*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS*****

To fans of Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-4) like myself, I was delighted to see the opening of the first of five Star Trek: Very Short Treks unveil recently, as I loved its tongue-in-cheek reimagining of the Paramount+ Star Trek into, which is now rendered in nostalgically cheesy, Filmation-style animation. The short began as a loving tribute to TAS; right down to the bridge layout and character designs. Then the story (titled “To Skin a Cat”) actually began, and I was less than thrilled, to put it mildly (and without my previous expletives). In short, it sucked.

The good news is that there are only five of these “Star Trek: Very Short Treks,” and that they are only about five minutes apiece. The bad news is that the first three of the five are truly godawful. They are not only antithetical to what Star Trek is about, they are also terribly unfunny—like a lackluster Saturday Night Live sketch that crawled past rehearsal and inexplicably made it to air. Of the five, only two take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the looser, funkier 1970s-style of animation as well as a tremendous pool of voice talent, including George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Ethan Peck, Bruce Horak and many other Trek veterans who returned to voice these shorts. 

These shorts, created by Casper Kelly (Adult Swim’s “Too Many Cooks”) and directed by Aaron Hawkins, are currently available on  as well as YouTube.  They’re embedded in this column as well. 

“To Skin a Cat”

The first Very Short Trek, “To Skin a Cat,” debuted on September 8th (“Star Trek Day”; the original airdate of both The Original Series in 1966 and The Animated Star Trek series in 1973). It is the most faithful to the style of Star Trek: TAS, and it is perhaps the worst of the five segments. In this short, the Enterprise is surrounded by Klingon vessels.  Outgunned, Kirk casually quips, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat”—an Earth metaphor that shocks and offends Lt. M’Ress (Christina Milizia), the feline communications officer. Kirk then unthinkingly blunders his way through a series of other unintentionally insulting metaphors, all of which offend various other bridge officers, including screw and butt-headed crew members. Oh dear. This one dumb joke is stretched to five agonizing minutes, at which point I was rooting for the Klingons to finish the job…

Note: The so-called central ‘joke’ of this episode reminds me of the backlash from far-right reactionary Star Trek fans who get angry at any hint of ‘wokeness’ in their Star Trek—such as being inclusive for a wide range of cultures, races, religions, and sexualities, both actual and metaphorical. In other words, what Star Trek has been doing for the past 57 years. I honestly don’t know what series the ‘anti-woke’ Trek fans are following, but it’s not the IDIC-based Star Trek I’ve watched for most of my 57-year life (I was born the year Star Trek debuted, and for as long as I can remember, it’s always been inclusive). “To Skin a Cat” reminded me of a Mirror Universe Star Trek, as reimagined by Florida governor Ron DeSantis. It was downright embarrassing to watch. In Spock-level exactitude, I laughed exactly zero point zero times.  Speaking of Spock, Ethan Peck returns to voice the character, while Kirk is explicably drawn and voiced to look like no other version of Kirk I’ve ever seen.

“Holiday Party”

“Holiday Party” is set during the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, wherein Spock (Peck) is tapped by Hemmer (Bruce Horak) to take over as emcee during the annual “First Contact Day” party (First Contact being April 5th; the day humans and Vulcans met). In the Enterprise’s lounge, we see other ship’s officers, including Ensign Uhura (Celia Gooding), Nurse Chapel and Number One.  Once given the floor, Spock then introduces a Starfleet ‘blooper reel’ on a viewscreen—a holiday or wrap-party tradition in the entertainment industry, where cast and crew share a good laugh over a movie or TV series’ outtakes.  In this case, the literal-minded Spock has put together a reel of horrific Starfleet disasters from all over the Federation that include images of disfigurement, viscera, tragedy, and other ‘funny mistakes’ he hopes will elicit a few laughs from the crowd. They don’t. Once again, this single bad joke at Spock’s seeming cluelessness goes on for at least three more agonizing minutes.

