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Den of Geek

Star Trek Streaming Guide: Where to Watch All the TV Shows and Movies

Find out where you can stream all the voyages of sci-fi’s longest-running franchise.

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Launched on September 8, 1966 — nearly 54 years ago — the NBC-TV series Star Trek was the beginning of a new age of science fiction on television and, eventually, the big screen. The first show to echo the sophistication and vision of sci-fi literature , Star Trek was only a cult hit at the time of its initial run but refused to die even after its cancellation, with the original 79 episodes running for years in syndication.

More than five decades later, Star Trek encompasses eight TV series (a total of 764 episodes and counting) and 13 films, plus countless books, comics, games and more. It’s had its ups and downs, its high points and its misfires, but it remains one of the most beloved and durable franchises in all of pop culture.

Now, thanks to streaming, all those episodes and movies are available to watch any time (we know you diehard Trekkers have the Blu-rays and DVDs, but you don’t have to break those out anymore). Below is a handy guide to where you can stream every iteration of Trek , from The Original Series to the movies to the new Star Trek: Picard . Grab your remote and boldly go…

Star Trek TV

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

The one that started it all, the original Star Trek came along at a time when most screen sci-fi (movies and TV) was still just monster movies or kiddie fare ( Lost in Space , anyone?). Gene Roddenberry ’s vision of an intelligent, allegorical sci-fi series, which used actual genre writers for much of its first two seasons, was groundbreaking in ways that reverberate to this day. And its cast, led by William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy, became iconic.

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Available in the US on Amazon , Hulu , Netflix , CBS All Access

Available in the UK on Netflix UK , Amazon UK * (*purchase only)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)

Using the voices of many of the original cast members and even employing writers from the original series, TAS had a genuine chance to extend the original show with the visual freedom animation offered. But the format turned out to be its enemy, as clunky, cheap animation and frequent reuse of shots gave the show a shoddy, amateurish reputation. Some of the stories are quite good, however.

Available in the US on Amazon , CBS All Access

Available in the UK on Netflix UK

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Set nearly a century after the original series, with Gene Roddenberry mandating that conflict between the crew members be diminished by that point, ST: TNG proved to be enormously popular even with a brand new, unfamiliar crew. It took most of three seasons for the show to find its footing, but Captain Picard (a magnificent Patrick Stewart ) and company went on many captivating and genuinely outstanding adventures of their own.

Available in the US on Amazon , Netflix , CBS All Access , Hulu

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Many fans consider DS9 the best Trek series ever , and they certainly can make a good argument for it: the first Trek show not set on a starship, but instead on a remote space station, DS9 addressed cultural divides, character conflict, religion and war in a bolder fashion that any Trek entry before it — while also utilizing the kind of serialized storytelling that is now the standard across the medium.

Available in the UK on Netflix UK , Amazon UK* (*purchase only)

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Voyager found members of a Federation starship and the rebel Maquis stranded together 70,000 years from Earth in the Delta Quadrant, facing a 75-year journey home. Headed by Trek ’s first female captain , Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Voyager encountered all kinds of interesting new races as well as old enemies the Borg during the long and often compelling journey home.

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

The first series to act as a prequel, set a decade before the creation of what would become the United Federation of Planets, Enterprise followed the crew of the first ship to bear that name. Uneven in quality and struggling to find resonant stories, Enterprise was canceled after four seasons and ended an 18-year run for Trek on TV.

Available in the US on Amazon , Netflix , Hulu , CBS All Access

Star Trek: Discovery (2017- )

Set 10 years prior to TOS , Discovery ’s troubled birth (it went through numerous delays and several showrunners) led to the most polarizing show in the franchise to date. Focusing for once on a central character other than the captain — mutinous anthropologist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), who turns out to be the adopted sister of one Mr. Spock — it has often ignored or played fast and loose with Trek continuity while painting Starfleet in a more conspiratorial light. Season 3 will debut in 2020.

Star Trek: Picard (2020- )

Like Discovery before it, Picard has divided Star Trek fans with its depiction of a Federation in decline, marked by bigotry, deception and treachery. But there is no questioning the powerful presence of Patrick Stewart, playing an older, flawed Picard for the first time in 18 years, and the thrill of seeing old friends like Seven of Nine, Will Riker and Deanna Troi. The show has certainly had its moments ; we’ll see if more are to come in the already-announced season 2 .

Available in the UK on Amazon UK

Star Trek: 50 Best Episodes

The 15 best worst episodes of star trek: the original series, star trek movies.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

After an aborted attempt at a second TV series ( Star Trek: Phase II ), Paramount Pictures brought Trek to the big screen in a lavish, $40 million epic (the most expensive movie of its time) that reunited the original crew in a 2001 -like encounter with a massive, mysterious space probe. Slow-moving, alternately impressive and shaky visually, ST: TMP nevertheless proved that the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise could hold their own on the big screen — and strangely, the film has actually aged better than most.

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Star trek: discovery season 5 episode 5 review – mirrors, the red king review: uneven folk horror crime mash-up, red eye review: itv thriller starts silly, gets great.

Available in the US on Amazon , Hulu

Available in the UK on NOW TV , YouTube *, Amazon UK *, Sky Store * (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Still considered the finest Trek movie of all , and rightfully so, The Wrath of Khan focused — like the original show — on character and story instead of visual effects and esoteric concepts. Bringing back a deadly enemy from the first season, the generic superman Khan (Ricardo Montalban), the movie was thrilling, dramatic and, with the death of Spock at the finale, incredibly moving.

Available in the UK on NOW TV , *YouTube , *Amazon UK , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Even though the end of Star Trek II strongly hinted at Spock’s return, it wasn’t a given. But Leonard Nimoy did come back for Star Trek III — as director (and yes, as Spock too in the film’s closing minutes) of this somber and often underrated entry . Captain Kirk loses almost everything — his beloved ship, his commission and his newly reconciled son — to save his friend’s life in a poignant story about friendship and loyalty. And there’s a bad-ass villain too, a Klingon captain played to the hilt by Christopher Lloyd.

Available in the UK on NOW TV , * YouTube , * Amazon UK , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Leonard Nimoy’s second outing as director is both a comedy and an environmentally themed adventure — and it turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the franchise. This light-hearted romp sent Kirk and the gang back to 20 th century San Francisco to rescue a pair of humpback whales, and the fish-out-of-water (pun intended) antics of the crew provide plenty of laughs and a ton of heart.

Available in the US on Amazon

Available in the UK on NOW TV , * Amazon UK , * YouTube , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Shatner got behind the camera for this turgid, unfunny mess , which regularly rates near the bottom of any Trekker’s list. The old “alien pretending to be God” trope, a long-lost brother we never knew Spock had and the other cast members acting by and large like buffoons make this perhaps the most embarrassing of the Enterprise ’s big screen voyages. There are a few nice moments — there always are — but this nowhere near first on our revisit list.

Available in the UK on NOW TV , * Amazon UK , *YouTube , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

The classic Trek cast bounced back from Star Trek V with a final adventure that was also one of their best . A suspenseful, urgent meditation on aging, grievance and the end of the Cold War, Star Trek IV was a remarkable example of how Trek could show us at our finest even while facing down our lingering demons. Plus it ends with both a great space battle and one of the greatest cast send-offs ever (which was emulated by none other than Avengers Endgame ).

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

What could have been a magnificent passing of the torch from the classic Trek cast to the TNG crew ends up looking and feeling more like a tepid extended TNG episode with weak cameos from Kirk, Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig). Patrick Stewart and his team are all solid, as is villain Malcolm McDowell, and the crashing of the Enterprise is a genuinely gripping setpiece. But the story and motivations are undercooked — as is most of the movie.

Available in the UK on NOW TV , * Amazon UK , * Sky Store , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Easily the best of the TNG quartet, First Contact travels back in time to the very start of Earth’s push into space, where the Borg intends to cripple humanity once and for all. The crew of the Enterprise follow them to make sure history isn’t changed, even as Picard confronts his fear and hatred of the Borg . Jonathan Frakes does a nice first-time directing job, balancing the action and character work ably, while Alice Krige steals the show as the sensual Borg Queen.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Like Generations , the third TNG theatrical outing feels like a mediocre TV segment stretched to feature length; even Frakes’ direction seems uninspired. One difference: with Picard fighting a secret plan (engineered by F. Murray Abraham, above) to uproot the natives of a “fountain of youth” planet, the seeds were planted for later Trek entries that portrayed an increasingly corrupt Federation. Otherwise, this is a forgettable, often cheesy film.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

The final big-screen outing for the TNG cast is better than its reputation suggests , as Picard squares off against a renegade Romulan who happens to be his clone. Tom Hardy chews the scenery fabulously as the latter, and the climactic battle between his massive ship and the Enterprise is well handled by director Stuart Baird. There’s also a surprising emotional payoff for Data (Brent Spiner) that ends up being the hook for Star Trek: Picard 18 years later.

Star Trek (2009)

J.J. Abrams does what many thought couldn’t be done — he reboots Star Trek with a fresh, young cast inhabiting the original roles made iconic by Shatner, Nimoy and their crew. The new cast, led by Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, is the best thing about the film, which also uses a clever plot device to position this timeline just slightly to the side of the original one. The reliance on action over ideas is a bit of a letdown, and unfortunately would carry over to the next two movies.

Available in the UK on Netflix , NOW TV , * Amazon UK , * Sky Store , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

One of the worst Trek films ever , right down there with The Final Frontier . STID insults both fans and casual viewers with a brain-dead script, frantic action and massive contrivances (such as the sudden ability for someone to beam across the galaxy or the screenwriters’ well-worn “magic blood” gimmick). But its most egregious offense is turning into a half-assed remake of The Wrath of Khan that’s as dumb as it is pointless. This is what happens when people tackle Trek with no understanding of it.

Available in the UK on * Amazon UK , * Sky Store , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Still too reliant on action over depth, and featuring the third revenge-driven storyline in a row, Star Trek Beyond is nevertheless better than its predecessor . It mostly works as a standalone adventure, and once again the Pine/Quinto cast delivers with heart. But even though Beyond does occasionally capture the vibe of classic Trek , there’s a vague sense of desperation at work — like the franchise knows it’s run out of gas (and crashing the Enterprise for the third time in 13 films doesn’t help).

Available in the UK on * Sky Store , * Amazon UK , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Don Kaye | @donkaye

Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

Upcoming Star Trek TV Shows: What's Ahead For The Sci-Fi Franchise

Here's what's ahead for Star Trek.

It’s a golden era for Star Trek tv shows, as the franchise is churning out more content than ever before. Fans with a Paramount+ subscription can stream a plethora of old and new content from one of the greatest sci-fi franchises of all time.

There’s a ton of new Star Trek content coming in the future, including the debut of a new show as well as the return of all the ones fans already know well. For those who need a breakdown of what all to expect, look no further because here’s where and when all the new Trek will arrive in 2023 and beyond. There’s even some information on planned shows that aren’t quite ready yet, but hopefully, we’ll see them soon enough.

Sonequa Martin-Green in Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 - Premiering On April 4th 2024

Captain Michael Burnham and the crew are back, and based on what we've seen and heard about Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 so far, some changes are on the way. Season 5 will see the crew race against others in an attempt to secure an ancient power, and will apparently have a tonal shift that will skew more toward action and adventure. We also learned that this coming season will be the final adventure , as Paramount+ decided to end the series after this coming season. The final season will kick off in April and, fingers crossed, leave an avenue open for more stories with these characters in the 32nd century.

Anson Mount as Christopher Pike in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 - In Production

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is coming back for Season 3, and is currently filming for the upcoming season. It's likely the season will kick off with the second part of the adventure started in the Season 2 finale . Pike must decide whether or not he's going to listen to Starfleet and retreat to avoid further conflict with the Gorn or to stay and try to save the kidnapped crew members. I have a hunch I know what decision he'll make, but I'm also very invested in seeing if Scotty will remain with the crew and what other adventures will come as well.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 - Coming In 2024

Paramount+ originally renewed Star Trek: Prodigy for Season 2, but announced later that it had been canceled alongside other shows on the platform. While the news was a bummer to many and encouraged responses from stars like Kate Mulgrew , there is a silver lining. After some talk with other companies, Paramount managed to negotiate a deal where the series will transition over to Netflix , and Season 2 will release over there. At this time, it's unknown whether or not this will lead to more seasons of Prodigy , but fans are thankful they'll at least get to see the season that was being worked on coming up in 2024.

Section 31 Movie - Production Underway

Section 31 was one of the first Star Trek spinoffs announced after Discovery , and yet it took the longest to get off the ground. The series was supposed to Michelle Yeoh ’s Phillipa Georgiou and her efforts in the secret ops Starfleet faction that does the jobs that others in the organization would rather not know about. Other former Discovery stars, like Shazad Latif, were involved at one point, but some believed the odds of it happening aren't great after Michelle Yeoh's Oscar win .

It turns out Yeoh was interested in making it happen, and Paramount+ decided to alter the idea to a movie . Fans are excited about the project all the same, and ready to see Michelle Yeoh back in her role. Production on the film is officially underway, and it's looking like a premiere sometime in late 2024 to 2025 is likely.

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Starfleet Academy - Production Starting In 2024

Alex Kurtzman revealed not long ago that Star Trek is actively working on another new live-action series , and it’s going to be set at Starfleet Academy. Of course, we don’t know exactly what era this series is set to take place during or who is going to star in it yet. We don’t really know much of anything, though it’s worth noting that Star Trek: Discovery did write off its character Tilly when she took an offer at Starfleet Academy. The episode where that happened seemed like it could be a backdoor pilot for the show, but again, we have no idea. We do know that the writer's room is underway, but details are scant beyond that.

As shown above, there’s still a ton of Star Trek on the way in 2024, and beyond. The only way to watch these shows is with a Paramount+ subscription , which is totally worth picking up with the increasing amount of shows and movies available to watch.

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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Alex Kurtzman On Streaming TV Challenges And How Shorter Star Trek Seasons Helps Avoid “Filler” Episodes

| April 17, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 162 comments so far

Star Trek series with up to 7 seasons of over 20 episodes each is a thing of the past. Alex Kurtzman, who is in charge of Trek TV for Paramount, is talking about the ups and downs of the streaming era.

Making every episode count

Last week brought the sad news that Star Trek: Lower Decks was going to end after its upcoming fifth season , matching Discovery , which is currently wrapping up its fifth and final season. Speaking to Cinemablend (before the Lower Decks news was announced) Alex Kurtzman called Discovery getting 5 seasons a “miracle,” noting how things are just different these days:

“I think most people watch two seasons of a streaming show, and they check out, you know, and that’s not specific to Trek. I just think that’s the watch pattern for television in the streaming world.”

Cast for the fifth and final season of Discovery (Paramount+)

Discovery will end its run with a total of 65 episodes. The final season has 10, which is the new norm for the Trek shows on Paramount+. Enterprise , the last Trek show before the streaming era, had a total of 98 episodes over four seasons. 100 episodes used to be a key goal for all TV shows so they could be more easily sold for syndication, but television distribution has changed since then.

Alex Kurzman on the Discovery bridge set(CBS Studios)

Kurtzman told CinemaBlend that today, it is “unlikely” for any Trek show to get close to the 100-episode mark, but he also pointed out this is actually a benefit:

“I think what’s lovely about that is—it’s funny, you can talk to old writers of old Trek series, and they’re like, ‘Man, there’s a bunch of filler episodes in there. We are just trying to get to 22 a season,’ you know, and we all know which of those episodes were [filler], we know the ones that were truly stellar from the ones that felt like they were kind of spinning their wheels. And so I think what ten episodes a season forces you to do is really make sure that every story counts as much as it possibly can. And I like that… I like what that affords us now.”

With two dozen or more episodes to make for each season, it is true they are not all going to be winners. But one fan’s filler episode could be another’s favorite, and sometimes those mid-season episodes offered opportunities for character development or experimentation and off-the-wall ideas.

