Star Trek Is Heading Back To The Theater For Free
This year’s Star Trek Day will feature a special focus on animation, including free theatrical screenings of the new season of Star Trek: Lower Decks. The holiday celebrates the anniversary of the premiere of the original series on September 8, 1966. This year will mark 57 years since that date, and there is a lot going on.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is coming to theaters to celebrate Star Trek Day and 50 years since Star Trek: The Animated Series.
First, the holiday will feature a streaming special, as has become Paramount‘s tradition. This one will be hosted by Jerry O’Connell, who plays Jack Ransom on Lower Decks, and will include a look back at some of the franchise’s historic moments. O’Connell is a particularly fitting host since the special will also reflect on 50 years of animation in the franchise.
The series now known as Star Trek: The Animated Series premiered on September 8, 1973 (there’s that date again). It ran for 22 episodes, comprising two seasons, through 1974 and was conceived less as a kids’ show and more as the next season of the Original Series. Since that time, there has been no animation in the franchise until recent years, and the new season of Lower Decks launches on September 7, with its theatrical debut on the 8th.
The studio’s still-unexplained shunning of Prodigy is especially ironic as it prepares to commemorate Star Trek animation while leaving its latest animated series out in the cold.
Beyond that significant tie-in, the streaming special will look at Star Trek: Discovery in the lead-up to its fifth and final season. Select cities will also be hosting free screenings for which fans can register starting on September 24th. The screenings will feature the new season of Lower Decks, plus sneak peeks, free concessions, giveaways, and more.
As if all that weren’t enough, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will be coming to broadcast TV, with its first two episodes, “Strange New Worlds” and “Children of the Comet,” airing back-to-back on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. ET. There will also be a sale on Star Trek merchandise at the Star Trek.com store, with 25% off all items. The sale will also feature curated collections for the holiday and The Animated Series.
Of course, animated additions to the franchise have been in the news lately with Paramount’s decision to pull the animated Star Trek: Prodigy from Paramount+, despite the series’ second season still continuing production. This has caused enormous fan backlash, including a petition, a run on Prodigy DVDs and action figures, and even a fundraiser for skywriting to encourage Netflix, Amazon, or another streamer to pick up the series.
Star Trek Day is September 8. and this year’s celebration will be one of the largest yet.
The studio’s still-unexplained shunning of Prodigy is especially ironic as it prepares to commemorate Star Trek animation while leaving its latest animated series out in the cold.
Post-production on Prodigy continues with the support of CBS, and the show’s producers have expressed confidence that they will find it a new streaming home. Still, it stands as a stain on this year’s Star Trek Day celebration that the studio will be cheering about 50 years of animation just after having given the boot to the franchise’s most ambitious animated series yet.
