star trek film franchise

Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

Untangle the different timelines and get the popcorn: Here are the Star Trek movies in order — both chronological and release.

• Chronological order
• Prime Timeline

The Original Series movies

The next generation movies.

• Kelvin Timeline
• Release order

Upcoming Star Trek movies

We've got a guide to watching the Star Trek movies in order, decloaking off our starboard side!

So long as movies stick numbers on the ends of their titles, it’s easy to watch them in order. Once they start branching out, however, things can get a little muddled, especially when reboots come along and start the whole process over from scratch. 

You may have heard that the even-numbered ones are good and the odd-numbered ones are not. That’s spot on for the films starring the cast of The Original Series (aka Kirk and friends) falls apart once you reach the tenth entry in the series. It would probably be worth your while to have this list of the Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best around to steer clear of the clunkers. Look, we’re not going to pretend everything here is worth two hours of your day, we’re just letting you know which came out after which.

Should your Trek appetite remain unsatiated after your movie watchathon, feel free to pull from either our list of the best Star Trek: The Original series episode s or best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes . Either one will set you up for a weekend jam-packed with great Trek moments. Consult our Star Trek streaming guide for all the details on where to watch the movies and shows online 

Star Trek movies: Chronological order

Below is the quick version of our list if you just need to check something to win an argument, but it comes with a lot of in-universe time travel-related caveats that we'll explain below.

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek: Nemesis
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek: Prime Timeline

The first thing you need to know about the Star Trek films is that while they travel back and forth in time, they also diverge into two (for now) different timelines. The films of the original crew (well, the first iteration of them, anyway – more on that later) are all in what is known as the Prime Timeline. 

Within the Prime Timeline, the movies are then split between The Original Series movies and The Next Generation movies.

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

• Release date: December 8, 1979
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

This is the film that brought the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the big screen. An energy cloud is making its way toward Earth, destroying everything in its path. Kirk and crew intercept it and discover an ancient NASA probe at the heart of the cloud. Voyager – known as V’ger now – encountered a planet of living machines, learned all it could, and returned home to report its findings, only to find no one who knew how to answer. It’s a slow-paced film, and the costumes are about as 70s as they come, but there’s classic Star Trek at the heart of this film.

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

• Release date: June 4, 1982
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban

Ask a Star Trek fan what the best Star Trek movie is and more often than not, you’ll get Khan as your answer. A sequel to the events of the “Space Seed” episode of The Original Series, Khan is a retelling of Moby Dick with Khan throwing reason to the wind as he hunts his nemesis, James T. Kirk. Montalban delivers a pitch-perfect performance, giving us a Khan with charisma and obsession in equal parts.

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

• Release date: June 1, 1984

Spock might have died in The Wrath of Khan, but this third entry set up the premise for his return, with the creation of the Genesis planet. Essentially a heist movie in reverse, Search for Spock has the crew defying orders from Starfleet in an attempt to reunite Spock’s consciousness with his newly-rejuvenated body. It’s not a great movie, but it does include two very important events: the rebirth of Spock and the death of Kirk’s son at the hands of the Klingons. That’ll be important a few flicks from now.   

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

• Release date: November 26, 1986
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks

If Star Trek fans don’t say Khan is the best Star Trek movie, odds are very high they say Voyage Home is. It’s a funny film where the mission isn’t destruction, but creation – or more accurately, repairing the devastating effects of humankind’s ecological short-sightedness. 

A probe arrives at Earth, knocking out the power of everything in its path as it looks for someone to respond to its message (yeah, it happens a lot). This time, however, the intended recipient is the long-extinct blue whale. To save Earth, Kirk and co. go back in time to 1980s San Francisco to snag some blue whales. The eco-messaging isn’t exactly subtle, but it doesn’t get in the way of a highly enjoyable movie.

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

• Release date: June 9, 1989

A writers’ strike and Shatner’s directorial skills (or lack thereof) doomed this film before a single scene was shot. The core plot is actually pretty good: Spock’s half-brother hijacks the Enterprise so that he can meet God, which he believes to be… himself. Some Star Trek fans have an odd fondness for this movie, as it showcases the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy when they’re off-duty.

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

• Release date: December 6, 1991
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer

Right, so if that Star Trek fan you’ve been talking to doesn’t choose either Khan or Voyage Home as the best Star Trek movie ever, they almost certainly name Undiscovered Country (and if they don’t, they have highly questionable taste, frankly). The Klingon moon of Praxis explodes, putting the entire Klingon race at risk. The Enterprise hosts a diplomatic entourage of Klingons, much to Kirk’s discomfort. 

Remember how Klingons murdered Kirk’s son? Well, he certainly hasn’t forgotten. Kirk’s lingering rage makes him the perfect patsy for the murder of the Klingon Chancellor, sending him and McCoy to a prison planet and setting the stage for war. Christopher Plummer is perfection as a Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general with no taste for peace.

7. Star Trek: Generations

• Release date: November 18, 1994
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

And thus the torch is passed from the crew of The Original Series to that of The Next Generation. It’s a bit of a fumble, to be honest, but they all did their best to get Kirk and Picard into the same film and have it make sense. Malcolm McDowell plays Soran, a scientist who will stop at nothing to control the Nexus, a giant space rainbow that exists outside of space-time. 

Soran lost his family when his home world was destroyed and he wants to re-join them (or at least an illusion of them) in the Nexus. He’s not so much a villain as a tragic figure, but the Nexus makes a meeting between Kirk and Picard possible. Not all that sensible, but possible.

