TrekIn2011: Best Star Trek Music, Video/TV & Art

2011 also saw a lot of interesting media releases in the world of Star Trek, including new music CDs, new TV broadcasts and DVDs, new internet and and video game content and new artwork. Today we take a look at the best of the year in Star Trek media.

 

BEST STAR TREK MUSIC, VIDEO & ART OF 2011

Best Music Release – Star Trek: TNG Collection Vol. 1

2001 saw some interesting musical releases, mostly from non-official sources such as albums from the band Five Year Mission and William Shatner’s "Seeking Major Tom" sci-fi themed music CD. But the best Star Trek music of the year was more music from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Last year saw FSM’s wonderful 14 CD Ron Jones Star Trek TNG collection. And in 2011 La La Land wins the best of the year with Volume 1 of their Star Trek TNG collection. The 3CD set was a collector’s dream with 3 hours of previouisly unreleased music
from TNG, along with excellent set of liner notes.     

 

Best DVD/TV Broadcast – "The Captains"

The 45th anniversary year of Star Trek saw a few new documentaries. Late 2010 saw "The Captains of the Final Frontier" on the Bio Channel. This year saw a couple of interesting documentaries about Star Trek conventions, including the "Back to Space Con" DVD. And recently we finally got a chance to see Rod Roddenberry’s impressive "Trek Nation" journey of discovery. There was even an odd Trek-related DVD in 2011 ("Trek Stars Go West") compiling westerns with the stars
of the original Star Trek. There was even an adult film "Star Trek: The Next Generation – A XXX Parody" (which offers a porn-free version that is as good as the best fan film and even respects canon!)

But the favorite entry of the year was the broadcast (and subsequent DVD release) of William Shatner’s "The Captains." The documentary gave fans a unique opportunity to see the original Kirk sit down with his fellow Trek captains and talk candidly about how Star Trek had affected their careers and even their personal lives.  

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Best Video Re-release – Netflix/Amazon Star Trek Streaming 

Continuing the tradition of Star Trek embracing each new medium to release content, 2011 saw the release of Star Trek via online streaming to both Netflix and Amazon Unbox. Both services now have every single episode (including the animated series). These are available to view via a computer or other enabled devices including TVs, Blu-ray players and mobile devices. Both are commercial free and part of the regular subscriptions.

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Best Computer/Video Game – Yoostar 2

The world of Star Trek gaming has slowed down lately. The Star Trek Online MMORPG continues to run with new updates, but 2012 will see the game go through a big change to Free-to-play which will hopefully revitalize the title. There was hope for another browser based game from Gameforge, but that is now in doubt. A new console game linked to the new movie universe has been announced, but that wont be until next year (at the earlist). So this year the most new fun to be had with Star Trek and videogames comes from Yoostar 2, which is the new version of the music karaoke game (for the Kinect for Xbox 360 and the PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system utilizing the PlayStation®Eye) which lets you play out scenes from TV and movies, including a number of Star Trek scenes. The basic box set comes with a few Star Trek selections and there are a number of additional
scenes you can buy online as well.

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Best Art – Mondo Tees "City on the Edge of Forever" Poster

2011 saw a good selection of new Star Trek art. There was the launch of the Star Trek Fine Art collection, and the fun Star Trek Mosaics made from fan photos. Plus Light Speed Fine Art continue to offer interesting Star Trek prints. However, TrekMovie must again look to the creative folks and Mondo Tees for their innovative line of Star Trek inspired posters. There were a number of (the way too limited) releases in 2011, but the favorite was the one inspired by the episode "City on the Edge of Forever" for its simple evocative design.  

More 2011 look back to come

 Stay tuned for more retrospective looks back at the year that was.

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Best series: Deep Space Nine. :-)

Star Trek hasn’t had nearly enough television exposure that it deserves, and we fans desire. Let’s hope the New Year brings Star Trek back to television where it began. Happy New Years everyone.

First?

The Captains looks very worthwhile, though. I’ll have to see it. :-)

Sweet Mondo art… did Harlan get his commission??? ;)

Good recap. My choices would definitely be Five Year Mission for Best Music release and Trek Nation for Best DVD/TV Broadcast. Trek Nation was the highlight of the year, compared to The Captains, which was good, but not as satisfying as Trek Nation.

Best Art should be: Every Mondo Poster. (They are all amazing!)

Has anyone else noted that on the Blu Ray release of the TNG movies, the 5.1 sound tracks are inverted [back is in front, front is in back]? It is really an irritation and I can’t believe that no one else has noticed this. I have tried them on several different 5.1 systems with the same results and a friend tried his discs- he hadn’t noticed it, but the problem was on his too.

I thought that the tng sample bluray isn’t out yet.

Wish the Trek shows had made it to Netflix Canada like we had been lead to believe. :(

7 – 6 is talking about the TNG Movies, not the TNG series. I don’t own those on Bluray so I don’t know, but my pet peeve is that on the ST II Bluray, Ceti Alpha V is now grey instead of Brown like it was when the film was released originally.

#3,Oh you should! I’ve seen twice,it’s very good!:)

And that poster is just one of the most awesome things I’ve seen in a while! Wonderful!

#6 – No, what are you talking about? The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks are not only fine, they sound terrific.

#9 – Recalibrate your TV. There is nothing wrong with Ceti Apha V.
The red shift of the previous transfers is gone and it now looks as it did theatrically.

I finally had a chance to see The Captains recently and it was one of the best Star Trek docos I have ever seen! :-)

This article calls Trek Nation “impressive.” That’s the first good thing I have heard about it, but I haven’t seen it. Please let me know if it is worth watching.

14. Trek Nation was MUCH better than Shatner’s “The Captains” IMO…

Wasn’t at all impressed with The Captains. It was just a lot of back-patting, non-Trek related Inside-the-Actors’-Studio-wannabe jibber-jabber (especially Avery Brooks; seriously, what the hell? Was he off his meds that day?). The only scene that interested me (however staged, it was) was Shatner speaking with a paralyzed fan. That was touching; and I don’t care if it was just a stunt for the cameras because he really made that young man’s day.

But I really loved Trek Nation. Can’t wait for the dvd. Rod Roddenberry’s understanding of his parent’s legacy was both intriguing and a bit moving. And some of the old super 8 and videotape footage was priceless…

Have to agree…treknation wayyyy better than captains…but it was fun to see shat challenging pine n losing badly arm wrestling…also enjoyed the scenes where shat surprised fans at cons..i cud watch a dvd of that all by itself..
And music no mention of meekakitty star trek girl?

Anyone know if rod has announced when Treknation will be out on dvd? and will it be in stores or only on his website?

Its really very nice and mostly i enjoyed all scenes. Big fan of Trek Nation. All the best.