The film Star Trek: First Contact established that the first contact with humans and Vulcans will happen on April 5th, 2063; thus April 5th is celebrated as First Contact Day in the future. But there is no reason to wait for that future to celebrate: Paramount+ has lined up some virtual events this year for fans to enjoy, which could include revelations and news on some upcoming shows.
Celebrate First Contact Day with Paramount+
Paramount+ invites fans from around the world to a virtual celebration of First Contact Day on Monday, April 5. The virtual event will honor and commemorate this future date by providing Star Trek fans with exclusive programming, including themed panels with the cast and creatives from classic and current Star Trek television series and cast members from Star Trek: First Contact, exclusive news from the Star Trek Universe on Paramount+, curated episode marathons, the return of the #StarTrekUnitedGives initiative and more. Additional information on free First Contact Day programming and initiatives can be accessed at StarTrek.com/FirstContact.
A follow up to Star Trek Day, First Contact Day is also a continued celebration of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the world he created and first introduced to audiences almost 55 years ago, championing diversity, inclusion, acceptance and hope.
Check out the Paramount+ First Contact Day promo.
First Contact Day virtual programming
FIRST CONTACT DAY GLOBAL PANELS (12:00-2:45 PM PT/3:00-5:45 PM ET)
Join hosts Wil Wheaton and Mica Burton for almost three hours of free themed virtual panels and programming that will feature cast members and creative minds from Star Trek as they discuss exploration, unity through diversity, and new frontiers in the franchise while offering exclusive sneak peeks into what’s next in the Star Trek Universe on Paramount+.
The panels will serve as the global centerpiece of First Contact Day, and each will uniquely honor the legacy and importance of the core values of acceptance and exploration in Star Trek while creating a memorable experience for fans. In addition, Star Trek updates, announcements and footage will be showcased throughout.
The First Contact Day themed panels and panelists are as follows:
- Star Trek: First Contact 25th Anniversary Panel, featuring cast members Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and Alice Krige as they discuss behind-the-scenes memories and the film’s importance 25 years after its premiere.
- “Creating First Contacts” Panel, Costume Designer Gersha Phillips (Star Trek: Discovery), Senior Concept Designer Neville Page, VFX Supervisor Jason Zimmerman and Make-up & Prosthetics Department Head James Mackinnon (Star Trek: Picard) come together in conversation about creating the incredible worlds of Star Trek, as seen in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard.
- “Women In Motion” Panel, featuring Star Trek: Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green, Star Trek: Picard’s Michelle Hurd and Isa Briones, and Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Dawnn Lewis as they look back at how Star Trek: The Original Series actress Nichelle Nichols helped pave the way for women of color on television and overall, and her lasting impact on not only Star Trek, but science and culture.
- “Second Contact” Panel, Mike McMahan, the creator of Star Trek: Lower Decks, Paul F. Tompkins, the co-host of the podcast Star Trek: The Pod Directive and Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek: The Next Generation discuss how some of the hilarious B-stories from past series like Star Trek: The Next Generation paved the way for new iterations of Star Trek, including Star Trek: Lower Decks, the Star Trek franchise’s first animated comedy.
- Star Trek: Prodigy Panel, series executive producers Kevin and Dan Hageman are joined by Star Trek: Voyager‘s Captain Kathryn Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew, who is reprising her role in animated form in Prodigy as they talk about the highly anticipated upcoming CG-animated kids series from Nickelodeon and CBS Studios.
Fans worldwide will be able to livestream the First Contact Day panels for free at StarTrek.com/FirstContact. The panels will also be available to stream for free in the U.S. on PlutoTV and Paramount+’s Twitch page.
After their initial airing, the panels will be available on-demand on Paramount+’s YouTube Channel and on Paramount+.
“BEST OF FIRST CONTACTS” EPISODIC STREAMING MARATHON, PRESENTED BY PARAMOUNT+ (9:00 AM, PT/12:00 PM, ET)
For fans based in the U.S. only, First Contact Day celebrations will kick off with part one of a streaming marathon of episodes featuring iconic first contacts from 10 different Star Trek series. The marathon will pause for the duration of the First Contact Day global panels and will resume with part two after the panels conclude.
