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Paramount Celebrates First Contact Day With A Flurry Of Announcements

This week Paramount wasted no amount of the excitement built up towards Star Trek’s version of May the Fourth, and made a number of announcements that sent the Twittersphere and Reddit into a ‘content’ frenzy.

By Silek Sat 10 Apr, 2021 1:45 PM - Last Updated: Sat 10 Apr, 2021 5:10 PM
There was a time, even post 1998, when I may not have known what First Contact Day was, and I would have been forgiven. I remember hearing people mention it, or seeing it pop up online, and then forgetting it until the next year, when someone would inevitably remind me by saying ’Happy First Contact Day’, reminding me once again, that I had forgotten.

First Contact day, April 5th, is the day that humankind first broke the speed of light, capturing the attention of our Galactic neighbors, the Vulcans, and bringing Earth into the cosmic fold leading to the creation of the United Federation of Planets. If you’re wondering how many years into the future this takes place, the answer is forty-two.

Flash forward twenty three actual years later, and whether you’re a Trek fan or not, it’s hard to avoid the spectacle and realized marketing genius, of a day devoted by some, to all things Star Trek.

This week Paramount wasted no amount of the excitement built up towards Star Trek’s version of May the Fourth, and made a number of announcements that sent the Twittersphere and Reddit into a ‘content’ frenzy.

Prodigy

Paramount kicked things off by giving us our first look at the animated version of Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway as part of Prodigy2Paramount’s new Prodigy animated series. Produced by Nickelodeon Studios, but premiering on Paramount +, Prodigy follows a group of cadets at Starfleet Academy guided by the steady hand of a holographic Kathryn Janeway.

Kate Mulgrew joined Twitter to announce how pleased she was in the way Paramount was handling her character. By all rights, Mulgrew has seemed as excited about this project as anyone else, and as fans know, if she wasn’t, we would hear about it.

Woman In Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek And The Remaking Of NASA

Nichelle Nichols has been an icon in not only Star Trek, but also in the civil rights movement, and the fight to increase representation for women in not only her industry, but around the world.WomanInMotion

Paramount’s Woman In Motion: Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek And The Remaking Of NASA, is a feature length documentary about Nichols’ effort to get NASA to hire more people of color, and her part in getting the first female astronauts involved with the program.

The documentary will be released on June 3, and will premiere on Paramount +.

Star Trek: Discovery

While everyone may have had their own personal favorite moment during the announcements, it was obvious that many of the fans had their sights set on this very next one.DiscoverySeason4a

Star Trek: Discovery dropped their Season Four teaser and gave us our first look at Captain Burnham and some new uniforms. Although no release date was announced, it was a treat to see everyone so excited about the Season Four premiere. Discovery as of late, has been a bit of a wild card in the direction the series might take. Season Three was a huge jump for some fans, and not everyone was happy to see established canon left the the dustbin of a thousand year jump into the future.

Although not much more about the season was revealed, this info gave some fans enough to tide them over until we see a little more.

Lower Decks

While some Trek additions in the past have stirred controversy among the fan base, one of the most widely and quickly accepted Trek series to debut has been Lower Decks. LowerDecksSeasonTwoa

While some might have thought in the beginning that an animated series of this nature might cheapen the canon with off putting humor, or in not taking the source material seriously, I think most were surprised when Paramount produced something that was balanced, funny, and most importantly, legitimately Trek down to its DNA.

Paramount released the teaser to Season Two, and things seem to pick up right where they left off. It looks like we’ll see Captain Riker again this season, and maybe even a bit of an expanded role for Q.

Picard

Closing out the day, or at least the major announcements, Paramount gave us the new teaser for Picard Season Two. The biggest reveal of this announcement was the return of John de Lance as fan favorite Q.

No release date was announced beyond 2022, but I can’t think of too many things that might get me excited about a series, or maybe even convince someone who wasn’t excited about the first season, to countdown the months until arrival, but John de Lance is one of them.


Let us know what you think in the comments.



WRITTEN AND EDITED BY Silek
IMAGES SOURCED FROM Paramount + AND CBS STUDIOS


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