star trek seasons and episodes

How to Watch Star Trek in Order: The Complete Series Timeline

The full star trek timeline, explained..

Ever since 1966’s premiere of the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the entertainment world has never been the same. This franchise that has boldly gone where no property has gone before has captured the hearts and minds of millions around the world and has grown into a space-faring empire of sorts filled with multiple shows, feature length films, comics, merchandise, and so much more. That being said, the amount of Star Trek out in the world can make it tough to know exactly how to watch everything it offers in either chronological or release order so you don’t miss a thing. To help make things easier for you, we’ve created this guide to break down everything you need to know about engaging with this Star Trek journey.

It used to be a bit trickier to track down all the Star Trek shows and movies you’d need to watch to catch up, but Paramount+ has made it a whole lot easier as it has become the home of nearly all the past, present and future Star Trek entries.

So, without further ado, come with us into the final frontier and learn how you can become all caught up with the adventures of Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko, Spock, Pike, Archer, Burnham, and all the others that have made Star Trek so special over the past 56 years.

And, in case you're worried, everything below is a mostly spoiler-free chronological timeline that will not ruin any of any major plot points of anything further on in the timeline. So, you can use this guide as a handy way to catch up without ruining much of the surprise of what’s to come on your adventure! If you’d prefer to watch everything Star Trek as it was released, you’ll find that list below as well!

How to Watch Star Trek in Chronological Order

• How to Watch Star Trek by Release Order

1. Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2155)

Star Trek: Enterprise is the earliest entry on our list as it takes place a hundred years before the adventures of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew of Star Trek: The Original Series. The show aired from 2001 to 2005 and starred Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer, the captain of the Enterprise NX-01. This version of the Enterprise was actually Earth’s first starship that was able to reach warp five.

While the show had its ups and downs, it included a fascinating look at a crew without some of the advanced tech we see in other Star Trek shows, the first contact with various alien species we know and love from the Star Trek universe, and more.

2. Star Trek: Discovery: Seasons 1 and 2 (2256-2258)

This is where things get a little bit tricky, as the first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery take place before Star Trek: The Original Series but Seasons 3 and 4 take us boldly to a place we’ve not gone before. We won’t spoil why that’s the case here, but it’s important to note if you want to watch Star Trek in order, you’ll have to do a bit of jumping around from series to movie to series.

As for what Star Trek: Discovery is, it's set the decade before the original and stars Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham, a Starfleet Commander who accidentally helps start a war between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. She gets court-martialed and stripped of her rank following these events and is reassigned to the U.S.S Discovery.

3. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2259-TBD)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds also begins before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series and is set up by Star Trek: Discovery as its captain, Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike, makes an appearance in its second season. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Pike first appeared in the original failed pilot episode “The Cage” of Star Trek: The Original Series and would later become James T. Kirk’s predecessor after the original actor, Jefferey Hunter, backed out of the show.

Fast forward all these years later and now we get to learn more about the story of Christopher Pike and many other familiar faces from The Original Series alongside new characters. It’s made even more special as the ship the crew uses is the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, the very same that would soon call Kirk its captain.

4. Star Trek: The Original Series (2265-2269)

The fourth Star Trek series or movie you should watch in the order is the one that started it all - Star Trek: The Original Series . Created by Gene Roddenberry, this first Star Trek entry would kick off a chain reaction that would end up creating one of the most beloved IPs of all time. However, it almost never made it to that legendary status as its low ratings led to a cancellation order after just three seasons that aired from 1966 to 1969. Luckily, it found great popularity after that and built the foundation for all the Star Trek stories we have today.

Star Trek: The Original Series starred William Shatner as James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock, but the rest of the crew would go on to become nearly as iconic as they were. As for what the show was about? Well, we think Kirk said it best during each episode’s opening credits;

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise . Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

5. Star Trek: The Animated Series (2269-2270)

While Star Trek: The Original Series may have been canceled after just three seasons, its popularity only grew, especially with the help of syndication. Following this welcome development, Gene Roddenberry decided he wanted to continue the adventures of the crew of the Enterprise NCC-1701 in animated form, and he brought back many of the original characters and the actors behind them for another go.

Star Trek: The Animated Series lasted for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and told even more stories of the Enterprise and its adventures throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2270s)

The first Star Trek film was a very big deal as it brought back the crew of Star Trek: The Original Series after the show was canceled in 1969 after just three seasons. However, even it had a rough road to theaters as Roddenberry initially failed to convince Paramount Pictures it was worth it in 1975. Luckily, the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other factors helped finally convince those in power to make the movie and abandon the plans for a new television series called Star Trek: Phase II, which also would have continued the original story.

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, James T. Kirk was now an Admiral in Starfleet, and certain events involving a mysterious alien cloud of energy called V’Ger cause him to retake control of a refitted version of the U.S.S. Enterprise with many familiar faces in tow.

7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (2285)

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture written, but Paramount turned it down after the reception to that first film was not what the studio had hoped for. In turn, Paramount removed him from the production and brought in Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards to write the script and Nicholas Meyer to direct the film.

The studio’s decision proved to be a successful one as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is considered by many, including IGN, to be the best Star Trek film. As for the story, it followed the battle between Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise vs. Ricardo Montalban’ Khan Noonien Singh. Khan is a genetically engineered superhuman and he and his people were exiled by Kirk on a remote planet in the episode ‘Space Seed’ from the original series. In this second film, after being stranded for 15 years, Khan wants revenge.

8. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (2285)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock continues the story that began in Wrath of Khan and deals with the aftermath of Spock’s death. While many on the U.S.S. Enterprise thought that was the end for their science officer, Kirk learns that Spock’s spirit/katra is actually living inside the mind of DeForest Kelley’s Dr. McCoy, who has been acting strange ever since the death of his friend. What follows is an adventure that includes a stolen U.S.S. Enterprise, a visit from Spock’s father Sarek, a run-in with Klingons, and so much more.

9. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (2286 and 1986)

While it is undoubtedly great that Kirk and his crew saved Spock, it apparently wasn’t great enough to avoid the consequences that follow stealing and then losing the Enterprise. On their way to answer for their charges, the former crew of the Enterprise discover a threat to Earth that, without spoiling anything, causes them to go back in time to save everything they love. The Voyage Home is a big departure from the previous films as, instead of space, we spend most of our time in 1986’s San Francisco.

10. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (2287)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier once again brings back our favorite heroes from Star Trek: The Original Series, but it’s often regarded as one of the weakest films starring Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc. In this adventure, our crew’s shore leave gets interrupted as they are tasked with going up against the Vulcan Sybok, who himself is on the hunt for God in the middle of the galaxy.

11. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2293)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the final movie starring the entire cast of Star Trek: The Original Series, and it puts the Klingons front and center. After a mining catastrophe destroys the Klingon moon of Praxis and threatens the Klingon’s homeworld, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon is forced to abandon his species' love of war in an effort to seek peace with the Federation. What follows is an adventure that calls back to the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall and serves as a wonderful send-off to characters we’ve come to know and love since 1966, even though some will thankfully appear in future installments.

12. Star Trek: The Next Generation (2364-2370)

After you make it through all six of the Star Trek: The Original Series movies, it’s time to start what many consider the best Star Trek series of all time - Star Trek: The Next Generation . The series, which starred Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, ran from 1987 through 1994 with 178 episodes over seven seasons.

There are so many iconic characters and moments in The Next Generation, including William Riker, Data, Worf, Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi, and Dr. Beverly Crusher, and many of these beloved faces would return for Star Trek: Picard, which served as a continuation of this story.

While we are once again on the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, this story takes place a century after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. However, there may just be a few familiar faces that pop up from time to time.

13. Star Trek Generations (2293)

While Star Trek Generations is the first film featuring the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, it also features a team-up that many had dreamed of for years and years between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain James T. Kirk.

Our heroes are facing off against an El-Aurian named Dr. Tolian Soran, who will do whatever is necessary to return to an extra-dimensional realm known as the Nexus. Without spoiling anything, these events lead to a meeting with these two legendary captains and a heartfelt-at-times send-off to The Original Series, even though not every character returned that we wished could have.

14. Star Trek: First Contact (2373)

Star Trek: First Contact was not only the second film featuring the crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it also served as the motion picture directorial debut for William Riker actor Jonathan Frakes. In this film, the terrifying Borg take center stage and force our heroes to travel back in time to stop them from conquering Earth and assimilating the entire human race.

This movie picks up on the continuing trauma caused by Jean-Luc Picard getting assimilated in the series and becoming Locutus of Borg, and we are also treated to the first warp flight in Star Trek’s history, a shout-out to Deep Space Nine, and more.

15. Star Trek: Insurrection (2375)

Star Trek: Insurrection, which unfortunately ranked last on our list of the best Star Trek movies, is the third film starring the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew and followed a story involving an alien race that lives on a planet with more-or-less makes them invincible due to its rejuvenating properties. This alien race, known as the Ba’Ku, are being threatened by not only another alien race called the Son’a, but also the Federation. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew disobey Federation orders in hopes to save the peaceful Ba’Ku, and while it sounds like an interesting premise, many said it felt too much like an extended episode of the series instead of a big blockbuster film.

16. Star Trek: Nemesis (2379)

The final Star Trek: The Next Generation movie is Star Trek: Nemesis , and it also isn’t looked at as one of the best. There are bright parts in the film, including Tom Hardy’s Shinzon who is first thought to be a Romulan praetor before it’s revealed he is a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but it also features a lot of retreaded ground. There are some great moments between our favorite TNG characters, but it’s not quite the goodbye many had hoped for. Luckily, this won’t be the last we’ll see of them.

17. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2369-2375)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the fourth Star Trek series and it ran from 1993 to 1999 with 176 episodes over seven seasons. Deep Space Nine was also the first Star Trek series to be created without the direct involvement of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, but instead with Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Furthermore, it was the first series to begin when another Star Trek Series - The Next Generation - was still on the air.

The connections between The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine don’t end there, as there were a ton of callbacks to TNG in Deep Space Nine, and characters like Worf and Miles O’Brien played a big part in the series. Other TNG characters popped up from time to time, including Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and certain Deep Space Nine characters also showed their faces in TNG.