8. Star Trek: First Contact

• Release date: November 22, 1996
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Alice Krige

Okay, no, for real, if your Star Trek pal didn’t pick Khan or Voyage Home or… oh, nevermind. Cueing off the iconic two-part episode “Best of Both Worlds,” in which Picard is assimilated by the Borg, First Contact sees the collective traveling back in time in order to disrupt First Contact, the day Earth’s first foray into space attracted the attention of the Vulcans, kicking off the events that would eventually lead to Starfleet’s victory over the Borg. The Borg Queen torments Picard with visions of the past and tempts Data with humanity, going so far as to give him some human skin. 

The fight with the Borg aboard the Enterprise is thrilling, and the work on the surface to get first contact back on track is fun. Plus, there’s just nothing like Patrick Stewart turning it up to 11 as he lashes out at the enemy that haunts his dreams.

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

• Release date: December 11, 1998
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, F. Murray Abraham

Essentially an episode inflated for the big screen, Insurrection is about the Federation conspiring to displace a planet’s population in order to harvest the planet’s unique resource – super healing metaphasic particles. In addition to the rejuvenating natural resource, the Ba’ku also have access to exceptional technology, which they shun in favor of a more simple lifestyle. 

Data malfunctions, the villains are Federation allies (and former Ba’ku!), Picard gets to knock boots with a local – Insurrection is the very definition of “fine.” Chronologically, Insurrection is relevant for rekindling the romance between Riker and Troi, but not much else.

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

• Release date: December 13, 2002
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Tom Hardy

Before he mumbled his way into our hearts as Bane, Tom Hardy was Shinzon, a clone of Picard the Romulans created in an eventually abandoned attempt to infiltrate Starfleet. Shinzon is dying, and all that will save him is a transfusion of Picard’s blood. Unfortunately, Shinzon also happens to be a megalomaniac who happens to want to destroy all life on Earth and maybe a few other planets, too, if he’s feeling saucy. 

Nemesis is notable mostly for killing Data with a noble sacrifice, only to resurrect him moments later in a duplicate body found earlier by the Enterprise crew.

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

The last of the Prime Timeline movies failed to impress at the box office, so it was a few years before anyone tried to bring the Enterprise back to the big screen. Rather than lean on any of the TV crews, this new slate of movies would serve as a reboot, welcoming new audiences while honoring long-time fans. Welcome to the Kelvin Timeline. (For all the ins and outs, check out our Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline explained article).

11. Star Trek

• Release date: May 8, 2009
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban

Back to the beginning! Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk, Spock, and “Bones” McCoy as they meet and join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though the plot is a relatively straightforward affair of a Romulan named Nero trying to destroy the Earth. His anger borne out of grief, what matters most is how it all came to be. In the future, Spock – the Prime Timeline version – tries to save Romulus from being destroyed by a supernova, but fails. Both his ship and Nero’s are kicked back in time, setting off a chain of events that diverge from the original, “true” timeline. 

The name “Kelvin” refers to the U.S.S. Kelvin, the ship heroically captained by Kirk’s father, which is destroyed in the opening moments of the movie.

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

• Release date: May 16, 2013
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch

The benefit of the Kelvin Timeline is that it not only allows Star Trek to explore canon material – such as Khan (he of the Wrath) – but to do something completely new with it. Khan features heavily in Into Darkness, but he has no beef with Kirk. Instead, a Starfleet Admiral is threatening the lives of Khan’s crew, forcing them to craft weapons of mass destruction. 

Khan inevitably eludes captivity and strikes out against Starfleet, killing Captain Pike (and a bunch of others) in the process. Kirk and company eventually take Khan down, but not before Kirk sacrifices himself to save his crew. Don’t worry, these things don’t last in either Star Trek timeline, as Kirk gets better moments later thanks to *checks notes* Khan's super blood.

13. Star Trek Beyond

• Release date: July 22, 2016
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba

Beyond leans into the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy now that they’ve had some time together, much to the movie’s benefit. The Enterprise is lured to Altamid under false pretenses, leading to much of the crew being marooned on the planet. The architect of the deception was Krall, who wants an opportunity to return to a galaxy where war is the order of the day. 

Beyond is a significant point in the timeline for two reasons. First, it sadly marked the death of Spock Prime due to the passing of Leonard Nimoy. Second, it culminates in the Enterprise embarking on the five-year-mission that started everything back in 1966.

Star Trek movies: Release order

If you can't be bothered remembering two different orders for the Star Trek movies then we've got good news for you — the release order is identical to the chronological order that we've shown above (accounting for the Kelvin timeline as it's own entity anyway).

The full run of Star Trek films currently tops out at 13 entries; the fate of the 14th was hidden within a nebula of conflicting information. “Star Trek 4” was slated for December 22, 2023, but given that filming had yet to begin as of July 2022, it seems inevitable that date will change. Back in February 2022, Paramount that the principal cast would be returning for the fourth installment of the Kelvin timeline, a claim quickly disputed by the agents of those selfsame actors. Awkward.

Soon after, however, Chris Pine eventually signed on the dotted line, and his shipmates reached their own agreements. As of right now, Kirk (Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban, assuming he can make it work around filming of The Boys), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Uhura (Zoe Saldaña), and Sulu (John Cho) are all ready to beam up and get filming. Sadly, this will be the first of the Kelvin films to not feature Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Yelchin died in an accident at his home in 2016. It’s currently unclear if Chekov will be recast or if a different character will take his place on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Though the Kelvin timeline is often referred to as “J.J. Abrams Trek,” he won’t be directing Star Trek 4; Matt Shakman will take on that responsibility, leaving Abrams to produce. As for what it will be about, that’s anyone’s guess, but Chris Pine told Deadline he hopes this one tells a smaller story that appeals to the core Trek audience. “Let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek,” he said. “Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great.” It’s a strategy that makes sense; the disappointment with recent Trek films hasn’t been their content so much as their box office. A Trek film with a smaller scope (and budget) would almost certainly have a very healthy profit margin while also resonating with the fanbase.   

