- 6 hours ago
A curated selection of Star Trek's most uplifting and memorable scenes. These moments, spanning across different series and timelines, remind us of the core values of hope, connection, and the pursuit of a better future, proving that even in dark times, the spirit of exploration shines.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00This is a list that's been on the docket for quite some time, and for increasingly obvious reasons.
00:05Every day, all one needs to do is turn on the news, and there is something else that will shock
00:09and upset.
00:10I won't mince words, these days are dark.
00:13There are many things happening in the world right now that will get under the skin of the strongest person,
00:18making any of them question the truth of a brighter future.
00:21What place does Star Trek have in a world like this?
00:24I've been a Trekkie since 1990, though I'm told on good authority that I watch the best of both worlds,
00:29with gusto.
00:30In this time, there's been quite a shift in the world.
00:34Economies have collapsed, eternal truths have proved temporary, and hope has become a rare commodity.
00:40In all of that, there's been Star Trek.
00:42It may have changed forms, and people, and even locations,
00:45but the core of the universe has always teased for a brighter future,
00:50one where we can move past the troubles that divide us today.
00:53In this, I've compiled a list of those moments that offer the viewer a smile,
00:57regardless of mood, moment, or situation.
01:00Sometimes, one just needs to see something upbeat and joyous.
01:04These are some of those moments in Star Trek.
01:06I'm Sean Feig for Trek Culture, and here are 10 Star Trek moments that always make you smile.
01:13Number 10, Pathfinder.
01:15Looking back on Star Trek Voyager, one can never discount the distance between the lost ship and the Alpha Quadrant,
01:21but one could also be forgiven for thinking everything was rather close to each other.
01:25We blame the constant pristine condition of the ship,
01:28but in the same breath, can we get a round of applause for those engineers?
01:30By the sixth season, the ship had made semi-regular contact with home,
01:35but they hadn't had the chance to speak directly to Starfleet.
01:38Compressed messages were all the rage, until a face-to-face Zoom call popped up on the astrometric screen.
01:44Barkley did something that audiences may not have expected.
01:48He, based on Earth, achieved what Voyager, and by extension, us, had been hoping for.
01:53He proved that the ship was never abandoned.
01:56They were lost, but at least one person never stopped looking.
01:59That first message both broke our hearts and lifted them up to the ceiling.
02:04Voyager was the focus of the show, but the audience may have been watching from a place of many years
02:10of Trek.
02:10Starfleet would never give up on a lost ship, they believed.
02:14Pathfinder and Reginald Barkley proved it.
02:18There are many moments of this episode that will tug on the heartstrings,
02:21but seeing Tom Paris' reaction when he hears his father's voice for the first time in almost six years
02:26opens a floodgate of emotions.
02:28One only compounded with Janeway's final,
02:31keep a docking bay open for us.
02:34Catharsis, joy, and hope, all in a single sentence.
02:38Number 9. Trials and Tribulations
02:41If there were a phaser placed to your head,
02:43and you were ordered to pick one moment from this episode that makes you smile more than any other,
02:47whatever you chose, I will tell you that you're right.
02:50Because it's just one of those episodes, one that is concerned only with sharing a bit of joy in the
02:55universe.
02:56The fact that it pops up in a series that generally took itself so seriously only adds to the fun.
03:01What a celebration this was of 30 years of Star Trek, merging two iterations of the universe together,
03:08playing with nostalgia the whole time.
03:10If one picked the Klingon bar fight, they'd be right.
03:13If one picked Dax fancying Spock in the hallway, they'd be right.
03:16But for this entry, there is a moment that stands out in a heartwarming and beautiful way,
03:21and full of sculpture, this theme may be repeated later on this list.
03:26The entire incident is an accident,
03:28caused by a man who wants nothing more than to punish James T. Kirk for his own humiliation.
03:33Instead, he gives a 24th century Starfleet crew the chance to say hi to their 23rd century forebears.
03:40This is epitomized on the bridge when, just before the Defiant returns home,
03:45Captain Sisko takes the opportunity to meet Captain Kirk.
03:48Even Sisko knows that it might have been a step too far over the temporal Prime Directive's lines,
03:54but as those agents assert, they would probably have done the same thing themselves.
