THE Star Trek The franchise's impressive lifespan perhaps makes it surprising that space opera has never dabbled with one of TV's biggest tropes, but there's actually a good reason for that. Gene Roddenberry's long-running sci-fi saga never produced a Christmas special. Although the Christian holiday has been mentioned in passing and referenced a few times in the films and TV shows that have combined to form the Star Trek schedule, is never really addressed head on or with any real commitment.
While this could easily be seen as a missed opportunity, it wouldn't make sense to write a Star Trek Christmas episode from a canonical perspective. Instead, the Star Trek TV shows often tend to avoid Christmas while giving audiences cryptic explanations as to why. Likewise, the Star Trek films, as a rule, are quite devoid of festive cheer. That said, feature film productions that don't include Christmas make a lot more sense, but given that many Star Trek the programs followed the traditional network TV scheduleIt's a little more unusual.
Humanity being largely secular in Star Trek means Christmas is no longer celebrated
Christmas is left behind in the world of Star Trek
Since Christmas has religious roots, it would be quite illogical for humanity to celebrate it, given the state of human society at the time of Star Trek. Due to enormous technological advances such as warp travel, transporters and replicators, Earth's inhabitants slowly came together to become one great society. The enormous leap forward has essentially left many religions, such as Christianity, in the dust. Paired with the utopian future in which Star Trek takes place where concepts like money have been abandoned, a holiday like Christmas becomes practically inert.
It is understandable why those on Earth in Star Trek losing its reverent spirituality in the face of scientific advancement would mean that Christmas would be left aside.
Star Trek: Enterprise is the furthest out of all the shows, so if any of the spinoffs had a festive installment, it would be Enterprise. However, the program proves that even in the 22nd century, Christmas is no longer recognized. The holiday has been relegated to nothing more than a footnote in human history. Of course, in the real world, Christmas isn't always celebrated with religious motivations, but it's understandable that people on Earth Star Trek losing its reverent spirituality in the face of scientific advancement would mean that Christmas would be left aside.
Star Trek writers still can't resist giving a wink to Christmas throughout the franchise, even if the characters themselves don't celebrate it. For example, John DeLancie's Q briefly turns the USS Voyager into a Christmas tree decoration in Star Trek: Voyager Season 2, Episode 18, 'Death Wish'. Outside of the shows, Patrick Stewart's Captain Picard experiences a 1994 Christmas fantasy sequence. Star Trek: Generations. Interestingly, both examples were released in February, and the themes of their larger stories had nothing to do with Christmas.
Star Trek's alien races still have religious celebrations
Humanity appears to be in the minority among Star Trek's various races
One of the biggest separators between humans and aliens in Star Trek is that those outside Earth did not abandon their religious traditions when they left for the stars. Races like the Bajorans, Klingons, and Ferengi have surprisingly complex belief systems that revolve around deities, afterlives, and other religious traditions. In truth, the Klingon afterlife, Sto'vo'qor, is gently canonized in Star Trek: Voyager Season 6, Episode 3, "Barge of the Dead."
Some of the alien religious celebrations have some similarities to Christmasso it could be argued that this is a way to incorporate the holiday into Star Trek although it still fits into the franchise's canon. That said, some humans Star Trek Characters, such as Chakotay, by Robert Beltran, prove that not all humanity has abandoned spirituality. However, many of the religious belief systems in Star TrekHumans or aliens are often given a science fiction explanation that can often justify them as real. However, this is not always the case.
Star Trek: The Next Generation has the closest thing to a franchise Christmas special
"Tapestry" is a powerful homage to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6 episode 15, 'Tapestry', comes suspiciously close to ticking all the boxes of what a story needs to be considered a festive special. The story is essentially a beat-for-beat adaptation of Charles Dickens' iconic 1984 book, A Christmas song. 'Tapestry' swaps most of the elements that make it an ode to the Christmas season for sci-fi tropesand it also aired in February – which makes it even harder to label it as a true Christmas special.
"Tapestry" was just one of many episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation which had its script written by Ronald D. Moore. The writer went on to write scripts for other major sci-fi franchises, as well as creating Apple TV+'s For all humanity. Moore also wrote Star Trek Generationswhich is quite appropriate, given that the 1994 film and "Tapestry" include two of the strongest Christmas references of all time. Star Trek.
How Star Trek Could Make a Compelling Christmas Special
Star Trek's core genre gives the saga plenty of opportunities to celebrate Christmas
Just because Star Trek has never done an actual Christmas episode, doesn't mean it can never happen. The secularity of humanity from the 22nd century onwards does not make the celebration of Christmas impossible. Star Trek all of the shows feature various sci-fi tropes and hallmarks that could accommodate a story set at Christmastime. The most obvious solution would be to write a time travel story, which would take Starfleet officers to Earth's past and allow them to experience the holiday firsthand. Star Trek adventures in the 20th and 21st centuries happened several timesthen this could be easily achieved.
Another option could be a non-human crew member exploiting Earth's crash traditions and insisting that their crewmates celebrate Christmas just for the experience of it all. Star Trek characters have already shown interest in the history of other racesSo it's not beyond the possibility that human Starfleet officers could be gently coerced into throwing a Christmas party to follow all the same traditions as their ancestors before humanity joined the interplanetary community.
Presumably it's been too long to start doing Christmas specials, or even just one of them, but the possibility remains.
Arguably, although making a Star Trek Christmas special would be a relatively easy thing to do From a narrative standpoint, the franchise clearly didn't need to embark on such an endeavor, and its long and impressive history is a testament to that fact. Presumably it's been too long to start doing Christmas specials, or even just one of them, but the possibility remains. If the Star Trek If the writers decide to make this happen, it will certainly be a landmark event for the saga.