Rare Treks: Official but Obscure

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

Here are some crazy and overlooked onscreen events:

A Klingon time traveler attempted to abduct one of Picard's ancestors in 1998; another crazy Klingon forced a skeleton crew aboard the Enterprise-D to play a boardgame in which he made them experience bij; Geordi and Riker took time off to help a science vessel study astronomical phenomena while Data recorded educational videos for a science museum; Gowron created a holodeck program for "Klingon immersion studies" to teach humans about his culture, Q hosted a gameshow, sent three of the Enterprise-D's crew on a search for a magical artifact, and was also assimilated; German-speaking Starfleet cadets saved the Enterprise-D from the Borg, Janeway beat the Borg Queen a second time; and Wesley met Tuvok.

Later, Starfleet Academy's SCISEC produced some very brief briefs which went largely unnoticed, and a portly Andorian told jokes at a bar.

A century before all that, Chang and Gorkon appeared in an ultra-low-budget feature-length prequel to Star Trek VI which revealed how Chang lost his eye; Kirk, Sulu, and Chekov were guest instructors at Starfleet Academy; an eight-year-old boy served under Kirk and engaged Klingons in hand-to-hand combat during an away mission; and Cadet Michael O'Hare briefly took over the captain's chair for Kirk.

Also, Federation time travelers established an American Starfleet Academy in 2010 and a Canadian Starfleet Academy in 2016, and an old Klingon told his young grandson a story from the time of Kahless.

Yep, that all happened in twenty special video stories which were officially produced but which are largely forgotten or unknown:

1988: "Star Trek Adventure"
1991: "Star Trek Adventure II"
1992: "Orion Rendezvous"
1992: "Federation Science" (Data's segments)
1993: "A Klingon Challenge"
1994: "Borg Q-Uest" (unreleased)
1996: Klingon
1996: Borg (remastered in 2023)
1997: Starfleet Academy
1998: "Klingon Encounter"
1998: Star Trek: The Game Show
2000: Klingon Academy
2003: "The Young Hunter: A Klingon Folktale"
2004: "Borg Invasion"
2008: "USS Titan"
2009: Starfleet Academy SCISEC Briefs
2010: "Star Trek Live"
2016: "Intercepted & Decoded Message"
2017: "Operation Enterprise"
2022: Shriv's Stream

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

Universal Studios Hollywood - "Star Trek Adventure"

Universal Studios Orlando - "Star Trek Adventure II" (starring Michael O'Hare)

"Federation Science"

"A Klingon Challenge"

"A Klingon Challenge" (playthrough)

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

Klingon

Borg

Starfleet Academy

The Experience - "Klingon Encounter"

Star Trek: The Game Show, with your host... Q!!!

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

Klingon Academy

"The Young Hunter: A Klingon Folktale"

The Experience - "Borg Invasion"

The Exhibition (formerly The Tour) - "USS Titan"

"SCISEC Brief 002: Mystery Behind Ceti Alpha VI"

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

"SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex"

"Star Trek Live" (partial clip)

The Starfleet Academy Experience - "Intercepted & Decoded Message"

"Operation Enterprise"

Finn · Jan 22, 2024

Why are you posting all of those?

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

Finn said:
Why are you posting all of those?

So people can watch them.

1001001 · Jan 22, 2024

This feels very spammy.

Posting 5 times in a row is not allowed, nor is posting things like videos and links with no topic for discussion.

Please don't do this again.

Thanks

Forbin · Jan 22, 2024

Just the link to the page would have sufficed, but yeah, this IS interesting. I didn't realize there were so many cut scenes with original actors.

Cryogenator · Jan 22, 2024

1001001 said:
This feels very spammy.

Oxford defines spam as "irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the internet to a large number of recipients."

I don't believe I have sent any irrelevant or inappropriate messages here, do you?

Also, I must say that in my brief time here, I've already come across multiple posts which seem rather obviously irrelevant or inappropriate but which go unmoderated, such as this post, for instance.

Posting 5 times in a row is not allowed,

I wasn't aware of this rule and would have posted only once, but I can't embed more than five videos in a single post.

nor is posting things like videos and links with no topic for discussion.