03:58We know that we would have too.
04:00Number 8.
04:01I should have done this years ago.
04:04Star Trek has been graced with several strong series finales,
04:08where ships return home, or are sent out on missions,
04:11or the crews even see the birth of the Federation.
04:14All of them have their own wonderful charms,
04:16even those based on the holodeck,
04:18but here there is a giant, joyful smile,
04:22all thanks to a single hand of poker.
04:24Star Trek The Next Generation shook the world when it debuted,
04:28offering a shaky first season,
04:30and then delivering one of the finest sci-fi series ever made by the show's end.
04:35All Good Things is easily one of Star Trek's best finales.
04:38Giving a true sense of closure,
04:40while leaving the door open to more adventures to come.
04:43Poker was a recurring motif in the show,
04:45with Riker being the main proponent.
04:47While Data wasn't innocent,
04:49the entire senior staff eventually joined those games,
04:52bar one.
04:53Having Picard join that final poker game
04:56was not just a perfect ending to the series finale,
04:59but a poignant cap on The Next Generation as a whole.
05:03The game was ongoing,
05:04as were the feelings between this crew.
05:07As The Next Generation didn't end with the ship being decommissioned,
05:11or the crew being reassigned,
05:12that final shot of the poker table,
05:14with the crew in a circle,
05:16while the Enterprise D flew off into the stars,
05:19offered the excitement of future adventures to come.
05:22While other finales sought to repeat that upbeat feeling,
05:25this was the true epitome of a generation's joy in each other.
05:30Number 7.
05:31Jim!
05:33There are, of course,
05:34so many moments in the original series to pick from,
05:37that it becomes a bit of a challenge to choose
05:39what makes us smile the most.
05:41Is it literally every scene that Uhura is in?
05:44Is it all of the McCoyisms that populate the show?
05:47Or is it Chekhov's frequent assurances
05:49that a Russian person will always be the one responsible for innovation?
05:53Here, it is a simple thing.
05:55It's Jim Kirk's death.
05:56Yep, that's it.
05:57That's the entry.
05:58Next.
05:59Technically, I'm not lying.
06:01In a muck time,
06:03Spock fully believes that he's killed Kirk,
06:05Calafee and all,
06:07Lerpa in hand.
06:08The fact that Kirk survives
06:10does nothing to dull, initially,
06:12Spock's emotional outbursts,
06:13as evidenced in sickbay toward the end.
06:16On Vulcan,
06:17Kirk is pronounced dead.
06:19Regardless of his Vulcan blood,
06:20Spock understands his crime.
06:22He leaves to face the music,
06:24except a certain very living Kirk
06:26is there to throw a fairly massive spanner in the works.
06:29How are you, Spock?
06:30What's the story?
06:31Jim!
06:32To this day,
06:33it is hard not to break out
06:35in a massive smile
06:37when the stoic first officer finally lets loose.
06:40He may almost immediately rein everything back in,
06:43but in that moment,
06:44we see that first officer
06:46lose all emotional control,
06:48overcome with joy and happiness.
06:50Spock,
06:51in that moment,
06:52you become us all.
06:54For that,
06:54we're eternally grateful.
06:57Number six,
06:58Sundays.
06:59Tuvok and Neelix
07:00have had the most interesting journey along the way.
07:03For two men who started their relationship,
07:05slowly,
07:06from opposite ends,
07:07if you will,
07:08they became closer than anyone dared to dream.
07:11Tuvix may be the most hot-button topic
07:13in the Delta Quadrant,
07:14but he was also a union of two diametrically opposed people.
07:18In Riddles,
07:20Tuvok starts again from zero.
07:22Stripped of his logical restrictions,
07:23he begins to understand his crewmates
07:25on an entirely different level.
07:27Though he had always been a part of them,
07:29he hadn't truly joined them in their ups and downs.
07:32Here,
07:33he understood what expressive joy was.
07:36Then it was taken away.
07:38Though Tuvok would,
07:39of course,
07:39have to become the man he always was,
07:42he almost chooses to remain emotional,
07:45rejecting the control of his Vulcan heritage.
07:47For a few moments at least,
07:49he wants to stay with Neelix as he is.