The second season cast of Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)

Of course, comparisons to the previous Trek shows are a bit of apples and oranges, as the modern series have significantly bigger budgets (even after inflation), plus each episode takes up to twice as long to shoot. 22-episode seasons are still the norm for broadcast television dramas, especially procedural shows. In contrast, dramas on streaming services and prestige cable TV shows tend to have fewer episodes; the 2023 Emmy nominees for Best Drama had seasons that ranged from 9 to 13 episodes. The modern Trek shows are also in line with other genre shows: The Star Wars show Andor had 12 episodes and the the latest season of Marvel’s Loki only had six.

So shorter series is just the new normal… until things change again.

Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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What To Look Forward To From Star Trek In 2024

Yeah, but there have been great filler episodes! Star Trek these days is so much strategic organised it knows what it wants but its the episode with some unknown space in it which has the potential to get outstanding.

I think (and I could be wrong) that he isn’t talking about standalone episodes or bottle episode. I am pretty sure he is talking about needing to put into production episodes that wouldn’t normally be done, except that they have to have an episode script ready to film in so many days.

Almost every show that does a full broadcast season (be it 22, 24, or in Trek’s case typically 26) have had to green light a story that isn’t fully developed yet. But because they need s how reading to film in two weeks, something has to get the approval to finalize.

It is always a very big risk that an episode that isn’t fully developed isn’t going to meet the quality that they try and achieve with a developed story.

Now, of course you absolutely will have developed stories that everyone thought would work, turn out absolutely not working. TV is littered with these. You can also find shows that were rushed into production simply to feed the beast, that surprisingly turn out exceptional well.

The idea is that on average a developed story has a better chance to succeed. while an underdeveloped story has a greater chance to fail. I am pretty sure thats what he is talking about. That cutting the episode number be it down to 18, to 15, 13, 10, 8, ect just give teams more time to get ideas that they want to price that they feel will be good. Again this doesn’t mean they will be. just that the belief is better developed material is likely to be better.

Agree! Your great episode is someone else’s “Meh…” that’s the problem. Still gotta pay to produce them…

I get streaming is the new thing and 10 eps X 5 seasons is the new norm. But I also have to point out some of the best Trek eps from the episodic era were bottle shows that were meant to just be filler. When you aren’t worried about season long arcs and effects budgets and things like that it makes you focus more on the quality of the individual stories.

My two favorite “filler” episodes were “Data’s Day” and “A Night in Sickbay.”

Data’s day was great and if you think about it, it helped form Picard S1 (good or bad). That’s how important those eps can end up being down the road!

Data’s Day might be on the cusp of not being a bottle episode on account of having a slightly bigger guest cast and I’m not sure if the set for the dance was a reuse.

“A Night in Sickbay”… is that the Enterprise episode with the sick dog and the chainsaw? Love that episode too. Saw it again yesterday!

I have ALWAYS loved A Night in Sickbay. I always assumed it was only me though lol.

I miss when Trek could do more of these types of stories.

Hugo nominee, that one.

Nope, not just you. I absolutely love A Night in Sickbay. Maybe my favorite Enterprise episode. I love the normal, ship routine stuff you’d see in the beginning of many episodes until the plot happened, and ANIS was an entire episode of that!

I as well has always loved A Night in Sickbay. It feels exactly like what LDS does and just show a routine day with a bit of shenanigans here and there.

It’s also one of those episodes that shows how delicate first contacts can be but in a humerous way.

“A Night in Sickbay” is one of my guilty pleasures, because I’m a dog person! Yes, Archer behaved like an ass when it came to his dog, which is something that never, ever happens in real life.

I woudn’t describe “Data’s Day” as a filler episode — a bottle episodes, yes, but it was a substantive exploration of Data’s humanity.

But that’s the thing… the current thing in streaming series are season long arcs. It is rare that streaming show are episodic – Broadcast networks, yes – but even then, you have seasonal arcs.

True but I would also say there are *certain* shows, even at 10 eps per season kind of fall off 3/4 of the way through and actually feel like they are going longer than they should. Even like 1 filler ep a season (if it is good enough) could suffice. I’m not saying we need it, just that that’s a lot of times where the best ideas come from.

Thats not what he is talking about.

I’m going to politely disagree here and say that several episodes of Picard seasons 1 & 2 felt like filler, sub-plots that were not needed (like the FBI agent encountering Vulcans and becoming obsessed with invading extraterrestrials — interesting but really didn’t matter to the plot)

For season 1 and season 2 of Picard, if felt like 10 episodes was too much — and filled with sub-plots that meant nothing and didn’t matter to the story. In other words, I feel the story for season 1 and season 2 of Picard could have been told in less episodes and been more effective.

Quite a few years ago, I had heard that they were thinking of making a Picard movie. They used the original idea, but had to fill it for 10 episodes for a series. It would have worked much better as a 2-hour movie. Don’t ask me where I heard or read this – it was maybe a year or 2 before Picard season 1. Not sure if Anthony or the Trekmovie team can confirm this, or if it was just fan talk.

Totally agree. Honestly I think PIC S2 could have been done in 5 eps. Season 1 was a little more involved because of the Gollum mystery but S2 was just like we go there cause in the end Q wants Picard to grow a heart. Dragging that season out did so much damage to it.

Discovery also. Lots of season 4 felt like filler, in part because the focus was so heavy on the story arc which moved at a snail’s pace.

Picard season 3 had some too – No Win Scenario was fantastic, but it was very obvious soon after that the show was largely confined to being on the Titan, and the story was treading water a bit by the time Vadic took it over.

Yes Discovery as well, especially season 4. It was so badly drawn out and tedious I was actually happy season 5 was only 10 episodes because the last two seasons barely felt like they had enough story to fill even just 13 episodes.

And yes Picard season 3 had similar issues although IMO way less than the previous seasons. Season 2 just felt practically lifeless by the time it got to episode 6.

I disagree with season four for the most part. There was one element that was a part of many of the last 6 episodes of the season, that I found didn’t work. That was the character of Tarka. Now the idea of a splinter group wanted to destroy versus reason with 10-C is absolutely valid. But Tarka as its focus didn’t work for me. Pacing wise (versus a story element that for me didn’t work) is better for that season as a whole. But again pacing for all the various serialized Trek stories hasn’t been spot on, even going back to Ent Season 3, or even DS9 final 10 or the 6 part retaking the station. On just pacing for Discovery season 4, I felt the ending the actually figuring out how to connect was the worst pacing aspect of that season and it being rushed.

Myself seriously tighten up the pacing of the splinter story, cut the Tarka character out or seriously rewrite, and use that extra time to progress to and spend episode 9 and 10 on what was ended up being handled in episode 10.

About the only pacing consistently I have found in 4 season of Discovery and 3 seasons of Picard is that the finals always feel rushed. And I while I thank season 3 of Picard is the best paced out of all serialized streaming Trek it also had room to improve.

Season 2 is absolutely guilty of not being fully developed, that was completely due to the fact that during early production of season 2, it came to their knowledge that Stewart wanted to bring back the TNG cast. This split the writers, so the head writer who started season 2, quickly switched to developing a season 3 that could film immediately after the end of shooting of season 3. This absolutely took part of the writers away from season 2. And impact their full script development.

Now almost all shows will produce what they considered fully developed stories that they think work. That fit what they need for an episode. But once completed realize that for what ever reason that it didn’t work. It happens. Now sometimes this is an internal issue solely for that episode. Or (in case of arc or serialized story telling) concepts that were deemed important for episode X and were planned to be vital for episodes Y and Z, are after the fact (ie after the shooting of episode X) that those points are no longer needed for stories Y and Z. That also happens.

Even for shows that have episodes fully developed and finalized scripts for each episode before filming of the season begins will have issues, that on the page worked, but don’t work in a filmed project.

For your your specific examples there is some common issues, but (I do give a caveat for season 2 that didn’t occur with season 1). I don’ think episode count is the issue.

I think both seasons have significant issue with story pacing spread across each season. Season 1 has a period that I feel should have been condensed at least one episode (perhaps 2) but I also think the end of the season was rushed, and should have been passed over at least one additional episode. So episode count works for me here, but pacing is a real issue.

Season 2, starts with a bang, with really solid pacing for three episodes. Then stalls. Now I know this season unlike season1, had the split focus so I give them a caveat. But there are 4 episodes that just as a whole don’t work well because of pacing on those episodes (not to mention a couple elements I just wouldn’t have ever used, season 1 was Stardust City, god I really dislike that episode). But like Season 1, the ending is also rushed. But unlike season 1. I honestly think you could have got the story beats down, fixed both aspects of pacing (the two slow and the two fast) and eliminated at minimum one full episode (I lean closer to two full episodes).

It helps highlight the issue of writing plot but not full scripts for a serialized show in advance. Of course there also disadvantages of writing finalized scripts all in advance, and then seeing finale cuts of episodes and seeing things that aren’t workin….

The formula for fixing modern Trek is this: Kurtzman and his cronies out (except for Roddenberry Junior), Matalas in, fifteen episode seasons (including so-called “filler” episodes, back to the 25th Century, so-called “progressive” agenda in the dumpster where it belongs.

According to you. At least you didn’t cram the word woke into your little paragraph there. Small blessings I guess.

Star Trek is all “progressive” agenda. Always has been. That’s why it’s great in part. Have you actually watched Star Trek? There’s a lot of words and thoughts and concepts beyond the spaceships and phaser battles that might be what you are watching for. I love the whole backlash against “woke agenda” by fragile minds that can’t handle change and Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Please keep being upset about your status quo being disrupted. It’s a joy to see things progress and the roadkill of history’s worst ideas and cultural norms lament.

He’s absolutely wrong, in my book, about ‘watch patterns.’ If a show is good, why would I bag out after only two seasons? Peaky Blinders is a good example of this, I would have watched it forever. My personal ‘watch patterns’ do come into play concerning the shows he’s been in charge of though. Two seasons of DSC was more than enough. If a show is good and the writing is tight, people will keep tuning in. Simple.

You may have personal watch patterns that differ from the norm (I have them too), but Kurtzman is almost certainly talking from a point of knowledge about streaming watch habits based on actual data from the masses of viewers watching his shows. He sees that most shows get tuned out after a few seasons (like you did with DIS, proving his point) because he sees the data that shows that that is actually happening. Trek is an outlier because the Trekkies keep coming back, but even then getting to 5 is a stretch.

Why I said, ‘in my book.’ Just my opinion. And I stopped watching DSC at the end of S2 because I thought it was terrible, not because it overspent my attention span. I do agree that 5 seasons does seem to be the average these days, and for an excellent show, ie. Breaking Bad, Peaky Blinders, that is a perfect number. My question is, where is Trek’s Vince Gilligan, Steven Knight, Taylor Sheridan? Our franchise needs a showrunner/writer that will make us not-be-able-to-wait for the next episode. That element does not exist for Trek, imo.

Just to make a point, what is the longest running science fiction/ fantasy series that is streaming only?

It’s Star Trek Discovery. While it might not be your cup of tea, or mine.. it’s done what it needed to do. It’s the 2nd longest running (by season) series that is from Paramount + (including of course CBS All Access) behind the Good Fight that lasted 6 years and 60 episodes. But it will have produced the most total episodes 65.

It might very well produce more episode than any streaming Trek series SNW would need 7 seasons (not impossible but again that would be an exceptional run for today) to have more.

For a Netlfix, Disney or Amazon Sci-fi program your looking at needing more then an 8 season run to pass that episode count.

You have to think so, but OTOH, I can think of a lot of high-profile streaming shows that lasted five seasons: House of Cards, The Three Percent, The Americans, Downton Abbey, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, etc. Jack Ryan got four seasons, and while it was well acted, the writing was so-so. (On an earlier thread, someone observed that the latter two were technically AMC shows, which is a fair point, but it still seems to me that they have some similarity to pure-play streaming shows, and they’re both distributed on streamers.)

House of Cards had a unique major factor involved in its continuing though.

Uhhh, The Americans, Downton Abbey, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad are not streaming series. The Americans – FX Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad – AMC Downton Abbey -ITV

Most of your examples aren’t streaming only shows. Most of them were designed for either cable broadcast or like Downton Abby for British television. That they eventually found steaming homes, is no different than American broadcast shows who got overseas broadcast as an addition revenue stream. Its not created for the purpose (though some have absolutely survived from it).

Only House of Cards, The Three Percent and Jack Ryan are streaming only programs.

Longest running streaming only scripted live action programming is Grace and Frankie (7 and 94 episodes), Orange is the New Black (7 seasons and 91 episodes) Bosch 7 season 68 episodes).

Orange is the New Black and Grace and Frankie typically maintain the 13 episodes per season that was common when they started. Bosch typically had shorter seasons from the get go.

Again which highlights how unlikely it is for any streaming show based on current patterns to achieve 100 episode runs.

That they eventually found steaming homes, is no different than American broadcast shows who got overseas broadcast as an addition revenue stream

I’m not so sure that “eventually finding streaming homes” is so irrelevant, though. What percentage of people watched via Netflix or Amazon?

I think he has a point, if this was 2022 still. Allow me to explain. Back then you had a show that lasted 10 eps (still do) but you wanted it for 10 weeks in a row and had to wait another 42 weeks to get season 2.

Sure that part is still true today but here is the difference I don’t think Alex is getting. Back before the streaming bubble burst, we were getting shows of all kinds on all channels like craze and the afore mentioned 42 weeks we got involved in so many other shows that sometimes it just became too much.

I for example can’t keep up with Star Wars anymore. I don’t even remember Clone Wars and now I have Mandalorian and Boba Fett and Ashoka and Obi Wan and all these other shows that rely on it and it’s like a literally have to google it just to know where to begin.

But this is not going to be the case moving forward. Streaming services are consolidating. Shows premiering are getting cut WAY down.

I think Kurtzman had a point in the past and even the present but certainly not the future.

They have data going back to the origins of streaming only productions, typically 13, without large connecting universes to track, and not a single one made it to 100 episodes. And even then most were canceled by the end of the 2nd season. His statement is entirely factual on these issues. The exception of this is when a service first starts up you do a have better chance for longer runs, just because the threshold of being good for the platform is usually at its lowest when it first starts out.

And since he’s talking about the difference between streaming and the broadcast model when it was still on average a 22 episode run. If you had a shared universe, or if you were a completely stand alone property you had a far less long break between originals, especially as US broadcast extended that seasons with rerun breaks so that your summer break is typically 16 weeks. Versus what if aired without breaks would be a 30 week break between new episodes.

For streaming there has been two primary models. The full drop on release date or the staggered weekly release (with often series openers dropping 2 to 3 then going weekly). For the largest part of the streaming universe gong back to 2022 that means 8 week run, with a break of 44 weeks between new material (or a 51 week on a full drop).

Even with broadcast when for whatever reason a show was going to have large then typical break, you almost always saw a larger percentage year to year drop off.

Now Streaming has started doing two tiered releases. It remains to be seen if this is going to be common place.

My point was that prior to the almost collapse of streaming, yes shows still could go up to 5 years / 50 eps, but the point is that they are churning out so many new shows and every show that ended got replaced with like 2 to 3 new ones. That is not going to be the case with any streaming service moving forward.

He’s referring to streaming TV as a whole. Peaky Blinders, like Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Outlander et al still has a foot in the broadcast world which helps a show get a little more longevity right now.

There’s a reason Stranger Things and Star Trek shows are streaming outliers in getting as far as 5 seasons though. Most shows don’t tend to get more than 3 now. Bosch is one of the only exceptions I can think of. For originals, new shows are more valuable to streamers than old ones. At least now most creatives are starting to plan for shorter runs, but they still can get caught by surprise – Glow’s cancellation was a typical Netflix blindside, and obviously Discovery, Prodigy and Lower Decks have all been wary canaries in the coal mine for how far Paramount is willing to go.

Yeah sorry but you’re speaking of your own experience. Something that is true of you. He is of course not speaking of individuals, but the average behavior of viewers.

And simply put there are a couple of exceptions of longer running streaming only shows. But they are the exceptions not the rule.

While for many decades it’s common for broadcast and cable shows to decline in ratings over the life span of tv. They have data going back many decades showing the average rate of cancellation for both broadcast (and for cable those that is far harder for the public to track).

The average rate of cancellation for streaming only shows (shows were that is its only release platform) is far, far earlier than broadcast.

Now they have several theories about this from people not wanting to pay subscriptions year round, to the fact that programming is shorter in length thus on average easier to fall off the general public awareness (this is my personal belief).