With no new announcements coming from San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it seems that we’ll have to wait for any more insight into the next Star Trek film. Sill, recent comments from Paramount CEO Brian Robbins have us cautiously optimistic: “We’re deep into [Star Trek 4] with J.J. Abrams, and it feels like we’re getting close to the starting line and excited about where we’re going creatively,” he told Variety . 

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Susan Arendt is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant living in Burleson, TX. She's a huge sci-fi TV and movie buff, and will talk your Vulcan ears off about Star Trek. You can find more of her work at Wired, IGN, Polygon, or look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt. Be prepared to see too many pictures of her dogs.

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Star Trek films

• View history

This article concerns itself with the general production and performances of the official Star Trek theatrical feature films as produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures , having been the full rights title holder from 1979 ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ) through 2002 ( Star Trek Nemesis ), and as licensee from 2009 ( Star Trek ) through 2016 ( Star Trek Beyond ), thereby constituting what is currently known as the " Star Trek film franchise ".

Within that franchise a further distinction is often made between the two prime universe film franchises, to wit,

• The Star Trek: The Original Series or " Original Crew " film franchise ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )
• The Star Trek: The Next Generation or (less commonly) " Next Gen (TNG) Crew " film franchise ( Star Trek Generations – Star Trek Nemesis )

and the third, alternate reality or " Kelvin -timeline", film franchise,

• Star Trek – Star Trek Beyond
• 1.1 The Original Series films
• 1.2 The Next Generation films
• 1.3 Alternate reality films
• 1.4 Television movies
• 1.5 Footnotes
• 1.6 Unrealized Star Trek films
• 2.1.1 Gross vs net profitability
• 2.1.2 Hollywood accounting
• 4 Cast and crew listings
• 5.1 The odd number / even number phenomenon
• 5.2 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• 5.3 Star Trek: Voyager / Star Trek: Enterprise
• 6 Further reading

As a franchise, the Star Trek films were almost conceived as an afterthought in the wake of the stupefying success of the very first Star Wars installment in 1977. The resulting movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture , came nowhere close to living up to the (too) high expectations of studio executives, who subsequently decided to kill off the fledgling Star Trek film franchise right there and then. The highest conglomerate executive though, Gulf+Western owner and CEO Charlie Bluhdorn , saw it differently and personally ordered his Paramount subordinates to pursue the franchise further. Having ordained the original film production in the first place, it was therefore Bluhdorn in person who in effect not only conceived the Star Trek film franchise, but also ensured its continuation as well (for further particulars, see: main article ).

In 2023 , it was announced that the franchise would have its first made-for-TV (streaming service) film, Star Trek: Section 31 . [1]

The Original Series films [ ]

Films which feature the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series .

The Next Generation films [ ]

These are films that feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Unlike the preceding TOS films, these did not carry sequel numbers – such as "Star Trek VII", "Star Trek VIII", "Star Trek IX", or "Star Trek X" – except in pre-production. However, these numbers do appear on newer DVD covers.

Alternate reality films [ ]

Films which feature different versions of the TOS characters portrayed by a new cast, and set in an alternate reality from earlier films and series.

Television movies [ ]

Footnotes [ ].

• ↑ Approval rates as calculated by the critical film review website Rotten Tomatoes .
• ↑ These figures include worldwide box-office takes only. Every other form of revenue, such as for merchandise, home media format sales, rentals, television rights and the like, are excluded from the figures. Revenue and cost figures as submitted by the studio to the film website IMDb
• ↑ Percentages above 100% indicate profit, below 100%, loss and at 100% means the production exactly recouped its production costs.
• ↑ In the 1980s and 1990s, a figure of approximately $45 million dollar was widely propagated in numerous publications, including those licensed by Paramount Pictures. For a treatment on the apparent discrepancy, please see: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues .
• ↑ The profitability of Wrath of Khan is flattered, as that production made use of a substantial amount of special and visual effects assets, such as studio models, props, sets and even complete visual effects sequences produced for the previous film, and which do not show up in its production costs. This also holds true, though to a lesser degree, for the subsequent four films.
• ↑ Produced back-to-back with its television progenitor and therefore with much of its setup already in place, the profitability of Generations is, like that of The Wrath of Khan , also somewhat flattered, as that production too made use of a substantial amount of special and visual effects assets, such as studio models, costumes, props, and sets produced for the television properties, which do not show up in the budget.

Unrealized Star Trek films [ ]

Besides the above referenced films which had eventually seen a theatrical release, Paramount has over the decades embarked on the development of several other Star Trek film projects as well, they however, ultimately abandoned in various stages of development for a variety of reasons. Costs incurred for these unrealized projects were usually charged against the subsequent film project that was realized. ( see also: below )

Summary [ ]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) reunites the Star Trek: The Original Series cast aboard the original USS Enterprise , refurbished after its five-year mission as documented in the television series. The story was originally conceived as the pilot episode of the aborted Star Trek: Phase II series, in which the now- Admiral Kirk and crew must engage with a powerful, threatening force that is heading directly towards Earth .

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) together form a loose trilogy beginning with the reintroduction of an old enemy from a popular TOS episode (" Space Seed ") who resumes his conflict with Kirk in epic fashion, leading to the creation of the planet Genesis , the death of Spock and his subsequent "burial" on Genesis, the destruction of the Enterprise during Kirk's efforts to reunite Spock's regenerated body with his katra , and ultimately a time-travel adventure to 1986 aboard a captured Klingon vessel ( HMS Bounty ) in order to save Earth from destruction.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) moves Kirk, demoted back to captain as a result of defying Starfleet orders in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , and crew onto the new USS Enterprise -A , which is hijacked by a renegade Vulcan ( Sybok ) who pilots it to the center of the galaxy in an attempt to find the source of creation.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) sees Kirk and crew attempting to prevent derailment of the Federation /Klingon peace talks by conspirators from both sides. As well as bringing the TOS cast to its retirement, the film also ties up various threads first established in the series (most notably, the conflict between the Federation and the Klingons) and paves the way for the storylines of Star Trek: The Next Generation , set seventy years later. Produced during the fall of the communist Soviet Union, the film's plot may be regarded as a metaphor for those events and the effect they had on international relations at that time.