The “Best of First Contacts” streaming marathon schedule on Monday, April 5 is as follows:
- 9:00 AM PT/12:00 PM ET – “Best of First Contacts” Star Trek Episodic Marathon, Part 1 begins
- 12:00 PM PT/3:00 PM ET – Part 1 of Marathon Concludes; First Contact Day panels begin
- 2:45 PM PT/5:45 PM ET – “Best of First Contacts” Star Trek Episodic Marathon, Part 2 begins
- 6:00 PM PT/9:00 PM ET – Marathon concludes; First Contact Day panels replay
The Star Trek episodes included in the “Best of First Contacts” streaming marathon are as follows:
- Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 1, Episode 18 – “Arena”
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: Season 1, Episode 1 – “Second Contact”
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Season 4, Episode 7 – “Little Green Men”
- Star Trek: Short Treks: Season 2, Episode 6 –“Children of Mars”
- Star Trek: Voyager: Season 4, Episode 1 – “Scorpion, Part 2”
- Star Trek: Discovery: Season 2, Episode 2 – “New Eden”
- Star Trek: The Animated Series: Season 1, Episode 7 – “The Infinite Vulcan”
- Star Trek: Enterprise: Season 1, Episode 6 – “The Andorian Incident’
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 4, Episode 15 – “First Contact”
- Star Trek: Picard: Season 1, Episode 8 – “Broken Pieces”
The marathon of episodes will be available to stream for free at StarTrek.com/FirstContact for viewers based in the U.S. only.
OFFICIAL STAR TREK MERCHANDISE SALE
The official Star Trek Shop is offering 20% off all merchandise, including special First Contact Day products. Please visit https://shop.startrek.com/ on April 5 to access and learn more about the sale.
#STARTREKUNITEDGIVES CAMPAIGN
On April 5, for every person that tweets the hashtag StarTrekUnitedGives (#StarTrekUnitedGives), Paramount+ will donate $1 to organizations who do the real-world work of championing equality, social justice and the pursuit of scientific advancements.
FIRST CONTACT DAY SOCIAL OPPORTUNITY FOR FANS
Calling all Star Trek fans! On April 5, fans are encouraged to share their point of “first contact” with the Star Trek Universe, whether it’s a memory from when they first connected with a series or film or the moment they felt represented on screen. Use the hashtags #StarTrek, #FirstContactDay and #FirstContact for a chance to be retweeted by the official Star Trek Twitter handles.
#FirstContactDay
Facebook: @StarTrekonPPlus, @StarTrek, @ParamountPlus
Twitter: @StarTrekonPPlus, @StarTrek, @ParamountPlus
Instagram: @StarTrekonPPlus, @StarTrek, @ParamountPlus
Can’t resist pointing out the irony that Paramount+ is having a First Contact Day without being able to actually show “Star Trek: First Contact.”
And how about their “Best of First Contacts” marathon not including “First Contact” from TNG?
Huh? It’s their under the Andorian Incident.
Hah, you are right. I read through the list and when I got to The Andorian Incident, i must have accidentally skipped it because I remember thinking episode 8 of Picard was a weird inclusion for a heavily serialized show.
An absolutely fantastic episode.
An even bigger irony Ian is that the movie was actually on Paramount+ a few months ago and now it’s not. ;)
LOL. Unreal. :)
They seem to have it back, even if it’s not in the marathon. Though Pluto TV is showing it twice today.
I’m glad they picked New Eden because it’s my favourite Discovery episode. They really got the trek spirit in that one. It’s another feather in the cap for Frakes. Come to think of it season 2 for me is the best season so far. I was bitterly disappointed with season 3… oh well.
I rewatched the first two seasons of Discovery last month and yeah New Eden is definitely still the highlight. I really love that episode. It really does capture the feel of classic Trek in a great way. It could be any episode of TOS, TNG, VOY, etc. I’m really hoping this is the kind of stories we get in SNW.
I also enjoyed Season 2 the most so far and was disappointed overall with Season 3. The first few episodes were really good, then it kind of went downhill into pointlessness for a while, before coming back halfway to respectability again. There were a lot of things I liked about the season, but it was just so uneven. And everyone is so weepy all the time.
Looking forward to making some lovely First Contact Day salmon
This is a tradition in your house?
It’s the traditional food for First Contact Day. Don’t you watch Trek? :)
All I’m going to do is drink the good stuff and listen to Roy Orbison and Steppenwolf all day.
that sounds like a PLAN!
I love how they just casually toss The Infinite Vulcan in the mix.
Okay, in 6063 I’ll be 99. Okay, realistically, I’ll be dead. That would suggest that Zephram Cochrane is likely alive now…..and maybe he’s really Elon Musk.
Kinda makes you wonder how the Eugenics Wars worked out, doesn’t it?
