I got reminded by George Takei’s BlueSky account that this week marks 60 years since Star Trek debuted. I haven’t done much regarding Trek in recent years. I read both DC Comics’ series, re-watched the original crew novels and read the novelizations, and Gene Hendricks and I talked about our Trek stories on episode 112 of the podcast.

One thing I mentioned on that episode was the 25th Anniversary special. It aired September 28, 1991 in the middle of a big celebration year for the franchise. The Next Generation was going strong, novels and comics were coming out on the regular and were successful, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country would be released on December 6.

I watched the show when it aired on WPIX, and the station preceded it with a marathon of original series episodes, packaged as a top ten of all-time. I caught a few of them and taped them, especially “Space Seed” (ranked #2) and “The Trouble With Tribbles” (ranked #1). And I also taped the special, which was two hours (with commercials).

That tape, believe it or not, was still in my basement among the other VHS tapes I’d held onto over the years. I’d thought about popping it in and watching it, but there was an excellent, crisp transfer from LaserDisc on YouTube.

I had forgotten it was as long as it was, and while I knew that it was hosted by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy from a TV control room, I couldn’t remember much else. I was also a little wary. These specials can sometimes be too short and skip over a lot; sometimes, they are cheesy and don’t take the material seriously. So I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was done.

The special mixes history with promotional material (as one would expect) and is a good rundown of the show and its legacy. The story of Star Trek goes chronologically but starts with the origins of space travel in both popular culture and the real world. Then, we get a short biography of Gene Roddenberry before moving toward his first pilot “The Cage,” starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike. From there, they … uh … trek through the original show, the post-cancellation period, the movies, and TNG. They even go into Star Trek: Phase II, the second series that had been proposed to be the marquee show of a new Paramount network. That network didn’t go anywhere and Phase II eventually morphed into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Funny enough, when UPN launched in the mid-1990s, Star Trek: Voyager was the marquee show.

Other segments focused on the elements and legacy of the show. There’s a look at the makeup effects as well as how TNG’s computer graphics effects are applied. There’s also a montage of humorous moments, including a mega mix of Bones saying “I’m a doctor, not a …”. Oh, and Shakespeare. In the original Klingon.

Legacy-wise, there’s connections to modern technology (such as how communicators resemble “cellular phones”) as well as how the producers worked to make the show as scientifically accurate as they could. And LeVar Burton goes into Reading Rainbow mode and gives us a tour of Space Camp. And while it’s essentially a promo for the camp and the space program, Star Trek and NASA have had a close relationship for a long time, going back to when Nichelle Nichols helped recruit women for the space program and the original space shuttle was named Enterprise.

The show took me back to those great “Making of” specials from the Eighties, like the making of the Star Wars movies. I used to live for them and still do, gobbling down DVD and Blu-Ray extras whenever I can. They’re great reminders of why I love television and movies.

In addition to watching the special and both TNG and the original series (when it was rerun in the evenings), I had the 25th Anniversary poster on my bedroom wall as well as piles of the trading cards that were put out by Impel. Later that year, I went to see The Undiscovered Country opening weekend and absolutely loved it.

TNG would be on the air for around three more years, and WPIX would continue to air both shows in reruns (as well as Deep Space Nine). By the time I was at the end of high school, Trek had taken a back seat to other interests and fandoms. But it’s not like I’ve forgotten it. Every time i watch an episode or one of the movies, I am always struck by how much care was put into everything and how huge it all seemed. It’s cliche to say that Star Trek filled me with hope and wonder, but that’s true. The show’s optimism about where humanity could go has always been one of its brightest features and that hope is something our world definitely leaves right now.

LLAP.