10 Best Star Trek Documentaries
Which are the key documentaries to watch on the Star Trek franchise?
There are several fantastic documentaries on Star Trek out there, including here and here, but which of the ones that have been commercially released are the essential pieces of Trek history? Is it the deep dive into the fandom or the films that tend to focus on the actors themselves that have lent themselves to a higher production value and better longevity?
Fans have been somewhat spoiled in the last few years with the fantastic additions by David Zappone, who has helped to helm William Shatner's Get A Life!, Chaos on the Bridge, For The Love Of Spock and What We Left Behind. As of the writing of this article, he is working on a new documentary, To The Journey: Looking Back At Star Trek: Voyager.
Yet there have been documentaries and specials for almost as long as the franchise has existed, taking fans and those curious behind the scenes of the final frontier. They may not all have reached the same heights as others, yet almost every behind the scenes look at Star Trek has come from a place of love, fun and, in some cases, mischief, lifting the lid on one of the longest-running SciFi franchises in history.
10. 50 Years Of Star Trek
This documentary aired on the History Channel in 2016, before being released on DVD later that year. While it is a warm look at Star Trek's earlier years, it falls a little short of offering a full retrospective on the franchise. Added to this, while there are plenty of welcome contributors, the respective Captains are conspicuously missing.
Shatner, for one, is talked about a lot, though does not appear. An older interview with Leonard Nimoy seems to have been added to fill the Kirk-sized gap. Jeri Ryan however is one of the better 'talking heads' in the piece, with D.C. Fontana also getting a chance to shine.
Though this documentary skews closer to The Original Series and The Next Generation, in terms of the ground it covers, it feels right that on the 50th Anniversary the origins of Star Trek are the focus. Having said that, while there is plenty of talk about Gene Roddenberry, there is next to nothing about Gene L. Coon, the producer who was heavily involved in getting the Enterprise up into space.
Overall, the documentary is well worth a watch, if a little thin on material.