Star Trek Generations (1994) brings the cast of TNG to the big screen, set less than a year after the end of the series (" All Good Things... ") and filmed straight after the completion of its last episodes. Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise -D must try to stop a brilliant scientist ( Tolian Soran ) from committing an act of genocide in order to enter the Nexus , a mysterious hedonistic realm in which time has no meaning. Appearances by three of the TOS cast (Kirk, Scott , and Chekov ) and the heroic death of Kirk who joins Picard by means of the Nexus , served to "pass the torch" from the old generation to the next; the appearance of recurring enemies Lursa and B'Etor and the revelation of their fate provides a key link with the TNG series. The film also includes the destruction of the Enterprise -D.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) brings back the TNG cast in their first truly independent big screen adventure aboard the new USS Enterprise -E . Picard and his crew are pitted against their deadliest foe from the series, the Borg , who travel back in time to prevent the first warp flight by Zefram Cochrane .

In Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Picard and crew discover a covert effort by Starfleet, in co-operation with the belligerent Son'a , to relocate the inhabitants of a "fountain of youth" planet. Standing by his morals, Picard must take up arms against the Federation to save paradise.

Star Trek Nemesis (2002) sees Picard and the Enterprise ordered to investigate the sudden fall of the Romulan government, replaced by a leader from their neighboring race, the Remans . The dark secret of this new leader, Shinzon , brings Picard into conflict in a way he never thought possible, and culminates in a fight to save Earth from a terrible weapon – at great cost. With the death of Data and the departure of Riker , Troi , and Beverly Crusher from the Enterprise , this film marked the end of the TNG cast's adventures (until Star Trek: Picard , nearly two decades later). Much as with the (chronological) final big screen appearance of the original cast, which laid the foundations of peace between the Federation and the Klingons, this film implies the establishment of an alliance between the Federation and the Romulans, enemies throughout the TNG era just as the Klingons had been in TOS.

Star Trek (2009) creates a new timeline in the Star Trek franchise, which is tied directly to the prime universe, effecting a return to the TOS era, albeit one populated by an all-new cast of actors. It also features a completely new look, and remains in-universe by explaining all changes as being inadvertently caused by time-traveling Romulan villain Nero . This film focuses on younger versions of James T. Kirk , Spock , and the crew and showcases their very first mission aboard the USS Enterprise as they work together to stop the renegade Nero in his vengeful rampage to destroy Federation planets.

The sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) picks up a year after the first film of the new timeline, where the crew is tested as they are sent to apprehend John Harrison , a traitor and mass murderer, and uncover corruption and a conspiracy to militarize Starfleet from within.

Star Trek Beyond (2016) picks up three years after the second film, where the crew is in the third year of its five-year mission . An encounter with an alien swarm, headed by the mysterious and powerful Krall , has devastating consequences for the Enterprise and crew, and reveals a serious threat to the Federation.

Performance summary [ ]

Domestically, combined and not taking inflation into account, the Star Trek features have grossed a little over US$1.4 billion. Prior to the release of Star Trek , Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home had grossed more than the other films, coming in at US$109,713,132, while Star Trek: First Contact had the largest-grossing opening weekend of all the films. The alternate reality Star Trek film surpassed both of these records, but was itself surpassed by its Star Trek Into Darkness sequel. [2]

Using the figures in the above specified tables, a "Top 5" worldwide performance record for the films as of 2016 is summarized in the table below, which hold a few surprises. The costs are, as expected, in accordance with the sequence the films were produced in, with The Motion Picture , being the sole exception due to various reasons . Rather surprising is that the best received films are not always also the highest grossing, The Voyage Home being the most consistent one. However, the biggest surprise in this regard, the bad press the film received in the 1980s and 1990s notwithstanding – among others by the studio itself, who considered the film a failure at the time – is that The Motion Picture as one of the worst received films, is not only the highest grossing Original Crew film world-wide, but concurrently also one of the most profitable films in the franchise. Likewise, but on the other end of the spectrum, Beyond became one of the best received films, but also the second-worst in terms of gross profitability.

The table shows that the TNG films were the least successful ones of the franchise in critical and financial terms, First Contact being the sole positive exception – even becoming the highest worldwide grossing Star Trek -prime film – the apparent profitability of Generations (see that film's footnote above) notwithstanding. In terms of gross profitability, the six Original Series films remain to date the most successful ones by far.

However, while there is a correlation between costs and profitability, the real surprise lies in the recent lack of positive correlation between gross revenues and profitability. That Nemesis and Insurrection occupy the first and third place respectively in the worst profitability ranking comes hardly as a surprise, considering their poor performance at the box office. But a break occurred in the correlation with the three alternate reality films, which were the most successful in terms of box office revenues of the franchise by far, but which also rank among the least profitable, even losing, ones – Star Trek Beyond in particular, taking second place in the worst profitability ranking – making it appear that the more successful a film is at the box office, the worse its profitability becomes.

