Short Trips: Season 1 starts tomorrow

Part of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise is a series called ‘Short Treks’ which has been well received by fans all over the world. But the series is less popular in German-speaking countries. The format has been around since 2018 and has been hidden on Netflix for a while, and is actually quite hard to find. Short Trips are short films, which are snapshots from the “Star Trek” variety series. Season 1 of Short Trips premieres online tomorrow at Paramount + Germany.

Short films as companion anthologies

Star Trek: Short Treks is an anthology originally developed by producers Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman for the CBS All Access (2018) streaming service. It was created as a companion series to “Discovery” and consists of several short films of 10 to 20 minutes in length based on locations and characters from several “Star Trek” series. Each episode is a self-contained story.

The first four episodes aired from October 2018 to January 2019, between the first and second seasons of Discovery. It was largely produced by the Discovery cast and crew, including composer Jeff Russo.

In January 2019, two animated short films followed. Officially, the second season then appeared from October 2019 to January 2020, i.e. during the second season of “Discovery” and the first of “Star Trek: Picard”; with the final “Short Treks” tale serving as a teaser for “Picard”. The short came from the Pixomondo company, and a number of new composers, led by Michael Giacchino, contributed to the music.

The series has received positive reviews and praise from the grassroots and has been nominated for several awards. Kurtzman expressed interest in continuing the series, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he decided not to begin work on new episodes.

“Short Journeys”: Chapters 1 and 2

Short Trips Season 1 consists of four episodes that will be part of the Paramount + Germany catalog starting tomorrow. They mainly play in the story of the “Discovery” series. The six episodes of the upcoming (for us) season two don’t yet have an official release date on Paramount + Germany.

We’ve been reviewing Short Trips for four years. Tomorrow we will paraphrase our old posts for you, add the current contexts and put them online at TrekZone.de.

third season? not clear!

Alex Kurtzman, the chief executive of the “Star Trek” franchise, has been paying high praises to the “Short Treks” series for some time now, so a continuation of the format was expected. As I said, the epidemic followed. Since then, there have also been several layoffs and downgrades at Paramount. So let’s be careful with our hopes. Kurtzman’s words at the time were good:

I loved Short Trips because it’s really an interesting testing ground, both for different kinds of stories and for different talents: new directors, new writers, younger writers, composers. We also took one of the composers and now put it into a series. [‘Short Treks’] Very interesting and useful for us.

I love making them. I think there’s something very satisfying about just figuring out how to tell an entire story in ten to fifteen minutes, sometimes less, just from a purely creative standpoint. [Die ‘Pixar-Shorts’] Make you cry in two minutes. It’s a gift, a real art to do it.

They tell very emotional and very wonderful stories in such a short time. It’s a really interesting and new way to tell Star Trek.

Think about what it might do to Kurtzman, but he’s right: “Short Treks” is a good “Star Trek.”

“Short Trips”: Where Are They On The Internet?

You can find Episodes 1-4 starting Tuesday, July 4, 2023 Paramount + Germany. The first two episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 are already available geo-blocked on the Paramount South Asia Facebook pages:

Previous official releases

“Short Treks” was released in the US on CBS All Access in 2018. Bell Media aired the series in Canada on CTV Sci-Fi Channel (in English) and Z (in French) before the first season also aired on Crave (from October 2018 to January 2019). At the end of January 2019, the first season also appeared on Netflix in the “Trailers and More” section, labeled under “Star Trek: Discovery.”

After the second season aired on CBS All Access, Kurtzman said he expects it to be released on Netflix at some point. Nothing came of it.

For a period in 2020, the second season was available for free in the United States on CBS.com and YouTube as part of the Emmy Awards campaign. On September 20, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that CBS All Access would be expanded and rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021. Short Trips will remain Paramount+. This was and remains the case. But only for US subscribers.

Editor’s comments

Michael Schuh on pending dubbing for Season 2: Season 1 “Short Treks” was sold to Netflix at the time and held under a CBS All Access gag contract (million per episode/license). Season 2 was rejected by Netflix because “Picard” was being released on Amazon outside of Europe at the same time. So there was no licensee who could commission the dubbing for the second season. Now that the rights are again under one roof at the moment, that is, with Paramount +, you can take care of the still open synchronization. This is certainly the case now.

Marian Jaffke on the links between “Short Excursions” and other series: He was very disappointed. I didn’t know “Short Voyages” and couldn’t understand a particular line in “Discovery”. I forced myself to re-watch the episodes just to be able to understand who I am Hani Eka Hali Ka Bo he. Without avail! The character is introduced in the first episode “Journeys”; So, this series, which is still unknown to me. And now I was watching a 2×13 episode of “Discovery,” which suggested to me that I must be familiar with this person. I was wondering about my Netflix binging skills. Today I know: “Short Voyages” has crossovers in several series: “Discovery”, “Picard”, “Strange New Worlds”. Some connections can only be understood if you watch specific episodes of Short Trips. For example, in episode 2×02 of Strange New Worlds, there’s an amusing reference to the first episode of Short Treks season 2. Spock sits on the witness stand and explains why he suspects Una is harboring a secret. I did well!