But simply put what he stated is factually accurate for the masses as a whole. At least currently. As Streaming develops its possible that will change.

7 years is currently the longest number of season a streaming only show has ever made that is scripted live action.

So may question since you use Peaky Blinders (a great show by the way), isn’t a streaming only show. It was a British broadcast show. So it doesn’t speak to the aspect of streaming only programming.

I think shorter seasons can have the opposite effect. Worries about making every episode count sometimes translates to episodes being overthought and made needlessly complicated.

With less episodes the focus should be on good Trek, not experimenting with things like the musical.

The two aren’t mutually exclusive (either generally or in the specific instance you’re citing.)

Maybe, but by having 26 episodes a year the ’90s series accommodated more character development. Most characters got three episodes a year focused on them as individuals.

That was the 90s. The 26-episode-a-year format did not increase character development at all for TOS in the 60s. It was a different era, to be sure, but still.

Also, I thought that Picard Season 3, even with its only 10 episodes, had a ton of character development for Picard, Riker, Jack, Beverly, Seven, Worf, Shaw, and a few others. Just saying it can be done

Well, writing on TOS and TV in the ’60s in general was poor.

“Doomsday Machine” and “City on the Edge of Forever” were pretty good, though.

Two out of how many?

The first season of TOS had 28 episodes, then the number of episodes dropped to where the third season had less than 26 episodes.

Good points. And the writing quality of those shows was very high most of the way through. “Brain, brain, what is brain?”

That pace was breakneck though and you just couldn’t do it nowadays. You could argue the shows don’t need to be as cinematic as they are, but even thought DS9, Voyager and Enterprise managed to upgrade the lighting and shooting style to be a little less stagey than TNG, they all were doing 16 hours days and OT each week to do that. It’s not realistic to expect them to crank out an episode of a glossy sci fi show every week for the shoots, let alone the more elaborate Post work involved now. The cast and crew would revolt.

Didn’t Hurd make some remarks about how working for streaming services doesn’t work that well for actors due to the shortened episode counts during the strike, though?

It sounded to me as if actors like her would appreciate having more regular work than just doing 10 episodes a year for one series and having to find work doing something else for the rest of the year.

As in, they’d appreciate the regularity and work security of doing 20+ episodes a year and the paycheck that comes with it.

Absent pandemics and strikes, networks still do over 20 episodes a season. Sure, the effects aren’t as intricate as on science fiction series, but it can be done.

She has a point, though better residuals and popularity metrics seem to have been the more pressing thing to get out of the streamers. But nowadays it takes the better part of a year to do a 13 episode show anyway, if it’s elaborate like a Trek series. Even The Orville, stylistically shot like 90’s Trek, was never going to be able to do 22 episode seasons.

They need to tone down the over elaborate productions. It wouldn’t be impossible to do. More location shoots and the like.

Location shoots make a show more complicated, usually.

I do think Trek has gone too far in taking the cinematic lessons from JJ Trek. A lot of that worked for a movie, but now we get cameras moving around all the time for no good reason, shallow depth of field when sometimes you want to see more than one character, and super widescreen formatting that isn’t always used right. Plus moodier lighting which sometimes is thoughtful and beautiful and other times takes up half the oxygen in a discussion about Picard season 3.

But there’s only so much you can dial back on now. I really think everyone would crack from writers to crew and cast if the shows went back to 22.

Location shooting in Canada would be Modern Trek’s version of sound stage shooting on Planet Hell in the ’90s. But it would look better because it would be outside.

If Stargate could turn exteriors in Vancouver into hundreds of alien worlds, there’s no reason Star Trek can’t do the same.

You’re advocating for Trek to go back to the sameness of all the planets that looked liked Vasquez Rocks, except now it would be forests with a good chance of snow and/or rain. There would be tax breaks, but relying more on location filming is not always cheaper, and it doesn’t automatically lead to better writing just because it might mean they can stretch the dollar to squeeze out a few more episodes. This is just not a realistic solution and all of television save for network and reality TV has upped its game in the production values department.

Less can be significantly more. Not everything needs to be big and bombastic. That’s just these shows replicating what Abrams did in the movies.

Remember, the goal of expanding the episode count is to have more room to expand on the character development, not the spectacle.

Whether that is a bottle episode in which a character gets trapped in a warp bubble or they just go about their day, or one in which they f a ghost or one in which they become possessed by the psychic imprint of a murder victim. Those don’t require much expense.

Sci-fi shows are not worth it if they do not have amazing cgi and spfx and vfx as that is the main draw for people

Not EVERY episode of a Trek series needs that, though. Instead of using the VR wall, they can go out of on location to shoot that they’re on an alien planet.

Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis did fairly well using that production style up in Canada where Star Trek shoots now.

Nonsense. Some of the best sci-fi was limited in what they could display – Doctor Who, Babylon 5, Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis.

I would prefer more interesting stories and characters than big pretty explosions.

But the trend is not to go backwards in scope either. 90s Trek was some of the slickest sci-fi on TV at the time, let’s not forget that. Even Doctor Who now has a budget on par with some prestige shows. A genre show can be clever like The Expanse and not spend all its money so wantonly, but cinematic production values and VFX are here to stay.

Your lack of understanding of sci-fi is glaring. Maybe you should educate yourself by reading classics from Asimov, Clarke, Niven and the like, but you would probably scoff and say they’re old and dated.

On Discovery, there were filler seasons.

No there was not any filler seasons discovery told a season long story arc starting with season 2 Season 1 had two story arcs that were intertwined but that was due to a change in show runner who had started it and left both story lines unfinished and Alex and his team had to salvage it and make it work as best as they could

That was snark. Back in the day, maybe an episode. For Discovery, it was an entire season.

This is why after 4 seasons we still barely know anything about the bridge crew of the Discovery.

Oh, I dunno. There’s the one with the implants, the guy with the facial hair, the one who flies the ship and that other guy over there on the right.

LOL! You get the best comment award for this article!

Who cares about the little people? I don’t. But I do miss the cyborg. 🥲

i’m fine with 50 episodes per show, allows for more ST shows. i’m hoping with Prodigy and LDs ending we get a new animated ST show in the vein of SW The Clone Wars. my dream show would be a CGI animated show ST: Titan, with Captain Riker. Later seasons/shows could switch to Shaw and the Titan-A and later 7 and the Ent-G; kinda like how Clone Wars branched out into Bad Batch and Rebels. to me this would allow OG fans to enjoy the 24th / 25th century separate from the live action shows and allow those live action shows to try and experiment and bring in new fans.

i’m watching DS9 for the first time (started when my son was born, DS9 and S3 of ENT were the only incarnation of ST i hadn’t watched) and i really like DS9 (may be my 2nd or 3rd fav ST show) but man 1/3 of them are real clunkers. i power through those and half the time they do something interesting in the last 10-15minutes.

i remember Harve Bennett said when he binged TOS ahead of making ST2 that 1/3 were amazing, 1/3 ok/entertaining and 1/3 were ‘ewww’. i’d agree with that in the Berman era ST shows as well.

but i just don’t think the straming serialized trek is trek at its best. SNW seems to do a better job than DSC in telling modern streaming ST shows and trying to thread that needle. RDM’s BSG did that the best telling individual stories while keeping it part of a larger story / arc. the expanse, while i enjoyed ticked me off, it was like they shifted where the story would end, so each episode had a cliffhanger. so i started watching that show from mid episode to mid episode and it was more enjoyable lol.

I’m starting to think we may not get more than one show a year so we’re looking at less content, not more. We’re probably looking at two Star Trek series with one airing each year. This year we get discovery, next year SNW, the following year Academy (maybe).

Those “filler” episodes have their place, Kurtzman. They help with character growth and depth. As well as tell contained stories. Some of the best episodes of Star Trek have been these so-called “filler” episodes.

What else is there to say but typical Kurtzman.

Well said, Captain. At least one other person on this page knows what TRUE Star Trek is supposed to be about.

Thanks, non-arc episodes help with character growth and development. It allows the audience to form a relationship with these characters, even through the mundane. It is as if you become a part of the crew. Alex “Dark Universe” Kurtzman was never the right person to helm this franchise. Maybe Skydance will shake things up with the hierarchy, but doubtful.

Who’s the one besides Braxton?

Nonsense. Typical ultra lazy Kurtzman hate.

The writers, producers and actors of 90s Trek were on the record saying 26 episode seasons were physically and psychologically exhausting and rushed. They frequently commented in retrospect that some ideas didn’t work, the final product didn’t match the intentions, the B plot was too long, the A plot didn’t land, but nothing could be done, because they had to quickly move on. How many TNG episodes did we have about a planet in trouble and the Enterprise had to use the deflector dish to something something while Troi talked to someone in a gray suit?

Fans who get to look back at 170 episode catalogues at the end of 7 seasons and recall nostalgically growing up with Star Trek that was on every week, not two months every eighteen months, will of course say more is better. The people who actually have to build the thing are qualified to talk about how difficult it was.

If the numbers were there to justify the expense of producing more than 10 episodes per season, they wouldn’t hesitate to do so. There’s a reason you only get 10 episodes of SNW but 22 episodes of S.W.A.T., Chicago Fire or Law & Order SVU. It’s not about better storytelling, it’s about the financial implications.

Producing 20 live action Star Trek episodes across two separate series is a net positive financially for all production partners on the backend, not-so-much for the writer’s and talent.

What does “filler episode” even mean in this context? “Episode I didn’t like”?

When you’re breaking 22-26 distinct stories a year that usually aren’t driving a single specific plotline, what counts as filler and what doesn’t?

This term has been overused into meaninglessness. It started out (at least in my understanding) to refer to stories created for anime to buy time when they ran out of manga to adapt and were waiting for new adaptable stories to arrive. These obviously couldn’t affect anything important since they were still following the original source material otherwise.

I can see how the term got borrowed for a tightly serialized show that didn’t have enough story to fill the episode count. I guess “A View from the Gallery” from Babylon 5 might qualify; I remember that was a rushed script for some reason, and you can remove it from the season with basically zero effect. But you can remove around 90% of TNG episodes and not miss anything in terms of ongoing story.

So is a “filler episode” one that was reluctantly rushed out to meet the production schedule? And, if so, how rushed does it have to be to qualify? (Not looking for a specific number; just making the point that the term is nebulous.) I guess maybe “Shades of Grey” since it was rushed out to fill an abbreviated episode count after the WGA strike in the 80’s?

Look, this probably feels a little pedantic, but I’m just mystified when I see people say “I hate filler episodes!” when referring to a show like Strange New Worlds. What, pray tell, is a filler episode of that series?

I think with regard to SNW, they’re all ‘filler’ episodes, imo. There’s no pattern there. Some are stronger or weaker than others, is all.

And to paraphrase Syndrome from The Incredibles, when everything’s filler, nothing is.

That’s the nature of episodic storytelling. Some are stronger than others.

It’s a good question, When you have shows like TOS and TNG that had zero over reaching arcs, every episode can be a filler episode. In that context I always assumed filler shows are bottle shows where stuff just takes place on the ship and they can focus on the story rather than sets or effects to have enough money for the whole season.

I’m probably being a grumpy old man fighting yet another change in language that I’m not fond of and will ultimately be forced to accept, but I think it would be a shame to consider “bottle episodes” a subset of “filler episodes”. They’re very different things IMO.

Yeah I agree with this. Those were basically made to save money and yet some of the best episodes of Trek are considered those.

I just listened to the Delta Flyers discussing Duet the other day and they remarked it almost felt like a play since it’s mostly just two characters arguing with each other in a room. And yet still one of most effective Trek episodes to this day.

But honestly you could probably classify that episode as a filler too but I imagine every fan of that episode would push back on it and rightly so.

You blow through the budget on other eps, you create smaller episodes that cost less to produce, giving you eps like “Duet”, “A Night in Sick Bay” and a lot of other great Star Trek episodes.

For anyone who has worked on a show, you can tell if an episode is going to eat through a big piece of the budget and that somewhere down the road there is going to be an episode or two that’s going to offset that with an episode or two which will feature just a couple of actors on one or two sets. Those aren’t filler episodes, they’re just episodes produced on a smaller scale.

Yeah, in fact I was just going to bring up “Duet” but you beat me to it. That episode would definitely be considered as “filler” in my definition of the term but it is one of the absolute best episodes of Trek ever made. I would also consider “Measure of a Man” or “The Inner Light” as fillers too but those are also excellent episodes. This comes back to OP’s question about what exactly consititutes “filler”. I think its just a word used by people to describe the episodes they don’t like.

When it comes to traditional episodic storytelling, there are no filler episodes. A story told is a story told. If you have fewer resources due to budgetary issues you may structure a story that costs less to produce but it’s not a filler episode (and Star Trek has had a number of great smaller stories over the years to save a buck or two).

So “Cost of Living” (in which Lwaxana and Alexander take a mudbath) is the same as “Best of Both Worlds.” Gotcha.

Enterprise season 1’s “Broken Bow” and “Shuttlepod One” would be a better comparison.

Star Trek has always had great episodes and what the Ingloroius Treksperts call meat and potato episodes. They are the episodes that are rewatchable, good, entertaining, ones you can turn on Pluto TV to watch and get your trek fix. They’re not on anyone’s top 10 list but they are fun. They usually have great character moments or character development. I think Alex is saying, he doesn’t want those kinds of episodes.

LIke say STARSHIP MINE or BOOBY TRAP? If so, his taste is even worse than I thought possible.

I get the idea of the 20+ episode format maybe being a bit too strenuous for the writers to come up with stuff, but I feel like there could be a better middle ground. It’s one thing for more serialized shows like Discovery and Picard to have shorter seasons to tell those specific stories, but a lot of the charm of the older shows did often stem from the “filler” episodes. They gave us more time with the characters, and allowed for a nice variety of ideas and tones. Hell, even with DS9, as great as the Dominion, Bajor/Cardassian, etc. stories were, I don’t think it would be half as good without those “filler” episodes. But with 10 episodes, even the more episodic shows can suffer, as is the case with Strange New Worlds, as good as it is (for example, that Hemmer moment might have had more impact if he had more character development beforehand).

26 episodes allowed for a better run of variety and creative story telling. Never felt like filler, it was Trek giving us a range of sci fi and character stories. Not every one was a winner but a lot of great episodes were produced.

Compare that to today’s long form story telling structure and the story can definitely drag. DSC meandered with emotions in the wrong places and Picard season 2 was really stretching out 4 episodes worthy of story into 10 episodes.

Also with less episodes stop doing episodes like the musical episode on SNW. With only 10 episodes focus on Good Trek.

Star Trek has never been in a worse state and under worse leadership than it is now. Strange New Worlds, which is arguably the best of all new Kurtzman-era Star Trek, has had a total of 20 episodes over the first two seasons (10 each), and I would say that when comes to the last season (season 2) only two episodes or three episodes were actually good/enjoyable.

As for the “filler” episodes during the Berman-era of Star Trek, all of those episodes help to further enrich the series and characters, building on the lore of the Star Trek universe. I absolutely agreed with the above sentence: “ But one fan’s filler episode could be another’s favorite, and sometimes those mid-season episodes offered opportunities for experimentation or off-the-wall ideas.”

Despite owning all of TOS, DS9, and Voyager on DVD and most of TNG and Enterprise on Blu Ray, I never get tired of watching reruns of Voyager and DS9 on Pluto TV. And whenever they air an episode of Star Trek Discovery of the Pluto Star Trek channel, I instead opt to watch a DS9 or Voyager rerun. There is no comparison between the two eras. New Trek only proves that throwing more money on Star Trek is no substitute for excellent talented writing and production. From 1966 to 2005, Star Trek producers, directors, writers, art designers, and model makers, successfully demonstrated how to make quality television and films without millions of dollars per TV episode.

The only season of new Trek that I own on Blu Ray is season 1 of Strange New Worlds, and I seldom choose watch it and I didn’t like the second season enough to warrant purchasing it on Blu Ray.

Kurtzman has no idea what he’s talking about, in my opinion. Yes, he brought Trek back to the TV, but he’s like Kathleen Kennedy in my opinion. We don’t need big budget 10 episode seasons. I’m fine with low(er) budget 20 episode seasons.