Deep Space Nine was a big departure from the Star Trek series that came before, as it not only took place mostly on a space station - the titular Deep Space Nine - but it was the first to star an African American as its central character in Avery Brooks’ Captain Benjamin Sisko.

Deep Space Nine was located in a very interesting part of the Milky Way Galaxy as it was right next to a wormhole, and the series was also filled with conflict between the Cardassians and Bajorans, the war between the Federation and the Dominion, and much more.

18. Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378)

Star Trek: Voyager is the fifth Star Trek series and it ran from 1995 to 2001 with 172 episodes over seven seasons. Star Trek: Voyager begins its journey at Deep Space Nine, and then it follows the tale of Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Kathryn Janeway (the first female leading character in Star Trek history!) and her crew getting lost and stranded in the faraway Delta Quadrant.

The episodes and adventures that follow all see the team fighting for one goal: getting home. Being so far away from the Alpha Quadrant we were so used to letting Star Trek be very creative in its storytelling and give us situations and alien races we’d never encountered before.

That doesn’t mean it was all unfamiliar, however, as the Borg became a huge threat in the later seasons. It’s a good thing too, as that led to the introduction of Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine, a character who would continue on to appear in Star Trek: Picard and become a fan favorite.

19. Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380-TBD)

Star Trek: Lower Decks debuted in 2020 and was the first animated series to make it to air since 1973’s Star Trek: The Animated Series. Alongside having that feather in its cap, it also sets itself apart by choosing to focus more on the lower lever crew instead of the captain and senior staff.

This leads to many fun adventures that may not be as high stakes as the other stories, but are no less entertaining. There have already been three seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the fourth season is set to arrive later this summer.

The series is also worth a watch as it is having a crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that will mix the worlds of live-action and animation.

20. Star Trek: Prodigy (2383-TBD)

Star Trek: Prodigy was the first fully 3D animated Star Trek series ever and told a story that began five years after the U.S.S. Voyager found its way back home to Earth. In this series, which was aimed for kids, a group of young aliens find an abandoned Starfleet ship called the U.S.S. Protostar and attempt to make it to Starfleet and the Alpha Quadrant from the Delta Quadrant.

Voyager fans will be delighted to know that Kate Mulgrew returns as Kathryn Janeway in this animated series, but not only as herself. She is also an Emergency Training Holographic Advisor that was based on the likeness of the former captain of the U.S.S. Voyager.

The second season of Star Trek: Prodigy was set to arrive later this year, but it was not only canceled in June, but also removed from Paramount+. There is still hope this show may find a second life on another streaming service or network.

21. Star Trek: Picard (2399-2402)

Star Trek: Picard is the… well… next generation of Star Trek: The Next Generation as it brings back not only Partick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard, but also many of his former crew members from the beloved series. The story is set 20 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis and we find Picard retired from Starfleet and living at his family’s vineyard in France.

Without spoiling anything, certain events get one of our favorite captains back to work and take him on an adventure through space and time over three seasons and 30 episodes.

The show had its ups and downs, but the third season, in our opinion, stuck the landing and gave us an “emotional, exciting, and ultimately fun journey for Jean-Luc and his family - both old and new - that gives the character the send-off that he has long deserved.”

22. Star Trek: Discovery: Seasons 3 and 4 (3188-TBD)

While Star Trek: Discovery begins around 10 years before Star Trek: The Original Series, the show jumps more than 900 years into the future into the 32nd Century following the events of the second season. The Federation is not in great shape and Captain Michael Burnham and her crew work to bring it back to what it once was.

Star Trek: Discovery is set to end after the upcoming fifth season, which will debut on Paramount+ in 2024.

How to Watch Star Trek by Order of Release

• Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 - 1969)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 - 1974)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1984)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 - 1994)
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999)
• Star Trek: Generations (1994)
• Star Trek: Voyager (1995 - 2001)
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 - 2005)
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
• Star Trek (2009)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)
• Star Trek: Discovery (2017 - Present)
• Star Trek: Picard (2020 - 2023)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020 - Present)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (2021 - TBA)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022 - Present)

For more, check out our look at the hidden meaning behind Star Trek’s great captains, why Star Trek doesn’t get credit as the first shared universe, if this may be the end of Star Trek’s golden age of streaming, and our favorite classic Star Trek episodes and movies.

In This Article

IGN Recommends

Latest Tweets

• December 2023
• August 2022
• February 2021
• January 2021
• December 2020
• November 2020

Star Trek: The Original Series episode guides - All TOS episodes rated, reviewed

In those days before the Federation had continuity, there was Star Trek: The Original Series. Watch the TOS stories in any other you wish; it rarely matters, as essentially every single episode in TOS is a bottle episode. Ultimately, however, many TOS episodes are retconned into prequel stories (e.g. “The Menagerie”, “Space Seed”, “City on the Edge of Forever”), sequels (e.g. “Mirror Mirror”) or even crossovers (“The Trouble with Tribbles”) for the other series and movies.

Star Trek: The Original Series – the seaons, the key episodes

Season 1 – In the 1960s, TV was a different beast. Serialization (and thus continuity) was essentially non-existent. Each story plays out over a single episode only (with one exception in three years of Star Trek), thereby not allowing for much character development each season of Star Trek’s original run is really barely indistinguishable from another – but at lest that means that season 1 isn’t filled with the “growing pains” every other ST series goes through. The biggest highlights in Star Trek’s first year has got to be “The Menagerie” (episode #s 11 and 12), an eerie story of Captain Kirk’s doomed mentor Captain Pike, and “City on the Edge of Forever” (#29), a neat twist on the traditional “preserve the past” time travel tale. Also of note: “Space Seed” (#22), the introduction of Star Trek II baddie Khan.

Season 2 – Ensign Chekov joins the bridge crew for season 2, which manages to have some fun in the explicitly comic “Trouble with Tribbles” (#15) and the absolutely bananas “Assignment: Earth” (#26). And Spock fans dig on “Amok Time” (#1) and Journey to Babel (#10) for the info doled on that wacky Vulcan culture.

Season 3 – As mentioned above, a fan campaign saved Star Trek for a third series, but NBC executives were not enthused about supporting the marginally successful series and cut the show’s operating budget in half. However, Star Trek Guide must say that tripling the budget could not save scripts like those for “Spock’s Brain” (Can all Vulcans live without a brain or just Spock?), “Specter of the Gun” (Scotty’s dead because he *thinks* he’s dead?) and “The Savage Curtain” (Kirk, Spock, Vulcan hero Surak and Abe Lincoln vs. Genghis Khan, Klingon Empire founder Kahless, 21st-century Earth dictator Mr. Green – who did it in the kitchen with a revolver – and fuzzy chick Zora?) Dude.

• William Shatner as Capt. James Tiberius Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
• James Doohan as Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott
• Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Nyota Uhura
• George Takei as Lt. Hikaru Sulu
• Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel
• Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Andreievich Chekov [ 2-3 ]
• Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Rand [ 1 ]
• Star Trek: The Animated Series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: Enterprise

Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, Sep 7 - 9, 2023, Hunt Valley, MD

Screen Rant

Best star trek: ds9 episode from each of the show’s 7 seasons.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had an astonishing run of episodes across seven seasons, but which of its 173 episodes best represent each season?

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine broke boundaries by exploring life outside the Federation and tackling contemporary issues like racial injustice.
• Iconic DS9 episodes like "Duet" and "Necessary Evil" delve into complex themes of morality and justice, pushing the Star Trek universe forward.
• The show's ability to tell huge, sweeping epics while maintaining nuanced character development sets Deep Space Nine apart in the Star Trek franchise.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had an incredible hit rate across seven seasons, making it difficult to choose the best episode per season. Premiering in 1993 and clocking up 173 episodes over seven years, DS9 broke new boundaries for the Star Trek franchise. Set aboard a former Cardassian space station rather than a Starfleet vessel, DS9 's cast of characters hail from a diverse range of backgrounds. This allowed Deep Space Nine to tell new stories that explored life outside Star Trek 's Federation. For example, many of the best episodes about Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) focused on her problematic legacy as a freedom fighter.

Led by Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine never shied away from tackling contemporary issues like racial injustice and social inequality. These themes and the sweeping Dominion War arc earned Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a label as the "dark" heart of the franchise. However, more than any other Star Trek show of the time, DS9 is a show about family and community, putting a focus on the lives of those on the fringes of Starfleet's ongoing mission . Many of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's best episodes are a testament to the show's diverse community of Starfleet officers, Bajoran militia, and Ferengi bartenders.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9’s 20 Best Episodes Ranked

7 star trek: ds9 season 1's best: episode 19, "duet", "what you call genocide, i call a day's work.".

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 1 struggled to find its feet at first, as it often relied on stories that felt more appropriate for Star Trek: The Next Generation . "Duet", however, marks a watershed in the development of DS9 as a unique Star Trek show . Inspired by Robert Shaw's play The Man in the Glass Booth , "Duet" explores whether there's any appropriate punishment for crimes that are beyond comprehension. When she suspects Aamin Marritza (Harris Yullin), an ailing Cardassian of being the war criminal Gul Darhe'el, Major Kira interrogates him, but soon finds that the truth is much more complex.

Leonard Nimoy had previously played the title role in the 1971 production of The Man in the Glass Booth at the Old Globe Theater.

Written by Peter Allen Fields, "Duet" is a gripping morality play that is among some of the very best Major Kira episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . It's the first time that Kira is forced to confront her prejudice against the Cardassians for their brutal subjugation of the Bajorans. Her interrogation of Marritza, and the revelations it brings out, makes her realize that she simply cannot blame every Cardassian for the crimes of the Occupation. The final scene, in which Marritza is brutally killed, feels like a tonal shift for the Star Trek universe that helped to guide DS9 into more complex thematic territory in future seasons.

Honorable Mention: Episode 20, "In The Hands of The Prophets"

6 Star Trek: DS9 Season 2's Best: Episode 8, "Necessary Evil"

"i misjudged you, major. you were a better liar than i gave you credit for.".

"Necessary Evil" is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's first visit to a time when DS9 was Terok Nor . It's a chilly film noir homage that forces Constable Odo (Rene Auberjonois) to revisit his very first case. Shifting between past and present via Odo's flashbacks, "Necessary Evil" reveals how he first met Quark (Armin Shimerman), Kira, and Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) during a murder investigation. "Necessary Evil" reveals that it was Kira who was the murderer, another bold step forward for the Star Trek franchise .

