Star Trek: Mission Chicago Returns, and More Trekkie News from First Contact Day
Star Trek: Mission Chicago is coming to McCormick Place in Chicago IL, April 8th – 10, 2022
April 5, 2063 is First Contact Day, the first time that humans encountered alien species in the film Star Trek: First Contact. On this day, trekkies everywhere celebrate their fandom, and the official channels are taking the lead.
CBS has a lot planned for today, starting with panels running throughout the day, as well as the announcement of a new convention: Star Trek: Mission Chicago, new merch, and teasers of more announcements to come.
Star Trek: Mission Chicago
Star Trek: Mission Chicago is coming to McCormick Place in Chicago IL, April 8 - 10, 2022. The previous Star Trek: Mission show was in New York City in 2016.
For more info on the upcoming show, check out the Star Trek: Mission Chicago website, and sign up for the newsletter.
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Star Trek: First Contact Day Panels
Head over to StarTrek.com on April 5, 2021 to see panels from 12:00-2:30 PM, PT/3:00-5:30 PM, ET. Look out for all the big names of Star Trek: Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Sonequa Martin-Green, and many more.
There’s a lot of ways to watch, here’s the full list from StarTrek.com:
- 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 of Star Trek, as seen in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard.
- Women In Motion Panel: featuring Star Trek: Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green, Star Trek: Picard’s 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 Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes 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 Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Kathryn Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew, who is reprising her role in animated form in Prodigy, as they talk about the highly anticipated upcoming CG-animated kids series.
Fans worldwide will be able to livestream the First Contact Day panels for free at StarTrek.com/FirstContact. The panels will also be available to stream for free in the U.S. on PlutoTV and Paramount+’s Twitch page.
After their initial airing, the panels will be available on-demand on Paramount+’s YouTube Channel and on Paramount+.
New Star Trek Merch
Official Star Trek merch, exclusive to First Contact Day, can be found here. You can browse ReedPop’s Star Trek merch on our Online Show Store, here.