Agreed! Kurtzman is the Kennedy of Star Trek. Not good for either franchises, both need to go.

3 words Mr Kurtzman: For All Makind

The show also got renewed today! So happy!!!

Imagine Ronald D. Moore was the current head of Star Trek? It would have been a new golden age. With Kurtzman, it feels like we are in the Mirror Universe :(

Speaking of Apple +, I just finished the first season of Constellation, and thought it was great. I hope it gets a S2.

If we had filler episodes, maybe we would have cared when Airiam was killed off. Filler episodes are a huge opportunity to “fill” in the development of a character.

It’s worked for British shows for decades, but the author is right to point out that great ingenuity can be borne from having major budget limitations.

Some of Trek’s best episodes are bottle shows. Duet, Clues, Shuttlepod One, No Win Scenario, Remember Me, Meld, Similitude, The Drumhead, The Doomsday Machine, Whispers, The Offspring, Someone to Watch Over Me… All take place on standing sets with only a couple guest stars at most and limited VFX.

Plenty of bad bottle shows too, but the idea of having to do them should be looked at as a reason to flex different creative muscles. Getting in the habit of making every story big and not fussing about budget can create a different kind of viewer fatigue.

Is The Drumhead a bottle episode? I don’t recall seeing the hearing room appear in another episode, and I doubt Jean Simmons worked for free.

yes, it’s a bottle show

sources listed here saying production staff intended it to be as such, and it came in under budget to boot. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Drumhead_(episode)

The courtroom is likely just a minor redress of the conference room or captain’s quarters or something

I always figured you could get away with a couple guest stars and still be a bottle episode. But “The Drumhead” was specifically called out by the writers and producers as being a cost-saving episode written to avoid having to do another clip show. The hearing room set was first seen in “The Defector,” but it’s actually a redress of the 1701 Enterprise set from Star Treks I-III!

It really depends on the type of storytelling your’e doing. Serialized storytelling works best in a more confined format, 8-10 episodes a season. But episodic TV feels best served by more rather than less, especially when the gaps between seasons are so long.

TV shows do not have to be long-form movies. These 8-10 episode seasons are not right for many series. The whole “filler” argument seems to be about TV vs. movie formats. And about today’s short attention spans.

Other than SNW, all the new Trek shows have felt full of filler. They have movie plot-level ideas that could be fairly decent in a 2.5-hour stretch but get really smelly after 10 hours.

100% – Kurtzman and co think of an ending and just puke up 10 episodes to get there. Yet, with very little wider character development or depth. I mean, we hardly know anything about the Discovery crew and we are in the final season. Madness.

Picard 3 was the most egregious imo – they spent how many episodes just loitering around the ship doing nothing? at least 3 full episodes that could have been 30 minutes of a movie. It was worse than the slow-speed chase in The Last Jedi

Kurtzman knows that virtually word that came out of his mouth is spin. It’s less expensive to produce a 10 episode season and the benefit on the backend is for the studio. Pair that with a budget north of $80 million per season with limited viewership for anything on a platform which relies solely on subscription fees and a high churn rate for original productions is all but guaranteed. Look no further than the success of “Suits” on Netflix and most broadcast originals streamed on other platforms after their premieres to counter Kurtzman’s argument.

Picard Season 3 was produced on a very tight budget (reportedly far less than half than the usual $8 – $10 million per episode). To keep Star Trek going, those are the kinds of numbers they’re going to be looking at.

It would be very interesting to see an episode that had no new effects: could these writers handle it?

With the right showrunner at the helm…

I love how you break down the BS lol.

Yeah they don’t have the money to make more episodes and those episodes probably don’t bring in a lot of money like the way the 90s shows did so there backs are to the wall

When shows are getting cancelled after just making 50-60 episodes kind of says it all sadly but he did admit that at least.

There was a time when Star Trek was like printing money for Paramount. Those days are long gone.

Alex is overcomplicating things. It’s simple. There’s good writing and poor writing. You are responsible for what you produce whether your season has six episodes or twenty six. Also true if your show gets canceled after season one, or runs forever like The Simpsons .

Certain writers / showrunners / producers may have a preference for shorter or longer form storytelling, but you have one job: consistently make good TV. We, the audience, will take as much of that as your industry is willing to give us.

On that note—I read the “make sure that every story counts” comment as more of a self-own rather than a mission accomplished. There’s been a lot of filler in Disco, if you ask me.

Positively: one benefit of fewer eps per season and shorter series runs is that we get a wider variety of Trek . I’m delighted by the differences in tone and style across the current crop of shows. Some I like much more than others, of course—because that’s how a ‘buffet’ works. But I’d much rather have this variety than seven, 26-episode seasons of only one or two shows with generally poor writing. Which, I fear, is what we would have if these producers were working in the 1960’s or 1990’s. So I’m thinking the current trends in the streaming era may be a net benefit, just not exactly for the reasons Alex explains.

I think its not just Kurtzman but life, people and entertainment in general these days wants to “overcomplicate” things. I mean simplicity is not all bad if you know how to use it and sometimes being overcomplicated comes across as more fake or stupid than something simpler. I think people in general consider being complicated with being smarter but it doesn’t always work that way.

Indeed, one must indeed concur with your observation, a preeminent testament to your keen acumen and discerning intellect. Your erudite elucidation, a veritable cornucopia of sagacity, has pierced the veil of ambiguity that had ensnared this matter in a labyrinthine quagmire of obscurity. The perspicacity of your argument, an exquisite tapestry woven with the silken threads of cogency and insight, adorns the edifice of our shared understanding. Your words, resplendent with the luminous radiance of truth, are akin to the guiding stars that lead an errant voyager to their destined harbor through the treacherous waters of disconcert. Thus, it is with an air of irrefutable certitude and profound appreciation that I express my unreserved agreement with your proposition, dear interlocutor.

(Or, you know… “I agree.”)

I’d be disappointed if SNW doesn’t get past series 5

I am thinking that after season 5 of SNW they are going to change the show to a full on TOS reboot.

I would have to disagree with him. All of the current live action seasons of Trek have had filler episodes. A lot of the classic Trek filler episodes were actually good. Filler isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the quality of the writing is solid….which in the case of current Trek it is not.

Exactly. His argument would be stronger if there wasn’t complaints every season of these shows just treading water.

If those in charge of Star Trek plan on doing more serialized shows with 8-10 episodes per season for 3-5 seasons, then they really need to consider creating plots and themes that extend over multiple seasons. The entire series should be The Story.

I get Kurtzmans point but yet so much of Picard and Discovery felt exactly like filler even with less than half the episodes of the classic Trek shows.

My biggest complaints (and many others) was that both Picard season 2 and Discovery season 4 just felt beyond tedious by their halfway marks and could’ve told their stories with even less episodes those seasons. It could’ve been due to COVID reasons but then there were tons of other shows in the same boat and yet had amazing seasons with every episode as strong as the last one.

Sorry I don’t buy that excuse at all. Yes that was originally the argument for having less episodes that the seasons would feel tighter but that hasn’t really been the case either. Both of those shows could’ve had shorter sessions in fact and you lose nothing. Picard season 3 was a little better IMO but even that could’ve just been 7-8 episodes.

SNW does feel like it has less filler but as others have pointed out since it’s back to episodic crises of the week format it’s just telling random stories basically so the word ‘filler’ is hard to define in this case.

I will agree about the five season thing though and that’s clearly true with a few minor exceptions and why I wasn’t shocked that both Discovery and LDS were cancelled. Look at every original show on P+; to this day only ONE show has made it past 5 seasons and that was The Good Fight with 6 seasons. That’s literally it AFAIK. Most shows haven’t made it to 3 seasons, much less 5.

It’s still very different for Network and cable TV. I just read an article citing a few shows on BET have been renewed for season 11. That’s seems almost insane today but it does speak to a different animal.

That said maybe a Trek show can go a little longer and SNW may go beyond season 5 but that will probably depend on a lot of factors. And make no mistake both DIS and LDS were cancelled and probably just due to a lack of viewers.

The biggest problem is when your show is behind a pay wall it’s hard to keep more casual fans invested in something in the long term. That’s true of network TV as well obviously but I imagine the challenges are even bigger with streaming and the rate of churn.

I wouldn’t be shocked at some point we will just get 8 episode seasons as well but as said some of these shows felt like they should’ve been that short.

Guy who has only ever followed a trend remarking upon a trend. It’s a copycat business and he’s as far as it gets from an innovator or outside the box thinker. And yes, my pitiful little self in the cheap seats well never be as accomplished, but even I can identify a car accident when it happens in front of me.

It all depends on the type of storytelling a series is doing.

Strange New Worlds, as an episodic based series, should have more than 10 episodes a season. If nothing else it allows for a little more latitude when they have an episode that doesn’t hit for a lot of viewers; one bad episode out of 10 is a miss of 10%, which is pretty significant. I think a 15 episode season for something like SNW would be good, allows for a miss or two and creates enough space where every main character can have their own episode.

Serialized series like Discovery and Picard could at times benefit from fewer than 10 episodes.

I think business pressures force creative decisions. If the most popular shows are finished, either with their season or their series, many people will commit to a month of binge-watching. I’ve binged a season of DSC or PIC, and the arc makes more sense. You don’t have to remember what happened in week 2. As narrowcasting continues, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing Trek+ or similar. FWIW, I’d happily pay $30.00 monthly for a Trek + service, provided we got fresh content weekly. (I don’t need to eat all those Doritos anyway…I could cut back a bag or two to help fund it!)

Beverly Crusher and her Magic Candle was a filler episode.

Please don’t mention Beverly’s Magic Candle ever again.

I would rather have that than another musical

Same – musicals feel so cliché. It’s been done to death. The novelty wore off about two decades ago after Buffy did it.

“Beverly’s Magic Candle” would make a great band name. 🙃🤣

Worf and the Prune Juicers.

I loathe this attitude. The concept of a ‘filler’ episode stems from a biased assumption that all storytelling must be story-arc based. It doesn’t really work that way in episodic TV. But the thing is, the average season of Trek (outside problematic opening seasons) still contains more than 10 worthwhile episodes, and the writing of just 10 or 12 episodes does NOT guarantee that they will all be winners. ‘Filler’ or flop episodes still exist, and now they represent a larger percent of the overall season. We get higher production values, but far less time over the lifetime of a show getting to know these characters.

I get that this is the way things are now, and the return of mid-budget, higher-episode-count sci-fi is unlikely. But don’t be disingenuous and pretend that it’s an upgrade that cuts out the fat and gives us higher quality. I’d take the 90s model any day, and end up with a lot more quality stories in the process. It’s great to make the best of the new paradigm, but pretending that it’s inherently superior to the old is just silly. It could be, theoretically, if everything in the new seasons were perfection, all the way through. But that seldom happens.

I want a Harry Mudd mini-series.

I think one point of view that can’t be argued, and I speak this is someone who’s grateful that new Trek even exists, is that every show under the Kurtzman era has been extremely divisive.

The closest we came to show that most agreed worked was Strange New Worlds season one. Season two seriously jumped the shark by being overly gimmicky and suffered from poor writing. Even the Una trial episode that gets so many kudos… they got her off on a technicality not by making a point of fact about the law itself. A weak victory.

I’m optimistic about SNW3, but we’ll see if the gimmicks take over.

Also Mr Kurtzman: No muppets. Not ever.

One of the most beloved Trek episodes are “fillers”. 🍩

Disagree whole heartedly. The shows today are good, but the shows in the past were MUCH better, when they were good. A good writing team can easily write a full 22-26 episode season and have every single episode be very quality. There were a lot more good TV shows back then. Today, amount of good TV shows couldn’t fill a thimble. TV today, and their shorter seasons are garbage, and they severely hinder the good shows from telling proper stories because of the limited length.

The shows today are good, but the shows in the past were MUCH better, when they were good.

“When they were good” being the operative words, of course.

Discovery had more episodes its first four seasons because of Netflix. When Paramount took back the international rights to stream that series from Netflix, the episode count per season reduced to 10. It also resulted in a profit loss.

TNG and DS9 were syndicated, and back then it was easy to get roughly 26 episodes per season. VOY was used to start a network (big mistake, in my opinion). That era of TV is gone.

Unless a show is going to air on network televison, it is not going to pass 20 episodes per season. Star Trek is better off where it is. Yeah, I’d love more episodes per season. Heck, I’d be cool with 13 for each series instead of 10, but right now I’m just happy the wheel keeps turning.

Huh? Picard, SNW, and especially Discovery have all had numerous filler episodes.

“FILLER” Episodes? You mean, Character development? You mean, Holodeck Shenanigans? You mean, a visit from Q? You mean, a ROMANCE? What *EXACTLY* do you mean by “filler” episodes? Something where Keiko and Miles are about to get Married but Keiko changes her mind and asks Data to help her tell Miles? Is that FILLER to you? Because *TO ME* it is experiencing day to day life with the characters I want to get to know and watch. I want to see more awkward moments with Linus. I want to see more snark from Jett. I want to see more Beverly Bad-ass moments. I want to see Data be a little crazy from being several personalities at the same time. I want to see Mirror-universe Mariner and see if she has a beard: because that would be funny AF. Did it occur to anyone that “Filler” episodes immerse us into that universe and let us “relax and enjoy the time” there, without everything being on fire and everyone dying? Filler episodes are where the family-time is. We know they are intrepid heroes, but can they play poker? Do they slip off and get drunk and naked when off duty? Can they play the trombone? Filler helps develop character and in-universe ties to the characters. Filler is how we know how much Data loves Sherlock Holmes. As for “how much it costs to stream it and wah wah wah” Just post it on YOUTUBE and have YOUTUBE ads pay for it. It might even get ppl to sub to P+ so they can watch the adventures, and watch the downtime episodes on the Trek Youtube channel.

I love the YouTube idea.

With the mention of the cancellation of Lower Decks, I have to ask: Anthony or anyone from TrekMovie, is there any chance LDS gets picked up by another streamer? I know Jack Quaid referenced such, and we have the precedent of Prodigy, but is there any real chance???

Maybe I’m in the minority but I enjoy filler episodes which just allow characters to exist and develop traits on their own without having to have it be some massive long running pile of interpersonal drama always around them to progress.

You’re not in the minority. Decades later fans still rewatch the old shows completely. I literally rewatch the entire franchise a few years ago and I actually appreciated so many of those episodes now.

I was just thinking about this but it’s really crazy how different things are today vs when TNG was on the air.

TNG lasted for seven years and it’s now been seven years since Discovery started and a total of four shows have already been cancelled in the same amount of time including Discovery. Yes I know Picard just ended and not cancelled but same outcome regardless

And between those four shows have produced a total of 14 seasons but yet still made less episodes than TNG did in 7 seasons.

Fans wants more episodes but if shows are getting cancelled after just around 60 or less episodes, I don’t see any incentive for Paramount to make more per season.

And the one episode a week thing obviously failed while in the 90s we had two shows running together at 50 episodes a year that went on 6 years straight.

Trek just doesn’t seem to be as viable today as it was back in the 80s and 90s.

I consider these statements from Kurtzman to be unfortunate and a whole lot of egotistic. It comes across as a “know it all”. There is always a place for fillers, those more intimate, character stories. It makes them more endearing in the long run. I mean like many people mentioned here some of the best Trek episodes have been fillers and I just really dont like this negative connatation that the word “filler” brings up or used in that way by many.

I think YOU as show makers should set the watching trends. Or will we get the next star trek show in a tiktok like fashion with every episode an eye blink long and the next episode is a finger wipe away because people love the tiktok or youtube shorts style so much? When you as show maker have a good story to tell then TELL IT – “no matter” how long!

No filler episodes in the original series just great sci fi stories, with 29 episodes in season 1

Go ahead ahead kick out the 16 “worst” episodes from Star Trek the original series season two, and see what that leaves you.

This is “bright-siding” a bad situation. If given resources and time, and of course, talent, Discovery should easily be able to produce a 20 or even 26 episode season as the original series did. it can be done, and it can be done very, very well.

Maybe just not by these teams?

Didn’t SNW season 2 have about 6 filler episodes.

