Last weekend, the Television Academy presented their Governor’s Award to CBS for all of Star Trek‘s achievements over the last 52 years, commending it as a “visionary science-fiction television franchise and its legacy of boldly propelling science, society, and culture where no one has gone before.” It’s a richly deserved accolade, too, as the show has repeatedly broken new ground in what can be done on television, has impacted upon the lives of millions of people worldwide and continues to paint a positive utopia to which we can aspire.
Accepting the award were William Shatner and Star Trek: Discovery lead Sonequa Martin-Green, though there were many representatives from across the various Star Trek series in attendance as well. In fact, they all gathered for a few photos that are basically a Trekkie’s wet dream.
Check them out below:
So, that’s William Shatner and Walter Koenig from Star Trek: The Original Series, LeVar Burton from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Terry Farrell from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Jeri Ryan from Star Trek: Voyager, Linda Park from Star Trek: Enterprise and Sonequa Martin-Green of Star Trek: Discovery (and Discovery co-creator Alex Kurtzman). Someone get these people a starship!
The award itself was presented by Bill Nye, who also introduced an awesome tribute video (which you can see here) spanning the entire history of Trek. During the presentation, various stars spoke about how important the long-running show has been for them. Shatner, for instance, explained that Trek “represents an idea that is greater than all its parts,” while Koenig said that “it resonates because we were talking about topical issues and socio-political content” and Kurtzmann considers the show “a beacon of hope for so many people for so long. In dark times, we need that hope.”
While we treasure the past, right now it seems as if Trek could easily continue for another half-century. Season 2 of Discovery looks very promising, everyone’s eagerly anticipating seeing Patrick Stewart step back into Jean-Luc Picard’s shoes and then there’s the deeply tantalizing mystery of what Quentin Tarantino’s “bananas” Star Trek film project will consist of. Suffice it to say, it’s a very good time to be a fan.