There are no easy answers to how Odo and Kira can move on from the revelations of "Duet", nor will anyone be pressing Star Trek 's reset button.

The closing scene in which Odo and Kira discuss her past crimes and her reasons for keeping them secret further proved that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was a more morally complex show than Star Trek: The Next Generation . There are no easy answers to how Odo and Kira can move on from the revelations of "Duet", nor will anyone be pressing Star Trek 's reset button. It's a landmark episode that showcases DS9 's ability to examine the nuances of morality through a Star Trek lens.

Honorable Mention: Episode 22, "The Wire"

Constable Odo's 10 Best Star Trek: DS9 Episodes

5 star trek: ds9 season 3's best is: episodes 20 & 21, "improbable cause" & "the die is cast", "do you know what the sad part is, odo i'm a very good tailor.".

"Improbable Cause" and "The Die is Cast" is a two-parter that really shows off the dramatic scope of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . What begins as an investigation into the attempted murder of Cardassian tailor Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) becomes an intergalactic battle for survival. Garak's trajectory in DS9 is utterly fascinating, and this two-parter is crucial to his character arc. Given a chance to be accepted back into Cardassian society, Garak is manipulated into inflicting horrific torture on Odo. Meanwhile, Sisko and Starfleet race against time to stop a joint Cardassian and Romulan fleet from declaring war against the Dominion.

Writer Ronald D. Moore insisted on a change to the Romulan costumes, stating that he hated the " Big shoulder pads, the quilting " of the TNG ones.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's predecessors would have been happy to explore just one of those story strands, but DS9 gamely throws itself into tying the attempted murder of Garak into the political maneuvering of the Cardassians and Romulans. Better yet, neither strand of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3 two-parter feels like it's being short-changed. It's an early example of how DS9 could tell huge, sweeping epics that still manage to give each member of the show's expansive ensemble their own big moments.

Honorable Mention: Episode 5, "Second Skin"

4 Star Trek: DS9 Season 4's Best Is: Episode 1, "The Way of the Warrior"

"just what this station needs… another klingon.".

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has the best season 4 in the Star Trek franchise , so it's incredibly difficult to choose which episode represents the season's peak. It makes sense, therefore, to select the game changing DS9 season 4 premiere that brought Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) into the show. "The Way of the Warrior" is a thrilling Star Trek movie that just happens to have premiered on TV . Designed as a relaunch for DS9 , "The Way of the Warrior" doubles down on the biggest successes of seasons 1 to 3.

... the destabilizing effects of the alliance being broken gave DS9 some of the best Klingon episodes since Star Trek: The Original Series .

Once again, season 4 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine shakes up the universe, by breaking the Federation and Klingon alliance. While it would later be revealed to be part of a wider Changeling plot, the destabilizing effects of the alliance being broken gave DS9 some of the best Klingon episodes since Star Trek: The Original Series . After almost three decades, Star Trek finally gave fans a Klingon action movie , and it was a bold statement of intent for DS9 season 4 and beyond.

Honorable Mention: Episode 3, "The Visitor"

Worf's Best Star Trek TNG, DS9 & Picard Episodes

3 star trek: ds9 season 5's best is: episode 14, "in purgatory's shadow", "this is internment camp 371. you are here because you are enemies of the dominion. there is no release, no escape, except death.".

Pairing Worf and Garak together was an inspired choice that makes "In Purgatory's Shadow" the strongest episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5 . Where characters like Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), Captain Sisko and Odo had indulged Garak to a certain extent, Worf is a more difficult proposition. Worf's lack of trust in Garak, and the Cardassian's attempts to win over his Klingon colleague inject some levity into an episode that includes two huge moments that change the course of DS9 season 5.

"In Purgatory's Shadow" is notable for confirming that Enabran Tain (Paul Dooley) was the father of Garak.

Investigating rumours that General Martok (J.G. Hertzler) and Enabran Tain are being held in a Dominion internment camp, Worf and Garak become prisoners themselves. "In Purgatory's Shadow" also has the incredible reveal that Dr. Julian Bashir was replaced by a Changeling impersonator in DS9 season 5. However, the biggest cliffhanger from the episode is the huge Dominion invasion fleet that emerges through the wormhole, into the Alpha Quadrant. It's a thrilling hour of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that shuffles up character dynamics and sets up the second half of season 5.

Honorable Mention: Episode 4, "Nor the Battle to the Strong"

2 Star Trek: DS9 Season 6's Best Is: Episode 13, "Far Beyond The Stars"

"i am a human being, dammit you can deny me all you want but you can't deny ben sisko – he exists".

"Far Beyond the Stars" is the best episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 6, because it's a powerful depiction of racism that doesn't rely on the usual Star Trek allegories. Instead, the struggles of science fiction writer Benny Russell become an allegory for Sisko's own crisis of faith. By seeing the harsh realities of segregation and institutional racism in 1950s America through the eys of Benny, Sisko is revitalized to keep fighting the good fight.

"Far Beyond the Stars" is only the second time that Michael Dorn appears in Star Trek without his Klingon make-up. The first time was when Worf was disguised as a Boraalan in Star Trek: The Next Generation , season 7, episode 13, "Homeward".

"Far Beyond the Stars" is a powerful reflection of how far race relations have come since the debut of Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966 . However, the classic Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode is under no illusions that everyone watching must continue to fight the good fight for racial equality. Directed by Avery Brooks, and featuring one of his best-ever performances in DS9 , "Far Beyond the Stars" is one of the very best episodes of any Star Trek TV show , and it still feels powerfully relevant in 2024.

Honorable Mention: Episode 19, "In the Pale Moonlight"

1 Star Trek: DS9 Season 7's Best Is: Episode 22, "Tacking Into The Wind"

"the klingon empire is dying, and i think it deserves to die.".

"Tacking into the Wind" is another fine example of how Star Trek: Deep Space 's writers are the masters of juggling a 45-minute runtime with big story ideas, character moments, and thrilling action setpieces. The episode tells the dual narratives of Worf's attempts to bring the Klingon Empire back in line, and Kira, Odo and Garak's mission to capture a Breen weapon from the Dominion. Both stories are utterly thrilling, but "Tacking into the Wind" isn't just an action-packed adventure story, it has some genuinely moving character moments .

"Tacking into the Wind" was Robert O'Reilly's final appearance as Chancellor Gowron in the Star Trek franchise.

Worf's inner conflict as he considers how to deal with his wayward ally Chancellor Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) provides Michael Dorn with some of the best material he's ever had in any Star Trek show. Meanwhile, Odo's determination to complete his mission despite his worsening health is heartbreaking. It's impossible not to hold back tears as Odo and Kira have what may be their final conversation together. "Tacking into the Wind" is the strongest episode in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's nine-part finale, and sums up everything that made it such a brilliant Star Trek show.

Honorable Mention: Episode 4, "Take Me Out To The Holosuite"

Every episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is streaming now on Paramount+

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

*Availability in US

Not available

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Sweepstakes

The 10 standout episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series

Ready to explore (or revisit) strange new worlds and smart sci-fi adventure? Launch into the Final Frontier with our list of 10 essential episodes of the original Star Trek.

A five-year mission that's now headed into its seventh decade, the Star Trek franchise is still boldly going where no one has gone before. More installments of the franchise are on air then ever, with something to offer almost every Trekkie in its rapidly expanding universe. However, Star Trek: The Original Series is the big bang that started it all. Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future — produced by Lucille Ball , no less — debuted in September of 1966 and ran for three seasons on NBC before finding new life in syndication.

While the series' Prime Directive seemed to be shredding Capt. Kirk's shirt as often as possible, our mission is to represent a variety of agreed upon classics from the U.S.S. Enterprise's maiden voyage that would delight both the original and next generation of fans.

So fire up your favorite snacks in the replicator, silence your tricorder, and beam on down our list of the 10 must-watch episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series , all of which are available to stream in remastered form on Paramount + .

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (Season 1, episode 3)

After the Enterprise goes through an energy rift at the edge of the galaxy, Captain Kirk's ( William Shatner ) friend and shipmate, Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood), begins to develop terrifying ESP abilities that grow stronger by the minute. As he makes the transition from man to "god," he becomes increasingly more dangerous and detached from humanity. Ship psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner ( Sally Kellerman ) believes his mutation can help mankind evolve, but Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ) is adamant he must be killed before he destroys them all. Will Kirk choose his best friend over the best interests of his crew — and the universe?

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is most famous for being the second pilot filmed for the series, and introducing viewers to Captain James T. Kirk, Chief Engineer Scotty (James Doohan), and Lieutenant Sulu ( George Takei ). It's also just a great hour of sci-fi storytelling. This superior first episode seamlessly mixes action, high stakes emotions, and tough ethical questions, setting the blueprint for the franchise.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" (Season 1, episode 28)

When a time disruption from a nearby planet rocks the Enterprise, Dr. McCoy ( DeForest Kelley ) — aka Bones — accidentally injects himself with an overdose of a dangerous drug. Driven mad, he flees to the planet below and goes through the time warp, changing history and erasing the Federation of Planets from existence. Kirk and Spock follow him to set things right, and find themselves in 1930s Depression-era New York.

As they search for Bones, Kirk meets and falls in love with a social worker named Edith Wheeler ( Joan Collins ) whose fate, it turns out, will determine the course of humanity. Once again, Kirk must choose between someone he loves and the greater good. One of Trek 's most emotionally charged hours, "The City on the Edge of Forever" — scripted by Harlan Ellison — is considered by many to be the greatest episode of all-time.

"Space Seed" (Season 1, episode 22)

The Enterprise team stumbles upon the marooned S.S. Botany Bay in deep space and awakens the crew from suspended animation. They soon discover these lost spacefarers were exiled from Earth during the infamous Eugenics Wars of the 1990s, and our heroes have unwittingly unleashed a genetically enhanced super-tyrant named Khan Noonien Singh ( Ricardo Montalban ) in the 23rd century.

Montalban's magnetic, calculating would-be-ruler serves as a perfect foil for Shatner's compassionate, tactical Kirk, leading to a great one-on-one showdown between the two for control of the ship. This season one episode is the introduction of the series' most infamous villain, who 15 years later will headline Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , widely regarded as the best film in the franchise.

