Star Trek: A Christmas Special

[uniderth]

Pick your favorite series. Now imagine that the producers tasked you with coming up with Christmas Special episode for that series. The only stipulation, it has to include Santa Clause in some way. What would you come up with? How would you keep it from being too campy? Or would you go full camp?

For me, it would be a Kirk Era episode. Enterprise would recover a damaged space ship, whose pilot has a red and white themed outfit with a long white beard. Maybe he would have some diminutive associates helping him. Then there would be a conflict with the Klingons or another aggressive alien species. Possibly the red suited figure ties in with ancient Klingon mythology in some way. He would arrange a truce between the Klingons and crew of the Enterprise. In the end, the Klingon crew would be invited over to the Enterprise where they experience an old earth style Christmas party. I can imagine some classic exchanges between McCoy and Spock, as McCoy is enjoying the Christmas holiday while Spock is annoyed by his chiding.

I don't think I wouldn't ever call the stranger Santa Claus, but there would be vague allusions like Kirk, Spock, or McCoy observing that "he sure is jolly." And maybe for some fanboyish continuity it could show the Science lab Christmas Party mentioned in Dagger of the Mind.

I think any holiday themed episode is going to come off as campy, so I'd try and dial it back a bit. We have had other large jolly men on Star Trek namely Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Assuming the Roddenberry rule against mentioning any religion or religious observance directly .....

The Enterprise picks up a tiny unidentifiable object in space. It is humanoid. And...some other life signs. They approach the object and it's Santa in his sleigh, with his reindeer, in space. Later they're beamed down to a weird lava planet and are told they need to team up with Elf on a Shelf and Frosty the Snowman in a fight to the death against Krampus, La Befana, and Jack Frost. To help the lava monsters understand conflict and the Spirit of Christmas. Call it "The Yuletide Curtain."

 

[Mojochi]

Q becomes distraught, when he finds out that Earth's Santa Claus is only a mythical figure. So he decides to become Santa himself, and tasks the TNG crew to be his elves. Being the self obsessed, egomaniacal imp that he is, he completely misses the point, until over time, the gang actually manages to impart some true Christmas spirit into him, and he gets his greatest lesson in human charity and compassion to date

 

[The Wormhole]

Assuming the Roddenberry rule against mentioning any religion or religious observance directly .....

Considering Christmas was mentioned at least twice on Trek while Roddenberry was still alive...

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Considering Christmas was mentioned at least twice on Trek while Roddenberry was still alive...

I think it was more of a TOS rule. Was it mentioned in later series?

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

Captain Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's long-lost half-brother who looks suspiciously like a Christmas elf and who hijacks the Enterprise for an obsessive search for Santa Claus at the North Pole of the Galaxy.

Remembered for Kirk's (in)famous quote "What does Santa Claus need with a starship?"

 

[Relayer1]

DS9 holodeck episode. Sisko playing Santa is disabled in an program crashing accident and Odo is selected by the program to replace him. Quark is chief elf, Bashir is co-opted as the visiting human child, Kira his mother and O'Brien his father. Worf as Frosty the Snowman. The rest of the main cast are included in other parts and Vic gets to sing a Christmas tune or two.

All concerned have to pull off a successful Christmas to end the program and be released from the holosuite in time for...Christmas !

 

[The Wormhole]

I think it was more of a TOS rule. Was it mentioned in later series?

If it was a TOS rule, what about Dagger of the Mind when Kirk and Helen Noel (unfortunate pun, given the topic) were talking about the Christmas party? But yes, the second time it was mentioned during Roddenberry's life time was in TNG, Devil's Due starts off with Data playing A Christmas Carol on the holodeck.

And then if you want to go with stuff after Roddenberry died, we actually see Christmas being celebrated in Picard's Nexus fantasy in Generations, along with a Christmas tree in a Voyager episode, granted that was Q's doing.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

If it was a TOS rule, what about Dagger of the Mind when Kirk and Helen Noel (unfortunate pun, given the topic) were talking about the Christmas party? But yes, the second time it was mentioned during Roddenberry's life time was in TNG, Devil's Due starts off with Data playing A Christmas Carol on the holodeck.

And then if you want to go with stuff after Roddenberry died, we actually see Christmas being celebrated in Picard's Nexus fantasy in Generations, along with a Christmas tree in a Voyager episode, granted that was Q's doing.

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about that in Dagger of the Mind. Roddenberry's atheism is well known, and I'm sure I've heard that he had a "no religious references rule" but I can't find it. Maybe it's apocryphal. I mean, I was just being cheeky.

 

[The Wormhole]

Roddenberry's atheism is well known,

Indeed it is, but he didn't really become aggressive about his atheism until the 80s. In fact, there were some indications in the 70s he had an interest in Buddhism. Indeed, his marriage to Majel Barrett was a Buddhist wedding. It's #4 on this list, along with their wedding photo

 

[JirinPanthosa]

This would be fun to make.

I wouldn't go full camp, but I would make sure it was stupid, or at least stupid enough to get the contrast between the silliness of the story and the seriousness of the characters. Maybe a sequel to If Wishes Were Horses set in Voyager.