Data’s Day was just filler, but it was pure gold

Its so hilarious to me, they spend way more money, have more shooting days, VFX that’s on par with a decent budget film and…

They aren’t even a pimple on the ass of the earlier shows in terms of quality writing. I’d give up an entire season of Space Battles to have an episode as intelligent as “Measure of a Man” or “Inner Light” or “Trials & Tribulations” “Duet” “Whispers” or “Darmok”.

I watch those old shows and just think…my god. Yes the shows look and sound like movies but again. Have 10-15 million per episode is great. But creativity is born out of necessity. We have the Borg because the original alien was too expensive to produce. Think about that. Now? That wouldn’t be an issue, and we wouldn’t have the Borg.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The series follows Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock, and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise , as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, South Korea, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In addition, the series airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave in Canada and on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Star Trek: Picard

Taking place 20 years after we last saw Captain Jean-Luc Picard command the U.S.S. Enterprise , Star Trek: Picard picks up his story and finds him in a very different place in both his personal life and career.

In addition to streaming on Paramount+ , Star Trek: Picard also streams on Prime Video outside of the U.S. and Canada, and in Canada can be seen on Bell Media's CTV Sci-Fi Channel and streams on Crave. Star Trek: Picard is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Follow the support crew on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos , in 2380. Ensigns Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, and Tendi have to keep up with their duties and their social lives, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. The series will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Italy, France, the Caribbean, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and South Korea.

Michael Burnham with the Discovery ship in background

Star Trek: Discovery

The fifth and final season will find 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. Season 5, Now Streaming

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, 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. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain, Portugal, Poland, The Nordics, The Netherlands, and Central and Eastern Europe and also airs on Cosmote TV in Greece. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy follows a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy, in search of a better future.

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix outside of markets including Canada where it is available on CTV.ca and the CTV App, France on France Televisions channels and Okoo, in Iceland on Sjonvarp Simans Premium, as well as on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Central and Eastern Europe. Star Trek: Prodigy is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

FlickSphere

21 Things About Star Trek That Fans Hesitate to Acknowledge

Posted: April 27, 2024 | Last updated: April 27, 2024

<span>Since its first episode aired in 1966, Star Trek has captivated and delighted audiences for generations. From comedic Klingons to purple planets, the epic series has always inspired and provoked the imaginations of its fans, both young and old. </span><span>A trailblazer of its time, especially in the early days, Star Trek was accredited with pushing many boundaries around gender, race, and equality, which is all positive. </span> <span>However, some questionable aspects of this legendary franchise might have us wanting to shout, “Beam me up, Scotty,” before we would like to admit them. </span>

Star Trek Reused the Same Sets Often

There were some sexist vibes.

<span>Suppose we skip to the present-day installments of Star Trek. In that case, we can see more sexual and gender equality with same-sex relationship storylines, gender-fluid characters, and equal power-sharing amongst male and female crew members.</span> <span>Furthermore, </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12327578/" rel="noopener"><span>the current TV series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds</span></a><span> features Dr.Aspen, a non-binary humanitarian aid worker played by Keitel, a trans, non-binary actor. </span> <span>So, just as the current Star Trek series reflects the values and culture of our time, we must appreciate that earlier series were reflective of these components within their time (even if it is light years away from 2024). </span>

Star Trek Was Forced to Move With the Times

<span>Whether you had a thing for Seven of Nine or wanted to be assimilated into the Borg, not many have escaped feeling attracted to an unearthly being from Star Trek. </span> <span>We’ve all witnessed Captain Kirk, Picard, and other crew members hook up with humanoid aliens on the show, so why should we be immune from the allure of an ethereal Star Trek alien? </span>

We’ve All Fancied an Alien on Star Trek at Some Point in Our Lives

<span>The Deep Space Nine (DS9) series, which aired between 1994 and 1999, holds a special place in many people’s hearts. It featured some of Star Trek’s most legendary characters, such as Worf, played by Michael Don, and Quark, played by Armin Shimerman. </span> <span>This series was notably darker and more thought-provoking than any other Star Trek series, but it has been criticized for being too dramatic and appearing more like a soap opera in space. </span>

Drama in Deep Space Nine’

<span>In 1995, Captain Janeway took over our screens as the first female lead of </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112178/" rel="noopener"><span>Star Trek Voyager, boldly going</span></a><span> where no man (or woman) had gone before.</span> <span>There was a massive backlash from fans and the media about the audacity of having a female Captain in Star Trek and how it wouldn’t work.</span> <span>Somehow, in 2024, it feels hard to believe such a narrative existed, but sadly, it did. </span>

Star Trek Voyager Criticized for Having a Female Captain

<span>It’s no secret that some of Star Trek’s storylines have been dubious, politically incorrect, and, at other times, extremely cringy to watch. </span> <span>Retrospect, S4, Ep 17 has been heavily criticized for its portrayal of a female rape victim and how her accusations and credibility were undermined.</span> <span>In the episode, Seven of Nine accuses Kovin of violating her, but her claims aren’t taken seriously. Kovin disappears without explanation, and Seven’s reliability as a witness and victim is questioned. </span>

The Story Lines Weren’t Always Great

<span>From dodgy prosthetics to fake foreheads and people painted green, sometimes the make-up and costume departments severely missed the mark, and it’s okay to admit that some of the </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://screenrant.com/star-trek-outfits-costumes-best-worst/" rel="noopener"><span>costumes on Star Trek</span></a><span> were not great. </span>

Some of the Costumes Were Not Good

<span>It’s okay to admit that Captain Jean-Luc Picard was your favorite (mine was, too). Apologies if he’s not your favorite, but may I ask why not? </span> <span>The fact is that Picard and </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092455/" rel="noopener"><span>Star Trek: The Next Generation</span></a><span> did just that. They defined the next generation of Trekkies, who have never quite overcome his stepping down.</span> <span>Patrick Stewart brought something special to the role, and his series had a great cast, including legendary characters like Data, Deanna Troi, Worf, and Geordi.</span> <span>This combination of actors created truly irreplaceable on-screen chemistry that was, arguably, never replicated again in the show. </span>

We Want Captain Picard Back

<span>Would you believe that there have been thirteen Star Trek movies? </span> <span>If you have any Trekkie blood in your veins, you will have seen at least some of them, but the consensus amongst true Star Trekkies is that the TV series trumps any movie that has ever been made. </span> <span>Many cite swearing allegiance to the traditional TV show format, while others resent Hollywood’s commercialization of the sacred franchise.</span> <span>If we do have to pick the best Star Trek movie, though, it has to be Star Trek, filmed in 2009, with Chris Pine as the lead actor. The film managed to score well with fans, new and old alike, and it still holds a </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/star-trek-movies-ranked/" rel="noopener"><span>94% meter rating </span></a><span>with Rotten Tomatoes. </span>

Most Fans Preferred the TV Series to the Movies

<span>As you may already know, Klingon is a real language. There is an actual Klingon Institute where you can learn to speak it fluently. </span>

We Have all Tried to Speak Klingon

<span>Whether it’s the idea of traveling at the speed of light across vast galaxies, visiting different worlds with alien species, or being able to vaporize and transport across time and space, sometimes the concepts and ideas in Star Trek can get a little trippy. </span> <span>Although we might not like to admit it, at some point, most of us have felt a little scared or provoked by some of the themes raised in Star Trek storylines. </span> <span>The show forced us to contemplate the possibility of alternate realities, and we could be forgiven for feeling a little existential after watching Star Trek, as it confronts us with the possibility that we are not alone. </span>

Sometimes, Star Trek Was Scary

<span>Whether it was cool or not to admit it, we all loved the Star Trek theme tune of Our Time. </span> <span>Whether it was Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, or The Next Generation, once we heard that famous theme tune music come on, Star Trekkie mode ACTIVATED. </span>

The Theme Tune Was Awesome

<span>That’s right. Gene Roddenberry, the original creator of Star Trek, wrote the very first series with a woman as Captain Kirk’s Number One on deck (she was called Number One), played by Majel Barrett (Barrett eventually went on to marry Roddenberry).</span> <span>However, test audiences reportedly did not like her character. They rejected the idea of a woman being in charge, with many calling her character </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/_/star-treks-underappreciated-feminist-history" rel="noopener"><span>pushy,</span></a><span> so the idea was soon dropped. </span>

Star Trek’s Original First Officer Was a Woman

<span>“Live Long, and Prosper” – Vulcan Greeting.</span> <span>I don’t care what age you are; we have all impersonated Spock at some point. </span> <span>With his pointy ears and dry, emotionless demeanor, we’ve all been caught trying to sound or look like the legendary character played by Leonard Nimoy.</span>

Spock Impressions

<span>The </span><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Universal_translator" rel="noopener"><span>Universal Translator</span></a><span> used in Star Trek now exists, and you can wear earphones that will translate what someone else says in any other language into your own. </span> <span>Furthermore, scientists constantly make new claims that align with the Star Trek Universe. For example, NASA now asserts that time travel is possible, and astrophysicists have discovered that what they thought they knew about the Universe is seemingly no longer true. </span> <span>Discoveries like The Fifth Force of Nature, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy have some of us thinking differently about the make-believe fantasy of Star Trek, as we now witness many discoveries within our World and Universe. </span>

Some of the Tech from the Trek Has Already Become a Reality

<span>Unfortunately, Captain Kirk and Spock developed tinnitus after a loud explosion during filming. Tinnitus is a persistent ringing and buzzing in the ears that can be a truly debilitating condition for some. </span> <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.theaquarian.com/2016/01/27/getting-the-shatner-treatment-an-interview-with-william-shatner/" rel="noopener"><span>William Shatner </span></a><span>even became the official spokesperson for tinnitus at one point, which both actors struggled with, particularly Shatner. </span>

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Both Got Tinnitus

<span>It’s a gesture that all Trekkies know well, and I can guarantee that at some point, you’ve made Spock’s hand signal while saying, “Live Long and Prosper.”</span> <span>And while you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a made-up alien greeting devised solely for the show, you’d be wrong. It’s a hand gesture used by Orthodox Jews. It represents the word Shaddai, which means God, so it seems that Trekkies may have been blessing each other without knowing for decades.</span>

Spock’s Vulcan Salute is a Special Blessing in Hebrew

<span>That’s right. Star Trek wasn’t only good at reusing sets to save on the budget; it was known for reusing certain actors and reinventing them into new characters.</span> <span>Mark Lenard is famous for being the only actor ever to have played multiple alien species on Star Trek: a Klingon, a Romulan, and a Vulcan. </span> <span>In the original series’ first season, the actor played a Romulan Commander, but he returned a year later as Spock’s Vulcan father, Sarek. </span>

Star Trek Didn’t Only Recycle its Sets; It Also Recycled Actors

The Star Trek Brand Has Become Over-Commercialized

<span>When you think back to the TV shows of the past, it’s hard to believe that some of them ever got the green light. At the time, they were beloved, and they defined generations. But let’s face it – times have changed, and several of them wouldn’t even make it past the pitch meeting today. Let’s look at 18 great TV shows that, for various reasons, just wouldn’t fly today.</span>

18 Formerly Beloved TV Shows That Would Flunk the Political Correctness Test Today

<span>Over the past decade, cinema has completely changed, thanks in part to filmmakers daring enough to tackle issues head-on. These “woke movies” have led to conversations and controversy. For some, these movies represent everything wrong with today’s media landscape, while for others, they’re talking about things we need to address. No matter your opinion of them, here are 18 of the wokest films from the last decade.</span>

18 Films That Went Too Woke in the Last Decade

<p>We’ve all watched those movies where we ask ourselves, “What did I just watch? Did anything really happen?” Whether you find these movies meditative or meandering, they’ve got a special place in cinematic history. So, for all you guys who’ve ever zoned out during a film and wondered, “Was it just me?” here’s a list to make you feel seen.</p>

Empty Screens: 18 Movies Where Almost Nothing Really Happens

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Sci-fi TV is in its golden age: What you need to know now

In a career that spans 50 years, John Peel has done it all, written it all and seen it all in sci-fi — published some 120 novels, including a few dozen tie-ins of established classics like “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who,” written sci-fi books for kids and young adults, and sci-fi series under his own name (like “2099").

But the Manorville resident since 1991 admits he has never seen anything quite like this — more sci-fi splashed across more networks and streaming services than any single human being could hope to consume in a year.

Local sci-fi author John Peel in the library/office of his Manorville house on April 18, 2024 where he has a full collections of classic sci-fi series. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin

Much of this bounty is good, he says, much compelling, much bleak. A proud Trekkie born in England 70 years ago, Peel explains that “''Star Trek'' was very optimistic because "that was [creator] Gene Roddenberry's vision — that we can make things work. Nowadays, some of these shows say 'No we can't!' ”

Using sci-fi to stare into the dark night of our collective souls is hardly all that's behind this new golden age of sci-fi, he says. Rather, “people are really turning to sci-fi at the moment because the world has changed so much.”

We're frankly living through a moment right now that's science fictional. - Lisa Yaszek, Georgia Tech, Atlanta

The idea of science fiction as a beacon to guide us forward to a bright and distant future — or a dark and threatening one — has been around since at least the 1940s, when Isaac Asimov first began publishing his monumental “Foundation” series (about, indeed, a “dark” age that would last 30,000 years, now a brilliant series on Apple TV+). TV embraced the genre not long after (“Buck Rogers,” “Captain Video”) and hasn't let go since.

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But what's going on right now is unprecedented. There are dozens of series on a half-dozen streamers not counting cable channel Syfy (which after all is sci-fi-all-the-time, with a smattering of horror). There are another 15 shows in development arriving between next week (“Dark Matter,” Apple TV+, May 8) and well into next year (including “Dune” and “Alien” prequels).

Streaming is obviously behind this TV sci-fipalooza. The adaptations of videogames to TV series are as well.

Yet Peel and some other observers point to something else — a transformative moment in the culture at large that feels both restless and anxious. Sci-fi is, and always has been, made for times like these, they say.

Maybe we look to sci-fi to predict where we are going or to offer some answers - Ken Deep, Ridge

“There are a number of factors that have come together, but we're frankly living through a moment right now that's science fictional,” says Lisa Yaszek, Regents’ Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Yaszek cites the “revival of the space race,” funded in part by private billionaires, like Elon Musk, which classic sci-fi author Robert Heinlein long ago prophesied.

“And everyone's talking about AI, which is certainly not quite the way we thought it was going to look like,” she says. “But it's definitely making really science fictional changes right up to the way we do labor and the way we think about humans and how we represent ourselves in politics. So it's a very, very exciting moment — either that or terrifying. Or both.”

Ken Deep, a Ridge resident and sci-fi expert who has run “Doctor Who” conventions on Long Island since 2013 (and just published “The Companions of Doctor Who”), puts it this way: “I feel like we are living in a dystopian nightmare right now, and maybe we look to sci-fi to predict where we are going or to offer some answers. We all want to know that it doesn’t end here, that the future is bright, or at least that we make it through.

“Or maybe,” he adds, “we are just looking for a fantastic escape.”

Ken Deep, a world-leading expert on Doctor Who holds his book The Companions of Doctor Who while standing with a replica Tardis built by and standing in his friend Steven Davis' yard in Baldwin on April 16, 2024. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

Indeed, this golden age of sci-fi TV has been driven by lots of disparate elements — social, cultural, and of course commercial — while television just underwent a revolution (streaming), which continues to have a huge impact.

There are a lot of genuinely great sci-fi series on TV right now, and lots of questions, too. Here's a handy guide to some of those.

First things first: What exactly is “sci-fi” anyway?

Experts like Yaszek insist that anything with a science-fictional hook qualifies, regardless of whether it's set in the past, present or future. That means the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which began on the big screen in 2008) is a type of sci-fi, and so are “The Handmaid's Tale” (2017) and “Stranger Things”' (2016). She argues that those are part of this “golden age,” too.

There are, in fact, at least two dozen sci-fi subgenres, and dozens of subgenres within those, including slipstream, which combines elements of speculative fiction with sci-fi elements (“Handmaid's”), or cosmic horror (“Stranger Things”). Many of these have become well-represented on TV in recent years, most notably animé.

