"Discover how a series of non-canonical YouTube shorts redefined the boundaries of Star Trek humor and animation for the 50th anniversary of the first animated spin-off."
Star Trek: Very Short Treks arrived as a chaotic, loving tribute to the franchise’s 50-year history of animation. While brief, its impact on the Star Trek community was significant, proving that the brand could embrace self-parody without losing its core identity. By utilizing the 1970s aesthetic of The Animated Series, it bridged generations of viewers. The show’s legacy lies in its bold rejection of canon, allowing legendary characters to engage in absurd scenarios that traditional series would never permit. It remains a unique artifact of the streaming era, demonstrating that even a massive intellectual property can find success in bite-sized, experimental formats. As the universe continues to expand, fans should set a digital alert for potential revivals or new animated experiments that might suddenly appear on the horizon.
| # | Air Date | Episode Name | Watched? |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Sep 08, 2023 | Skin a Cat | |
| E2 | Sep 13, 2023 | Holiday Party | |
| E3 | Sep 20, 2023 | Worst Contact | |
| E4 | Sep 27, 2023 | Holograms All The Way Down | |
| E5 | Oct 04, 2023 | Walk, Don’t Run |
Production Type: promotional miniseries
Star Trek: Very Short Treks is a standalone promotional miniseries that concluded its 5-episode run in October 2023. Developed as part of the Star Trek Day celebrations and the 50th anniversary of the original animated series, the production utilized a distinct, retro-animation style reminiscent of the 1970s. These shorts were commissioned as a specific commemorative event rather than a continuing narrative, allowing the creative team to explore absurdist humor and non-canon scenarios that would not fit within the standard television entries of the franchise.
The scale of the project was intentionally limited to a five-part digital release, functioning primarily as a marketing bridge and a tribute to the legacy of Saturday morning cartoons. Because the series was conceived as a finite celebration of animation history, the production was designed with a definitive conclusion once the anniversary window closed. This structure ensured that the shorts remained a unique, self-contained experiment in the broader Star Trek universe without the overhead or expectations of a full-season commitment.