Like, Seven Of Nine is convinced to let Tuvok mindmeld her and help bring out her childhood memories. At the same time, the If Wishes Were Horses aliens take an interest in Voyager. Seven Of Nine has an overpowering rush of emotions and memories at the same time they are in the area, so powerful they lose control. So the ship is under attack by a five year old's imagination, among which creates Santa Claus and a five year old version of herself. Five year old Anika's imagination becomes in control of the aliens. But, Anika was stuck on that ship with her parents and just wanted the ship to break down so they could stop moving around. So, the ship is forced to land on a planet, and they have to team up with Santa Claus to rescue five year old Anika from the Borg in order to settle down Anika's imagination and make her imagine everything is okay.

 

[The Wormhole]

Hmm, TNG, Worf and Alexander visit Kurn on Qo'nos for Klingon Christmas. It's basically your typical Christmas stuff, Klingon style. Much bloodwine is consumed, there's a bat'leth fight or three, something heartwarming involving a targ and we get Klingonized versions of popular Christmas stories: the birth of Kahless, a Grinch parody called the Romulan Who Stole Christmas, the Klingon take on A Christmas Carol where Klingon Scrooge must learn to be honourable, and we end it all with a visit from Klingolaus, the Klingon Santa Claus.

 

[uniderth]

These ideas are great. Haha. Star Trek really needs a holiday special.

Hmm, TNG, Worf and Alexander visit Kurn on Qo'nos for Klingon Christmas. It's basically your typical Christmas stuff, Klingon style. Much bloodwine is consumed, there's a bat'leth fight or three, something heartwarming involving a targ and we get Klingonized versions of popular Christmas stories: the birth of Kahless, a Grinch parody called the Romulan Who Stole Christmas, the Klingon take on A Christmas Carol where Klingon Scrooge must learn to be honourable, and we end it all with a visit from Klingolaus, the Klingon Santa Claus.

Koloth the red nosed Targ?

 

[The Wormhole]

These ideas are great. Haha. Star Trek really needs a holiday special.



Koloth the red nosed Targ?

That's probably a pretty twisted story. Presumably the only reason that Targ wasn't killed right away for having a dishonorable birth defect is because Klingolaus saw tactical benefit in being able to see where he's flying his sleigh. But then you have someone who is allowed to live only because of tactical value, thrust into a leadership position with no experience that other Targs typically train and fight their entire lives for. And worse, the more experienced targs can't challenge Koloth leadership as they usually do unfit leaders, because Klingolaus needs the red nose, and whoever kills Koloth will probably themselves be killed by Klingolaus and be sentenced to Gre'thor.

Perhaps not all Christmas stories can be adapted to Klingon ways. Rather than being an uplifting story about the different contributing their differences for the betterment of all, we have a cautionary tale for Klingon children that although customs say you have a right to kill, you probably shouldn't, they could be well-connected in politics, and killing them could set the Empire into civil war. Actually, maybe this is a perfect way to Klingonify the story of Rudolph. Perhaps Duras was inspired by the story and thought of himself as Koloth the red nosed Targ, or at least being in a similar situation to him.

Damn, this stuff is just writing itself.

 

[loghaD]

the Klingon take on A Christmas Carol where Klingon Scrooge must learn to be honourable

For the record, this exists and is excellent and is currently playing in Minnesota.

http://moundstheatre.org/event/a-klingon-christmas-carol/

I have a DVD of an earlier production (2012, I think, but maybe 2010), and I was really taken aback by the quality. The script is really quite witty both in Klingon and translated into English, and the costumes and stage design are things of beauty. I'd consider showing it even to non-klingonist and non-trekkie friends.

 

[uniderth]

Nice!

How about bIr the snowman. Who, after being given a magical batleth, came alive. He then went on to defeat an entire army in glorious battle!

 

[Shawnster]

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about that in Dagger of the Mind. Roddenberry's atheism is well known, and I'm sure I've heard that he had a "no religious references rule" but I can't find it. Maybe it's apocryphal. I mean, I was just being cheeky.

Bread and Circuses definitely violates a "no religious reference" rule.

 

[BillJ]

Bread and Circuses definitely violates a "no religious reference" rule.

As does "Who Mourns for Adonais". The first TNG miniseries from DC Comics ran six issues, and IIRC, dealt with a Santa Claus-like entity in issue #2, "Spirit in the Sky".

 

[JirinPanthosa]

A Very Cardassian Christmas

There is a very giving old man, working for the government housing committee. His love for his fellow Cardassian is such that he bends the rules to give poor children a place to live.

He is visited by three ghosts, who show him the true meaning of duty to the state, and he evicts the poor children.

 

[retroenzo]

I can't help but think that the best environment would have been The Animated Series. You can almost imagine a Trelane/Q type character turning up and pretending to be Santa, expecting the Enterprise crew to help him with his deliveries. Otherwise, it would definitely be a TNG episode, with Q in a Santa suit.

You've all forgotten one other Christmas reference in Trek by the way. Quinn turns Voyager into a bauble on a Christmas tree while trying to hide from Q in 'Death Wish'. Yes, I know it was another post-Roddenberry episode but still one of only a few occasions that Christmas appears.

I seem to remember a reference to Christmas in Enterprise too but I could be completely wrong.