A Look Back At 2012, Trek-style

2012 proved to be another memorable year for Star Trek fans across the globe. There were anniversaries celebrated, amazing reunions held, and tons of great new Trek products introduced. A Star Trek legend received a long-overdue Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the next Star Trek film warped closer to reality and we all bade farewell to several Star Trek actors and behind-the-scenes figures who passed away. Here’s a look back at some of what made the news on StarTrek.com in 2012 – and let us know what was most newsworthy to you.

In October, Star Trek fans from around the world descended upon the United Kingdom to attend Destination Star Trek London, a mega-event featuring dozens of Star Trek guests on stage, signing autographs and posing for photos with fans, as well as a stunt show, dozens of vendors offering their Trek wares and more. The highlight, though, was a joint appearance on stage by William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula. Click HERE, HERE and HERE to read our recaps of each day’s events.

Walter Koenig finally received his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In June of 2011, StarTrek.com broke the news that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had announced that Walter Koenig would be among the 2012 Star honorees, and on September 10, 2012, he was joined by Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, other friends, colleagues and family, as well as hundreds of fans at a joyous ceremony celebrating his achievement. The actual ceremony was the highlight of an intimate three-day event called The Walter Koenig Star Celebration, which featured, a tour of the Walk of Fame with Koenig, screenings of Koenig’s favorite Trek episodes, Koenig Q&As, a convention, photo ops, autographs and an after-party. Click HERE, HERE and HERE to read our recaps.

2012, of course, marked the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The TNG cast – Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes -- reunited at several conventions (sometimes with Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby as well), appearing on stage together and reminiscing. The 25th anniversary was also celebrated with the release of Season One and Season Two of TNG on Blu-ray, in beautifully HD-upgraded sets that also featured treasure troves of extras. Fans were treated as well to Season One and Season Two in-theater events, with episodes and extras playing on the big screen. Click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE to check out some of our TNG 25th anniversary coverage, as well as HERE and HERE for our coverage of the theatrical events. 

 

Speaking of anniversaries, September 8, 2012, marked the 46th anniversary of Star Trek. To commemorate it, Google, on September 7, unveiled an awesome interactive Google Doodle that took over Google’s global homepages. Countless millions of fans had a blast clicking through the Doodle and finding Easter eggs along the way – did you find the Tribbles? Click HERE to see our coverage and HERE to check out the Star Trek Doodle in the Google Doodle archive.

 

J.J. Abrams finished shooting the next Star Trek big-screen adventure, and fans, throughout the year, got a title – Star Trek Into Darkness – as well as a poster, an announcement trailer, a 9-minute preview and a teaser trailer. The film will be released on May 17, 2013. 

A line of TOS Retro Art Prints and tee shirts, with art by Juan Ortiz, was introduced in 2012 and went supernova. The line launched in August with “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Ultimate Computer,” “Dagger of the Mind” and “The Way to Eden.” Four new TOS Art Prints are being introduced each month, and the campaign will continue through to March 2014. Click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE to check out the 2012 releases.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star Trek products galore were introduced by licensees. Among the highlights were...

 Federation: The First 150 Years

 

PADD App

An eight-issue TNG/Doctor Who crossover comic book series

 

A gold-plated Enterprise pizza cutter

 TNG 25th anniversary PEZ Dispenser set

TOS soundtrack collection,

An electronic TOS door chime

TOS pajamas

interactive Tribbles

 

TOS uniform cycle jerseys

 

Star Trek: The Next Generation 365

Spock hoodie,

Star Trek MIMOBOTS. 

Our weekly StarTrek.com polls typically generate tons of energetic debate and thousands of votes. However, no polls we did resulted in more debate or votes than when, in January and February, we gauged fan opinion as to which Star Trek captain was the most confident, most courageous, most decisive, most intelligent and most inspiring. Kirk was named most confident, Janeway was tabbed most courageous, Picard was deemed most decisive, most intelligent and most inspiring. Tabulating all the results, fans considered Picard the best Star Trek captain. Fans are STILL arguing over that one.

Finally, in 2012 we bade farewell to some beloved Star Trek figures. Among the Trek guest stars who passed away were George Murdock, Lance LeGault, Richard Lynch, William Windom and Biff Elliot. StarTrek.com also mourned the losses of Trek author Josepha Sherman, director Winrich Kolbe and composer Joel Goldsmith.

So, what did you feel was the biggest Star Trek story in 2012?