The significant jump in production budget of 29% (over ten times the official inflation rate for the period 1996-1998) between the films First Contact and Insurrection , validated Adam Lebowitz 's assertion that the technique of computer-generated imagery (CGI) for producing visual effects , which was used almost exclusively for the latter film and contrary to popular belief, is not cheaper than the traditional way of producing these. " A lot of people say, 'CGI is a lot cheaper, isn't it,' but the way I like to think of it is that CGI is not cheaper necessarily, but you get a lot more for your money and you can tweak it a lot more. ", Lebowitz has stated. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 6 , p. 47) If anything has exemplified Lebowitz's assessment, then it must have been the number of staffers Industrial Light & Magic had employed on their Star Trek projects; whereas The Search for Spock "only" needed 42 staffers, the staff-count for Star Trek (2009) had burgeoned to no less than 315, virtually all of them working as digital specialists.

Star Trek Into Darkness marks the first time that a Star Trek film performed better in the foreign markets than the home market, confirming an industry trend that has started in the early 2000s. [3]

As already stated above , the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond , even though it even surpassed its predecessor critically, performed catastrophically at the box-office (see also below ) which became a major consideration for the cancellation in January 2019 of the planned fourth alternate reality film, slated to start production in that year.

Gross vs net profitability [ ]

It must be understood that when box-office earnings surpass the direct production budget (thereby achieving gross profitability), it does not automatically mean that a Hollywood studio has gone "into (net) profit", i.e. meaning that the studio has now funding available for investments, dividend disbursements to shareholders and third party investors, executive bonuses, royalties, and the like. Aside from the direct production costs, aka the production budget, the studio also needs to cover costs which, for legal as well as practical reasons, can not be directly assigned to a particular motion picture production and which are commonly referred to as "indirect" or "production overhead" costs, in parlance usually abbreviated to "overhead". The most obvious overhead elements consist of:

• Operations/Management costs : These are incurred in order to maintain a studio, such as the costs for the upkeep of real estate and equipment, as well as the salaries for personnel who have studio tenure, such as executive, accountancy, administrative, technical and marketing staffers. The actual production staffers on any motion picture project, are contracted on a per production basis, and their salaries are therefore directly assignable to the production budget. ( See also in this regard: Desilu Studios . )
• Distribution costs : These entail the box office percentages, distributors and theater owners charge the studio for showing their production to the public, in order to operate their own businesses. Since it is never known beforehand how many theaters will agree to show a studio production, these costs are traditionally considered overhead.
• Marketing/Promotion costs : While the average " Trekkie " might mistakenly believe that any Star Trek live-action production sells itself, this is a viewpoint emphatically not shared by Paramount. In effect, the official standpoint taken by Paramount is to dismiss Trekdom altogether, deeming it too inconsequential, both in scope and in size, to warrant the consideration of any possible Star Trek live-action (both film and television) production development in and of itself. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager , pp. 139-140) Paramount therefore treats each Star Trek production as they would any other, each required to attract a renewed viewership, and each therefore warranting considerable promotional efforts. While a general overall promotion strategy might be devised before the start of a production, the nature and extent is usually fleshed out over the course of the production (if only for the fact that trailers and commercials have to wait for footage to have been actually shot), meaning that cost totals can not be determined with any measure of objectivity beforehand, therefore causing them to be subordinated under overhead for practicality. Traditionally, marketing costs are a substantial part of the overhead, having inflated considerably from the early 2000s onward; David Gerrold has reported that these costs for The Motion Picture were already estimated at US$10-$20 million, accounting for a third to half of over-production budget expenditures alone, which, for those times, was already exceptionally high. ( Starlog , issue 30, p. 37) To an extent, Paramount's stance has validated itself by the considerable success The Voyage Home , First Contact , and the first two alternate universe films in particular have enjoyed, as these attracted a viewership (though not necessarily new fans) that went well above and beyond traditional Trekdom alone, as was evidenced by their respective outlying box office takes. Even more apparent, but then at the opposite end of the spectrum, became the validity, when Paramount failed to attract renewed viewership for Star Trek Beyond ; While the film was in general favorably received by critics and traditional Trekdom alike, the mere fact that others – enjoying a plethora of other alternatives by that time, most notably those of the by-then relaunched Star Wars and the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe film franchises – failed to show up at the cinemas, made Beyond at that time the second all-time worst performing Star Trek film for Paramount in terms of profitability. This became a major consideration for the decision to cancel the fourth alternate universe film in early January 2019, reportedly because of relaunched Star Wars , thereby conceivably cancelling the entire alternate universe story line all together. [4]
• Sundry aka Unforeseen costs : While largely self-explanatory, these costs can also include actual production costs incurred after principal photography – traditionally seen as the "Production" stage of a film production – has finished, which were not foreseen when the production budget was calculated. For example, its visual effects sequences slated to be entirely produced with CGI, Star Trek: Insurrection was nearing completion in post-production when it was decided that for some key effects sequences the digital technique would not do, and that additional visual effects companies had to be brought in at the last minute to remedy the situation. Traditionally, the production budget is then not adjusted upward in these particular circumstances, with the additional expenditure booked as "unforeseen". Something similar had actually already occurred two decades earlier with The Motion Picture . When the February 1979 visual effects debacle took place after principal photography had wrapped, new effects companies had to be brought in by the studio at the eleventh hour to (re)produce these effects from scratch. In this specific case however, the studio decided to have the additional costs of approximately US$10 million included in its publicly divulged production budget as part of questionable studio politics, explaining the discrepancy between the official production budget listed above, and the widely propagated and best known one of US$45 million. (see: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues ) Reshooting scenes after-the-fact for which principal cast had to be recalled, also fall under this heading, as was the case with Generations and Insurrection .
• Corporate taxes : Self-explanatory.