There is a topic for discussion, as stated in the title: official but obscure Star Trek productions which many haven't seen or aren't even aware of and which I'm sure many fans will be interested to discover, as I was (someone has already commented in agreement with my assumption).

Also, I should like to note that my post is very similar to this one which was not criticized for ostensibly having "no topic for discussion."

Please don't do this again.

Thanks

I created the embeds so that others can easily browse and watch the videos without leaving the forum, but if you'd prefer to remove them or have me do so, that would be okay with me because the videos can also be seen through the playlist in the first hyperlink of the topic post, which is only very slightly less convenient.

Thanks.

Forbin said:
Just the link to the page would have sufficed,

As explained above, I spent a bit of extra time to make the videos directly accessible without having to leave the forum, but if that's not the preference here, I understand.

but yeah, this IS interesting. I didn't realize there were so many cut scenes with original actors.

I agree. Several of these I discovered only in the past month, such as the Klingon folktale animation, in which Phil LaMarr makes his first appearance in the Star Trek franchise, seventeen years before he returned in Lower Decks.

I'm looking for a full recording of "Star Trek: Live," an odd half-hour stageplay in which Commander Shaun Geoffrey Christopher—who first appeared in the second volume of Greg Cox's Eugenics Wars trilogy in 2002 and who has crossed paths with Gary Seven—leads a class of cadets (children chosen from the audience) in a very early version of Starfleet which apparently predates both United Earth Starfleet and Federation Starfleet.

I know all these stories are ambiguously canonical at best, but trying to fit them in is fun.

I think Borg (starring John de Lancie reprising Q), Klingon (starring Robert O'Reilly reprising Gowron), Starfleet Academy (with Shatner in his final appearance as Kirk and Koenig and Takei in their final official appearances as Chekov and Sulu) and Klingon Academy (starring Christopher Plummer and David Warner reprising their roles from The Undiscovered Country) should definitely be considered canonical as they're fairly substantial productions with major actors and don't present any canonical issues.

The microshort with Wesley and Tuvok on the Titan doesn't present any issues, either, nor does "The Young Hunter."

"A Klingon Challenge" doesn't really make since in-universe unless we imagine that Kavok (Robert O'Reilly) is crazy and that's why he's speaking as if he's playing a boardgame.

The ones with audience members "entering the story" are unsurprisingly the most tenuous, perhaps most of all "Borg Invasion," which has Janeway summarily redefeating the Borg Queen in all of fifteen minutes.

1001001 · Jan 22, 2024

Cryogenator said:
Oxford defines spam as "irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the internet to a large number of recipients."

I don't believe I have sent any irrelevant or inappropriate messages here, do you?

Also, I must say that in my brief time here, I've already come across multiple posts which seem rather obviously irrelevant or inappropriate but which go unmoderated, such as this post, for instance.

I wasn't aware of this rule and would have posted only once, but I can't embed more than five videos in a single post.

There is a topic for discussion, as stated in the title: official but obscure Star Trek productions which many haven't seen or aren't even aware of and which I'm sure many fans will be interested to discover, as I was (someone has already commented in agreement with my assumption).

Also, I should like to note that my post is very similar to this one which was not criticized for ostensibly having "no topic for discussion."

I created the embeds so that others can easily browse and watch the videos without leaving the forum, but if you'd prefer to remove them or have me do so, that would be okay with me because the videos can also be seen through the playlist in the first hyperlink of the topic post, which is only very slightly less convenient.

Thanks.

As explained above, I spent a bit of extra time to make the videos directly accessible without having to leave the forum, but if that's not the preference here, I understand.

I agree. Several of these I discovered only in the past month, such as the Klingon folktale animation, in which Phil LaMarr makes his first appearance in the Star Trek franchise, seventeen years before he returned in Lower Decks.

I'm looking for a full recording of "Star Trek: Live," an odd half-hour stageplay in which Commander Shaun Geoffrey Christopher—who first appeared in the second volume of Greg Cox's Eugenics Wars trilogy in 2002 and who has crossed paths with Gary Seven—leads a class of cadets (children chosen from the audience) in a very early version of Starfleet which apparently predates both United Earth Starfleet and Federation Starfleet.

I know all these stories are ambiguously canonical at best, but trying to fit them in is fun.

