Star Trek: Short Treks review by Bobby Blakey
There are few sci-fi franchises that have had the staying power and impact of Star Trek. The original short run series has spawned numerous films and TV series. In 2017 they unleashed yet another new series with Star Trek: Discovery this time exclusive to CBS All-Access streaming. The show is heading into its third season and it’s been announced of new spin off shows coming up, but have already brought fans the first expansion with Short Treks.
Short Treks are a series of mini-episodes that take fans on new fun filled adventures and stories that expand the Star Trek: Discovery Universe with some familiar faces from the regular series including Anson Mount (“Captain Christopher Pike”), Ethan Peck(“Spock”), Rebecca Romijn (“Number One”), Rainn Wilson (“Harry Mudd”), Mary Wiseman (“Ensign Sylvia Tilly”), Doug Jones (“Commander Saru”) and Aldis Hodge (“Craft”) as well as new characters.
This collection offers up a great variety of stories both live action and animated. They range from serious stories to comedic that take on some origins, side adventures and more. I always love seeing these smaller form stories and how much they can pack into each one to effective stories. Most of them are more
lighthearted with a great one focusing on an early meeting between Number One and Spock that is funny and kind of sets a tone for the future of the Spock character in a fun way.
Both the animated stories are great, but the episode “Ephraim & Dot” is so good. The animation is awesome and fun. The story is both silly and exciting with a great twist attaching it to the original Star Trek series. Rain Wilson returning again as Harry Mudd offers up a crazy fun episode, but my favorite of them all is a return to the trouble that comes with Tribbles. This is an over the top fun episode that is ridiculous and perfection all at once.
This is a great collection of expanded shorts that not only add more to the regular series but to Star Trek as a whole. In addition to all 9 episodes of the Short Treks this collection offers up bonus content including commentary and featurettes taking fans behind these shows. Grab your copy of Star Trek: Short Treks available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Paramount and CBS.