The traditional Hollywood rule of thumb of determining the point when a motion picture production becomes net profitable for a studio, has been the application of a multiplier to the direct production budget, or as Gerrold has further explained, "(…) a film has to earn two to three times as much as it costs to make, before it breaks even . Otherwise, you have lost your shirt. " ( Starlog , issue 30, p. 37) Applying an average multiplier of 2.5 to the above listed figures, or achieving 250% of the production budget in box-office takes, reveal that two of the Star Trek films have barely broke even (unsurprisingly including The Final Frontier , but surprisingly the 2009 blockbuster outing as well), whereas the last two Next Generation films, as well as Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond have actually lost the studio money, substantial losses at that in the cases of Insurrection , Nemesis , and Beyond .

One obvious rationale for the lack of profitability of the alternate reality films lies in the circumstance that Paramount had, together with Warner Bros. in a US$60 million deal, partnered up with Bad Robot Productions in 2006 for the development of its motion picture projects, those of Star Trek included. [5] Therefore, in addition to the undisclosed, but undoubtedly hefty license fees Paramount had to pay franchise owner CBS Corporation, all income derived from the box offices takes needed now to be shared with a major co-producer as well, where there had been none before, cutting deeply in the gross profits. The fact that Bad Robot withdrew from the partnership in November 2018, was in effect one of the other major considerations for Paramount to cancel the fourth alternate reality film in January 2019. [6]

As a whole, the four decades old film franchise performance of all thirteen films combined yields the following, showing that the film franchise has been net profitable for the studio, albeit modestly so, mostly because of the alternate reality films as they involved he largest amount of money. When applying the 2.5 multiplier, an approximately 4.2% net return on investment remains, until the 2010s not even enough to cancel out inflation and then easily attainable by just putting your money safely away in a bank savings account. The studio therefore had to mostly rely on revenues stemming from other spin-off franchise elements in all forms and formats, such as television rights and merchandise, in order to show shareholders/investors a more healthy rate of return.

It is in this regard that another Paramount production deserves a mention, the 1997 eleven Academy Award winning Titanic , served by such Star Trek alumni as Robert Legato , Don Pennington , James Horner , and Tony Meininger . With a worldwide gross of US$2.2 billion – being the very first film in motion picture history to breach the two billion mark – against a production budget of US$200 million, it did achieve a (for the times) mind-boggling 1,100% gross profitability. This was especially astounding when the amount of money involved was considered, as that film alone, grossing the same amount as all thirteen Star Trek films combined, netted the studio US$1.7 billion in (net) profit, that is, in theory at least when discounting the below-mentioned " Hollywood accounting " phenomenon. [7] The film stands to this very day out as Paramount's biggest success in its entire history by far, as well as being universally considered as one of the motion picture industry's greatest triumphs for that matter. Like it had with The Motion Picture , the studio had staked its very continued existence on Titanic , in the process forced to seek out 20th Century Fox as a production production partner (see also: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues ).

Still, while the rationale behind the net profitability determining methodology is valid, the methodology itself has proven to be susceptible to figures manipulation, leading up to the infamous "Hollywood accounting" phenomenon, possibly explaining not only the apparent high profitability of The Wrath of Khan and Generations – an absolute rarity where "Hollywood accounting" is concerned as explained below – but also the recent and apparent lack of profitability of the alternate reality films. It should concurrently be noted that additional revenues, derived from later merchandise, television rights and home media sales, are traditionally discounted by Hollywood studios in their public performance assessments for a film, meaning that even loss generating productions have the potential to turn net profitable in the long run. However, the circumstance that Bad Robot had, through its many subsidiaries, negotiated a substantial say – and thus a part of the revenue stream – in the resultant merchandise, including the home media formats, meant that that potential had for Paramount been considerably diminished as well where the alternate reality films were concerned.

Hollywood accounting [ ]

" Hollywood accounting ", or " Hollywood bookkeeping " as it is also referred to, is a particularly nefarious phenomenon in the motion picture industry which entails that, simply put, production stakeholders, such as shareholders, actors, producers, writers, production companies, local governments, and the like, who have entered in a net profit sharing agreement with the studio, are essentially "defrauded" as much as possible out of their legally entitled shares by means of untoward bookkeeping methods. These methods typically entail inflating expenses such as production, distribution, and marketing (a very popular one with studios, as these, whether or not justified, have gone truly through the roof from the early 2000s onward), overhead and, most notoriously, the production budget "sundry costs" with as much elements as possible, not rarely utterly undue.

The industry phenomenon is to date deeply ingrained, widespread, persistent, and pervasive and by no means limited to Paramount Pictures or film productions alone, as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry found out to his detriment after he discovered he too was on the receiving end of this phenomenon when he signed both his 18 May 1965 Star Trek: The Original Series and 1978 The Motion Picture net profit sharing deals. " The greatest science fiction in show biz is in the accounting ", a chagrined Roddenberry declared when he ordered his attorney Leonard Maizlish to start legal proceedings against the studio in 1981, after being faced with the studio's emphatic assertions that he still was not entitled to his share of the profits since the Original Series was ostensibly still deeply "in the red", despite its wildly successful decade-long run in syndication . ( Starlog , issue 43, p. 14) A particularly notorious instance was, for example, Lucasfilm , who in 2009 still maintained that their 1983 third Star Wars installment, Return of the Jedi , "has never gone into profit", despite having earned a recorded US$475 million against a production budget of US$32.5 million (constituting a whopping 1,462% gross profitability, but while impressive, involving far less money than the above-mentioned Titanic ) by that point, shortchanging several actors who had unwisely entered into a net profit sharing agreement. [8]

Paramount itself got caught in the act when it was successfully sued by screen writer Art Buchwald (thereby succeeding where Maizlish, on behalf of Roddenberry, had seemingly failed seven years earlier) who found himself in a similar predicament in the case of Paramount's 1988 motion picture Coming to America (starring Eddie Murphy ), which grossed over ten times its budget of US$39 million. It was actually this case that brought the "Hollywood accounting" phenomenon to the full awareness of the general public. Finding itself highly scrutinized by the media at the time, Paramount was ultimately ordered by the courts to settle for US$900,000 in 1992. [9]

