of promotional shorts, now dubbed Star Trek: very Short Treks, as an homage to the Discovery-era short anthology series of a similar name.
Five shorts will release weekly on the official Star Trek Youtube channel and website starting this Wednesday, September 8—the annual Star Trek Day marking the debut date of the first aired Star Trek episode “The Man Trap.” Created with creative consultant Casper Kelly (of Too Many Cooks viral fame) and done in an homage to the style and aesthetic of Star Trek: The Animated Series, previously announced shorts teased a focus on the likes of Jonathan Frakes’ Will Riker, Doug Jones’ Saru, Armin Shimerman’s Quark, and Ethan Phillips’ Neelix. But Paramount has now announced a veritable bevy of talent from across Star Trek’s long history will also appear throughout.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding, and Brue Horak will all reprise their roles as Spock, Uhura, and Hemmer, respectively, while returning from The Next Generation and Enterprise are Gates McFadden and Connor Trinneer as Beverly Crusher and Trip Tucker. Lower Decks’ own Noël Wells will appear alongside her fellow lower deckers as Ensign Tendi ahead of the show’s return this week for season four, while the iconic Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu will return, voiced by the legendary George Takei.
Star Trek: very Short Treks will begin this Wednesday, September 8, and appear alongside a new digital comic book series by Kelly called Star Trek: The Animated Celebration Presents The Scheimer Barrier on the official Star Trek website.
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