"Amok Time" (Season 2, episode 1)

Kirk vs. Spock! Kirk's shirt ripped open (again)! Spock in heat! This episode has everything a fan of the duo that launched a thousand slash fics could want. Every seven years, a Vulcan must return home for an ancient mating ceremony called "pon farr." When Kirk and Bones accompany him, they find themselves dealing with (farr) more than they bargained for when the Captain is forced to battle Spock in a ritual fight to the death.

In addition to the showdown between the leads, "Amok Time" has several other firsts: the first use of the Vulcan Salute, the first appearance of Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), and the first glimpse of the planet Vulcan itself. This perennial favorite is also heavily referenced in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' fifth episode — titled " Spock Amok " — on Paramount +.

"Mirror, Mirror" (Season 2, episode 4)

An away team consisting of Kirk, Bones, Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ), and Scotty are sent to an alternate dimension when they are caught in an ion storm mid-transport. This "mirror" dimension is populated by violent doppelgangers of the Enterprise crew who serve the Terran Empire instead of the Federation of Planets. The foursome must navigate the cutthroat nature of this universe and find a way back before their secret is exposed — all while surviving a mutiny to overthrow this reality's Kirk. Hip daggers, bare midriffs, and Spock's goatee are just a few of the signs that things in this universe are askew.

Although Evil Bearded Spock is certainly fun to see, George Takei gives the standout performance as a delightfully evil Sulu, complete with a badass facial scar. This episode is a highlight of the original series and forms the foundation for several stories in future Trek franchises like Deep Space Nine , Enterprise , and Discovery .

"The Trouble with Tribbles" (Season 2, episode 15)

A fan favorite episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles" is a comedic left turn that shouldn't work, but absolutely does. Starring adorable little furballs who are "born pregnant" and multiply at a rapid pace, this zany hour allows the heady sci-fi questions of morality to take a back seat in favor of punchlines and hijinks.

The actual plot of the episode revolves around Kirk protecting a supply of space grain essential to Starfleet's sovereignty over a contested planet. The fun begins, however, when Uhura picks up one of the tiny tribbles while on shore leave at Space Station K-7 and unleashes an infestation on every corner of the Enterprise — including Kirk's lunch. The Captain's exasperated responses to the growing tribble crisis are comedy gold, especially as he seems to be the only one immune to their cooing charms. "Tribbles" also features a fantastic slapstick bar fight between Scotty, Chekov, and a handful of Klingon officers for the honor of the Enterprise. This episode is a fun detour into the lighter side of the crew's five-year mission.

"Balance of Terror" (Season 1, episode 14)

Kirk and company find themselves in an action-packed showdown with the Romulans when they investigate a mysterious loss of communication with Federation outposts near the Neutral Zone. Despite a history of war with Earth, no one has ever laid eyes on an actual member of their species — until now.

As the Romulans are believed to be the violent cousins of the Vulcans, Spock becomes the subject of suspicion and xenophobia from some of the crew — particularly Lt. Stiles (guest star Paul Comi) — whose ancestors were killed in the Earth-Romulan War. The story's point-of-view shifts between the two vessels, allowing the viewer to see that the warring foes are more alike than they realize.

This season one classic features the first appearance of the Romulans — who will go on to be recurring antagonists for the heroes of the franchise. Also, keep an eye out for actor Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander. He'll return to the series in a recurring role as Spock's father.

"The Corbomite Maneuver" (Season 1, episode 10)

While exploring an uncharted area of space, the Enterprise is pursued by a mysterious cube emitting harmful radiation. To protect themselves, they lay waste to it, and incur the wrath of Balok, commander of a technologically superior alien race. He takes control of the Enterprise's systems and declares the ship, and everyone onboard, will be destroyed in 10 minutes. A tense hour with a really wild twist ending, this installment showcases Kirk's ingenuity and characteristic refusal to lose — one of the many times the Captain will boldy bluff where no man has bluffed before.

"The Corbomite Maneuver" is also the first time DeForest Kelley (McCoy) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) played their iconic characters, although they appear earlier in the series due to NBC originally airing episodes out of production order.

"The Doomsday Machine" (Season 2, episode 6)

Our intrepid explorers receive a distress signal from fellow Starfleet ship the U.S.S. Constellation and rush to its aid. Upon arrival, they find Commodore Matthew Decker (William Windom) — the ship's commander and sole survivor — wracked with guilt and suffering from PTSD. Decker's entire crew was annihilated by a massive energy weapon of unknown origin that destroyed the entire star system.

Pulling rank, he takes command of his rescuer's ship, and puts the crew of the Enterprise in the crosshairs of the unstoppable world-killing device. Kirk, marooned on Decker's derelict starship, must figure out a way to rescue the Enterprise from both the machine and an out-of-control superior officer. Introducing a planet-ending energy weapon 10 years before Star Wars , this episode features a real nail-biter of an ending.

Fun fact for the continuity-conscious : Decker's son, Willard Decker ( Stephen Collins ), will play a prominent role in 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture .

"Arena" (Season 1, episode 18)

Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones, and an unfortunate " Redshirt " arrive at the Cestus III Outpost for a diplomatic mission and find it annihilated by an alien race called the Gorn. Seeking revenge, Kirk pushes the Enterprise to pursue the Gorn starship and destroy it. The chase leads into an unmapped sector of space ruled by a powerful force calling themselves the Metrons. Outraged by the brutality of both ships, the Metrons force the two captains to settle their dispute in a fight to the death on a desert planet. The winner will leave the sector unharmed, while the loser, and their crew, will die.

The bulk of this episode involves William Shatner being chased by an actor in a giant rubber lizard suit — and honestly, it rules. Yes, the suit looks goofy, but the showdown is fun as hell and the message of the story is classic Star Trek : sometimes there is more going on beneath the surface than we realize. Very few Star Trek villains are ever just one-dimensional bad guys, and the Gorn are no exception.

Fun fact : Ted Cassidy, who provides the voice for the Gorn captain, also provided the voice of Balok in "The Corbomite Maneuver."

Related content:

• Nichelle Nichols' life in photos
• Stars across the galaxy mourn 'trailblazing, incomparable' Nichelle Nichols: 'My heart is heavy'
• William Shatner, George Takei, and fans celebrate #StarTrekDay for sci-fi series anniversary

• The A.V. Club
• The Takeout
• The Inventory

Star Trek 's Future Includes More Movies, More TV, and More Michelle Yeoh

A wide-ranging look at the future of star trek gives us major updates on section 31 , starfleet academy , and trek 's hopes for a return to the box office..

Star Trek ’s streaming revival finds itself at a bit of a crossroads. Discovery , the series that brought the show back to its current heights, is preparing to begin its final season next week—and Picard , arguably one of its biggest successes, came to an end last year. But things ending has never stopped Star Trek from looking ahead to what’s next, and there’s plenty on the way.

As part of a wide ranging feature for Variety , Paramount has revealed a swath of hints about what to expect as Star Trek transitions from the stable of shows it has developed in the years since Discovery revived the franchise in 2017 (for what was then CBS All Access, now Paramount+), to a franchise looking to push itself on screens big and small once again.

Several of the shows that form Star Trek ’s current streaming era will of course continue—like the smash-hit success Strange New Worlds , currently filming its third season; the animated series Lower Decks ; and the kids-focused 3DCG series Prodigy , which has found a new streaming home at Netflix after being suddenly and controversially axed from Paramount+ last year. But now Star Trek ’s future beyond them is anchored in not just at least one more new TV show—the upcoming Starfleet Academy , now explicitly confirmed to be set in the 32nd Century setting established by Discovery ’s last three seasons—but experimentations in film in both theatrical and streaming formats.

The most major of these is Section 31 , the Michelle Yeoh-helmed series-pitch-turned-streaming film that follows her Discovery character, Phillipa Georgiou (actually the Mirror Universe variant of Yeoh’s character, who perished in its opening episodes) as she finds herself involved in the titular shady Starfleet secret police division introduced in Deep Space Nine . It’s now seemingly been confirmed that Section 31 will be set in the time period between Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Star Trek: The Next Generation , as a major character joining Yeoh in the film will be a young Rachel Garrett, played by Kacey Rohl—the captain of the Enterprise -C introduced in the TNG episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” Also floated as a potential continuation of this streaming movie format beyond Section 31 is more from the world of  Star Trek: Picard —apparently not the so-called Legacy spinoff cast and crew have been asking for since the series concluded last year, but a movie previously teased by Patrick Stewart that would, presumably, continue to focus on Picard after the events of the show.

Paramount+ is not the only home for future Star Trek film content however. Plans are still underway to make a fourth and final film with the remaining cast of the Star Trek 2009 reboot movie—known as the alternate “Kelvin Timeline” continuity—with The Flight Attendant ’s Steve Yockey drafting the latest script for the latest iteration of the film, which has been trying to get off the ground in various forms since 2018, having most recently lost director Matt Shakman to Marvel’s The Fantastic Four . Further along the line than Star Trek 4, however, is another tentpole Trek movie: first reported on earlier this year as being written by Seth Grahame-Smith and directed by Andor ’s Toby Haynes, this film is now explicitly described as “an origin story of sorts” for, not as previously assumed, the aforementioned Kelvin timeline, but the “Prime” Star Trek canon, suggesting a return to the time period first explored in Star Trek: Enterprise .

All this, of course, remains in flux— Star Trek has few rivals in the Hollywood world when it comes to announced projects not actually making it out to audiences in one form or another (the galaxy far, far away says hello to its fellow Star franchise). But suffice to say Paramount has big, big plans for Star Trek in a bunch of forms across TV and film, and they’re unlikely to slow down any time soon.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

Filed under:

• 2024 Spring Entertainment Preview

Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

Imagining the future of the future

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Star Trek: Discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that even among the greatest television shows in Star Trek history, most of them take two seasons to stop being kind of bad. Never has that been more true or more excruciating than in the case of Star Trek: Discovery .

Polygon is looking ahead to the movies, shows, and books coming soon in our Spring 2024 entertainment preview package, a weeklong special issue.