07:52No one doubted that Tuvok was going to return
07:55to his normal logical self,
07:56but there is a moment toward the end of the episode
07:59when Tuvok,
08:00remembering a joke that Neelix had taught him,
08:03ponders how a person may stay alive on a desert island
08:06armed only with a calendar.
08:08The sundaes.
08:10They might eat the sundaes.
08:13Neelix smiles,
08:13and we all felt a little warmer inside.
08:17Number five.
08:18Cake is eternal.
08:20Star Trek Discovery was unique
08:22in one of its mission statements.
08:23It was a Trek that was highly concerned
08:26with wearing its heart on its sleeve,
08:28and thanks to that,
08:29we got the character of Sylvia Tilly.
08:31She was instantly the audience stand-in,
08:33ready to be our eyes and ears in the 21st century,
08:36even if she was positioned in the 23rd.
08:39Tilly was an updated version of the young character
08:42that Chekov, Wesley, Jake, Naomi, and Hoshi served in times past.
08:47Tilly may have been more outwardly emotional,
08:49but she reflects the time in which she was written.
08:52Her arrival in the 32nd century was jarring,
08:55but also helped us, the audience, acclimatize to the new setting.
08:59She immediately jumped into professional mode,
09:01but when she got to meet Michael, who had arrived before her,
09:04they bonded over the simplest idea in the world,
09:06cake is eternal.
09:08These two friends, separated by years, light years,
09:11and the love of exploration,
09:13reunite to discover that the universe could do very little
09:15to hold dessert lovers apart.
09:17Star Trek can sometimes veer toward taking itself too seriously,
09:21but the moments like this remind us all that,
09:23even in the future,
09:25with starships out of whack and people clamoring for familiarity,
09:28there are those certainties that never change.
09:31Friendship is forever,
09:32and cake is eternal.
09:34Number 4.
09:36Moopsie.
09:37This one is quite simple.
09:38If Moopsie doesn't bring you joy,
09:39then you have bigger problems than what Star Trek can offer you.
09:41I have no bones, yet I must flee,
09:44introduced the cuddly little murderer
09:45who would soon be adorning bedspreads from here to Kronos.
09:48The Moopsie was the most adorable,
09:50diabolical being that had ever been introduced in Star Trek.
09:54The fact that it was so squishy
09:55did nothing to dull its ferocity,
09:57but my god was it cute.
09:59Though its teeth are enormous,
10:01and it is surprisingly agile for a sentient marshmallow,
10:04this teeny creature is the face of happiness,
10:06even in the darkest of situations.
10:09There is not a single moment in the Lower Decks episode
10:12in which it appears
10:13that it doesn't make the viewer beam with joy.
10:16The little squishes,
10:17the smile,
10:18the voice,
10:18everything.
10:19One wonders why it took so long for Moopsie to arrive on screen,
10:22but then we must remember,
10:24Moopsie is a gift to all of us,
10:26delivered when we need it,
10:27not simply when we want it.
10:29Sure, it may be a bone-drinking psychopath,
10:31but it also brings happiness to all of those who observed it,
10:34through glass.
10:35Is that not the true meaning of smiling?
10:38Number 3
10:39In your own way,
10:41you are as stubborn
10:41as another captain of the Enterprise I once knew.
10:44Star Trek Prodigy's first few episodes,
10:46like every Trek beforehand,
10:48were tasked with settling the tone of the show.
10:51It was clearly for a younger audience,
10:53but it never spoke down to its viewers.
10:55It respected those watching,
10:58understanding that some were pre-existing Trekkies,
11:00while some were not.
11:02Kobayashi would seem like a knowing nod
11:04to the parents in the audience,
11:05who were watching along,
11:06but it's actually so much more.
11:08Dal, challenging as he was,
11:10enters the Kobayashi Maru simulation,
11:12determined to prove that he is the best person to control the ship.
11:16Instead, he finds a lesson in humility,
11:18and we the audience get a journey through Trek's history.
11:21Uhura is there,
11:23Odo is there,
11:24Scotty is there,
11:25Crusher is there,
11:26with Gates McFadden returning to record new dialogue,
11:29before she returned in Star Trek Picard.
11:32Spock is also there,
11:34and it is to him that we direct our attention now.
