“And you’re all astronauts - on some kind of ...star trek?” – Zefram Cochrane ‘First Contact’.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most beloved and iconic shows ever to grace our screens, both big and small, ‘Star Trek’.
I’ve been watching Star Trek since the mid 1970’s reruns of the Original Series with Kirk and Spock on BBC1, usually on a Monday night at 7.20pm. Although I enjoyed it, I would never have called myself a fan, but I did watch them all. As Star Trek moved onto the big screen in 1979, I went along to the movies to see my, slightly aging, heroes venture into the final frontier again and again. In 1987, The Next Generation began and I rented out the first few episodes on home video, and was NOT impressed. When TNG arrived on BBC2 a few years later, I started watching again, and saw it was indeed getting much better. As Star Trek celebrated the 25th anniversary in 1991, I started to really enjoy it again. But it wasn’t until the end of 1994, after Deep Space 9 completed two seasons, that I became a true fan of the show.
Why? Because collectible card games such as ‘Magic: The Gathering’ were replacing rpgs in gamers closets, and games company Decipher created their own CCG to enter the market. This was the Star Trek CCG – and I was hooked!
Although, looking back now 32 years later, there were many issues with the game-play itself, this was HUGE at the time and really created an entirely different game landscape. Without a doubt this CCG, which I have a huge love and nostalgia for, got me into the CCG hobby and indeed Star Trek as a franchise. It was centred on TNG too which still remains my favourite incarnation of Star Trek. It also cost me a lot of money! But I’ll put that aside right now as it has also given me countless hours of gaming and watching pleasure.
I found an old Blog post of mine on Boardgamegeek, dated November 2012:
“I've been scratching that Star Trek itch and watching (nearly) all of Season 1 of The Next Generation - by far my favourite incarnation of Star Trek. This is due mainly to the STCCG I collected, gosh, almost 20 years ago in the mid 90's.
I really loved the 1E, and it was ground-breaking at the time. I must have spent a fortune collecting those cards! I dug them all out again and have been playing a solitaire version and tweaking some cards and rules as I watch the episodes. Quite a rewarding play experience actually - by doing it this way as your deck changes as you watch the episodes.
It's been great fun and quite rewarding watching the episodes in order as you see all the 'firsts' as they happen. I'm onto 'Heart of Glory' now, which is the first introduction to Klingons. No-one is going to argue that season 1 of TNG is the best ever season though and the show was still struggling to find the right direction. But I think its heart was in the right place - even though its brain had sometimes reported to Starbase 74 instead...”
Well, that was nearly 14 years ago (when my son was 7 – he’s soon to be 22) and to quote the opening line of ‘Enterprise’ - ‘It’s been a long road, getting from there to here’
I have created numerous solo versions for STCCG over the years. It started in 2012, then another in 2018 and then another in 2025. I’m quite proud of the 2018 version (which can still be found in the Files section of the STCCG page on BGG) and also Star Trek: Adventures in the Final Frontier (STAFF) that I created in 2025 and released on my website.
You can find STAFF (free to download) and lots of posts on it here: https://buymeacoffee.com/dragoncymru
Unfortunately, I think I made some errors in the way these versions panned out. They were great for me, but the sheer amount of dream cards from the 2018 version, and Booklet rule tweaks in STAFF might make it difficult for other players to pick up the games. With STAFF, I could be wrong – it’s been downloaded over 120 times – but I have little or no feedback on it from players, which is a little disappointing.
However, it’s very fair to say that my enthusiasm for these CCG games and projects have been driven by an amazing show that thoroughly deserves the plaudits and longevity. I have enormous love for the stories, the casts, and what the enduring heart of Star Trek represents – optimism and hope for the future and humanity.
Who knows, I might have some more ideas about a Star Trek project in the future, and to quote a line from the show Picard, when the TNG crew board the bridge of the restored USS Enterprise D, one last time: ‘Well, we’ve been here before...’
On this very special day, I’ll raise a glass of Saurian brandy, or Romulan Ale, or Chateau Picard and say: Happy 60th birthday Star Trek. “Live long, and prosper.”