Often it felt like what Discovery was really doing in its early seasons was discovering what didn’t work. Strong performances from a great cast? That works. A Klingon design that absolutely nobody liked ? Definitely not. But despite the stumbles, Discovery season 1 had still averaged C’s and B’s with reviewers, and had built an audience and a subscriber base for Paramount Plus. On the strength of Disco ’s first season, Paramount greenlit Star Treks Picard , Lower Decks , and Prodigy , three new shows covering a huge range of ages and nostalgic tastes. And spinning out of Disco ’s second season, which introduced familiar , nostalgic characters and a brighter, more Star Trek-y tone, Paramount produced Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , inarguably the best new addition to the franchise since 1996.

Star Trek: Discovery crawled so that the rest of modern Trek could run... and then it started to walk. The show’s third season saw the USS Discovery and crew in the place that should have been their starting blocks: the bleeding future edge of Star Trek’s timeline. Thanks to season 3’s groundwork, season 4 became the first time that Discovery had a status quo worth returning to. In its fifth and final season, Star Trek: Discovery is finally free — free in a way that a Star Trek TV series hasn’t been in 23 years.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is such an elder statesman of the television elite that it’s easy to forget that it was daring. The show’s triumph wasn’t just that it featured a new cast of characters, but also its audaciousness in imagining the future of the future — and making that future unmistakably different . The Original Series showed a racial and national cooperation that seemed fantastical in its time, with an alien crewmember to denote the next frontier of embracing the other . Next Generation saw that bet and raised it, installing a member of the Klingon species, the Federation’s once-feared imperialist rival state, as a respected officer on the bridge of Starfleet’s flagship.

Next Generation ’s time period — one century after Kirk’s Enterprise — wasn’t a nominal choice, but a commitment to moving the story of Star Trek forward. From the show’s foundations, Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators, new and old, set a precedent that the Federation would evolve. Therefore, in accordance with the utopian themes of the franchise, old enemies would in time become friends. Next Generation embraced The Original Series ’ nemeses and the rest of ’90s Trek saw that bet and raised it again, pulling many of Next Gen ’s villains into the heroic fold. Voyager welcomed a Borg crewmember and disincorporated the Borg empire; Deep Space Nine gave the franchise the first Ferengi Starfleet cadet, and brokered a Federation-Klingon-Romulan alliance in the face of an existential threat.

But Discovery — at least until it made its Olympic long-jump leap 900 years into the future — couldn’t move Star Trek forward. So long as it was set “immediately before Kirk’s Enterprise,” hemmed in by the constraints of a previously established era of Star Trek history, it could graft on new elements (like Spock’s secret human foster sister) but it couldn’t create from whole cloth (like a galaxy-wide shortage of starship fuel that nearly destroyed the Federation). Like its predecessor, the ill-fated Star Trek: Enterprise of the ’00s, it was doomed to hang like a remora on the side of the events of The Original Series , or, if you’ll pardon another fish metaphor, doomed like a goldfish that can only grow as large as its half-gallon fishbowl will allow.

Discovery ’s later, free seasons in the 32nd century have shown the Federation at its most vulnerable, a subtler echo of Picard ’s own season 1 swing at fallen institutions . (Fans of Voyager and Deep Space Nine know that this is an extremely rich vein of Trek storytelling.) In its third season, Discovery solved a galaxy-wide fuel crisis that had shattered the community of the Federation. In its fourth it fought for a fragile new Federation alliance and its millennia-old ideals.

And those seasons have also boldly committed to the idea of imagining the future’s future — 900 years of it. The centuries-old rift between Vulcans and Romulans is long healed, Ferengi serve as captains in Starfleet, the work of Doctor Noonien Soong has brought new medical technologies to the fore.

Even still, Discovery hasn’t been truly free in its third and fourth seasons. Star Trek: Picard was out there, forming new past elements of a post- Next Gen / Voy / DS9 era that Discovery had to abide by. And, after all, the show still had to make sure there was something for its own next season to come back to.

But now — with Prodigy and Picard finished, and Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks locked into their settings of Star Trek’s established past, and Starfleet Academy and Section 31 not yet in production at the time that its final season would have been written — Discovery has reached the final final frontier for a Star Trek show. If you’re a Star Trek fan, that should excite you.

Not since Deep Space Nine in 1999 and Voyager in 2001 has a Star Trek series had the freedom to wrap up its run with the Federation in any state it wants to. With franchise flagship Next Generation at an end, and Voyager restricted to the Delta Quadrant only, Deep Space Nine used its last seasons to throw the Federation into all-out war, making sweeping changes to the established ficto-political norms of ’90s Trek. Voyager used its finale to do what Captain Picard never could: defang the Borg (mostly).

We don’t know exactly what Discovery will do with that freedom. Season 4 directors have talked about reaching “ into the past to get further into the future ,” and likened it to Indiana Jones. Official news releases have said the crew will “uncover a mystery that sends them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries.” But speculating on what that means would be beside the point.

Discovery , the show about an intergalactically teleporting starship, can finally, actually, go anywhere. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since a beloved Star Trek series was so free to boldly go. Let’s hope they’re very bold indeed.

Star Trek: Discovery season 5 premieres with two episodes on April 4 on Paramount Plus.

Spring 2024 entertainment preview

Loading comments...

Star Trek's Jonathan Frakes Calls One Strange New Worlds Season 3 Episode His 'Best' Ever

"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" has a knack for proving skeptics wrong. You say Paramount+ can't do a prequel "Star Trek" series that reimagines iconic characters like Spock, Kirk, and Uhura with a cast of new actors? Watch them. Think it's impossible to strike the original series' balance between earnest pathos, sci-fi geekery, warm-hearted hijinks, and indelible camp? Think again. Don't even get this show started on which genres do and don't check classic "Star Trek" boxes; it'll blow your personal definition of classic "Trek" wide open with a Medieval costume drama, an animation-live action crossover, a musical, or — in the upcoming season, according to Variety  – a "Hollywood murder mystery."

In Variety's new cover story about the future of the franchise Gene Roddenberry first created in 1966, the future of "Star Trek" is bright. The dynamic, weird, hilarious, and sometimes heartbreaking prequel series "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" comes across as the central star in that constellation, and the powers that be don't seem inclined to stop trying new things with the series anytime soon. "As long as we're in storytelling that is cogent and sure-handed, I'm not sure there is [any genre 'Strange New Worlds' can't do]," says series co-showrunner and executive producer Akiva Goldsman. "Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!"

That's high praise

Thrillingly, the show is bringing Jonathan Frakes, the actor and filmmaker behind season 2's "Star Trek: Lower Decks" crossover episode "Those Old Scientists," on to direct the murder mystery episode of season 3. Frakes, who played William Riker for seven seasons of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as well as several movies and the final season of "Star Trek: Picard," says the upcoming genre outing is "the best episode of television [he's] ever done." That's certainly saying something coming from the actor-turned-director, as he's stepped behind the camera for 29 episodes of "Trek" and counting.

In addition to "Those Old Scientists," Frakes' past "Star Trek" directorial efforts include several standout episodes of "The Next Generation," from the trippy time loop story "Cause and Effect" to the courtroom drama "The Drumhead" to "The Offspring," a one-off in which Data (Brent Spiner) raises a child android. Other well-received "Trek" episodes directed by Frakes include the Odo-centric "Deep Space Nine" premiere "The Search, Part II," the intense Section 31-set "Star Trek: Discovery" episode "Project Daedalus," and two of the best episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" season 3  – and the show in general, for that matter.

With so many epic "Trek" episodes under his belt, the fact that Frakes thinks his return to "Strange New Worlds" is a career-high makes us all the more excited for it. Elsewhere in the cover story, the actor-director spoke positively about the behind-the-scenes teams that have brought the Paramount+ era of "Trek" together. "The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on 'Next Gen,'" Frakes said when talking about the property's epic return to TV in the 2010s. "Every department has the resources to create." Fans will get to see just what they've created with the new murder mystery episode when "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" returns to the streamer sometime in 2025.

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Official Trailer | Star Trek: Discovery - Season 5

Get ready for the final adventure!

This season finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the  U.S.S. Discovery  uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well… dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

The hit original series will premiere on Thursday, April 4, exclusively on the service in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. It also will premiere on April 4 on Paramount+ in Canada. The first two episodes of the series’ 10-episode final season will be available to stream at launch with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays.

In addition, Season 5 of  Star Trek: Discovery  will be available to stream April 5 on SkyShowtime. Seasons 1-3 arrived on the service on March 8, with Season 4 arriving this week on March 22, ahead of the final season's launch.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 through 4 are currently streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Switzerland, South Korea, Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Austria. Seasons 2 and 3 also are available on the Pluto TV “Star Trek” channel in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. In Canada, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. Seasons 1 to 4 of Star Trek: Discovery is also available to stream on SkyShowtime. Star Trek: Discovery is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

9 Star Trek Episodes Named After Greek Myths

• Star Trek draws parallels to Greek mythology with episode titles, showcasing influences in storytelling.
• Greek myths like Icarus, Chimera, and Daedalus are reinterpreted in episodes across Star Trek series.
• Elements from Greek mythology play a significant role in shaping the narratives and themes of Star Trek episodes.

Since its inception, Star Trek has included numerous references to Greek mythology, and several episode titles come directly from Greek myths. Star Trek: The Original Series even provided an explanation for the Greek gods themselves in TOS season 2, episode 2, "Who Mourns For Adonais?" When Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise are held captive by the Greek god Apollo (Michael Forest), he explains that the Greek gods of Earth are actually powerful aliens who require adoration to survive. Although the gods themselves never make another appearance in Star Trek , several episodes take their titles from Greek mythological stories.

Homer's epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey , in particular, have inspired countless modern stories, including Star Trek . While it would be incredibly difficult to find every reference to Greek mythology scattered throughout the Star Trek franchise, several episodes have obvious parallels. Star Trek has always loved to pull episode titles from Shakespeare and other classics, so it makes sense they would find titles in Greek mythology as well. Beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Icarus Factor," here are nine Star Trek episodes with titles borrowed from Greek mythology.

Every Star Trek Series, Ranked Worst To Best

"the icarus factor", star trek: the next generation season 2, episode 14, star trek: the next generation.

