Star Trek wants a world record for the salute William Shatner could never do

Right, dust off your communicator badges — Star Trek is officially sixty this year, and the franchise is going in for proper fanfare. There’s a lot happening for the anniversary, but one of the oddest and most ambitious ideas centres on a world record attempt you might actually be able to join from your sofa, provided you can wrangle your fingers into the famous Vulcan salute.

The Star Trek 60th anniversary world record attempt for the Vulcan salute will take place on 8 September 2026 at the Science Museum in London.

World Record Salute

Every September 8 is Star Trek Day, marking the date the original series first landed on American TVs back in 1966. This time, fans everywhere are invited to take part in the so-called Star Trek Vulcan Salute — basically, a globe-spanning, social media-fuelled effort to get as many people as possible doing the salute. They’re aiming to break the current Guinness World Record for ‘Most People Performing the Vulcan Salute Simultaneously’, with the main event happening at the Science Museum in London. If you want to be counted (and possibly immortalised in Guinness), you can join in digital livestreams, send in your own video, or physically turn up at the museum if you’re in town.

A quick bit of trivia: the salute itself wasn’t a studio invention. It was cooked up by Leonard Nimoy — Mr Spock himself — who borrowed it from a traditional Jewish blessing. It first popped up in the episode 'Amok Time', and if you think it looks simple, you’re in good company. William Shatner famously couldn’t pull it off without someone tying his fingers together with fishing line, and Zachary Quinto (Spock in the modern films) apparently needed full-on hand training to stop botching it. In other words, not everyone’s hands are naturally Vulcan-approved, which might make the world record even more amusing.

Films Back On The Big Screen

Anniversary or not, it’s not every day you get Star Trek films paired up with classic episodes at the cinema, but that’s exactly what’s happening this September. Four of the old-school Trek films are returning to theatres in the UK (and presumably elsewhere), each matched with an iconic episode from the original series. Mark your calendar if you’re keen:

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director’s Cut + 'The Changeling' (4 September)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Director’s Cut + 'Space Seed' (5 September)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock + 'Amok Time' (6 September)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home + 'The City on the Edge of Forever' (7 September)

Yes, that’s a proper week of nostalgia, and a chance for a new generation to see Kirk and Spock’s original adventures as nature intended: larger than life. Credit where credit’s due — few fanbases see this kind of treatment, though being honest, it probably helps that Paramount could use some good PR right about now.

The State of the Franchise

Star Trek seems to be in a weird moment for its big 60th bash. Sure, there’s a new film bubbling away, with Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves fame) penning the script. Paramount reckons they’re having conversations with 'a lot' of writers about the next step, but in truth, there’s not much solid news. The TV side is contracting instead of expanding: Strange New Worlds wraps up with a ‘shortened’ fifth season, Starfleet Academy is off the slate, and for the first time in a decade, there are simply no new live-action series in development.

So while there’s everything to celebrate from the past, the future of Star Trek is swirling a bit in the neutral zone — a mix of nostalgia, social-media world records, and arm-waving optimism. As for the Vulcan salute itself, well, some of us are either about to become Guinness record-holders, or just end up with finger cramps.