William Shatner's Idea For A Star Trek 50th Anniversary Episode

Star Trek originally premiered on network television back in September of 1966. In the time since, Star Trek has put together numerous films and TV projects, and has become a cultural icon for American audiences. Next year, Star Trek will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary, and lead William Shatner recently revealed he has an idea for a special episode of Star Trek. He also mentioned he has already pitched his new idea to Syfy.

I went to the Syfy network, which hasn’t given me their final answer, but I broached the idea that the 50th anniversary show would be about the ideas that Star Trek dramatized.

Speaking at the 2015 Fan Expo in Vancouver, William Shatner went on to say that Star Trek made a name for itself by tackling the issues of its time, including racial tensions. He tells a story about the Season 3 episode, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” in which a man had to deal with the problems that came along with having a face that was partially white and partially black. He also mentions various other themes that the original show addressed and says he wants to see a potential anniversary special tackle those in an hour and a half-long program.

Obviously, none of this is set in stone, yet, but it’s nice to see that William Shatner is already thinking about a potential Star Trek anniversary special. He’s not the only one. The Internet has been abuzz with ideas for what Star Trek might do when it turns 50. Those ideas have ranged from big conventions to a brand new TV series, but it’s especially interesting to hear that Shatner actually pitched an interesting special idea to Syfy, even if it comes to naught. (And a deal with Syfy may not be as strange as it seems, as Shatner has worked with the cable network before).

We do know that the currently untitled Star Trek 3 is already moving forward, with Simon Pegg writing and Fast and Furious director Justin Lin at the helm. Although the creative team is now settled, Paramount earlier had some trouble getting the blockbuster off the ground. Now, the movie is expected to be written by June and will hopefully allow the film to keep its 2016 premiere date.

In the meantime, at least it seems that those close to the Star Trek franchise are at least thinking about other ways to celebrate the franchise’s big anniversary. You can catch Shatner’s full story, below.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.