Cast Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden

Franchise(s)

Showrunner Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Rick Berman

Streaming Service(s) Paramount+

Writers Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore

In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of the master inventor Daedalus, who constructed the labyrinth of Crete that housed the Minotaur. To protect the secrets of his labyrinth, King Minos sought to kill Daedalus and his son, and Daedalus built wings to escape. Because the wings were held together by beeswax, Daedalus told Icarus not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus ignored his father, the beeswax in his wings melted, and his wings fell apart, causing Icarus to plunge into the ocean and drown.

As a result of this myth, "flying too close to the sun" has come to mean being overly ambitious or reaching for something unattainable.

"The Icarus Factor" focuses on the complicated relationship between Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and his father, Kyle (Mitchell Ryan), who abandoned Will when his son was only fifteen. Having lost his mother at the age of two, Will Riker then had to grow up quickly, and he remained estranged from his father for fifteen years. Kyle visits the USS Enterprise-D when Will receives an offer of his own command, and the two eventually reconcile. While there is not an exact parallel to the story of Daedalus and Icarus, Riker turns down the promotion, perhaps out of fear that he will "fly too close to the sun."

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 7, Episode 14

Star trek: deep space nine.

Cast Terry Farrell, Cirroc Lofton, Rene Auberjonois, Nicole de Boer, Michael Dorn, Andrew Robinson, Nana Visitor, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Alexander Siddig

Streaming Service(s)

Showrunner Ira Steven Behr, Michael Piller

Writers Ira Steven Behr, Michael Piller, Ronald D. Moore

The Chimera of Greek mythology was a creature composed of elements from several different animals, often depicted with the head of a lion, a dragon, and a goat. The Chimera was a monstrous creature who was hunted by the heroes of Greek mythology. The word chimera has come to refer to any sort of hybrid creature that combines multiple animals' features and can be many different things.

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , the title of "Chimera" likely refers to the Changeling Laas (J. G. Hertzler), who surprises Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) by appearing on their runabout. As Laas knows nothing about the ongoing Dominion War, Odo determines that Laas is another one of the Changelings sent out by the Founders to explore the universe. Laas is dismissive and distrustful of solids, and he asks Odo to travel the galaxy with him. Despite being tempted by the offer, Odo stays with Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) on Deep Space Nine​​​​​.

Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4, Episode 10

Star trek: enterprise.

Cast Dominic Keating, Connor Trinneer, Linda Park, John Billingsley, Scott Bakula, Jolene Blalock, Jeffrey Combs, Anthony Montgomery

Showrunner Manny Coto, Brannon Braga

Writers Rick Berman, Manny Coto, Brannon Braga

As described above, the Daedalus of Greek mythology was an inventor and a father, and the wings he invented led to his son's death. Star Trek: Enterprise's "Daedalus" has several similarities with the Greek myth. The episode begins when the creator of transporter technology, Dr. Emory Erickson (Bill Cobbs) visits the Enterprise with his daughter Danica (Leslie Silva). Much like Daedalus lost Icarus, Dr. Erickson had lost his son, Quinn (Donovan Knowles), in an early transporter experiment.

Not much is written about what Daedalus did after his son's death, and his most famous inventions all came earlier in his life.

By using the transporters on the Enterprise, Erickson hoped he could find a way to reconstitute his son's transporter signal. With help from Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his crew , Erickson is able to retrieve his son from the transporter. Tragically, however, Quinn dies soon after he appears. Dr. Erickon now has the chance to lay his son to rest, and he willingly accepts any consequences he may face from Starfleet.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1, Episode 6

Star trek: discovery.

Cast Blu del Barrio, Oded Fehr, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Wilson Cruz, Eve Harlow, Mary Wiseman, Callum Keith Rennie

In Greek mythology, Lethe referred to a river that flowed through the underworld of Hades. Anyone who drank from the waters of the Lethe would experience oblivion and forget everything they ever knew. Star Trek: Discovery's "Lethe" follows two major storylines, both of which connect to the episode's title. On the USS Discovery, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) senses that her father Sarek (James Frain) has been injured on an important mission, and she finds herself reliving memories from her past on Vulcan.

Captain Gabriel Lorca (Jason Isaacs) agrees to search for Sarek, and Burnham eventually locates his damaged shuttle. Meanwhile, Admiral Katrina Cornwell (Jayne Brook) grows increasingly suspicious of Lorca and his odd behavior. The title of "Lethe" could refer to Burnham's memories, as she discovers that there was more to those moments than she knew. It could also refer to Lorca's attempts to shed his past and reinvent himself as his Prime Universe counterpart, despite being from the Mirror Universe.

10 Star Trek: Discovery Positives You Only Notice On Rewatch

"magic to make the sanest man go mad", star trek: discovery season 1, episode 7.

The quote "magic to make the sanest man go mad" comes from Homer's The Iliad , and references a sash the goddess Aphrodite gives to Hera. Hera wishes to seduce Zeus to distract him from a war, and the magical love charm of Aphrodite's sash will allow Hera to have whatever she wants. In Star Trek: Discovery's "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad," Harry Mudd (Rainn Wilson) traps the USS Discovery in a time loop while he works to understand the spore drive so he can sell the ship to the Klingons.

As the Discovery is repeatedly destroyed, Mudd gets closer and closer to his goal before his plan is thwarted by Michael Burnham, Lt. Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) , and Lt. Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif). Love is discussed often throughout the episode, which could be what the title is referencing. As Stamets is the only one aware of the time loops, he uses Burnham and Tyler's attraction to one another to get Tyler, who is Discovery's Chief of Security, to believe him.

"An Obol for Charon"

Star trek: discovery season 2, episode 4.

According to Greek mythology, Charon was the being who ferried souls across the rivers of Hades to the Underworld. As part of ancient funeral rites, the dead were often buried with coins (such as an obol) in their mouths as payment for this passage. "An Obol for Charon" brings the USS Discovery in contact with a massive sphere that contains hundreds of thousands of years worth of history and data. As the sphere's life was coming to an end, it sought out a means to transfer all of its stored information so that the history would not be lost.

Thankfully, Saru survives, revealing a new stage in Kelpian development.

As the sphere tries to transfer the data, it wreaks havoc on the USS Discovery's systems, which triggers a fatal physiological response in Commander Saru (Doug Jones). Believing that he is dying, Saru asks Michael Burnham to catalog his personal logs so that his people, the Kelpians, can learn of the Federation and the existence of other worlds. Thankfully, Saru survives, revealing a new stage in Kelpian development, and cementing "An Obol for Charon" as one of Saru's best episodes .

Both the sphere and Saru offer to share something of themselves as they are dying, metaphorical obols for Charon.

"Project Daedalus"

Star trek: discovery season 2, episode 9.

Star Trek: Discovery's "Project Daedalus" is the third Star Trek episode with a title referencing the myth of Daedalus and his son, Icarus. The myth celebrates ingenuity, while also warning of hubris and the risk of becoming overly ambitious. In this particular instance, the title could have multiple meanings, as Project Daedalus is the name of an in-universe research project conducted by the Starfleet's secret intelligence agency Section 31 to understand time travel.

There was also a real world study called Project Daedalus conducted in the 1970s by the British Interplanetary Society, who were attempting to design a scientific interstellar probe. Both project titles are likely in reference to the mythological craftsman Daedalus and his invented wings. Discovery's "Project Daedalus" focuses largely on Lt. Commander Airiam (Hannah Cheesman), who sacrifices herself after being taken over by Section 31's AI known as Control. With her last words, Airiam tells Michael Burnham that she must find Project Daedalus.

10 Best Star Trek Episodes Directed By Jonathan Frakes

Star trek: short treks season 1, episode 2.

Calypso was the name of a nymph in Homer's The Odyssey , who enchants Odysseus into staying on her island for seven years. While Odysseus enjoys Calypso's company for a while, he eventually begins longing for his wife, Penelope, and the gods persuade Calypso to let Odysseus go. Calypso then provides Odysseus with the supplies he needs to build a boat and make the journey home. The Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Calypso" tells a similar story.

A lone soldier named Craft (Aldis Hodge) finds himself on the abandoned USS Discovery sometime in the far future. He bonds with Discovery's sentient computer Zora (Annabelle Wallis) , who has become incredibly advanced over the last one thousand years. As Craft dances with a projection of Zora, he questions whether he is being unfaithful to his wife. Seeing his sadness and despite her own feelings, Zora lets him go, providing him with a spacesuit and shuttle for the journey.

"Among The Lotus Eaters"

Star trek: strange new worlds season 2, episode 4, star trek: strange new worlds.

Cast Bruce Horak, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia, Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, Rebecca Romijn, Paul Wesley, Christina Chong, Anson Mount

Writers Bill Wolkoff, Akiva Goldsman, Henry Alonso Myers

Directors Amanda Row, Valerie Weiss, Jonathan Frakes, Chris Fisher

In The Odyssey , Odysseus visits the so-called "land of the lotus-eaters," where he encounters a group of people who forgot their pasts after eating from the lotus trees. As they eat the lotus fruits, the lotus-eaters lose any desire to go home or return to their families, and simply wish to remain among their fellow lotus-eaters. Strange New Worlds' "Among the Lotus Eaters" has an obvious parallel to the myth, as the Enterprise visits Rigel VII, a planet orbited by asteroids that emit radiation that causes people to forget who they are.

Greek mythology has had a profound influence on Western literature and storytelling, especially in the Star Trek franchise.

Although Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) loses his memories, he retains enough of himself to fight for his crew and stop former Yeoman Zac Nguyen (David Huynh). While a castle on the planet prevents Nguyen and his guards from losing their memories, the laborers toiled away unaware of their true identities. Pike and his crew eventually encourage the laborers to revolt, and after they regain their memories, Pike orders the Enterprise to knock the main asteroid causing the memory loss effects out of orbit. Greek mythology has had a profound influence on Western literature and storytelling, especially in the Star Trek franchise.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Short Treks, & Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are all available to stream on Paramount+.

Spock Experiments on a New Set in First ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 Image

Strange things are brewing in the Enterprise's new science lab.

The Big Picture

• Ethan Peck's Spock examines a strange lifeform in a new lab set on the USS Enterprise, in the first image from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3.
• Jonathan Frakes returns to the director's chair for Strange New Worlds , and calls one episode the "best episode" he's ever done.
• Season 3 will feature the classic Star Trek character Scotty, who made an appearance in the Season 2 finale.