However, as it is still very much a gray area in corporate accounting law, it has, despite the adverse court ruling, not in the least deterred Paramount, or any other Hollywood studio for that matter, to continue with the practice unabated, to the point where it has become near-pandemic in the 2000s. Several Hollywood reporters have recorded that few, if any, of the biggest box-office successes of the past decades had, as of 2010, actually turned in an official net studio profit, that is, on paper at least. [10] [11] This actually made Hollywood studios one of the very worst properties to invest in, as many shareholders and third-party investors can now attest to. Despite a class-action brought against the entire industry before a Federal Court in 1996, [12] the financial gains apparently still far outweigh the costs of any possible legal litigation. The three alternate universe films, Star Trek , Into Darkness , and Beyond , for example, are officially reported as among the least profitable, even losing, Star Trek productions by Paramount, despite grossing close to US$1.2 billion dollar between the three of them, as specified above.

Stakeholders who still do enter into a profit sharing agreement have, however, learned the lessons of their unfortunate predecessors, and do so on the basis of gross profit (as indeed tax authorities have always done), instead of net profits, as gross profit is determined by only charging directly assignable production costs to the revenues under accounting laws. And indeed, creator Roddenberry himself did not repeat the mistakes he made back in 1965 and 1978, when he signed a profit sharing deal with Paramount in 1986 for Star Trek: The Next Generation , where it was stipulated that he was to receive 35% of the adjusted gross profits derived from the series. [13] (X)

Studios countered with transferring as much production unrelated expenditures to the (in)direct production costs as they possibly could get away with legally. Notorious in this respect is the transfer of the substantial executive bonuses, which, rightfully, should be paid from the net profits, to production overhead, from which regular salaries are paid. The even more savvy stakeholders will try to negotiate a gross revenue sharing, aka "box-office take", agreement, but this is, of course, vehemently opposed by Hollywood studios and is only reserved for the few very biggest and most powerful of the Hollywood stars, [14] such as Tom Cruise – who successfully reinitialized the Mission: Impossible franchise not only as the star, but as a co-producing company as well under which he receives his box-office takes [15] – and which Roddenberry was most certainly not.

In regard to the Star Trek films, it is known that Paramount has charged incurred costs for undeveloped film projects against either the production budget, the overhead, or both of subsequent films that were realized, most notably The Motion Picture and The Undiscovered Country . While the act is in itself not illegal, it is a practice not commonly followed in most other industries (the pharmaceutical industry standing out as a notorious exception) and actually debatable from a business economics point of view; research and development costs of projects that do not come to fruition are usually written off and are commonly charged against the balance sheets of corporations. This is a sound generally accepted accounting principle for businesses (as stated in any business economics textbook and where the principles are known under their acronym GAAP ) as it prevents unwarranted cost price inflation with undue elements – thereby avoiding pollution of pre-production viability assessments – for products that do come to fruition. Paramount's divergent actions therefore can be construed as an instance of Hollywood accounting.

The very rare positive – as in inflating the profitability instead of the costs – applications of Hollywood accounting by the studio executive echelons in the cases of The Wrath of Khan and Generations were motivated by internal studio politics. In the former case the goal was to convince the outside world that Gene Roddenberry was a complete and utter failure as a film producer after his dismal performance on The Motion Picture , so that the studio seemed justified to sideline the Star Trek creator for any future project once and for all, (See also in this regard: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues ) whereas the latter case was intended to convince shareholders and investors that the Next Generation film franchise would potentially be as succesfull, or even more so, as the Original Crew film franchise had been. Both instances of positive Hollywood accounting succeeded admirably in their intended goals.

The 2006 separation of the Star Trek television and film productions under two newly-formed independent holding companies, resulting in that Paramount Pictures, now a holding of (new) Viacom , had to pay licensing fees to newly-formed CBS Corporation in order to produce subsequent Star Trek (and Mission: Impossible [16] ) films, aggravated the situation. A closely guarded trade secret, the amount of the fees were now a newly-added part to the production budget/overhead which was not there previously, and might partly explain the apparent lack of net profitability of the three alternate universe films. Some critics have surmised that this had been part of the split considerations all along, somewhat supported by the fact that both new entities have remained under the ultimate ownership and control of holding conglomerate National Amusements (NAI), and to an extent implicitly conceded as such in actuality by NAI owner and CEO Sumner Redstone, who had expressed his desire to "unlock value" by boosting stock value – for the CBS shareholders that is, not for those of (new) Viacom/Paramount, where the licensing issue is concerned – and earning potential of the at the time faster growing soon-to-be "new" Viacom. [17] [18]

Incidentally, since NAI's core business is the operation of one of the largest chains of movie theaters in the USA, the fact that the costs they charged Paramount (which they own) for showing their productions appear in the Paramount's income statements as well, can also be construed as an instance of cost-price inflating Hollywood accounting.