So…you were born in 5964?
My snappy reply seems to have died in moderation hell. Who knew that M@rty McF1y and DeL0rans were forbidden….
According to the show, Cochrane was born in the 2030’s. So he won’t be alive for another decade or so.
His looks in First Contact don’t quite match his supposed age but I guess either World World III or heavy drinking took a toll on his body ;-)
That was one helluva grad school project. A shame his physics professor only gave him a C – on it, because everyone knows FTL won’t take you anywhere.
I always thought that they should have just made made First Contact set in 2083 or 93. That way Cromwell would be the right age.
My guess is 2063 was picked to tie into the fact that Star Trek The Franchise (TOS specifically) was born in 1963, a century prior, and this movie is essentially the birth of the fictional universe that we know as Star Trek.
Jonathan Frakes I think described the movie as the Star Trek version of the Nativity if I’m not mistaken.
Reading Wikipedia TOS was officially in development in early 1964 but I’m sure the real germ of the idea was sprung properly the year before, who knows though.
I’m kind of curious about this Prodigy panel. Will they just be talking about some of Janeway’s first contacts on Voyager, or will we learn something about the new show?
I’m hoping we get some character names, profiles, and species.
It would also be interesting to know who will be voicing the crew.
You really have to give them credit, it seems like they are taking advantage of really promoting the franchise these days. I expected September 8th to now be the day for panel events and marathons as we saw last year (especially this year), but it looks like it will be two days now. Cool! First Contact Day has become an important day for fans and I’ll definitely be watching the panels.
I think everyone will be watching the Prodigy panel at least. Maybe we’ll get some real news and even maybe a trailer of some kind!
It’s smart that ViacomCBS has decided to make its own media events for fans rather than relying on industry events or cons organized by 3rd parties. As many have noted here, there is a great deal of material to “reveal” that would be of interest to the core fans but wouldn’t work at the big media events.
Fortunately, many of us will be available to watch this year due to Covid. So, it’s the right time to establish the event.
And as it happens, Easter Monday is a school holiday here in Ontario and a lot of provinces in Canada, and a stat holiday for many employees too.
Yeah it is very smart. And these days it’s only logical to do it because all the conventions and Comic Con stuff has been wiped out, so this is a way to still promote the shows and events to the fans and make it feel like a big deal instead of just throwing out a press release. It gets us more excited and involved. And I always want to hear the veterans of the franchise like Mulgrew, Stewart, Frakes and so on. Some of these guys I can listen to over and over again.
But it’s also great how much attention they give to both the new and old shows. We know this is just a way to promote their new stuff but it’s clear they see ALL the shows as important because at the end of the day they know millions of people still watch all the old shows and it’s about getting as many eyeballs as possible. I still remember having this conversation with a good member here who said that CBS actually want people to forget shows like DS9 and VOY because the ratings weren’t as strong as TNG for example. Or the characters aren’t as popular.
I remember thinking how nuts that idea was because corporations don’t think that way. As long as they all have a fanbase of some sort, and especially a franchise as big as Star Trek, they will always find ways on some level to promote and involve every aspect of it as they been doing for decades now. CBS is proving that in droves these days thankfully. And it’s not the 90s anymore, today not only do we have new generations of fans watching these shows, the metrics are completely different. Some people keep discussing UPN ratings as if UPN is still around lol. All that is completely irrelevant now. UPN is dead, but all these shows still lives on. We have a completely new medium to showcase everything today and it’s reaching people in ways even networks couldn’t do even if they are free to everyone because you don’t have every episode on demand to watch whenever and however you wanted to watch.
I think if it was up to Paramount+, they would love to have all the shows exclusive to that site. Instead these shows by divided by four major streaming sites and most of them way more popular than P+ too. But imagine how beneficial it would be if it was only their site to watch over 700 hours of Star Trek? But I guess having 12 new shows in the next twenty years will get enough fans subscribing. ;)
Where is the Brannon Braga panel, about how after the good vibes of FCD petered out, humanity found out that Vulcanians were massive jerkwads who viewed humans as hopeless children… (or maybe the Vulcanians were correct) …
Well, there was a long road getting from there to here.
To this day, I never had any issues with how the Vulcans were portrayed. I thought it was pretty realistic. Vulcans had been exploring space for centuries and humans just came off a major world war that almost destroyed themselves. I can’t blame them for feeling cautious or how they would be once they did make it into space and met other species full time.