11:36As first officer,
11:38he is there to offer the cadet some advice.
11:40When Dal refuses to accept the no-win scenario,
11:43archived dialogue reminds us of the conversation
11:45that Spock had with Jean-Luc Picard in the early 90s.
11:49In your own way,
11:51you are as stubborn as another captain of the Enterprise I once knew.
11:55The association with Kirk is not simply a heartthog,
11:58but a reminder to us all.
12:00Dal may be different from what we're used to,
12:02but he is just as much a part of this universe as anyone else.
12:06Is he a bit arrogant?
12:07Sure,
12:07but consider Chris Pine's Kirk,
12:09and see where he ended up.
12:11Arrogance is the beginning of the journey,
12:13not the end.
12:19A simple idea with nearly 60 years of history,
12:22Neota Uhura helps to guide the Enterprise crew back to normality
12:26after the encounter with the subspace Fisher.
12:29While they all give it their best shot at singing,
12:32it quickly becomes apparent that she is not only the best singer,
12:35but the focal, vocal point of the ship.
12:38Uhura is not simply a communications officer,
12:41she is THE communications officer,
12:43serving to unite everyone aboard ship,
12:46as well as those outside as well.
12:48She makes announcements,
12:49she lets officers know the daily truth,
12:51and her voice patches calls through all the time.
12:54In short,
12:55everyone knew her voice long before she sang to them.
12:59The Enterprise needed everyone aboard to sing together
13:02to achieve the correct result,
13:03so who better than Uhura to guide them to their big finale?
13:07She speaks to them,
13:08she smiles,
13:09and we smile with her.
13:11She keeps us connected through speech,
13:13through song,
13:14and through hope.
13:15There may even be a cameo from some Kling-pop warriors
13:18bursting with excitement to be a part of the musical escapades,
13:21although perhaps that feeling may pass after the moment does.
13:25Still, it's down to Uhura to connect them,
13:28Starfleet and Klingons alike.
13:29She is the one that saves the day,
13:31she is Uhura,
13:32and she is the voice of the Enterprise.
13:38William Shatner was Captain Kirk from 1966 to 1994,
13:44though that's not to say his presence isn't still felt.
13:47Chris Pine and Paul Wesley are on hand
13:49to offer worthy versions of the Captain,
13:51but there is a scene in the mid-90s
13:53that encapsulates so much of the joy
13:56that Kirk brings to the screen,
13:58and it involves another Starfleet captain while we're at it.
14:02Star Trek Generations may be the first cinematic outing
14:05for the crew of the next generation,
14:07but it also serves as the last outing
14:09for the cast of the original series,
14:11some of them at least.
14:12Walter Koenig and James Doohan
14:14are wonderful in their short scenes,
14:16but all eyes are on Shatner here,
14:18delivering the last original Kirk day.
14:20And what a day it was.
14:24Beautiful day, he says,
14:25as Captain Picard approaches him by his cabin.
14:28Kirk chops wood,
14:29then smells some burning eggs.
14:31In he runs to his kitchen,
14:33inviting Picard in.
14:35Why not?
14:35It's his house, after all.
14:37There are trinkets on the wall,
14:38and toast is quickly brewing.
14:40Picard may be all business,
14:42but the famous captain has other things on his mind.
14:44After all,
14:45he was out saving the galaxy
14:46when your grandfather was in diapers.
14:48The entire scene is just pure joy,
14:51even tinged with sadness
14:53from knowing that it may be the end of an era.
14:55Between the clock, Antonia, and Butler,
14:58it was a good day for those who felt human feelings.
15:02That's everything for our list today, folks.
15:03Thank you so much for watching along.
15:05You've been awesome and wonderful.
15:06Do you think we missed any big moments?
15:09Let us know,
15:09because there is never anything wrong
15:12with sharing more joy in the world.
15:14Let's put that out there,
15:16and let's keep trying to do a little bit of that
15:18every single day.
15:19Please make sure that you're subscribed and following.
15:21We're on the various socials at Triculture.
15:23We're also at TricultureYT on Instagram.
15:26I am at Sean Ferrick,
15:28and you are just the best.
15:30Live long and prosper till I see you again.
15:32Thank you so much, folks.