I think Borg (starring John de Lancie reprising Q), Klingon (starring Robert O'Reilly reprising Gowron), Starfleet Academy (with Shatner in his final appearance as Kirk and Koenig and Takei in their final official appearances as Chekov and Sulu) and Klingon Academy (starring Christopher Plummer and David Warner reprising their roles from The Undiscovered Country) should definitely be considered canonical as they're fairly substantial productions with major actors and don't present any canonical issues.

The microshort with Wesley and Tuvok on the Titan doesn't present any issues, either, nor does "The Young Hunter."

"A Klingon Challenge" doesn't really make since in-universe unless we imagine that Kavok (Robert O'Reilly) is crazy and that's why he's speaking as if he's playing a boardgame.

The ones with audience members "entering the story" are unsurprisingly the most tenuous, perhaps most of all "Borg Invasion," which has Janeway summarily redefeating the Borg Queen in all of fifteen minutes.

Okay…I’m not going to argue the definition of spam with you. I know what the rule is here, having been in the staff for the better part of 20 years. We don’t allow arguing with moderator actions in thread, either. In the future use the PM feature if you must.

I gave you the benefit of the doubt, and didn’t close the thread or take any official action other than to tell you how things work here. Instead of just accepting the feedback, you just had to argue.

In any case my instructions stand, and any further argument will result in a warning and this thread being closed.

Firebird · Jan 23, 2024

That clip of Michael O'Hare in the Universal Studios Trek adventure was super bizarre...

Cryogenator · Jan 23, 2024

On Reddit, Dotsandlines_ shared a story of working the "Orion Rendezvous" planetarium show:

As a college student, I actually presented "Orion Rendezvous" at the planetarium I worked at. We all had Starfleet uniforms (our choice of TNG command or engineering) and we introduced the show in character as a lieutenant.

The show was produced by the OMSI museum in Portland, Oregon. The story is that Geordi (yes, voiced by LeVar Burton himself) is advising aboard the science ship USS Antares, which has found a stable wormhole network and is using it to visit some of the greatest astronomical sights in the galaxy.

Majel Roddenberry has a few lines as the computer voice, and Riker makes a quick cameo at the end. Maybe two lines.

This was back when planetarium show visuals were slide projectors and homebrew special effects projectors. One show I was in, the projector that showed the Antares zoom into the wormhole went to the wrong slide, and the whole audience saw a little purple Gumby-like character from a completely different show fall in.

All still images, you never actually saw any of the characters, just heard their voices, but we had dozens of slide projectors so they could stack visuals on top of each other; for instance, you could have some good-looking blinking okudagram displays on the dome. Other projectors with a motorized zoom lens shined on to a mirror mounted on motorized axes so an image (like the starship) could zoom out and move across the screen.

A homebuilt device (made out of parts of an old overhead projector) used a moiré pattern to put up a pretty good warp drive effect.

And of course, a fantastic Zeiss projector for the background stars.

We didn’t have the accompanying exhibit, so I have nothing on the video with Data.

Most shows in that era were in the 35-40 minute range. Your best bet is to contact OMSI and see if they have an archive of old productions. I’d love to hear the soundtrack again!

Extrocomp · Jan 23, 2024

Cryogenator said:
I think Borg (starring John de Lancie reprising Q), Klingon (starring Robert O'Reilly reprising Gowron), Starfleet Academy (with Shatner in his final appearance as Kirk and Koenig and Takei in their final official appearances as Chekov and Sulu) and Klingon Academy (starring Christopher Plummer and David Warner reprising their roles from The Undiscovered Country) should definitely be considered canonical as they're fairly substantial productions with major actors and don't present any canonical issues.

Klingon Academy is definitely not canon. The Klingon Chancellor before Gorkon was called Lorak in the game, but he was named Kesh in the novels and B'rak in the Federation: The First 150 Years reference book.

Likewise, Chang's bird-of-prey was called the guHmoH in Klingon Academy, but it was named the Dakronh in the novels and Kla'Diyus in the card game.

All non-canon works are required to be consistent with canon, indicating that Klingon Academy never had canon status. That could change someday since TAS was also considered non-canon in the 90s. Should such a change be made? I think the issue is accessibility rather than the presence or lack of continuity problems. Do these games even work on modern PCs or do I need to install Windows 98 or something?

