With the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Animated Series on the horizon, Paramount has five new shorts in the works, animated in the retro style of the classic series. Past and present Star Trek crew members, like Jonathan Frakes, Armin Shimerman, and Doug Jones will return to voice their animated likenesses.
The news comes from the Star Trek panel at San Diego Comic Con, where it was revealed that the shorts are the brainchild of writer Casper Kelly, who previously entered the Star Trek universe with a fake commercial for a Tribbles-themed cereal appended to the end of “The Trouble With Edward”, one of the Short Treks mini-episodes. Frakes will reprise his role as stalwart Starfleet officer Will Riker, who originated on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and has returned on subsequent Trek series Voyager, Enterprise, and Picard. Veteran character actor Armin Shimerman will return to the role of avaricious Ferengi bar owner Quark, who he played on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Both Frakes and Shimerman have returned to their characters for animation before, as both guest-starred on Star Trek: Lower Decks. Jones is a more modern addition to the Trek stable; he has played Kelpian Starfleet officer Saru on all four seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, and will return for the show’s upcoming fifth and final season.
What Is ‘Star Trek: The Animated Series’?
Although it was cancelled in 1969, Star Trek remained popular in reruns, prompting NBC to revive the series as a Saturday-morning cartoon in 1973. The series reunited the principal cast of the original Star Trek series, and also featured a number of writers who’d penned episodes or the original series, including David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana, as well as legendary science fiction writer Larry Niven. The series was animated by Filmation in a charmingly low-budget style, and frequently featured bizarre aliens and worlds that would have been impossible to capture on a TV budget at the time. Although the series only lasted produced 22 episodes over two seasons, it has a special place in the hearts of many fans, as it was the only new Star Trek material on TV until The Next Generation premiered in 1987. The series has since been released on home video and streaming, and has been referenced a number of times on Lower Decks.
Writer Casper Kelly may be best known for Too Many Cooks, a surreal, horrifying vision of an ’80s TV sitcom opening sequence gone horribly wrong. He is the creator of the Adult Swim series Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell and Stroker and Hoop, and has written episodes of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Squidbillies. He also produced the “Cheddar Goblin” commercial featured in Panos Cosmatos‘ Mandy. Last Christmas, he shocked viewers again with Adult Swim Yule Log, a Christmas-themed horror short.
Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and get a sampling of the classic Star Trek: The Animated Series below.
To mark the golden anniversary of #StarTrekTAS, #StarTrek teamed up with @heyCasperKelly to create five animated promotional spots featuring iconic Star Trek characters voiced by the amazing cast members themselves! ✨ #StarTrekSDCC #StarTrekAnimatedCelebration pic.twitter.com/loAChWuB67
— Star Trek (@StarTrek) July 21, 2023
via Collider