Star Trek fans may have a while longer to wait for the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to air, but we have a first glimpse of the upcoming season, which is currently filming in Toronto, Ontario. The new image, courtesy of Variety , shows Spock ( Ethan Peck ) clad in a full-body environment suit, examining a strange lifeform in the new science lab set of the USS Enterprise. In the impressive new set, the translucent floor covers a four-foot pool of illuminated water, while the walls are bedecked with six viewscreens displaying live graphics.

Star Trek mainstay Jonathan Frakes , who will return to the director's chair for Strange New Worlds ' third season, also teased a bit of what we can expect. The third season will feature one episode structured like a Hollywood murder mystery that Frakes calls "the best episode of television I’ve ever done." This may be connected to a recent filming update from star Anson Mount , who noted that the upcoming season will feature something he's never done before.

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 3 Resumes Filming With New Set Image

What can we expect from season 3 of 'strange new worlds'.

The third season of Strange New Worlds will continue to chronicle the 23rd-century voyages of the USS Enterprise and its crew, including Captain Christopher Pike (Mount), Spock (Peck), Una Chin-Riley ( Rebecca Romijn ), Nyota Uhura ( Celia Rose Gooding ), La'an Noonien-Singh ( Christina Chong ), Erica Ortegas ( Melissa Navia ), Christine Chapel ( Jess Bush ), and Dr. Joseph M'Benga ( Babs Olusanmokun ).

Presumably, it will open with the conclusion of last season's cliffhanger finale , which saw the crew imperiled by the hostile reptilian Gorn aliens on all fronts; not only is the Enterprise under attack from a Gorn fleet, but Pike's fellow captain and love interest Marie Batel ( Melanie Scrofano ) has been implanted with Gorn embryos that will kill her when they hatch. The third season will likely also incorporate classic Trek character Montgomery "Scotty" Scott into the cast. The crew encountered him for the first time in the Season 2 finale, as played by Martin Quinn .

The water in the new science lab set may simply be for effect, or it may allude to an occasionally-referenced part of Star Trek lore that wasn't seen on-screen until the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks : Cetacean Ops, an area of some Starfleet ships that features a large aquarium and is staffed by various intelligent whales and dolphins.

The third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is currently filming and does not yet have a release date . You can stream the previous seasons on Paramount+. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike (played by Anson Mount) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds throughout the galaxy in the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series.

Watch on Paramount+

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Star Trek: Discovery

Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien. Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien. Ten years before Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, the USS Discovery discovers new worlds and lifeforms as one Starfleet officer learns to understand all things alien.

• Bryan Fuller
• Alex Kurtzman
• Sonequa Martin-Green
• Anthony Rapp
• 4.4K User reviews
• 99 Critic reviews
• 21 wins & 87 nominations total

Episodes 65

Photos 1383

• Michael Burnham …

• Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets …

• Lt. Keyla Detmer …

• Sylvia Tilly …

• Lt. Joann Owosekun …

• Lt. Gen Rhys …

• Dr. Hugh Culber

• Lt. R.A. Bryce …

• Lt. Nilsson …

• Discovery Computer …

• Ash Tyler …

• Lt. J.G. Linus …

• Cleveland Booker

• Admiral Charles Vance
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Stellar Photos From the "Star Trek" TV Universe

More like this

Did you know

• Trivia The Starfleet vessels seen in the first season, including the Discovery, the Shenzou and the redesigned Enterprise, were all designed by production artist John Eaves. Eaves' work with Star Trek spans three decades. Probably his most notable contribution was the design of the Enterprise-E for Star Trek: First Contact (1996) .
• Goofs With Michael being the adoptive sister of Spock, the series has many flashbacks to their childhood and upbringing on Vulcan. Spock's Vulcan half-brother, Sybok, does not appear nor is mention during these scenes. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) , Spock says that he and Sybok grew up together. However, since it's never stated when Sybok joined Sarek's home - only that he did so following his mother's death - or when he was exiled from the family, it's not impossible Sybok moved in after Burnham, and left before she graduated (the two extremes of the flashbacks). Also, since Sybok was never mentioned before Star Trek V, it seems reasonable the family never spoke of him again after his estrangement.
• Alternate versions The serif-font legends and subtitles in the "broadcast" episodes are absent from the DVD versions, where they are replaced with the standard DVD subtitles.
• Connections Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Female Lead TV Shows You Should Be Watching in 2017 (2017)

User reviews 4.4K

• rodneyhemingway-43321
• Mar 11, 2022

New and Upcoming Sci-fi & Fantasy

• How many seasons does Star Trek: Discovery have? Powered by Alexa
• Why do the Klingons in this series look completely different to how they look in all of the previous Star Trek shows and films?
• Do I need to have seen any previous Star Trek TV series and movies in order to be able to understand and follow this show?
• Does this series take place in the alternate timeline of Star Trek (2009), or the timeline we are all used to from TOS?
• September 24, 2017 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official site
• Star Trek: Hành Trình Khám Phá
• Pinewood Toronto Studios, Port Lands, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• CBS Television Studios
• Living Dead Guy Productions
• Master Key Production
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour
• Dolby Digital

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

The Future of ‘Star Trek’: From ‘Starfleet Academy’ to New Movies and Michelle Yeoh, How the 58-Year-Old Franchise Is Planning for the Next Generation of Fans

“I can’t believe I get to play the captain of the Enterprise.”

“Strange New Worlds” is the 12th “Star Trek” TV show since the original series debuted on NBC in 1966, introducing Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a hopeful future for humanity. In the 58 years since, the “Star Trek” galaxy has logged 900 television episodes and 13 feature films, amounting to 668 hours — nearly 28 days — of content to date. Even compared with “Star Wars” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Star Trek” stands as the only storytelling venture to deliver a single narrative experience for this long across TV and film.

In other words, “Star Trek” is not just a franchise. As Alex Kurtzman , who oversees all “Star Trek” TV production, puts it, “‘Star Trek’ is an institution.”

Without a steady infusion of new blood, though, institutions have a way of fading into oblivion (see soap operas, MySpace, Blockbuster Video). To keep “Star Trek” thriving has meant charting a precarious course to satisfy the fans who have fueled it for decades while also discovering innovative ways to get new audiences on board.

“Doing ‘Star Trek’ means that you have to deliver something that’s entirely familiar and entirely fresh at the same time,” Kurtzman says.

The franchise has certainly weathered its share of fallow periods, most recently after “Nemesis” bombed in theaters in 2002 and UPN canceled “Enterprise” in 2005. It took 12 years for “Star Trek” to return to television with the premiere of “Discovery” in 2017; since then, however, there has been more “Star Trek” on TV than ever: The adventure series “Strange New Worlds,” the animated comedy “Lower Decks” and the kids series “Prodigy” are all in various stages of production, and the serialized thriller “Picard” concluded last year, when it ranked, along with “Strange New Worlds,” among Nielsen’s 10 most-watched streaming original series for multiple weeks. Nearly one in five Paramount+ subscribers in the U.S. is watching at least one “Star Trek” series, according to the company, and more than 50% of fans watching one of the new “Trek” shows also watch at least two others. The new shows air in 200 international markets and are dubbed into 35 languages. As “Discovery” launches its fifth and final season in April, “Star Trek” is in many ways stronger than it’s ever been.

“’Star Trek’s fans have kept it alive more times than seems possible,” says Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., who executive produces the TV series through Roddenberry Entertainment. “While many shows rightfully thank their fans for supporting them, we literally wouldn’t be here without them.”

But the depth of fan devotion to “Star Trek” also belies a curious paradox about its enduring success: “It’s not the largest fan base,” says Akiva Goldsman, “Strange New Worlds” executive producer and co-showrunner. “It’s not ‘Star Wars.’ It’s certainly not Marvel.”

When J.J. Abrams rebooted “Star Trek” in 2009 — with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldaña playing Kirk, Spock and Uhura — the movie grossed more than any previous “Star Trek” film by a comfortable margin. But neither that film nor its two sequels broke $500 million in global grosses, a hurdle every other top-tier franchise can clear without breaking a sweat.

There’s also the fact that “Star Trek” fans are aging. I ask “The Next Generation” star Jonathan Frakes, who’s acted in or directed more versions of “Star Trek” than any other person alive, how often he meets fans for whom the new “Star Trek” shows are their first. “Of the fans who come to talk to me, I would say very, very few,” he says. “‘Star Trek’ fans, as we know, are very, very, very loyal — and not very young.”

As Stapf puts it: “There’s a tried and true ‘Trek’ fan that is probably going to come to every ‘Star Trek,’ no matter what it is — and we want to expand the universe.”

Every single person I spoke to for this story talked about “Star Trek” with a joyful earnestness as rare in the industry as (nerd alert) a Klingon pacifist.

“When I’m meeting fans, sometimes they’re coming to be confirmed, like I’m kind of a priest,” Ethan Peck says during a break in filming on the “Strange New Worlds” set. He’s in full Spock regalia — pointy ears, severe eyebrows, bowl haircut — and when asked about his earliest memories of “Star Trek,” he stares off into space in what looks like Vulcan contemplation. “I remember being on the playground in second or third grade and doing the Vulcan salute, not really knowing where it came from,” he says. “When I thought of ‘Star Trek,’ I thought of Spock. And now I’m him. It’s crazy.”

To love “Star Trek” is to love abstruse science and cowboy diplomacy, complex moral dilemmas and questions about the meaning of existence. “It’s ultimately a show with the most amazing vision of optimism, I think, ever put on-screen in science fiction,” says Kurtzman, who is 50. “All you need is two minutes on the news to feel hopeless now. ‘Star Trek’ is honestly the best balm you could ever hope for.”

I’m getting a tour of the USS Enterprise from Scotty — or, rather, “Strange New World” production designer Jonathan Lee, who is gushing in his native Scottish burr as we step into the starship’s transporter room. “I got such a buzzer from doing this, I can’t tell you,” he says. “I actually designed four versions of it.”

Lee is especially proud of the walkway he created to run behind the transporter pads — an innovation that allows the production to shoot the characters from a brand-new set of angles as they beam up from a far-flung planet. It’s one of the countless ways that this show has been engineered to be as cinematic as possible, part of Kurtzman’s overall vision to make “Star Trek” on TV feel like “a movie every week.”

