''Star Trek: Very Short Treks'' (stylized as ''very Short Treks'') is a series of promotional short films created by

Casper Kelly Chris "Casper" Kelly is an American writer, television director, and producer. Career Kelly is the co-creator of the Adult Swim live-action series ''Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell'', the Adult Swim animated series ''Stroker and Hoop'', and the ...

for the 50th anniversary of ''

Star Trek: The Animated Series ''Star Trek: The Animated Series'' (''TAS''), is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired under the title simply as ''Star Trek'', subtitled ''Created by Gene Roddenberry'', on Satu ...

''. It consists of five non- canon shorts that are two to five minutes long. They feature characters and settings from all previous ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' series. The series was announced in July 2023. Kelly was encouraged to push the boundaries of humor for the franchise. The animation was provided by Awesome Inc and is in the same style as ''The Animated Series''. Many ''Star Trek'' cast members returned to reprise their roles, with several comedians also hired to provide voices. ''Very Short Treks'' were released on

StarTrek.com ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into variou ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

from September to October 2023.

Episodes

Production

''Star Trek: The Animated Celebration'', a celebration of the 50th anniversary of ''

'', was announced in July 2023 at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

. As part of the celebration,

CBS Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

was set to release five promotional shorts from creative consultant

later in 2023. Kelly announced the shorts alongside John Van Citters, CBS's vice president of ''Star Trek'' brand development. The shorts were revealed to be called ''Star Trek: very Short Treks'' in September. This is a reference to the existing shorts series '' Star Trek: Short Treks'', though, unlike that series, ''very Short Treks'' is not part of official ''Star Trek'' canon. Kelly was first involved in ''Star Trek'' when producer Alex Kurtzman brought him in to work on ''Short Treks''. For ''very Short Treks'', Kurtzman was inspired by Kelly's work on a series of Wonder Twins shorts for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

. He encouraged Kelly to push the boundaries of humor for the franchise in the shorts, saying, "I want you to do the weird stuff you do, but with ''Star Trek''". Kelly said ''very Short Treks'' would be more experimental and "fucked up" than the animated comedy series ''

Star Trek: Lower Decks ''Star Trek: Lower Decks'' is an American adult-oriented animated television series created by Mike McMahan for the streaming service CBS All Access (later rebranded as Paramount+). It is the ninth ''Star Trek'' series and was launched in 2020 ...

''. He received approval from ''Lower Decks'' creator

Mike McMahan Mike McMahan is an American comedy writer and television producer. He is the creator of the animated comedies ''Solar Opposites'' (with Justin Roiland) and '' Star Trek: Lower Decks''. Career McMahan, a native of Chicago, first worked in prod ...

for some elements of the shorts. Ten shorts were written but only five were produced; Kelly expressed interest in making the other five in the future. The animation was provided by Awesome Inc, who Kelly worked with on the short '' Too Many Cooks'', and done in the style of ''The Animated Series''. When the shorts were first announced, Kelly and Van Citters said ''Star Trek'' actors Jonathan Frakes (

William Riker William Thomas "Will" Riker is a fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' universe appearing primarily as a main character in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Throughout the series and its accompanying films, he is the ''Enterprise''s first ...

), Doug Jones (Saru), and

Armin Shimerman Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor and author. Early life Shimerman was born into a Jewish family in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, Lakewood, New Jersey, on November 5, 1949, the son of accountant Susan and house painte ...

(

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly o ...

) would be reprising their roles. Additional returning cast members were announced in September:

Ethan Peck Ethan Gregory Peck (born March 2, 1986) is an American actor. He is the grandson of actor Gregory Peck and Greta Kukkonen, the elder Peck's first wife. In 2019, he played a young Spock in '' Star Trek: Discovery'' (2019), a role he has reprised fo ...

Spock Spock is a Character (arts), fictional character in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. He first appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series, original ''Star Trek'' series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), USS ''Enterprise ...

, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher,

Celia Rose Gooding Celia Rose Gooding (; born February 22, 2000) is an American actor and singer. They made their Broadway debut and rose to prominence for the role of Mary Frances "Frankie" Healy in the rock musical ''Jagged Little Pill'' for which they won a 202 ...

as Uhura,

Connor Trinneer Connor Wyatt Trinneer (born March 19, 1969) is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Charles "Trip" Tucker III on ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', Michael on the series ''Stargate Atlantis'', and Professor ...

Trip Tucker Charles "Trip" Tucker III, portrayed by Connor Trinneer, is a fictional character in the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. Tucker was the chief engineer on the ''Enterprise'' and also briefly served in the same role aboard the Enter ...

Bruce Horak Bruce Horak (born August 5, 1974) is a Canadian artist and television and stage actor, known for portraying Hemmer on '' Star Trek: Strange New Worlds''. Horak is the first legally blind actor to portray a character in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. ...

as Hemmer,

Noël Wells Noël Kristi Wells (born December 23, 1986) is an American actress, comedian, impressionist, writer, director, singer, and musician. Wells is known for her television roles as Rachel Silva in the Netflix comedy-drama ''Master of None'' (20152017), ...

as Tendi, and George Takei as

Sulu Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg''; tl, Lalawigan ng Sulu), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamor ...

. Takei was initially ambivalent about returning for the shorts, until Kelly wrote him a "fan letter" that won him over. Kelly cast comedians who had not worked on ''Star Trek'' before to fill the other roles.

Release

The first short premiered on

and the ''Star Trek''

channel on September 8, 2023, which is known as ''Star Trek'' Day. The other four shorts were released weekly through October 4. An additional episode, "The Making of ''very Short Treks'' with Casper Kelly", was released on October 10 and explores the making of the shorts.

Tie-in media

Kelly was also asked to write a comic book for the celebration. He originally thought to adapt one of the unproduced scripts before deciding to write an original story. ''Star Trek: The Animated Celebration Presents The Scheimer Barrier'' was announced alongside the shorts in July 2023. It was also released on StarTrek.com on September 8, with physical copies from

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly recog ...

available at

New York Comic Con The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. History The New York Comic Con is a f ...

in October.

References

External links

''Star Trek''
on

* * {{Star Trek: The Animated Series 2020s American science fiction television series 2023 American television series debuts 2023 American television series endings Paramount+ original programming American English-language television shows very Short Treks Star Trek animated series