Mark your calendars, Star Trek fans, because Paramount+ has announced "First Contact Day," a worldwide virtual event featuring some of your favorite franchise stars. As Paramount+ reminds us, the "First Contact Day" event is based on the day the humans first made contact with the Vulcans on April 5, 2063 — a pivotal Star Trek canon moment depicted in the 1996 feature Star Trek: First Contact. The "First Contact Day" event acts as a follow-up to "Star Trek Day" and serves as a continued celebration of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the world he created and shared with viewers more than half a century ago.
Throughout the day, fans around the world can tune in to watch a series of free panels featuring stars from Star Trek shows past and present, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Participating talent includes Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Alice Krige and Sonequa Martin-Green. The panels will be hosted by Wil Wheaton and Mica Burton. In between the panels, additional Star Trek franchise updates, announcements and footage will be shared with fans that you definitely do not want to miss.
In addition to the panels, Paramount+ will participate in the "First Contact Day" event with a marathon of special "Best of First Contacts" episodes. These episodes will be pulled from a variety of Star Trek franchise shows. The marathon will also be broken up into two parts, with one shown before the panel portion of "First Contact Day" begins and the second part shown after. All episodes will be available to U.S. Star Trek fans only and will stream on Paramount+.
"Star Trek: First Contact Day" will take place on Monday, April 5. The fun begins at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT with a "Best of First Contacts" streaming marathon on Paramount+, followed by "First Contact Day Global Panels," a series of free virtual panels featuring your favorite Star Trek franchise alums. Check out the "Star Trek: First Contact Day" trailer and see more information about the marathon and panels below.
Here's the official schedule for the "Best of First Contacts" marathon on Paramount+. Part 1 of the marathon begins at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT and runs until 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT. Part 2 of the marathon begins at 5:45 p.m. ET/2:45 p.m. PT and runs until 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Episodes included in the marathon are:
- 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”
Here's the official schedule for the "First Contact Day Global Panels" event. The panels begin at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT and go until 5:45 p.m. ET/2:45 p.m. PT. The panels will then replay at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Panels will be free to stream worldwide on the official Star Trek First Contact site, on Paramount+'s Twitch, and Pluto TV. Panels will be available for replay on the Paramount+ YouTube page as well as Paramount+. The "First Contact Day" panels are:
- 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 ofStar Trek, as seen in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard.
- "Women In Motion" Panel: FeaturingStar Trek: Discovery's Sonequa Martin-Green, Star Trek: Picard 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, 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 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 Captain Kathryn Janeway herself of Star Trek: Voyager and 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.