“Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

I love Star Trek. “The Next Generation” was a major part of my childhood and all the new series are just fantastic, no matter how much the worst nerds badmouth them. So obviously, yesterday I celebrated First Contact Day.

The holiday is in honor of first contact with an alien species, specifically the Vulcans, after the first human warp flight on April 5, 2063 in Bozeman, Montana. It’s not the anniversary and I’m not sure what the preemptive version of anniversary is. Our language really isn’t designed with time travel in mind.

Anyway, in observance of that momentous occasion 39 years from now (after we get through this September’s Bell Riots, the Second U.S. Civil War in 2026, and a 27-year-long WWIII immediately after that), here are five songs related to “Star Trek.”

Steppenwolf — “Magic Carpet Ride”

Let’s start with a song directly related to the first warp flight.

Back in the Kirk-era original series, Zefram Cochran was a serious historic figure who’d gone missing and was found on an asteroid with an alien who kept him young. In the “TNG”-era movie “First Contact,” he was an old hippie played by James Cromwell who made the Phoenix, the first warp ship, for the money.

The movie version was cooler.

As seen in the clip above, he wouldn’t launch unless “Magic Carpet Ride” was playing, which I respect. It’s a solid choice for the first time a human travels faster than light. (Technically the first time a human folds spacetime around them to appear to move faster than light without breaking the laws of physics, but you know, technically it’s traveling. You’re a nerd, shut up.)

Beastie Boys — “Sabotage”

“Star Trek Beyond” (2016) is set in an alternate timeline where George Kirk’s USS Kelvin is destroyed by a time-displaced Romulan ship as his son James T. Kirk is being born in an escaping shuttlecraft. The ease with which the Kelvin is destroyed sparks an era of faster technological progress and a slightly more militaristic stance for the Federation, which coincidentally allows the producers to reboot the franchise into something more action-oriented with different, slicker, more futuristic sets.

Another change is that the Beastie Boys are still popular. In the first reboot, a young Kirk is listening to “Sabotage” while stealing his uncle’s Corvette, because without his father’s influence, he’s not as ambitious or disciplined. Then in the scene above, Scotty plays classical music to stop a fleet of attacking ships.

Calling the Beastie Boys “classical music” is one of my favorite jokes in the “Star Trek” movies, so that’s what I’m including.

Spock (Leonard Nimoy) — “Maiden Wine”

This is from the original series episode “Plato’s Stepchildren,” where telekinetic aliens who can also control minds and modeled their society after ancient Greece kidnap the Enterprise crew and make them, among other things, sing. Every “Star Trek” episode sounds utterly surreal when explained.

I picked this one because Leonard Nimoy, who was actually a very good singer, wrote and performed the song himself. “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” is kind of ridiculous, but the man had chops. He even released an extended version on one of his albums.

As a side note, “Plato’s Stepchildren” is the episode where Kirk and Uhura kiss, which was the first interracial kiss on American TV. Because “Star Trek” has always been woke.

Data (Brent Spiner) — “Blue Skies”

The other single-named “Star Trek” character played by someone who’s a legitimate good singer is Data. Brent Spiner is fantastic and has released an album of jazz standards. In the overall terrible “Star Trek: Nemesis,” he sings Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” at Riker and Troi’s wedding. There’s a callback at the end of the movie, and a much better callback in the first season finale of “Star Trek: Picard.”

Speaking of “Picard,” I couldn’t decide whether to give this spot to Data or Alison Pill’s Agnes Jurati in the show’s second season. She does a killer rendition of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows Of The Night” as part of a plot by the Borg Queen living in her brain (I said every plot point sounds surreal when explained) and it’s great, but Data is one of my favorites and Spiner is awesome, so he won out.

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” cast — “Status Report”

Arguably the most popular of the new-era series, “Strange New Worlds” follows the Enterprise under Captain Pike before Kirk took over. Like I keep saying, every episode sounds bizarre when explained—but last year they had an episode, “Subspace Rhapsody,” which is bizarre on purpose. In short, a subspace anomaly makes an alternate reality where everything is a musical bleed into their own.

Basically, it’s an excuse to have a musical episode.

The episode was apparently controversial among nerds who can’t have any fun, but I loved it. It’s one of the most creative and enjoyable things I’ve seen in ages. Also, pretty much the entire cast consists of surprisingly great singers, and at one point the Klingons form an impromptu boy band. It’s incredible and you should watch it.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and send column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.