April 5 is First Contact Day. The Star Trek holiday pre-commemorates Earth’s first contact with Vulcans in April 2063, as depicted in Star Trek: First Contact.
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, we’re celebrating the occasion with five first contact-themed episodes. Did we include your favorite?
The Corbomite Maneuver
In the Star Trek: The Original Series season 1 episode “The Corbomite Maneuver,” James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise make first contact via a singular avenue: via puppet!
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This episode sees the Enterprise being addressed by a strange and uncanny alien creature (Ted Cassidy). However, after utilizing the human art of “the bluff,” Kirk discovers the true identity of Balok (Clint Howard; voiced by Walker Edmiston). As Balok explains over some tranya, he uses the puppet as an “alter-ego” to assess the character of an alien species before making first contact.
First Contact
The Star Trek: The Next Generation season 4 episode “First Contact” shows just how quickly first contact can go awry. William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is infiltrating Malcor, an alien world, in disguise. This is because the Malcor is on the verge of developing warp travel, the limitus for first contact established by Federation protocol. But when an injury lands him in the hospital, the locals swiftly identify Riker as not from their world.
Ultimately, this episode is notable for the fact that first contact with Malcor does not transpire. Instead, the scientist who was on the verge of warp travel, Mirasta (Carolyn Seymour), has her project canceled in the hope that Malcor can be better prepared for first contact in the future. However, she is granted permission to leave Malcor and join Starfleet herself.
First First Contact
In Star Trek: Lower Decks season 2’s “First First Contact,” the California class USS Cerritos gets the chance to make first contact. Granted, this only happens because the USS Archimedes is nearly destroyed in an attempt to make first contact themselves. But when you’re Cali class, you take your victories where you can get them.
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Fortunately, the Laaperians with whom Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) makes first contact are generous with the partying, so this victory is adequately celebrated indeed. But less fortunately, Freeman is detained due to falsified evidence just after the first contact celebrations have completed. Still, no need to worry: it’s Starfleet! Justice will be served.
Species 10-C
In Star Trek: Discovery season 4, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery must ascertain the source of the Dark Matter Anomaly (DMA). In the season’s penultimate episode, “Species 10-C,” they are faced with the challenge of making first contact with the titular species.
First contact with Species 10-C is an unusual challenge because they originate from outside our galaxy. As such, they exist on a different scale and communicate in an entirely different manner than most Federation member species. In “Species 10-C,” we see the interesting avenues the Discovery crew utilizes to overcome this classic sci-fi communication challenge.
First Con-tact
Even with the best of intentions, it can be all too easy to mess up first contact. But what happens when someone approaches first contact with the worst of intentions? That’s just what occurs in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1’s “First Con-tact.” After reuniting with a “mentor” of Dal R’El (Brett Gray), DaiMon Nandi (Grey Griffin) and the USS Protostar are led on a first-contact mission with the worst intentions.
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Ultimately, the Protostar crew are able to restore the crystals lifted by Nandi. However, Nandi escapes with some of the precious resources previously held by the Protostar‘s cargo bay. Furthermore, as observed by Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), it’s impossible to measure the damaging effects of this first contact on the contacted alien species.
Most of these Star Trek episodes are currently streaming on Paramount+. The exception is Star Trek: Prodigy, which is currently available to stream on Netflix.
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