Therin of Andor · Jan 23, 2024

Are the Halloween video clips on file anywhere? During the celebration of the "Picard" Season Two premiere, there was an After-show, during which a hostess took fans on a tour of Guinan's Ten Forward Street Bar and brought attention to the photos of cosplay aliens on the walls, as sent in by fans.

10 Forward Street Bar tour skit by Ian McLean, on Flickr

Ah, I did find a few stills of Shriv, the Andorian bar patron, and a video link to a very brief trivia segment on "X" (former Twitter):
https://twitter.com/little_cinema_/status/1587113404589916168

About Little Cinema Digital :
https://www.verimatrix.com/blog/securing-the-future-of-digital-hollywood-premieres/
https://www.verimatrix.com/blog/securing-the-future-of-digital-hollywood-premieres/
And a making-of:
https://michaelpaulonline.com/picard/

Cryogenator · Jan 23, 2024

Extrocomp said:
Klingon Academy is definitely not canon. The Klingon Chancellor before Gorkon was called Lorak in the game, but he was named Kesh in the novels and B'rak in the Federation: The First 150 Years reference book.

Likewise, Chang's bird-of-prey was called the guHmoH in Klingon Academy, but it was named the Dakronh in the novels and Kla'Diyus in the card game.

Huh? Nothing offscreen has ever been officially considered canon. Klingon Academy doesn't conflict with anything onscreen as far I'm aware, and I place live-action footage (even if from a videogame) above offscreen media, personally.

I think the issue is accessibility rather than the presence or lack of continuity problems. Do these games even work on modern PCs or do I need to install Windows 98 or something?

Klingon Academy's been unofficially patched for modern computers, as have Borg (which can even be played in a browser without installation) and Klingon, while Starfleet Academy's been officially updated for Steam and Good Old Games. Also, anyone can watch a longplay or movie edit on YouTube.

Therin of Andor said:
Are the Halloween video clips on file anywhere? During the celebration of the "Picard" Season Two premiere, there was an After-show, during which a hostess took fans on a tour of Guinan's Ten Forward Street Bar and brought attention to the photos of cosplay aliens on the walls, as sent in by fans.

Oh, interesting! I didn't know about this. You mentioned "Halloween video clips;" were there multiple skits, or just one? And was there a framing story to explain fans calling in to the bar?

James Cole · Jan 23, 2024

Cryogenator said:
Over a 28-year period from 1988 to 2016, seventeen special video stories were officially produced:

Thanks for curating, this will be very interesting to explore. Just a suggestion... maybe use the spoiler code so all the videos don't try and load at once, draining memory.

Therin of Andor · Jan 23, 2024

Cryogenator said:
Oh, interesting! I didn't know about this. You mentioned "Halloween video clips;" were there multiple skits, or just one? And was there a framing story to explain fans calling in to the bar?

It was an ongoing live (or “as live”) online presentation to coincide with the gala premiere for “Picard”. I misremembered it as being a “Star Trek Day” event, but there are references to Halloween and the date appears as November 1 for my Australian computer.

I managed to be watching live when the hostess was pointing out the pics on the wall and explained that many of them had been sent in by fan cosplayers. The camera then focused on my “Therin of Andor” contribution while she was talking.

I think other fans were prearranged to “Zoom in” for trivia questions.

There was no way to save the event, I don’t think, so I was pleased to find a few online video clips last night and the stills of Shriv the Andorian getting transformed from a human. But not the footage I was hoping to see again.

While my submitted pics are quite clear in this event, I stayed blurry for several of the “Picard” episodes -- just a blue blur — but got my closeup in Season Three!

David cgc · Jan 23, 2024

Cryogenator said:
On Reddit, Dotsandlines_ shared a story of working the "Orion Rendezvous" planetarium show

I saw that one at my local science museum when I was a kid. I remember thinking the derelict alien ship we didn't have time to investigate looked like a big robotic parrot. I wonder if that opinion would hold up if I saw that picture again.

Richard S. Ta · Feb 19, 2024

This is actually a really interesting and well researched topic. I hope it stays open.

Rare Treks: Official but Obscure

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