Documentary series ‘The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek’ now on YT

A cool tip for all Star Trek fans: The documentary series ‘The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek’ is now available completely and free of charge on YouTube!

The makers of ‘The Toys That Made Us“ and “The Movies That Made Us“ produced this series. Brian Volk-Weiss, director and CEO of the Nacelle Company, describes it as "from a trekkie to a trekkie."

And he got reinforcements: Among others, Mark Altman, co-author of The Fifty-Year Mission, is on board. Admittedly, the first thought was: Uff, is that again as silly as ‘The Movies That Made Us’? The series had a tone that seemed a bit too funky for some of us. But don’t worry, The Center Seat has a much more dignified narrator on board: Gates McFadden, the legendary Dr. Crusher from ‘TNG’. She keeps the whole thing on track and ensures that the documentary always remains respectful despite the loose design.

Is it worth it?

What makes the series so special is its depth. Finally, the lesser-regarded areas of the Trek universe are also making their big appearance! Each of the Berman-era series, so Next Gen, Deep Space Nine, ‘Voyager’ and ‘Enterprise’ has its own consequence. A real highlight is the own episode about ‘Star Trek: The Animated Series’ and the story behind the never realized project ‘Star Trek: Phase II’, Which then became the first movie.

You get a lot of new Interview material to see. These include greats such as David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana, the writers of the original series, as well as Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, who played a key role in shaping the ‘Next Century’ era. There are also many well-known faces of the actors: Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Frakes, Nana Visitor, Kate Mulgrew and even the entire Enterprise crew (John Billingsley, Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating and Anthony Montgomery). Unfortunately, some of the greats such as William Shatner or Patrick Stewart are missing, but there are plenty of exciting interviews with many supporting actors, from Whoopi Goldberg to Christopher Lloyd.

A Few Small Transporter Mistakes

No documentary is perfect, and ‘The Center Seat’ also has a few weaknesses. For us hardcore fans, there is not too much brand new information, but the journey through 55 years of Star Trek history is simply fun.

Admittedly, the episodes sometimes have a somewhat superficial character. Dealing with a whole series like ‘TNG’ in 45 minutes cannot compete with the extensive extras on the Blu-rays. Also the documentary about DSN ‘What we left behind’, which you can stream via Plex is much more extensive. There is also a strong focus on the Controversies and dramas behind the scenes, which sometimes makes the consequences seem a bit unbalanced. And of course, the real fans among you have found a few small mistakes, such as the wrong year for the change of ‘TNG’ uniforms (S3 instead of 2) or the wrong footage at the Battle of Wolf 359. But hey, this is mocking at a very high level.

Who streams it?

The biggest obstacle so far? The availability! The first four episodes ran on the History Channel, but for the remaining six you had to subscribe to History Vault. This has come to an end! The style is, as I said at the beginning, loose and humorous, just as you know it from the other Nacelle productions.

Here is the link to the official playlist on the Nacelle Company YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrCpzmW0EHh2mSRQEqGfb1F471bqIZVn2

The German version is, moreover, ‘Inside Star Trek“ which was set to music by the avowed Trekkie Bastian Pastewka as a narrator and last ran on ProSieben MAXX in September 2024, but unfortunately neither in the Joyn Media Library nor at one of the Streaming Providers on Sale is. As far as I have seen, however, the English episode 5 was simply omitted and the episodes 10 and 11 later than 9 and 10 submitted.

Episode guide

English original version:

E01 ‘Lucy Loves Trek’: About the creation and production of Star Trek: The original series. A look back at a moving story. Even when the science fiction series was still in its infancy, a woman took on an important role: Lucy.

E02 ‘Saturday Morning Pinks’: Focus on Star Trek: The Animated Series of the 70s. After the series was discontinued after the third season, the broadcast rights were sold to hundreds of stations, resulting in a huge fan base. They decided to produce an animated series in which almost all actors of the original cast re-recorded their roles.

E03 ‘Trekking through the ’70s’: It's about Phase II and the first movie, Star Trek: The motion picture. Fans of the science fiction series simply couldn't get enough of Star Trek. Stupid that all props were sold to the format and the sets were destroyed.

E04 "Trek Goes To The Movies": The films Star Trek II, III & IV are the focus. A decade after the series ended, the 1979 feature film manages to revive the franchise.

E05 ‘Whales, Gods, and Pepto Bismal’: Star Trek IV, V & VI. In the mid-1980s, the franchise became an absolute hit thanks to the successful feature films.

E06 "Queue for Q": With ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, those responsible have done everything right. The franchise is successfully returning to TV. The episode records how the production studio Paramount markets its product profitably and shovels money into the checkout through all channels.

E07 ‘Dancing with Syndication in the Pale Moonlight’: The documentary illuminates Star Trek: Deep space nine. The beginning of New Trek, a space station with many sequel stories and long story arcs.

E08 “Voyage(r) to the Delta Quadrant”: All about Star Trek: Voyager. From 1995 to 2001, Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew created excitement on the screens. A look behind the scenes shows how the numerous adventures of the colourfully mixed crew were conceived and implemented.

E09 "Starships A-Z": This part revolves around the spaceships. What began with plastic models has developed over the years into a marvel of futuristic technology thanks to digital graphics programs.

E10 ‘It’s Been A Long Time...’: All about Star Trek: Enterprise. With the prequel series ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’, UPN wants to build on the successes of its predecessors, but the format is struggling with poor ratings.

E11 "The Stars Above": The focus is on the main and guest actors of the series. The actors of smaller supporting roles also have their say and report on how the popular enterprise universe was created.

loQ latlhpu’?

If you want more, there's also an aftershow podcast for most episodes, where director Brian Volk-Weiss and co-hosts John and Mary Jo Tenuto share bonus interviews and comments. More details on this also Here at Trekmovie.com or scifinews.de.

Not to mention, however, Critical voices remain, and Gene Roddenberry (as a transcript) and its Audio recording of the 1972 Star Trek Convention speech which I would also like to recommend to you here.

And if you like to read, you will find in the accompanying book:The Center Seat – 55 Years of Star Trek“ more interviews, or at “The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years“ deeper insights that did not make it into the documentary.

Slightly offtopic: The Battle of Wolf 359

There is a very nicely done fan project that deals with the events of the end of the third and beginning of the fourth season of TNG, the details of the Battle of Wolf359. JTVFX has combined very nicely existing with self-created and tells you the details in two 8-minute episodes, quasi the ‘prehistory’ of the battle. In two more episodes (once 10 minutes) it is then about the battle itself and everything ends with the Published the day before yesterday, Nearly 30 minutes of finals. (By the way, coincidentally to the day exactly 35 years after the first broadcast of TNG S4E1)

All 4 episodes: Prelude part 1 | Prelude part 2 | Massacre part 1 | Massacre part 2

conclusion

If you want a fun journey through the history of the Star Trek franchise, The Center Seat is for you. The documentary is a loving tribute that pays particular tribute to the era from ‘The Animated Series’ to ‘Enterprise’.

Have fun binging!