Blast from the Past: Star Trekkin', After the Original Series

Back in May, I ran a Blast from the Past that chronicled each movie or television version of Star Trek: The Original Series crew, through the animated series and all of the main cast films. At the time, I promised that the next week's edition would include each non-original cast version of Trek. And I forgot!

My fuzzy shot of LeVar Burton, before I was stopped by
the "no photos!" lady. Who knew?

But today, I did something I seldom do: I took advantage of the fact that I live in Las Vegas. Unbeknownst to me, at some point in the past Vegas has become a huge Star Trek convention site. It used to be Pasadena back in the day when I used to go to these things. But I found out--via Facebook, as it happens--that the big, big show was this weekend. Problem was, I found out on day three of the four-day event. Oh, well. I called up my good friend Dona, my old Trek convention buddy, and we decided to hit it this Sunday, closing day.

It was a good day to go. This year was the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, so almost the entire cast was in attendance, as it happens, today. We got to see their panel, got to see many Next Generation and Voyager stars, up close and personal. And we got to hear George Takei tell stories and field questions! It was really a Blast from the Past. So here, better late than never, is the rest of my Star Trek post.

1. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) - Though the original crew is of course the basis for the entire franchise, it was TNG that solidified Trek as an ongoing, viable television franchise. Initially it was shaky, with season 1 feeling a bit on the Original Series season 3 level. But it quickly firmed up into an astonishing success.

2. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) - This was Trek at its grittiest, and possibly has its richest storylines and highest caliber of acting. It required more than casual viewing, with deep story arcs, spanning years. But it was worth it. My favorite of the Trek series, easily.



3. Star Trek: Generations (1994) - Bridging the gap between Original Series and Next Generation, this movie managed to tell a pretty good story, and kill of Captain Kirk. Oh, sorry. Spoiler alert?

4. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) - When you're on your third live-action TV spinoff, you need to do something to set yourself apart (particularly when one of the others is still running). So Voyager was sort of sent off "lost in space." Much maligned by the fandom (even though they watched every damned episode), still classic writing and acting. And hey (straight) guys, Seven of Nine, am I right?



5. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) - Possibly the best Trek movie until the reboot, this movie gets virtually everything right. And that Borg Queen? Terrifying.

6. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) - How quickly they fall. Not a bad story by any stretch, but plays like an extended TV episode. It just feels small by modern day sci-fi standards. Forgettable, and frankly, often forgotten.



7. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005) - More maligned than even Voyager, this attempt to go back to the pre-Original Series time was a mixed bag. The acting is still great, the writing too, sometimes. It just didn't always click. And what was with the horrid theme song? But it was still Trek to me, and is--after the rebooted new movie timeline--the only thing on this list that is still in continuity!

8. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) - The death-knell for the original timeline. The movie wasn't bad, in fact I quite liked it. If the bad guy--supposedly a clone of Captain Picard--had looked more like him, I might have liked it better. But it flopped at the box office, possibly a victim of Star Trek burnout. I mean, look at the length of this list and the time overlaps. I had to have Google up on a second monitor just to keep it straight!



And that takes us back around to the new Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, which are Original Series reboot movies. And since they barely qualify as "past," we'll save them for a future edition!

Happy Monday. Engage!