Kurtzman’s tenure with “Star Trek” began with co-writing the screenplay for Abrams’ 2009 movie, which was suffused with a fast-paced visual style that was new to the franchise. When CBS Studios approached Kurtzman in the mid-2010s about bringing “Star Trek” back to TV, he knew instinctively that it needed to be just as exciting as that film.

“The scope was so much different than anything we had ever done on ‘Next Gen,’” says Frakes, who’s helmed two feature films with the “Next Generation” cast and directed episodes of almost every live-action “Trek” TV series, including “Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds.” “Every department has the resources to create.”

A new science lab set for Season 3, for example, boasts a transparent floor atop a four-foot pool of water that swirls underneath the central workbench, and the surrounding walls sport a half dozen viewscreens with live schematics custom designed by a six-person team. “I like being able to paint on a really big canvas,” Kurtzman says. “The biggest challenge is always making sure that no matter how big something gets, you’re never losing focus on that tiny little emotional story.”

At this point, is there a genre that “Strange New Worlds” can’t do? “As long as we’re in storytelling that is cogent and sure handed, I’m not sure there is,” Goldsman says with an impish smile. “Could it do Muppets? Sure. Could it do black and white, silent, slapstick? Maybe!”

This approach is also meant to appeal to people who might want to watch “Star Trek” but regard those 668 hours of backstory as an insurmountable burden. “You shouldn’t have to watch a ‘previously on’ to follow our show,” Myers says.

To achieve so many hairpin shifts in tone and setting while maintaining Kurtzman’s cinematic mandate, “Strange New Worlds” has embraced one of the newest innovations in visual effects: virtual production. First popularized on the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian,” the technology — called the AR wall — involves a towering circular partition of LED screens projecting a highly detailed, computer-generated backdrop. Rather than act against a greenscreen, the actors can see whatever fantastical surroundings their characters are inhabiting, lending a richer level of verisimilitude to the show.

But there is a catch. While the technology is calibrated to maintain a proper sense of three-dimensional perspective through the camera lens, it can be a bit dizzying for anyone standing on the set. “The images on the walls start to move in a way that makes no sense,” says Mount. “You end up having to focus on something that’s right in front of you so you don’t fall down.”

And yet, even as he’s talking about it, Mount can’t help but break into a boyish grin. “Sometimes we call it the holodeck,” he says. In fact, the pathway to the AR wall on the set is dotted with posters of the virtual reality room from “The Next Generation” and the words “Enter Holodeck” in a classic “Trek” font.

“I want to take one of those home with me,” Peck says. Does the AR wall also affect him? “I don’t really get disoriented by it. Spock would not get ill, so I’m Method acting.”

I’m on the set of the “Star Trek” TV movie “Section 31,” seated in an opulent nightclub with a view of a brilliant, swirling nebula, watching Yeoh rehearse with director Olatunde Osunsanmi and her castmates. Originally, the project was announced as a TV series centered on Philippa Georgiou, the semi-reformed tyrant Yeoh originated on “Discovery.” But between COVID delays and the phenomenon of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” there wasn’t room in the veteran actress’s schedule to fit a season of television. Yeoh was undaunted.

“We’d never let go of her,” she says of her character. “I was just blown away by all the different things I could do with her. Honestly, it was like, ‘Let’s just get it done, because I believe in this.’”

If that means nothing to you, don’t worry: The enormity of the revelation that Garrett is being brought back is meant only for fans. If you don’t know who the character is, you’re not missing anything.

“It was always my goal to deliver an entertaining experience that is true to the universe but appeals to newcomers,” says screenwriter Craig Sweeny. “I wanted a low barrier of entry so that anybody could enjoy it.”

Nevertheless, including Garrett on the show is exactly the kind of gasp-worthy detail meant to flood “Star Trek” fans with geeky good feeling.

“You cannot create new fans to the exclusion of old fans,” Kurtzman says. “You must serve your primary fan base first and you must keep them happy. That is one of the most important steps to building new fans.”

On its face, that maxim would make “Section 31” a genuine risk. The titular black-ops organization has been controversial with “Star Trek” fans since it was introduced in the 1990s. “The concept is almost antagonistic to some of the values of ‘Star Trek,’” Sweeny says. But he still saw “Section 31” as an opportunity to broaden what a “Star Trek” project could be while embracing the radical inclusivity at the heart of the franchise’s appeal.

“Famously, there’s a spot for everybody in Roddenberry’s utopia, so I was like, ‘Well, who would be the people who don’t quite fit in?’” he says. “I didn’t want to make the John le Carré version, where you’re in the headquarters and it’s backbiting and shades of gray. I wanted to do the people who were at the edges, out in the field. These are not people who necessarily work together the way you would see on a ‘Star Trek’ bridge.”

For Osunsanmi, who grew up watching “The Next Generation” with his father, it boils down to a simple question: “Is it putting good into the world?” he asks. “Are these characters ultimately putting good into the world? And, taking a step back, are we putting good into the world? Are we inspiring humans watching this to be good? That’s for me what I’ve always admired about ‘Star Trek.’”

Should “Section 31” prove successful, Yeoh says she’s game for a sequel. And Kurtzman is already eyeing more opportunities for TV movies, including a possible follow-up to “Picard.” The franchise’s gung-ho sojourn into streaming movies, however, stands in awkward contrast to the persistent difficulty Paramount Pictures and Abrams’ production company Bad Robot have had making a feature film following 2016’s “Star Trek Beyond” — the longest theaters have gone without a “Star Trek” movie since Paramount started making them.

First, a movie reuniting Pine’s Capt. Kirk with his late father — played in the 2009 “Star Trek” by Chris Hemsworth — fell apart in 2018. Around the same time, Quentin Tarantino publicly flirted with, then walked away from, directing a “Star Trek” movie with a 1930s gangster backdrop. Noah Hawley was well into preproduction on a “Star Trek” movie with a brand-new cast, until then-studio chief Emma Watts abruptly shelved it in 2020. And four months after Abrams announced at Paramount’s 2022 shareholders meeting that his 2009 cast would return for a movie directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”), Shakman left the project to make “The Fantastic Four” for Marvel. (It probably didn’t help that none of the cast had been approached before Abrams made his announcement.)

The studio still intends to make what it’s dubbed the “final chapter” for the Pine-Quinto-Saldaña cast, and Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) is writing a new draft of the script. Even further along is another prospective “Star Trek” film written by Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and to be directed by Toby Haynes (“Andor,” “Black Mirror: USS Callister”) that studio insiders say is on track to start preproduction by the end of the year. That project will serve as an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise. In both cases, the studio is said to be focused on rightsizing the budgets to fit within the clear box office ceiling for “Star Trek” feature films.

Far from complaining, everyone seems to relish the challenge. Visual effects supervisor Jason Zimmerman says that “working with Alex, the references are always at least $100 million movies, if not more, so we just kind of reverse engineer how do we do that without having to spend the same amount of money and time.”

The workload doesn’t seem to faze him either. “Visual effects people are a big, big ‘Star Trek’ fandom,” he says. “You naturally just get all these people who go a little bit above and beyond, and you can’t trade that for anything.”

In one of Kurtzman’s several production offices in Toronto, he and production designer Matthew Davies are scrutinizing a series of concept drawings for the newest “Star Trek” show, “Starfleet Academy.” A bit earlier, they showed me their plans for the series’ central academic atrium, a sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space. To fit it all, they plan to use every inch of Pinewood Toronto’s 45,900 square foot soundstage, the largest in Canada.

But this is a “Star Trek” show, so there do need to be starships, and Kurtzman is discussing with Davies about how one of them should look. The issue is that “Starfleet Academy” is set in the 32nd century, an era so far into the future Kurtzman and his team need to invent much of its design language.

“For me, this design is almost too Klingon,” Kurtzman says. “I want to see the outline and instinctively, on a blink, recognize it as a Federation ship.”

The time period was first introduced on Season 3 of “Discovery,” when the lead character, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), transported the namesake starship and its crew there from the 23rd century. “It was exciting, because every time we would make a decision, we would say, ‘And now that’s canon,’” says Martin-Green.

“We listened to a lot of it,” Kurtzman says. “I think I’ve been able to separate the toxic fandom from really true fans who love ‘Star Trek’ and want you to hear what they have to say about what they would like to see.”

By Season 2, the “Discovery” writers pivoted from its dour, war-torn first season and sent the show on its trajectory 900-plus years into the future. “We had to be very aware of making sure that Spock was in the right place and that Burnham’s existence was explained properly, because she was never mentioned in the original series,” says executive producer and showrunner Michelle Paradise. “What was fun about jumping into the future is that it was very much fresh snow.”

That freedom affords “Starfleet Academy” far more creative latitude while also dramatically reducing how much the show’s target audience of tweens and teens needs to know about “Star Trek” before watching — which puts them on the same footing as the students depicted in the show. “These are kids who’ve never had a red alert before,” Noga Landau, executive producer and co-showrunner, says. “They never had to operate a transporter or be in a phaser fight.”

In the “Starfleet Academy” writers’ room in Secret Hideout’s Santa Monica offices, Kurtzman tells the staff — a mix of “Star Trek” die-hards, part-time fans and total newbies — that he wants to take a 30,000-foot view for a moment. “I think we need to ground in science more throughout the show,” he says, a giant framed photograph of Spock ears just over his shoulder. “The kids need to use science more to solve problems.”

Immediately, one of the writers brightens. “Are you saying we can amp up the techno-babble?” she says. “I’m just excited I get to use my computer science degree.”

After they break for lunch, Kurtzman is asked how much longer he plans to keep making “Star Trek.” 

“The minute I fall out of love with it is the minute that it’s not for me anymore. I’m not there yet,” he says. “To be able to build in this universe to tell stories that are fundamentally about optimism and a better future at a time when the world seems to be falling apart — it’s a really powerful place to live every day.”

More From Our Brands

Joe lieberman, connecticut senator and 2000 vice presidential nominee, dead at 82, an artist’s honolulu home hits the market for $9.3 million, wizards, capitals to stay in dc as virginia move falls apart, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, tvline items: one tree hill reunion, among us cast news and more, verify it's you, please log in.