CBS Studios revealed plans for an homage to Star Trek: The Animated Series to honor its 50th anniversary at San Diego Comic Con in July, and today we’ve learned just what to expect from Star Trek: The Animated Celebration this fall!
Starting this Friday, September 8 and continuing for the next four consecutive weeks, the studio is reviving the Short Treks label for a series of VERY Short Treks — all-new animated promotional shorts for the animated side of the franchise, each running just a few minutes in length.
The animated shorts begin with “Skin a Cat” on Friday, September 8, followed on Wednesdays with “Holiday Party” on September 13, “Worst Contact” on September 20, “Holograms All The Way Down” on September 27, and concluding with “Walk, Don’t Run” on October 4.
STAR TREK: very SHORT TREKS comes from creative consultant Casper Kelly, best known for the viral smash hit “Too Many Cooks” and his work on STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS and Adult Swim.
The first animated spot will launch on Star Trek Day, Sept. 8, exclusively on StarTrek.com and the official Star Trek YouTube channel, with four additional animated spots rolling out weekly on Wednesdays through Oct. 4 at 10:00 A.M., PT/1:00 P.M., ET.
Don’t worry too much about the impact of these small tales on the wider Star Trek adventure, as the new trailer from CBS Studios flat out tells us that these are considered “anything but canon” — so thankfully there’s no need for that fan debate!
Along with returning Trek actors Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), Doug Jones (Saru), and Armin Shimerman (Quark), other legacy and current-day stars reprising their roles in the new shorts include Ethan Peck (Spock), Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), Celia Rose Gooding (Uhura), Connor Trinneer (Trip Tucker), Bruce Horak (Hemmer), Noël Wells (D’Vana Tendi), and George Takei (Hikaru Sulu).
(The trailer above also features Neelix from Star Trek: Voyager, but actor Ethan Phillips isn’t credited in the official press release — so it’s not known yet who will be voicing that character.)
The studio has also released a poster to accompany The Animated Celebration, featuring not only the original TAS Enterprise crew and series-adjacent aliens, but characters from the Discovery animated Short Treks, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Prodigy
(The Prodigy gang are included in this artwork because while Paramount+ may have removed the show from its streaming service, CBS Studios is the producer and owner of the property, rightfully keeping it represented with the rest of the Star Trek franchise.)
In addition to the shorts, Casper Kelly will also release a new comic from longtime Star Trek collaborator IDW Publishing called Star Trek: The Animated Celebration Presents ‘The Scheimer Barrier’ — this was previously announced in detail in July.
The first issue will be released on StarTrek.com on September 8 as well, with physical copies coming to the IDW Publishing booth at New York Comic Con in October. Subsequent issues of The Scheimer Barrier will arrive each Wednesday along side the VERY Short Treks on StarTrek.com.
Check back to TrekCore for the latest news on Star Trek’s animated adventures!