But this TV boom is really about hard science fiction, or that most famous genre of them all, largely preoccupied with trips to the stars, or the application of awe-inspiring theory (quantum superposition) to wildly imaginative leaps (multiple universes).

Which series got this sci-fi TV renaissance started?

Doug Jones as Saru, Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham, Chelah Horsdal as Rillak and Hiro Kanagawa as Dr. Hirai of the Paramount+ original series "Star Trek: Discovery." Credit: Paramount+/Marni Grossman

Two of them did. Launching in 2017 after a 12-year “Trek” break on TV, “Star Trek: Discovery” returned with that classic utopian “Trek” outlook that had been so much a part of the previous five scripted spinoffs, but with one critically important twist — the captain of the USS Discovery was a Black woman (with a male name, Michael Burnham), played by Sonequa Martin-Green. Diversity, and especially LGBTQ representation, has been a big part of this boom, and “Discovery” — which ends its five-year run next month — deserves a lot of the credit for that, says Yaszek and others. Since 1966 when the original “Trek” launched, there have been 12 “Trek” series, with five arriving after “Discovery.”

“The Expanse” deserves some credit, too. After Syfy canceled the much-beloved space opera in 2018, fans — aka “screaming firehawks” — collected 100,000 signatures for a petition that persuaded Prime Video to continue for three more seasons. (Incidentally, a letter-writing campaign also extended the original “Trek” by a season.)

But why has 'Trek' resonated so much over a particularly divisive stretch in American culture and politics?

Stefanie Gangone, a "Star Trek" fan, with her vehicle resembling The Galileo from that show, in North Babylon, on, April 17, 2024. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

One of Long Island's leading “Trek” experts (and a Trekkie) has a theory.

Stefanie Gangone, a children's librarian from North Babylon, stages an annual “Trek” convention at the Hyatt Regency in Hauppauge (Gangone says she expects a record 1,200 attendees at the next one, which will run May 31 through June 2).

These newest “Trek” series are “not only about hope, but also empathy for all humankind," Gangone says. "They have characters who are gay or nonbinary. PTSD, depression and social anxiety are also depicted in many episodes. Fans can relate [and] until the Vulcans come to visit us, we aren't going to give up on hope for a more peaceful planet. 'Star Trek' gives us that.”

As Georgia Tech's Yaszek explains, “All moments where we see booms in sci-fi TV coincide with key moments in the space race, or in the evolution of small screens and the stories that we can produce for them; and key moments when we are thinking about the value of various kinds of cultural diversity, especially in terms of feminism and civil rights.”

After “Discovery” wraps May 30, a sixth “Star Trek” series will arrive later this year (“Starfleet Academy”) and a movie, "Star Trek: Section 31,” about the spy agency known as Section 31, starring Michelle Yeoh. They'll join “Picard,” “Short Treks,” “Lower Decks,” “Strange New Worlds” and “Prodigy” on Paramount+.

What are some of the other big series out there right now?

The first season of “3 Body Problem” — an adaptation of Liu Cixin's trilogy about an alien invasion of Earth — arrived last month to become the most streamed series on Netflix.

“Fallout” — based on the role-playing video game of the same name, and set in the aftermath of a nuclear war in the distant future — premiered April 12 on Prime and was also an instant hit.

Then, on May, 8, “Dark Matter” — a nine-part series drawn from Blake Crouch's 2016 bestseller about a physicist trapped between parallel universes — launches on Apple TV+.

All of this is part of a TV sci-fi wave that's not expected to crest for months. The longest-running sci-fi TV series of them all — a total of 40 seasons — the time-bending “Doctor Who,” comes to Disney+ on May 10, with a new “doctor” played by Rwandan-Scottish star Ncuti Gatwa, as the first Black actor to lead the series and the first to identify as queer.

What else is coming up?

Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm's "The Acolyte"on Disney+. Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Two new live-action “Star Wars” series are on deck, beginning with the “The Acolyte” (Disney+) on June 4, then “Skeleton Crew” later this year. (The former is a mystery-thriller with Carrie-Anne Moss and Amandla Stenberg, set in the last days of the High Republic; the latter about four kids lost in a galaxy.)

Warner Bros. Discovery is also about to build out the “Dune” universe with a TV series, “Dune: Prophecy” — set 10,000 years before the events of the hit movies, about the sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit, a secret order of female spies with superpowers. It will stream on Max most likely this fall.

Series based on sci-fi classics “Alien,” “Blade Runner,” “Time Bandits,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy” are in production and should arrive by this time next year.

What has streaming got to do with this?

Lee Pace in "Foundation," streaming on Apple TV+. Credit: Apple TV+

The streaming revolution — and this golden age of sci-fi — really got underway in 2019 with the launch of Apple TV+ and HBO Max (now Max). The first “Star Wars” series, “The Mandalorian,” ' launched Nov. 12 on Disney+ that year and has since been followed by four others — all of them hits. “Andor,” in particular, was especially acclaimed

Apple quickly got into sci-fi and now has five ongoing series: “Invasion” (alien species on earth); “Silo” (dystopian underground community); “Constellation” (astronaut returns to earth, with problems); and “Foundation” (the long-aborning adaptation of the Asimov series, also critically acclaimed, going into a third season).

“Severance” (about workers stripped of their memories, with a second season now in production) and “For All Mankind” are especially big hits for the service, the latter an alt-history — about the U.S.-Soviet space race, which was recently renewed for a fifth season.

Sci-fi seems made for streaming, because, as Ken Deep explains, "There are no more constraints on running time or formula."

The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and the Child in "The Mandalorian" season two, on Disney+. Credit: Disney+

Why do showrunners like streaming so much?

Joel Edgerton in "Dark Matter" on Apple TV+. Credit: Apple TV+/Sandy Morris

In a recent Zoom interview, “Dark Matter's” Crouch said that his serpentine story of a scientist (Joel Edgerton) morphing into identical copies of himself across multiple universes couldn't have possibly played as a movie.

“Originally when I was writing the novel, the first 140 pages leaked and we got a lot of interest in Hollywood for a movie, but I hadn't finished the book yet [and] when I finished the book, it had gotten a lot bigger than a 120-minute movie.”

He then spent years trying to write scripts that would work as one but they “just didn't have any heart to them and to have that, I needed someone to come along and say, 'Here, do nine 60-minute episodes. Just do the book. '

“We have a lot of characters playing multiple versions of themselves and to have the freedom to be able to tackle super-challenging subject matter and not have to reduce it to something that's bite-size was so freeing, and allowed me to really build out a world [over nine episodes]. I don't think it would have been possible to adapt this book back in the aughts because it needed that [streaming] platform to breathe and the resources to render that world, or worlds.” He adds, “I feel like streaming has opened the door to this current boom we're in.”

What about video game adaptations?

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in HBO's "The Last of Us." Credit: HBO/Liane Hentscher

There were countless TV series based on video games — almost all animé and few that have busted out to a broader audience. But that began to change on March 24, 2022, with the launch of Paramount +'s “Halo” (based on the game about a 26th century war between humanity and an alien race called the Covenant). It changed a whole lot more with HBO's January 2023 launch of “The Last of Us,” the post-apocalyptic-mutant-fungus game that had first arrived 10 years earlier.

That was a monster hit, and the race is now on. Gaming website TheGamer.com cites 22 series in development at Netflix, Paramount, Prime and Peacock. Most are part of the so-called “military sci-fi” genre, and include titles like “Tomb Raider,” “Mass Effect” and “God of War.”

So, why do showrunners love video games so much?

Ella Purnell, Michael Emerson and Dale Dickey in Prime Video's Season 1 of “Fallout." Credit: Prime Video/Jojo Whilden

At last year's Comic-Con, Jonathan Nolan — who co-created Prime's “Fallout” with his wife, Lisa Joy — said he started playing the game in 2008 when he was working on “The Dark Knight.” “I was always drawn to adaptations where we have a little bit of room to create. There is, for example, no one 'Batman' canon, but dozens and hundreds of writers and artists who have worked on that character for over 80 years, so we were able to pick it up and tell our own story [in 'Dark Knight'].”

The same, he said, with “Fallout” — which is sci-fi alt-history where humans are forced into underground vaults following a nuclear holocaust. Streaming, he said, allowed “us to tell an original story in the 'Fallout' universe, free to create new characters that connected us to the rest of the 'Fallout' world.”

Does this sci-fi boom on TV reflect a deepening pessimism in the culture at large?

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan in the original "Star Trek" (1966-69) Credit: Paramount/Everett Collection

This depends to an extent on whom you ask, and which shows they champion. There have been many mood shifts in sci-fi TV dating to the 1960s, but the classic standard-bearers like “Doctor Who” and especially “Star Trek” have almost always taken a sunnier, more optimistic outlook on the future — and on people.

Some observers, however, say their influence has waned as sci-fi TV has turned darker and more pessimistic. If “Trek”-influenced sci-fi was all about looking into the future for signs of hope, most series now are about looking to the future for signs of the apocalypse.

Long Island “Doctor Who” expert Ken Deep says “science fiction typically will either be predictive or reflective.” But the current crop on TV, he suggests, seems to be both. Peel — the prolific author who admits that his lodestars remain “Doctor Who” and “Star Trek” — says: “It's harder to look to the future with optimism, to look for something bright on the horizon, but that's what we really need. We need something that inspires people to say, 'Yes! This is possible! There is a way [forward].' But I'm not sure a lot of people see their way out of it [and] that's what's reflected on TV.”

All doom and gloom? (Not entirely)

Cynthy Wu in "For All Mankind," streaming on Apple TV+. Credit: Apple TV+

Rowan J. Coleman, a 28-year-old sci-fi TV expert living in Scotland, who launched his popular YouTube channel as a teenager in 2013, says by email: “I don't think modern sci-fi [on TV] has become cynical, just more pragmatic perhaps. I remember a trailer for 'The Expanse,' which had the line '500 Years in the Future We're Still at Each Other's Throats.' It was gritty but many of its stories were about people defying the odds and coming together to overcome a problem.”

Apple's “For All Mankind,” is another example, he says: “That show deals with a lot of systemic problems and by no means is the world perfect, but it does show the world getting better and better with each new season.

“Science fiction may have stopped being blindly optimistic, but it hasn't stopped being optimistic.''

Verne Gay is Newsday's TV writer and critic. He has covered the media business for more than 30 years.

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Original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise Model Is Found After Being Missing for Decades

The 33-inch model surfaced on eBay after disappearing around 1979. An auction house is giving it to the son of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek.”

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A model of the U.S.S. Enterprise stands on a wooden base against a black backdrop.

By Emily Schmall

The first model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the starship that appeared in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series , has been returned to Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son of the creator of the series, decades after it went missing.

“After a long journey, she’s home,” Mr. Roddenberry wrote on social media on Thursday.

For die-hard Trekkies, the model’s disappearance had become the subject of folklore, so an eBay listing last fall, with a starting bid of $1,000, didn’t go unnoticed.

“Red alert,” someone in an online costume and prop-making forum wrote, linking to the listing.

Mr. Roddenberry’s father, Gene Roddenberry, created the television series, which first aired in 1966 and ran for three seasons. It spawned numerous spinoffs, several films and a franchise that has included conventions and legions of devoted fans with an avid interest in memorabilia.

The seller of the model was bombarded with inquiries and quickly took the listing down.

The seller contacted Heritage Auctions to authenticate it, the auction house’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said on Saturday. As soon as the seller, who said he had found it in a storage unit, brought it to the auction house’s office in Beverly Hills, Calif., Mr. Maddalena said he knew it was real.

“That’s when I reached out to Rod to say, ‘We’ve got this. This is it,’” he said, adding that the model was being transferred to Mr. Roddenberry.

Mr. Roddenberry, who is known as Rod, said on Saturday that he would restore the model and seek to have it displayed in a museum or other institution. He said reclaiming the item had only piqued his interest in the circumstances about its disappearance.

“Whoever borrowed it or misplaced it or lost it, something happened somewhere,” he said. “Where’s it been?”

It was unclear how the model ended up in the storage unit and who had it before its discovery.

The original U.S.S. Enterprise, a 33-inch model, was mostly made of solid wood by Richard C. Datin, a model maker for the Howard Anderson Company, a special-effects company that created the opening credits for some of the 20th century’s biggest TV shows .

An enlarged 11-foot model was used in subsequent “Star Trek” television episodes, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum , where it was donated by Paramount Studios in 1974.

Mr. Roddenberry, who said he gave the seller a “reward” for its recovery but did not disclose the terms, assembled a group of “Star Trek” production veterans, model makers and restoration specialists in Beverly Hills to authenticate the find.

The group included a “Star Trek” art supervisor, Michael Okuda, and his wife, Denise, an artist on “Star Trek” television series and films, and Gary Kerr, a “Trek x-pert” who served as technical consultant for the Smithsonian during a 2016 restoration of the 11-foot model.

“We spent at least an hour photographing it, inspecting the paint, inspecting the dirt, looking under the base, the patina on the stem, the grain in the wood,” Mr. Roddenberry said.

“It was a unanimous ‘This is 100 percent the one,’” he said.

Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991 , kept the original model, which appeared in the show’s opening credits and pilot episode, on his desk.

Mr. Kerr compared the model to 1960s photos he had of the model on Mr. Roddenberry’s desk.

“The wood grain matched exactly, so that was it,” he said on Saturday.

The model went missing after Mr. Roddenberry lent it to the makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979, Mr. Maddalena said.

“This is a major discovery,” he said, likening the model to the ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” a prop that was stolen in 2005 and recovered by the F.B.I. in 2018, and that Heritage Auctions is selling.

While the slippers represent hope, he said, the starship Enterprise model “represents dreams.”

“It’s a portal to what could be,” he said.

Emily Schmall covers breaking news and feature stories and is based in Chicago. More about Emily Schmall

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48 episodes

Charlie is a lifelong X-Men fan. Miles is a lifelong Doctor Who fan. If ANYONE can objectively rank every single episode of Star Trek on a big list, it’s gotta be the people who think that Star Trek’s ‘Pretty Decent.’ (Citation Needed.)

