Star Trek Docuseries The Center Seat Announces Premiere Date
Star Trek fans can take a deep dive into the franchise's history beginning in November. On Tuesday, the History Channel announced it will celebrate the 55th anniversary of the iconic franchise with the Brian Volk-Weiss-directed ten-part docuseries The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek from The Nacelle Company. Star Trek: The Next Generation star Gates McFadden narrates the series and serves as an executive producer. The Center Seat promises to share rare details about Star Trek's beginnings, where it has gone over the course of five and a half decades, and where it's headed next. The first four episodes of The Center Seat will premiere on the History Channel each week beginning on Friday, November 5th at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The remaining six episodes will also be available on History Vault, the network's subscription video service.
Each episode of The Center Seat focuses on a different chapter in the sci-fi franchise's history chronicling, beginning with its inception at Lucille Ball's production company Desilu and journeying into more recent film and television projects. That includes Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Phase II. The series promises to honor the creatives who worked on the franchise by sharing their impactful and often risky, decisions at pivotal moments in Star Trek and television history.
Per the docuseries' official description, "In the Fall of 1964, the pilot for what would become Star Trek was commissioned. From the start, The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek unveils lesser-known stories about the franchise from the importance of addressing timely topics, the creation of the character Spock, the unrelenting fans that kept the show on air and the reruns that gave it new life. These behind-the-scenes stories among thousands of hours of show footage will be coupled with interviews from the cast, crew and experts who worked on set. The show includes candid interviews with Star Trek legends such as Nichelle Nichols, Brent Spiner, Kirstie Alley, Walter Koenig, Kate Mulgrew, Denise Crosby, Wil Wheaton, John De Lancie, Nicholas Meyer, Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, Nana Visitor, Robert Picardo, Penny Johnson, Ethan Phillips, Diana Muldaur, Nicole de Boer, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Tim Russ, John Billingsley, John Dykstra, D.C. Fontana, Rick Berman and F. Murray Abraham."
The Nacelle Company produced The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek for The History Channel. Brian Volk-Weiss (Behind The Attraction, The Movies That Made Us, The Toys That Made Us) is the series' director. Ian Roumain serves as showrunner and executive producer, with Gates McFadden, Cisco Henson, Ben Frost, and Mark Altman also serving as executive producers for the Nacelle Company.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments. The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek will debut on The History Channel on November 5th.