Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond was a television special made to commemorate the Star Trek franchise's 30th anniversary and originally aired live on UPN on 6 October 1996.
Directed by Louis J. Horvitz who has helmed many live telecasts including many editions of the Academy Awards, and hosted by Ted Danson, the show featured an assortment of montages and a large number of speakers. Among them were Ben Stiller, Joan Collins, John de Lancie, Nichelle Nichols, LeVar Burton, John Larroquette, Marina Sirtis, Avery Brooks, Buzz Aldrin, and Dr. Mae Jemison.
Featured segments of the show included taped comments from Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart who were in Paris and London respectively, a musical tribute to the special effects of Star Trek performed by Kenny G, a performance of John Lennon's "Imagine" by Jennifer Lamor (as a tribute to to the spirit of Humanity that Gene Roddenberry infused into Star Trek), and a skit performed by the cast of Frasier (excepting star Kelsey Grammer as the titular Dr. Frasier Crane) and Kate Mulgrew in the roles of the Star Trek: Voyager crew.
Preceding every commercial break, the winner of a category from the Trekker's Choice Awards was announced. These "bumpers" were not included when the special was shown later in syndication on The Biography Channel.
The show concluded with the presentation of a framed American flag (flown in space aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and the Mir space station) by Dr. Mae Jemison and Buzz Aldrin to every core cast member from the Star Trek: The Original Series (excepting Nimoy), Star Trek: The Next Generation (excepting Stewart, Denise Crosby, and Wil Wheaton), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (excepting Alexander Siddig), and Star Trek: Voyager.
The special was broadcast on the BBC and was released on VHS in the UK as part of the Star Trek - The Movies collection. It was released on VHS in the US on 3 November 1998 and released on LaserDisc in Japan on 24 March 2000.