Casual Trek - A Star Trek Recap and Ranking Podcast Charlie and Miles

TV & Film
5.0 • 3 Ratings
APR 14, 2024

Threshold is Lovecraftian Horror

Casual Trek has ranked 97 episodes and two movies, so we decided to do something special for when we ranked our hundredth item on our big list. It would finally be time to rank the most infamous episode of Star Trek: Voyager! That’s right, it’s Threshold! While we could fill an hour and a forty minutes talking about one episode, but rather than doing that we’ve decided to have some Trekxtra Curricular studies. As well as being the bestselling author of TekWars, William Shatner also released multiple albums. We decided to put ourselves through his first album, The Transformed Man. It was… quite an experience. You’ll also get to hear how many comic-reading quests Charlie is taking and listen to two men with almost no experience of drugs try to figure out the best Star Trek episode to watch while under the influence. We also say “Flesh” too many times early on in the show in unpleasant ways. 02:00 What non-Trek thing we’ve been enjoying: X-Men ‘97, Flesh 15:42 Star Trek: Voyager “Threshold” 56:22 William Shatner “The Transformed Man” Talking points include: Godzilla is for everyone, X-Men ‘97, X-Men: The Animated Series, Put Dire Wraiths and Rom in X-Men ‘97 You Cowards!, X-Men: The Motion Picture, Flesh (I am so sorry for the moment of Flesh), 2000AD, Charlie’s Comic Marathons, Charlie posing like Jeff Goldblum from that photo, Shako: The Only Bear on the CIA Death List, Miles’ cunning trap, Neelix was assistant to the engineer, Dunking on Lovecraft, Cronenberging, HG Wells’ The Time Machine, Miles could say pretty much anything about what happens on Blake’s 7 and Charlie will believe it, Legion of Super-Heroes’ Evolvo Lad, The Outer Limits, David McCallum, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Fly, naming your child Khaleesi, Only Fools & Horses, everything better that debuted at the same time as Shatner’s album, Snoopy music, Leslie Nielsen, SNL skits, Andrew Ryan, Shatner trying to be a playful scamp, Shit my dad says, who would be a better Cyrano? The Free Design, Miles’ record collection, The Simpsons, Ranma ½, She Lies With Angels, Miles’ choice of song to sing in the style of William Shatner, The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins, casting Alan Moore in Lord of the Rings, Charlie’s funny ears, Poirot facial hair (again). Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

1 hr 40 min
MAR 31, 2024

Captain Picard’s Sexy Bald Head

SHOWNOTES Great Scott! We’ve a new season of Discovery starting this week and Miles and Charlie want in on all the possible synergy and sponsorship deals talking about BRAND NEW STAR TREK should entail. But we weren’t invited to the premier and Miles has just discovered ‘Taskmaster’ so he has no time to fly anywhere, but what they do have is the Trailer on YouTube and they spend a lot of time on YouTube. So our brave explorers have picked three episodes which might have a connection to what might happen in the show. In ‘Captain’s Holiday,’ we see Picard take the right holiday on the wrong planet, in ‘Reflections,’ Boimler and Mariner attend a Job’s Fair while Rutherford discovers he’s not the man he used to be, or thought he used to be and in ‘Minefield,’ we see Reed be THE MOST BRITISH MAN in Star Trek as we finally tackle the prequel episode to ‘Dead Stop’ (See our 2023 Halloween Episode- Holodeck of Horror’) as we prepare to hit our 100th episode episode of Star Trek next episode! Captain’s Holiday: 00:16:45 Reflections: 00:43:23 Minefield: 01:05:22 TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: Professor Benny Summerfield, Dune Part 2, how we sometimes don’t look at the knock-on effects of flops on art, Dune 2’s white saviour narrative, Christopher Walken giving no f***s, Miles’ Walken impression if lackluster, changes to Dune, Miles can’t tell what will or will not scare his wife anymore, ‘I Love Rock ‘N Roll’ WASN’T by Aerosmith? That’s news to Miles! DRINKING GAME: Take a shot every time Miles says the phrase ‘Such and Such wants to ride Picard’s Sexy Bald Head.’ Patrick Stewart has, by this point in the show, become a damn maniac, Patrick Stewart’s infidelities, less complext Farenghi, the Bill and Ted school of Time-Travelling Archeology, Patrick Stewart’s ego, Gene is complicated sexually, Miles needs to cut Twitter out, Lewis Capaldi might be the next Ed Sheeran. One more ALLAMARAINE. Jerky Tech-Bro Rutherford, Miles is very eagle-eyed when it comes to the show dropping hints, AM= After Moopsy. Fantastic Store was a Brighton-based comic shop in the 90s that sadly closed by decade’s end. Miles has made another Starbucks think they’re cursed. How the uniforms have some character to them. Charlie has played GURPS, Bowie and Waites, not great shop music, the episode stops dead as Miles and Charlie count how many episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise they’ve each recapped, Miles sings a little song, no, it’s not the theme tune to Blake’s 7. Shadey Romulan Tech (not Tek), Reed is a self-sacrificing smeghead, he’s also too British, Charlie started reading 2000ad, chunky tech and props, one of our mission statements was to find GOOD episodes of Enterprise and we have. We’ve now almost seen ONE EIGHTH of Star Trek, for better or worse.

1 hr 36 min
MAR 18, 2024

Whatever Happens on the Holodeck…

Look out, the Holodeck’s malfunctioning and we’re all trapped inside! And the safety protocols have been disabled! And the holograms are self aware! Today we’re looking at the Holodeck in three different shows and all the horrors it can cause. First up is The Big Sleep, which introduces Picard as the private dick, Dixon Hill and his entourage can’t stop touching things. We also both attempt to re-create Picard’s epic speech from the end of the episode. Then we’ve got Kobayashi, where Dal tries to get through a Holodeck Kobayashi Maru with some of the best people in Starfleet (and Odo who’s not technically part of Starfleet). Finally, Bashir and a very sassy Garak play at spies in Our Man Bashir, facing death traps and their comrades who think they’re characters in a campy spy film! We also get into some musical acts who gave us psychic damage, a nemesis of the pod and use this as an excuse to talk about a rare musical track that’s featured in an episode. 00:09:54 TNG: The Big Sleep 00:40:29 Prodigy: Kobayashi 01:03:12 DS9: Our Man Bashir Talking points include: Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, Arnold Judas Rimmer, Dune (1984), Dune (the SyFy movie), Sting’s movie career, Lil Gator, the Pokemon Fuecoco, Dead Ringers, The Maltese Falcon, Miles’ patronising clapping, Charlie’s egg-shaped head, the facial hair of all the different Poirots, D&D novels, Macross, Reboot, Ba Weep Granna Weep Ninny Bong, LA Confidential, Blob Detective, Red Harvest, Brad Dourif, Thunderstruck, Rock Band, Maximum Overdrive, Star Wars: Rebels, Pandemic, Will Self & Gareth Gates’ musical career, Explaining The Wombles & Britpop to Americans, James Bond movies, The Man from UNCLE, Alien, LeCarre, GoldenEye. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

MAR 3, 2024

No Starfleet, Just Have a Jelly Baby

SHOW NOTES: Because Miles’ schedule sometimes means he has to prioritise other shows, even shows that aren’t ours, we decide to do something quick and off the cuff and we end up with one of our longest episodes, go figure. Of course, we got Miles to talk about Doctor Who, what did we think would happen because that boy goes feral pretty quickly! Mainly talking about the four recent Doctor Who specials put on in the last few months, the boys talk toot about Star Beast’s, body horror and Ncuti Gatwa’s energy before Charlie asks Miles a lot of strange and stupid questions about Doctor Who and we lose the plot and our remaining sanity really damn quickly! The Star Beast (08:19) Wild Blue Yonder (25:57) The Giggle (45:00) The Church on Ruby Road (53:10) Silly and Insane Questions (1:15:11) The music for the opening and closing is ‘Who is the Doctor’ by Jon Pertwee. Yes. Him. TALKING POINTS INCLUDE: Why Miles doesn’t want to host a Doctor Who podcast. Miles’ application of ‘Get it done and go to the pub’ theory of how to deal with any job as applied to TV Production. The struggle of ongoing media to maintain a schedule. The theatrical camp charm of Classic Who. The number of actors from the era of Television we’re talking about whose Wiki articles usually end with ‘Death from complications due to Alcoholism’ is incredibly large and no joke. The curse of Doctor Who being that Modern Doctor Who can never look cheap ever again.Drinking Game Rules for this episode: Take a shot every time Charlie says Disney Money. Two shots if he sounds vaguely contemptuous. Watching the BBC have to learn how to do effects heavy shows. Red Dwarf. Differences between ‘Doctor Who and the Star Beast’ (Doctor Who Weekly) and ‘The Star Beast’ the TV Special. The different looks about the Meep, Miles’ wife’s massive Pokemon Plushie collection (which Miles doesn’t have a problem with). Traditional 2005-2009 Who. Miles doesn’t like the 10th Doctor (SHOCK), the alien-ness of the Doctor, Capaldi and the guitar, Charlie’s inability to watch the 90s X-Men cartoon, Miles’ issues with the Whittaker-era and what they could have done, Wild Blue Yonder, Event Horizon, Sunshine, Honestly, another drinking game rule at this point, if we mention Video Box and the 90s, take a shot, what parts of Doctor Who Miles finds scary, Silent Hill 2 (a game Miles wants to play) Body Horror for Kids. Miles compliments David Tennant’s acting. Mean Monsters, Neil Gaiman-y ways of looking at the world. Miles admits Logopolis’ hard SF and entropy is silly to him. Is magic real in Doctor Who? Magic being turned into a skill tree, Brandon Sanderson, Miles goes on FAR TOO LONG about Dragonball Z Power Levels. The Giggle and how Neil Patrick Harris has ruined the name AH-MEE POND for Miles and Reanna. The Bi-Generation as a way of tying up all our baggage before new baggage, Ncuti Gatwa’s incredible energy from the word GO, The Church on Ruby Road, the Doctor’s mental health, RTD taking notes from Moffat’s beats, Charlie always has time for The Leftovers, Christopher Eccleston’s American accent game is strong both here and in Night Country, Miles’ generally aparthy towards Star Wars: Ahsoka made him start crawling back to Doctor Who, Planet of the Daleks isn’t great, but it’s fun, Charlie’s old rewatch and Morris Men ARE Evil, Miles’ own rewatch and where he’s at (FUTURE MILES here, The Myth Makers… not great) Miles and Charlie will never escape Blackface, Series 3 follies and the shows stumbling blocks that’ll never really go away until Troughton, the show’s changes for better and worse, Charlie was asked to provide insane, stupid questions and HE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. Miles loves ‘The Mutants’ (although it turns out Charlie was actually going to be watching ‘The Sea Devils.’ Biggs Darklighter sans Porn Stache. PEDANT CORNER: The video Miles mentions that posits 50 years of American Doctor Who is here:

1 hr 54 min
FEB 18, 2024

Saying ‘Borg Babies’ Again and Again Until it Loses All Meaning

We’ve been Borged! Oh no! Specifically, we’ve been I, Borged as each of today’s Borg-themed episodes are based in some way around Hugh Borg. I don’t think Borg’s his surname, but I don’t recall hearing any other name for him. First up is I, Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Crusher and LaForge have a new pet and it’s a deadly Borg! A traumatised Picard’s eager to use him to do a genocide and Guinan’s with him. Oh no! Second we have Star Trek: Lower Decks’ I, Excretus where attempts to perfect a Holodeck trial lead to Boimler getting a bit too close to the Borg and some fun, awful scenarios which happen when Upper and Lower Decks have to swap. Finally there’s Picard’s Impossible Box, which turns out to be both a Borg Cube used for rehab and a puzzle box that a weird hot Romulan uses for meditation when he’s not getting way too close to his sister. Picard has a nice reunion with Hugh and there’s a Lord of the Rings Elf who’s there for some reason. 09:28 Star Trek: The Next Generation “I, Borg” 37:38 Star Trek: Lower Decks “I, Excretus” 59:44 Picard “The Impossible Box” Pedant’s Corner: Charlie is going to have to recap Star Trek: Nemesis Alice Krige’s surname is pronounced “Kree-Guh” Talking points include: Battle Angel Alita, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Reanna being cancer free, Berserk, Joe Abercrombie, James Barclay, Elric, Picard would make a great Number Two in The Prisoner, Visionaries, X-Men: Fatal Attraction, Batman hologram trading cards, Matlock Bath’s Hologram Museum, Star Wars: Dark Droids, Whoopi Goldberg would make a great Doctor Who, a poop joke, Nemesis of the Pod Ed Sheeran, Funny Games, James VanDerBeek, not forgiving people for reminding us that Young Sheldon exists, mocking Geoff Johns’ career again, crowbarring The Legion of Super-Heroes into a recap, pesto, Grant Morrison, The X-Men’s Sentient Danger Room, being tired old men, Bond themes, Miles’ issues with James Bond, Alan Partridge, Orbital’s The Box, Evil Goth Merlin from the TV Show Merlin, Elnor is an elf ranger, Elnor has taken a level in rogue, Elnor has only seen the Lord of the Rings movies (probably not even the extended versions), Elnor saw the 90’s Three Musketeers or the Paul Anderson one, Rifts (Charlie will never run Rifts), JJ Abrams naming, weird incest siblings, Penny Dreadful, a weird The Cube room. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com

1 hr 31 min
FEB 4, 2024

Trill Talk (guest-starring Celeste!)

We’ve got a guest star! Celeste of the Nerd & Tie Podcast and Celeste is Best joins the casual crew this episode to talk about the Trill. The species has always been a fascinating one and science fiction stand-in for conversations about gender and identity, so the three of us are going to delve into that in three different shows. Star Trek: The Nest Generation’s “The Host” is the introduction to the Trill who look a little strange compared to what we’re used to. There’s a romance, a death and Riker volunteers to get a slug put in him. We also spend time in the Enterprise salon with our hands in some green goo. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s “Rejoined” Jazdia Dax meets her wife from a former life and the pair hit it off, even though they’re not supposed to in Trill lore. Kira’s a good comrade, Bashir’s a fifth wheel and we get a touching love story in this episode. Finally in Star Trek: Discovery’s “Forget Me Not”, new arrival Adira is having problems being a human host to a Trill symbiont, so we journey through memories and buck traditions while Saru’s having to learn how to get his crew of overachieving nerds to chill out a bit. This was a really fun episode to make, even though there are some audio issues we’ve hopefully ironed out and one of us didn’t do the right homework. 00:05:30 Trill 00:07:55 Celeste’s history with Star Trek 00:10:29 What Non-Star Trek Thing Have People Been Enjoying? 00:21:51 TNG: The Host 00:52:30 DS9: Rejoined 01:22:05 DISCO: Forget Me Not Pedant’s Corner: The governor was Leka Trion, not Leka Tyrion. Damn you, autocorrect! Eastenders had a brief flash-forward to build suspense for their Christmas 2023 episode Burnham’s Captain Catchphrase is, “Let’s Fly” Talking points include: Venom, Maggott, Mr Mind, 52, Doctor Who, apparently Americans don’t know when an American’s putting on an English accent, Transformers/Star Trek crossovers, yuri anime, I’m in Love with the Villainess, Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, Gundam, Dark Shadows, Degrassi’s zombie and Terminator webseries which genuinely happened, Grange Hill, EastEnders, Arthurian Mythology, Fantastic Four, The Curse, Nathan Fielder in general, Lynch, Wandavision, The Bear, Miles watches Zardos so much he was probably watching it while we were recording, Meatloaf, The Enterprise has a salon?, Game of Thrones’ approach to siblings, what sad loser YouTube channels would have been doing in the 80’s, Avatar, homosexuality in the very early 90’s, Northstar, Pasíon de las Pasiones, slightly less psychic damage from Mariah Carey, the Tom Tom Club, Weird Al, Weird Science, Revenge of the Nerds, untrustworthy practitioners of close-up magic, New BSG, Helix, Dawson’s Creek is better in the original Klingon, Michael Scott is so devoted to profit, appropriating ‘not my cup of tea’, Quinton Reviews also giving us psychic damage, The Orville, Jessie Gender, X-Men, pointed sticks, Buster Keaton. Oh, and occasionally Star Trek. Casual Trek is by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn and Miles Reid-Lobatto Music by Alfred Etheridge-Nunn Casual Trek is a part of the Nerd & Tie Network https://ko-fi.com/casualtrek Celeste is Best YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@NickIzumi?si=zn9n9co5XTbM3d-P The Nerd & Tie Podcast: http://www.nerdandtie.com/our-shows/the-nerd-tie-podcast/ Miles’ blog: http://www.mareidlobatto.wordpress.com Charlie’s blog: http://www.fakedtales.com The sound effect “Landline phone pick up angry” is by FilmCow

1 hr 56 min

Customer Reviews

Star trek doesn’t have to be your personality.

Smart and extremely funny podcast with two charming hosts who understand Star Trek, but purposefully do not make it their whole personality. Each episode picks a theme and reviews three episodes that fit that theme, the hosts engage with the material and rank the episodes on a massive list. Great show!

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Star Trek - Chronological order

All Star Trek movies and TV shows in chronological order. - last update December 2023

Movies or TV
IMDb Rating
In Theaters
Release Year

1. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005)

TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

Stars: Scott Bakula , John Billingsley , Jolene Blalock , Dominic Keating

Votes: 59,100

2. Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

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.

Stars: Sonequa Martin-Green , Doug Jones , Anthony Rapp , Mary Wiseman

Votes: 134,944

Seasons 1 and 2: 2256-2258

3. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022– )

TV-PG | 52 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.

Stars: Anson Mount , Ethan Peck , Christina Chong , Melissa Navia

Votes: 58,893

4. Star Trek: Short Treks (2018–2020)

TV-PG | 10 min | Short, Action, Adventure

A series of stand-alone short films featuring characters and storylines from Star Trek: Discovery (2017).

Stars: Anson Mount , Rebecca Romijn , Ethan Peck , Jenette Goldstein

Votes: 3,144

5. Star Trek (1966–1969)

TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Nichelle Nichols

Votes: 92,916

2265-2269. You can continue with alternative Kelvin timeline Star Trek movie from 2009.

6. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975)

TV-Y7 | 30 min | Animation, Action, Adventure

The further adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, as they explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , George Takei

Votes: 8,182

7. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 96,610 | Gross: $82.26M

8. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

PG | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 129,211 | Gross: $78.91M

9. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

PG | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Admiral Kirk and his bridge crew risk their careers stealing the decommissioned U.S.S. Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis Planet to recover Spock's body.

Director: Leonard Nimoy | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 86,163 | Gross: $76.47M

10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

PG | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.

Votes: 91,471 | Gross: $109.71M

2286 and 1986

11. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

PG | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Captain Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's long-lost half-brother who hijacks the Enterprise for an obsessive search for God at the center of the galaxy.

Director: William Shatner | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 64,201 | Gross: $52.21M

12. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

PG | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

On the eve of retirement, Kirk and McCoy are charged with assassinating the Klingon High Chancellor and imprisoned. The Enterprise crew must help them escape to thwart a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the last best hope for peace.

Votes: 80,898 | Gross: $74.89M

13. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)

TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.

Stars: Patrick Stewart , Brent Spiner , Jonathan Frakes , LeVar Burton

Votes: 135,969

14. Star Trek: Generations (1994)

PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery

With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.

Director: David Carson | Stars: Patrick Stewart , William Shatner , Malcolm McDowell , Jonathan Frakes

Votes: 87,040 | Gross: $75.67M

15. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.

Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton

Votes: 132,052 | Gross: $92.00M

16. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

PG | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

When the crew of the Enterprise learn of a Federation conspiracy against the inhabitants of a unique planet, Captain Picard begins an open rebellion.

Votes: 79,458 | Gross: $70.12M

17. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The Enterprise is diverted to the Romulan homeworld Romulus, supposedly because they want to negotiate a peace treaty. Captain Picard and his crew discover a serious threat to the Federation once Praetor Shinzon plans to attack Earth.

Director: Stuart Baird | Stars: Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton

Votes: 83,921 | Gross: $43.25M

18. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)

In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy.

Stars: Avery Brooks , Rene Auberjonois , Cirroc Lofton , Alexander Siddig

Votes: 70,780

19. Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)

TV-PG | 44 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

Stars: Kate Mulgrew , Robert Beltran , Roxann Dawson , Robert Duncan McNeill

Votes: 77,320

20. Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–2024)

TV-14 | 25 min | Animation, Action, Adventure

The support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, have to keep up with their duties, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.

Stars: Tawny Newsome , Jack Quaid , Noël Wells , Eugene Cordero

Votes: 24,965

21. Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–2024)

TV-Y7 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure

A group of enslaved teenagers steal a derelict Starfleet vessel to escape and explore the galaxy.

Stars: Rylee Alazraqui , Dee Bradley Baker , Brett Gray , Angus Imrie

Votes: 5,588

22. Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023)

TV-MA | 46 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

Stars: Patrick Stewart , Michelle Hurd , Jeri Ryan , Alison Pill

Votes: 94,696

23. Star Trek: Discovery (2017–2024)

Seasons 3 and 4 (3188-TBD)

24. Star Trek (2009)

PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Simon Pegg , Leonard Nimoy

Votes: 620,251 | Gross: $257.73M

First move of alternative Kelvin timeline

25. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Zoe Saldana , Benedict Cumberbatch

Votes: 497,065 | Gross: $228.78M

26. Star Trek Beyond (2016)

PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The crew of the USS Enterprise explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy, who puts them, and everything the Federation stands for, to the test.

Director: Justin Lin | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Karl Urban , Zoe Saldana

Votes: 258,489 | Gross: $158.85M

27. Untitled Star Trek: Beyond Sequel

Action, Adventure, Mystery | Pre-production

Plot kept under wraps. The follow-up to Star Trek Beyond (2016).

Stars: Chris Pine , Karl Urban , Zoe Saldana , Simon Pegg

28. Star Trek: USS PAN

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | Announced

The USS Pan, the new flagship of the Federation. It is the year 3299, the dawn of a new century is about to begin. The Pan is a Desira class starship. Their enemy are the Chatacrons.

Director: Carl Miller

29. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2025– )

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | Pre-production

Centers on students at Starfleet Academy.

30. Star Trek: Section 31 (2025)

Action, Adventure, Drama | Filming

In Star Trek: Section 31, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.

Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi | Stars: Humberly González , Michelle Yeoh , Sam Richardson , Omari Hardwick

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Screen Rant

Star trek’s paramount plus movies must keep canceled tv shows alive.

Star Trek on Paramount+'s potential series of made-for-streaming movies can keep canceled shows like Picard, Discovery, and Lower Decks alive.

Paramount+ can revive canceled Star Trek shows through feature-length streaming films.
Characters from Discovery, Picard, and Lower Decks can continue their stories in movies.
The success of Star Trek legacy characters in films could pave the way for more spin-offs.

Paramount+ can keep canceled Star Trek shows alive by continuing the characters' adventures in feature-length made-for-streaming films. Although the Star Trek franchise began on television, Star Trek 's 13 theatrical movies provided more adventures with characters from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation . Not only has the Star Trek franchise often moved from television to film, but Paramount+ has also set this precedent. The upcoming Star Trek: Section 31 starring Michelle Yeoh originally began as a concept for a television series.

Star Trek: Discovery comes to an end with season 5, and Paramount recently announced that the upcoming Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 would also be its last. Star Trek: Picard was always meant to be 3 seasons, but after the success of Picard season 3, fans began clamoring for a spin-off. While Star Trek: Picard season 3 ended with the perfect setup for the fan-desired Star Trek: Legacy , it remains little more than a hope. But made-for-streaming, feature-length films on Paramount+ could bring back the characters from these canceled Star Trek shows, allowing their stories to continue.

Every Star Trek Movie Ranked (From Worst To Best)

Star trek’s paramount plus movies can continue canceled tv shows, the characters of canceled star trek could live on in streaming films..

Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks all introduced compelling new characters to the Star Trek universe, and it would be a shame never to see those characters again. Michelle Yeoh's Emperor Phillipa Georgiou left Discovery in season 3, but will be the lead in Star Trek: Section 31 , which brings back at least one Star Trek legacy character, a younger version of future USS Enterprise-C Captain Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl). If Section 31 proves to be successful, hopefully, Paramount+ will continue this trend with other Star Trek shows and characters.

Star Trek: Section 31 has wrapped filming, and there is talk of a sequel if the streaming movie is successful on Paramount+.

The return of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast helped make Star Trek: Picard season 3 a resounding success, but the season also introduced several storylines that should continue. With the introduction of Picard's son, Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), and Seven of Nine's (Jeri Ryan) promotion to Captain of the USS Enterprise-G, Star Trek: Legacy already has a compelling premise. If Paramount+ does not have the budget for another Star Trek television show, a streaming film could provide the chance to continue the story that began in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

Terry Matalas, the showrunner of Star Trek: Picard season 3, has expressed an interest in continuing the story, and many of the cast members would also love to return.

Why Star Trek On Paramount Plus Shouldn’t Abandon Discovery, Picard, & Lower Decks

Paramount+ should find a way to incorporate these characters into new stories..

Star Trek: Discovery's premiere in 2017 ushered in a new era of Star Trek on Paramount+. Discovery and the series that followed, such as Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks , introduced numerous new characters that fans have embraced. S tar Trek streaming movies on Paramount+ offer an ideal venue to continue the stories from the concluded Star Trek series in a more cost-effective way than an ongoing series, given the changing streaming business model. Audiences will follow characters they've already invested in to streaming movies that continue their stories,

The Strange New Worlds/Star Trek: Lower Decks crossover also proved that characters can jump from one show to another, and Paramount+ will hopefully find new ways to continue this trend. Jack Quaid's Brad Boimler and Tawny Newsome's Beckett Mariner are great characters who should continue to be a part of Star Trek . The fan demand for Star Trek: Picard spin-off Star Trek: Legacy proves that fans want more Star Trek , especially when it connects to past Trek shows and characters. Whether with crossovers or mini-series or made-for-streaming movies, Paramount+ shouldn't abandon beloved characters of their canceled Star Trek shows.

Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star trek: picard, star trek lower decks.

IMAGES

Watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) Season 1 Episode 1
Watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) Season 1 Episode 10
Star Trek: The 8 Most Memorable Episodes The Original Series
Watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) Season 3 Episode 18
Watch Star Trek: The Original Series (Remastered) Season 1 Episode 9
Paramount+ releases new trailer latest for 'Star Trek'

VIDEO

Bring In New Star Trek Fans, By Showing Them TV's Best Moment Of All Time
Star Trek
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Star Trek: Lower Decks To Get Even Star Trek-ier
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

COMMENTS

Trek
LA CHAÎNE DES SPORTS OUTDOOR. Tous les plus beaux spots du monde sont à retrouver sur TREK : escalade, trail, VTT, ski, surf, alpinisme, base-jump. La chaîne propose une offre documentaire invitant à l'évasion. Amateurs ou experts, TREK s'adresse à tous les passionnés de sensations fortes. Une grande bouffée d'oxygène !
Star Trek (TV Series 1966-1969)
Star Trek: Created by Gene Roddenberry. With Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.
List of Star Trek television series
The Original Series logo. Star Trek is an American media franchise based on the science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry.The first television series, simply called Star Trek and now referred to as The Original Series, debuted in 1966 and aired for three seasons on NBC.The Star Trek canon includes eight live-action television series, three animated series and one short-form ...
Star Trek: Discovery (TV Series 2017-2024)
Star Trek: Discovery: Created by Bryan Fuller, Alex Kurtzman. With Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman. 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.
Star Trek: Picard (TV Series 2020-2023)
Star Trek: Picard: Created by Kirsten Beyer, Michael Chabon, Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman. With Patrick Stewart, Michelle Hurd, Jeri Ryan, Alison Pill. Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.
Star Trek Streaming Guide: Where to Watch All the TV Shows and Movies
Launched on September 8, 1966 — nearly 54 years ago — the NBC-TV series Star Trek was the beginning of a new age of science fiction on television and, eventually, the big screen. The first ...
'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Returning for Seasons 3 & 4
Here's everything we know about Season 3 of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,' including cast, plot, renewal news and more! We'll add the release date, trailer, guest stars as soon as they're announced.
TrekMovie.com
TrekMovie.com is the source for Star Trek news and information, covering the latest updates on movies, TV shows, books, comics, merchandise, and more. Whether you are a fan of Picard, Riker, Seven ...
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew. It acquired the retronym of Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) to distinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.. The show is set in the Milky Way galaxy, c. 2266-2269.
How to Watch Every Star Trek Movie and TV Show in Order
Star Trek is a multi-generational franchise and cultural touchstone that has turned into a streaming juggernaut. By subscribing to Paramount+, you get access to every TV show in the franchise ...
How to Watch Star Trek in Order: The Complete Series Timeline
Where to Watch: Paramount+ 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 ...
Upcoming Star Trek TV Shows: What's Ahead For The Sci-Fi Franchise
Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 - Premiering On April 4th 2024. Captain Michael Burnham and the crew are back, and based on what we've seen and heard about Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 so far, some ...
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon.Since its creation, the franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books, and it has become one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises ...
Alex Kurtzman On Streaming TV Challenges And How Shorter Star Trek
Star Trek series with up to 7 seasons of over 20 episodes each is a thing of the past. Alex Kurtzman, who is in charge of Trek TV for Paramount, is talking about the ups and downs of the streaming ...
Where to Watch
Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1-4 are streaming exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., the UK, Canada, 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. The series streams on Super Drama in Japan, TVNZ in New Zealand, and SkyShowtime in Spain ...
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV Series 2022- )
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet. With Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Christina Chong, Melissa Navia. A prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, the show follows the crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike.
21 Things About Star Trek That Fans Hesitate to Acknowledge
The Deep Space Nine (DS9) series, which aired between 1994 and 1999, holds a special place in many people's hearts. It featured some of Star Trek's most legendary characters, such as Worf ...
We're in the golden age of sci-fi TV
Since 1966 when the original "Trek" launched, there have been 12 "Trek" series, with five arriving after "Discovery." "The Expanse" deserves some credit, too.
Original 'Star Trek' Enterprise Model From Opening Credits Is Found
The first model of the U.S.S. Enterprise, the starship that appeared in the opening credits of the original "Star Trek" television series, has been returned to Eugene Roddenberry Jr., the son ...
Casual Trek
If ANYONE can objectively rank every single episode of Star Trek on a big list, it's gotta be the people who think that Star Trek's 'Pretty Decent.' (Citation Needed.) ... Miles' issues with James Bond, Alan Partridge, Orbital's The Box, Evil Goth Merlin from the TV Show Merlin, Elnor is an elf ranger, Elnor has taken a level in ...
Trek TV Podcast: Home
Sun, 27 Feb 2022 19:00:00. More. Tweets by trektv. Episode Player. (TTV Selects) Trek TV Episode 20 - The Alternative Factor. Sat, 2 Apr 2022 16:20:00 +1100 @trektv. (TTV Selects) Trek TV Episode 20 - The Alternative Factor. The greatest Star Trek podcast and the most ambitious show on the internet!
Trek (TV channel)
Programming. The channel broadcasts programs dedicated to adventure, feats and thrills. Every night of the week, Trek offers different sports: extreme on Monday, outdoor on Tuesdays, ski / snowboard on Wednesdays, expeditions on Thursdays, challenges on Friday, surfing on Saturdays and climbing on Sundays.
Track. Discover. Share.
We make it easy to discover new things to watch. Scrobble & sync. from your media center. Track every TV show & movie you watch, automatically from your favorite media center. We call this scrobbling. Keep all your devices in sync, even across different apps. Get started by installing the plugin and connecting your Trakt account. Start scrobbling.
Star Trek
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) PG | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi. When the crew of the Enterprise learn of a Federation conspiracy against the inhabitants of a unique planet, Captain Picard begins an open rebellion. Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton.
Star Trek's Paramount Plus Movies Must Keep Canceled TV Shows Alive
Star Trek: Discovery's premiere in 2017 ushered in a new era of Star Trek on Paramount+. Discovery and the series that followed, such as Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks, introduced numerous new characters that fans have embraced.Star Trek streaming movies on Paramount+ offer an ideal venue to continue the stories from the concluded Star Trek series in a more cost-effective way ...
True Trek Tv
Free NFT to All Subscribers True Trek Tv Is a YouTube channel that shows nothing but Star Trek clips throughout the franchise history.

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Star Trek Streaming Guide: Where to Watch All the TV Shows and Movies

Star Trek TV

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

Star Trek: Discovery (2017- )

Star Trek: Picard (2020- )

Star Trek: 50 Best Episodes

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Latest TV reviews

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Upcoming Star Trek TV Shows: What's Ahead For The Sci-Fi Franchise

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 - Premiering On April 4th 2024

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 - In Production

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 - Coming In 2024

Section 31 Movie - Production Underway

CINEMABLEND NEWSLETTER

Starfleet Academy - Production Starting In 2024

Most Popular

Alex Kurtzman On Streaming TV Challenges And How Shorter Star Trek Seasons Helps Avoid “Filler” Episodes

Making every episode count

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Where to Watch

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Prodigy

21 Things About Star Trek That Fans Hesitate to Acknowledge

Star Trek Reused the Same Sets Often

Star Trek Was Forced to Move With the Times

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Drama in Deep Space Nine’

Star Trek Voyager Criticized for Having a Female Captain

The Story Lines Weren’t Always Great

Some of the Costumes Were Not Good

We Want Captain Picard Back

Most Fans Preferred the TV Series to the Movies

We Have all Tried to Speak Klingon

Sometimes, Star Trek Was Scary

The Theme Tune Was Awesome

Star Trek’s Original First Officer Was a Woman

Spock Impressions

Some of the Tech from the Trek Has Already Become a Reality

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Both Got Tinnitus

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Star Trek Didn’t Only Recycle its Sets; It Also Recycled Actors

The Star Trek Brand Has Become Over-Commercialized

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Sci-fi TV is in its golden age: What you need to know now

First things first: What exactly is “sci-fi” anyway?

Which series got this sci-fi TV renaissance started?

But why has 'Trek' resonated so much over a particularly divisive stretch in American culture and politics?

What are some of the other big series out there right now?

What else is coming up?

What has streaming got to do with this?

Why do showrunners like streaming so much?