Note: Don’t get me wrong; I love “Beavis and Butthead”-style humor as much as anyone, but it belongs in Star Trek as much as much as aged Kentucky bourbon belongs in a bowl of Lucky Charms. It’s as if writer Casper Kelly thinks Spock’s literal mindset (which is often seen as an example of neurodiverse representation) is fodder for audience mockery, because, you know…he’s different and stuff.  Get it?  Hardy har-har.  This version of Spock seems atypically thick and oblivious to the pain and discomfort he’s causing his shipmates—not at all like the Spock we’ve seen in every other Star Trek to date. Once again; Spock has the same emotions as anyone else, he merely suppresses them. This is another thin joke stretched over four painful, terribly unfunny minutes. The best humor in Star Trek more often comes organically from the characters and situations, not through cruel mockery.  In that regard, creator/writer Casper Kelly seems as oblivious to what makes Star Trek tick as his own version of Spock.

“Worst Contact”

Set in the TNG-era, “Worst Contact” sees Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and another crewman beam down to make ‘first contact’ with an alien species that has just developed warp drive.  Arriving in the aliens’ warp core lab at their historic moment, the Enterprise-D officers are disgusted to learn that the aliens never wash their hands. They also decorate their habitats with their own snot, and have a slew of other disgusting habits and customs that (once again) feel more at home in an episode of “Beavis and Butthead” than they do on Star Trek.  As the aliens reach out to touch in friendship, Riker creates a distraction and destroys their warp core with his phaser. He then blames its destruction on their design.  Riker and the others then sheepishly beam away from these admittedly gross, yet benign creatures…

Note: Star Trek already dealt with a physically off-putting humanoid species, the Skrreeans (an argumentative people who shed flakes of skin), in Deep Space Nine’s “Sanctuary.” I realize that “Worst Contact” is only meant to be a one-note gross-out joke, but at four minutes, it’s a patience-taxing one. Once again, the so-called humor of this short comes from seeing our Star Trek ‘heroes’ behaving like superficial a$$h@les to other species.  Writer Kelly could’ve at least had Riker shake the alien’s hand (however disgusting), and then hurriedly beaming back to the ship to quickly wash his hand afterward—that would’ve felt slightly more in-character than having Riker destroy the poor creatures’ warp project because they’re unhygienic. So far, these Very Short Treks are about as ‘funny’ as a sightless person falling down a flight of stairs. If I want to see shallow, badly-behaving characters in a comedy, I’d much rather watch a 30-year old episode of “Seinfeld.”

“Holograms All the Way Down”

The only episode not written by series’ creator Kelly, “Holograms…” was written by Aaron J. Waltke, and is the first of the five that’s actually funny and clever; two firsts for this short series.  The idea of holodecks as teaching tools is taken to a meta level, playfully riffing on one of the least-liked episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise (“These Are the Voyages…”). Flashing back to the NX-01 era, we see chief engineer Charles “Trip” Tucker (Connor Trinneer) being blown across the bridge during a surprise Klingon attack, before TNG’s Riker (Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) freeze what turns out to be a holodeck program on the Enterprise-D, before they too, are revealed to be a virtual program viewed within a holosuite by Quark and Garak on Deep Space Nine, which is another holodeck program being viewed by the crew of Star Trek: Lower Decks, which is yet another holodeck program being viewed by the crew of the Cerritos, before its revealed the Cerritos crew are a holodeck simulation being viewed by the young alien crew of the Protostar, which itself is a ‘Recreation Room’ simulation (Rec Room being TAS’ predecessor to the holodeck) being run by Sulu (George Takei). That simulation is then revealed to be a program run by Saru (Doug Jones) aboard the starship Discovery.  We then come back to Charles “Trip” Tucker, who is running that program—and who is revealed to be a bizarre, polycephalic being consisting of himself, T’Pol, Riker, Spock and Uhura (!). The computer itself (Bonnie Gordon) then freezes what turns out to be yet another simulation…

Note: Okay, that’s more like it, thanks. Finally, we have humor that isn’t based upon cruelly mocking other characters or other species. This is humor that feels like it comes from a genuine place of love for Star Trek.  If this had been the first episode instead of the fourth, I would’ve been singing this sketch show’s praises right out of the box.  It’s also great to see characters from the unjustly aborted Star Trek: Prodigy getting another shot within the franchise, after their unceremonious (and unjust) cancellation by Paramount+ after only one season. I also enjoyed the unexplained Trip/T’Pol/Spock/Uhura/Riker blob at the end—it was crazy, but oddly fitting in an episode that gently takes the piss out of Star Trek without trashing everything that makes the franchise so beloved.

