Look, I am going to admit, I fudged on this on. The episode of Star Trek I am examining today isn't a Christmas episode. But it does take place during Christmas! Honestly, there's never been a Christmas themed episode. So, humor me for a bit...
The episode is titled 'Dagger of the Mind.' It aired on NBC on November 6, 1966. The episode starts with Captain Kirk having just exited a Christmas party as the Enterprise is en route to a penal colony. They are to make a delivery of supplies and picked up others for another penal colony. It's revealed that an escape prisoner is inside the crate so Kirk and his crew investigate only to learn that the inmates have taken over the asylum!
That's pretty much it for Christmas. Oh, yeah- Kirk's love interest in this episode is named Dr. Helen Noel. I'm wondering if this was Kirk's first Noel... Sorry, very crude joke that had to be made.
Other than this episode, Christmas is never really mentioned again in the Star Trek universe until nearly 40 years later when in the Next Generation episode Devil's Due, Picard helps Data practice the role of Scrooge at the beginning of an episode. Then there's a dream sequence in the Star Trek Generations crossover that involves Christmas. Plus, in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Q turns the ship into a Christmas ornament (talk about product placement.) Again none of these are Christmas episodes. The holiday just happens to be a bit player.
The closest Trek fans have ever gotten to a bonafide Christmas anything involving Star Trek is issue #2 of the Star Trek: The Next Generation miniseries from DC Comics, 1988. There Picard and the crew of the Enterprise D battle a race of Grinch-like creatures that want to destroy Christmas.
However, this series was so badly planned out that many fans don't even acknowledge it's existence! This is what happens when you try to rush out promotional tie-in materials but don't do your research!
So with all that in mind- there's not much Christmas in Star Trek. So my Advent gift to you is three-fold. First is a video showing all of the so-called Christmas references in the original Star Trek. Then, I gift you with a couple of commercials from the 90s advertising the new Star Trek ornaments at Hallmark. These star actual actors from the Next Generation and are pretty darn clever bits of advertising.
So enjoy and until next time- Merry Christmas!
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