Trek Talks, the live-streamed telethon inspired by Star Trek Universe, has added Star Trek universe actors and creatives Jeri Ryan, Doug Jones, Michael Dorn and Brannon Braga to this year’s lineup of participants. Doug Jones will serve as a guest headliner while Jeri Ryan, Michael Dorn and Brannon Braga will each participate in various panels. Additional confirmed participants include Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut, Todd Stashwick, Jonathan Frakes, Nana Visitor, Michelle Hurd, Tawny Newsome, Tom Wright, Rod Roddenberry and more. The third iteration Trek Talks will take donations to benefit the Hollywood Food Coalition. Their mission is to feed and serve the immediate needs of the hungry every day of the year so they can build better lives. Their vision is a resilient city where everyone has food, community, and support.
After discussing his career on the Trek Geeks podcast in late 2021, Star Trek actor John Billingsley voiced his support for the Hollywood Food Coalition, a nonprofit where he also served as a board member. Hosts of the podcast Bill Smith and Dan Davidson took note of the organization’s vital work, ultimately collaborating with Billingsley on a plan to develop a streaming telethon. Roddenberry Podcasts joined Trek Geeks to co-produce the event, and Trek Talks was born. The first Trek Talks event occurred on January 15th, 2022 with over 60 Star Trek celebrity guests participating in virtual panels that raised over $60,000 during the course of the 8-hour stream. Star Trek: Prodigy’s Bonnie Gordon co-hosted Trek Talks 2 last January 2023, which soared to new heights and raised an astounding $107,000.
Highlights for this year’s telethon include a “Star Trek: Picard” Season 3 panel featuring Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Frakes, Terry Matalas, Brent Spiner, Michelle Hurd, Michael Dorn, and more as well as a “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks” crossover panel with Jonathan Frakes, Tawny Newsome and writers Bill Wolkoff and Kathryn Lyn. Another panel to look forward to is the “Tuvix” panel, highlighting one of Star Trek: Voyager’s most enduring and controversial episodes, and is the the first time a panel has been done with the original actors including Tom Wright, Tim Russ, Ethan Phillips. The panel will be hosted by “Voyager” co-stars Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill. Additionally, there will be a nod to women in science with Erin Macdonald, Sian Proctor, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein and a recognition of MLK day and Nichelle Nichols’ connection to Dr. King with Marian Smothers, Adele Simmons, Dawnn Lewis, Michelle Hurd.
The Third Annual Streaming Telethon to benefit The Hollywood Food Coalition is presented by Trek Geeks, Roddenberry Podcasts, and TrekMovie.com and will stream LIVE on YouTube on January 13, 2024
ABOUT HOLLYWOOD FOOD COALITION
Hollywood Food Coalition is an organization dedicated to addressing food insecurity, eliminating food waste, and helping vulnerable people access essential needs and services.
Since 1987 we have provided hunger relief to unhoused and low-income neighbors through hot, healthy meals served every single night of the year, without fail. Since then, we have grown into a thriving meal service and food rescue operation providing meals and other basic necessities to food-insecure Angelenos.
When we share food we not only help with basic needs, but we also remind our guests of their fundamental humanity. We remind them that they are not forgotten, that somebody cares, and that they are still worthwhile members of the human family.
At our core, we actively seek to construct a more cohesive, just, and compassionate community. We serve any hungry person who walks through our door, with no exclusionary intake or prohibitive requirements that would turn them away.