“Walk Don’t Run”

Lower Decks’ resident Orion D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) hosts yet another meta-story that seemingly exists outside of the franchise, as she meets with Scotty (Carlos Alazraqui), Arex and M’Ress (Christina Milizia) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Animated Series.  After presenting a highlights reel from the show, Tendi then puts her foot in her mouth by telling Scotty and M’Ress that their cruder series paved the way for more sophisticated animated adventures, like those seen on her show.  Scotty retorts by mentioning Lower Decks’ infamous orgy scene, as he and M’Ress then take off their clothes and underwear before merrily running around on the bridge (self-censored, of course).  As the generations squabble, the bridge turbolift doors part to reveal Sulu (George Takei) and Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who insist that everyone join them in celebrating the entirety of Star Trek with a colorful, musical jam session.  We then see Riker on his trombone, Scotty on drums, and Sulu playing the helm console like a DJ’s controller.  Using 1970s-style musical animation similar to the “Groovy Ghoulies,” “Brady Bunch” and “Partridge Family” cartoons, this unexpectedly sweet-natured celebration of all-things Star Trek is interrupted by a surprise Klingon attack (which is ignored), taking us right to where these five shorts began.

Note: For once, the risqué humor of these shorts actually works, as the undressing Scotty and M’Ress tease Lower Decks’ infamous orgy scene. I don’t say that simply because I dislike the humor of Lower Decks (something I’ve made no secret of), but because the animated-Scotty has a legitimate point. I also appreciated that this episode doesn’t end with the squabbling between Tendi and the TOS Star Trek crew—it ends with all of the generations coming together for a hilarious, and appropriately cheesy 1970s-animation inspired musical number!  It’s a shame the Space Hippies of TOS’ “The Way to Eden” weren’t invited back to jam with the gang in that grand finale.  All the same, I’m surprised that series creator/writer Kelly had something like this up his sleeve, based on his lackluster first three shorts. On a side note, voice actor Carlos Alazraqui, who does an uncanny James Doohan impersonation (as well as guest-roles on Lower Decks), is also the real-life father of child actor Rylee Alazraqui, who voiced the beloved character of “Rok-Tahk” on the prematurely cancelled Star Trek: Prodigy.  

Summing It Up

For ‘very short’ Treks, the first three of these sure felt mighty long. A scratchy, out-of-focus print of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” with the sound off would be easier to endure than the first three Very Short Treks.  But by the fourth short, something very unexpected happened—they became watchable. Hell, I even chuckled a few times. The humor in those final two was clever and meta—no longer relying on cruelty and gross-out jokes. Those final two shorts are (to quote Spock in “Star Trek V”) “surprisingly good,” and well worth checking out.

I also enjoyed hearing so many of the live-action actors returning to voice their respective characters (George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Armin Shimerman, Doug Jones, Ethan Peck, et al; it’s a virtual convention of Star Trek talent).  While some of their efforts feel wasted (Celia Gooding, for example), the final two shorts offer a better return for others. It’s nice that the voice actors from Star Trek: Prodigy have been given a seat at the table, too (I still scratch my head over Paramount+’s appalling decision to cancel that brilliant animated series…).

Overall, these five “Very Short Treks” are a curious mix.  As a longtime fan of Star Trek: The Animated Series, it’s affirming to see the formerly non-canonical TAS (infamously declared so by no less than the late Gene Roddenberry himself) finally being shown a little overdue appreciation, especially with the final short, “Walk, Don’t Run,” which lapses into a love fest for all things Star Trek.  While the first three shorts had me wondering if I’d finally outgrown the franchise once and for all, the final two had me banging my imaginary tambourine with affection for Star Trek all over again…

Live long and prosper, folks.  

Where To Watch

As mentioned up top, you can also view “Very Short Treks” on YouTube, StarTrek.com or in this column’s YouTube embedded links above (while they last…).