But ultimately they proved the Vulcans wrong and to their credit, they admitted it!
I think the Vulcans seeing as too emotional and illogical while the Andorrans seeing us as push overs was great. Just wish ENT had us prove ourselves a bit more as a coalition builder between the two (countering the Romulans). That they kind of did was where ENT got good, but a little too little too late. Should have got another season I think.
The Vulcans did say humans reminded them the most of themselves before they followed the teachings of Surak.
I loved that they let the Vulcans and Andorians be alien.
I never saw the Vulcan’s as being jerks, just seeing us as primitive (which.. who can blame them?). After all we just nuked ourselves, why would you trust us as an ally/partner. You’d think we have decades to go.
I was more sad when they kept making Vulcans being the bad guys vs. the Andorians, which fair enough, I think I would have done a similar arc, but a little more shades of grey – no good guys, no bad guys.
Honestly I think the pilot would have been better received had Earth got a Vulcan science ship distress signal (maybe while searching for Cochrane). Archer goes to the Vulcans and asks if they want help and the Vulcans go “no way, we can’t rescue them from a Vegan Tyranny Voidship, no way you can. It would be illogical to waste lives trying”.
Then Archer heads out with his ship anyway, loses it in the process, but rescues the Vulcan science crew.
The Vulcans then do a double take – who are these crazy humans – and provide them the ship they rescued. Earth repairs it and makes it a combo Vulcan / Terran ship.
The whole series could have played on the analog of Kirk as humanity, Spock as the Vulcans, McCoy as the Andorians – yes they all are different and disagree but together come out stronger – the Federation being of value greater than that of each individual species on their own.
This all comes to a head when the Romulans come back to conquer Vulcan but run into the rather annoying Earth forces.
I am not ok with Star Trek: First Contact being 25 years old this year.
How fast time flies…
I know, I too was young once now i’m an old man it’s not logical. I still remember seeing the Undiscovered Country in the cinema like it was yesterday.
It blew my mind, in 2016, to think that the 25th Anniversary movie was having its 25th anniversary…
Strange, random choice of episodes. “Children of Mars“, “Second Contact“, and “New Eden” are not first contacts (New Eden is humans transplanted from Earth!) How about…
.
First contact with the Klingons (ENT: Broken Bow)
First contact with the Romulans, face to face (TOS: Balance of Terror)
First contact with the Borg (TNG: Q Who?)
First contact with the Dominion (DS9: The Jem’Hadar)
I agree, but I think they are just adding more popular episodes as well. They have probably 100 ‘first contact’ episodes when all said and done between all the shows, it’s not exactly hard to pick better ones. I mean Voyager episode is bizarre. Every other week that show was dealing with a first contact on some level and yet they picked Scorpion part 2???? Why? It’s so weird that’s the one they go with. Even more strange because they don’t even go with part 1. My only guess is because they want the episode that introduced Seven of Nine to the show more than caring about the first contact theme since they met Species 8472 in both parts.
Almost makes you come to the conclusion they need to reboot Star Trek in its entirety. The Prime directive sets up at least one first contact in ENT that should have gone horribly wrong, first contact with the Klingons you’d think would have gone differently. I always picture Cochrane making first contact with the matriarchal Alpha Centarians and him gladly doing a deal to help post WW3 Earth and a male short AC (see Prime Directive RPG).
Also I am always amazed that they don’t have the Fédération in natural conflict with a star lifting race (an entity that “helps” primitive races by giving them tech). The Klingons seemed to be doing this in A Private Little War. Perhaps the Empire has some uplifted races that worship the Klingons as a result?
Seems a lot of grey there – is the federation letting aliens die or saving them from contamination? Is the uplifting to help or to gain the allegiance of the primitive?
Star Trek post TOS has the budget to do new civilization but rarely delivers.
What about the 95% of the population that can’t get Paramount+?
As mentioned, the panels will be available globally on startrek.com. The marathon of episodes will only be available on Paramount+. However, if you’re outside North America you can probably stream most of these either on Netlix or Amazon Prime.
They did say say all the panels will be on their Youtube page, where I watched most of the panels last year, they just won’t be live and added after the panels are finished on Paramount+. Pretty much everyone has Youtube these days.
Would have been the PERFECT opportunity to bring out “Star Trek: First Contact” in 4k. Which is long overdue anyway. And after it more and more of the other films.
When is the 4K UHD in HDR disc coming out? I could say the same thing for all of the films before 2009.
where exactly were the eps streaming from