In a November 2015 Wired article discussing the recent popularity of shared universe s on film, Paramount Motion Pictures Group president Marc Evans acknowledged the possibility of spin-off films. He said, " I often think about the areas of the Star Trek universe that haven’t been taken advantage of. Like, I’ll be ridiculous with you, but what would Star Trek: Zero Dark Thirty look like? Where is the SEAL Team Six of the Star Trek universe? That fascinates me. " [19]

On April 25, 2018, it was confirmed that two Star Trek films were in development. [20] However, on 10 January 2019, pursuant the dismal profitability performance of Beyond and a little over ten months later, Forbes magazine reported that the fourth , yet untitled, Kelvin -timeline film had been canceled, which in itself followed in the wake of earlier reports that main performers Chris Pine ( James T. Kirk ) and Chris Hemsworth ( George Kirk ) had all already withdrawn their commitments to the project. While not overtly evident at the time, this decision had for all intents and purposes all the hallmarks of the definitive termination of the Kelvin timeline in the Star Trek (film) franchise. [21] It conceivably entails for the time being the end of the Star Trek film franchise proper as well (even though the Quentin Tarantino Star Trek XV pitch was at the time still under consideration, though apparently no longer on the table due to Tarantino's withdrawal from the project in January 2020 [22] ), especially in light of the film franchise being virtually rendered insignificant by those from the Star Wars and Marvel Comics ones in particular, [23] and in light of the December 2019 " reunification " of he television, and film franchises under the consolidated end auspices of Secret Hideout , [24] after which Tarentino has indicated his disinclination to further pursue the project. [25] [26]

The cancellation of the fourth alternate reality film could have serious consequences for Paramount, but for production partner Bad Robot Productions in particular, at least where alternate reality Star Trek is concerned, as a production license of the kind extended to the studio and its partner usually includes a timetable clause in which a franchise-licensed production company is obligated to produce sequential franchise film outings within a preordained time-frame. When defaulting on the clause, the film production rights then automatically reverts to the licensor, in this case CBS Corporation (franchise owner as of 2006, then ViacomCBS from December 2019 to February 2022; now rebranded as Paramount Global ), who is then free to do with it as it wills. With the establishment of ViacomCBS in December 2019, and the resultant reunification of the two Star Trek franchises, this has indeed become the case, with the fate of the Kelvin timeline as expected hanging in the balance, it as of 2020 being under re-evalution of the new management. [27]

It is against this background that new plans, separate from the Tarantino project, for a fourteenth film were reported in November 2019, involving prospect Writer/Director Noah Hawley , [28] though by May 2020 it too has not evolved beyond the consideration stage, its development apparently stuck in limbo. [29]

• See Star Trek XV for further details.

It was in the same month that Beyond Performer/Writer Simon Pegg has expressed his personal suspicion that the end of not only the alternate reality, but also the entire film franchise proper had indeed come to pass, when he stated in an interview for Collider ,

"The fact is, the appeal of Star Trek is slightly more niche than the appeal of, say, the Marvel movies, which make huge amounts of money, and have this really, really broad appeal and they do very well. I think Star Trek is just a little bit more niche, so it isn’t gonna hit those kind of numbers. So yes, the obvious thing to do would be to not go for that massive spectacle, go for something a little bit more restrained in the vein of the original series. Yes, that would be a brilliant thing to do, and I’m sure it probably has been discussed… You specialize a little bit more. (… )Maybe TV is a better place for [Star Trek] now. Television has evolved so much. It’s become something which is very much a contemporary, a peer of cinema. It’s simply viewed in a different way. It isn’t a reduced scope anymore. You can still do masses of interesting things, and it can still look modern and not inexpensive. Maybe television is a better format for Star Trek. That’s where it started, you know." [30]

In this Pegg has joined the ranks of those who were already of similar mind, such as the Forbes editors who argued as early as November 2016, a mere three months after the Beyond premiere and its resultant box-office failure, " The thing that made [ Beyond ] most appealing to the fans, that it played like a smaller-scale 50th anniversary homage to the spirit and tone of the original show, was the thing that arguably doomed it in terms of blockbuster success. Star Trek Beyond was what its fans wanted it to be. There is value in that over the long run. But Paramount and friends need to realize that Star Trek is never going to be a Guardians of the Galaxy -level success and plan accordingly. " [31] [32]

In November 2020, Hawley intimated that his film was definitively off the table as well. In a 29 November 2020 interview to Deadline Hawley responded to a question about the status of the film, " It doesn’t appear to be in my immediate future. I think when Emma came in, she took a look at the franchise and wanted to go in a different direction with it. But you know, life is long, we were very close to production but in this business that doesn’t mean much. You got to get out of the gate to be in the race if you know what I mean. " [33] The "Emma" Hawley referred to concerned Emma Watts , a Paramount executive, who was pursuant the 2019 remerger of Paramount and CBS into ViacomCBS, appointed by National Amusements head Shari Redstone to appraise the status of the Star Trek live-action franchise, both film as well as television, for its (commercial) viability. [34] Hawley's words were in essence Hollywood-speak for the definitive cancellation of his Star Trek film. As to Watt's "different direction", nothing, save some vague rumors, has been made public, making it appear that the entire film franchise too is terminated for the time being – all this being in line with Pegg's assessment.

Cast and crew listings [ ]

• Credits for Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Credits for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Credits for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Credits for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Credits for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Credits for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Credits for Star Trek Generations
• Credits for Star Trek: First Contact
• Credits for Star Trek: Insurrection
• Credits for Star Trek Nemesis
• Credits for Star Trek
• Credits for Star Trek Into Darkness
• Credits for Star Trek Beyond

Background information [ ]

• There have been thirteen Star Trek cinematic features released between 1979 and 2016 . [35]
• Three films were produced by Harve Bennett (he was also an executive producer on one), while Rick Berman produced all four films featuring the cast of TNG .
• Nicholas Meyer , J.J. Abrams , Leonard Nimoy , and Jonathan Frakes each directed two of the films, with the latter two also appearing as co-stars in their respective roles as Spock and William T. Riker . One of the films ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier ) was directed by its lead actor, William Shatner , appearing as Kirk .
• Leonard Nimoy has made more appearances in the film series than any other principal cast member of any Star Trek series, appearing as Spock in the first six films together with an appearance in Star Trek and a brief cameo in Star Trek Into Darkness and his likeness is seen in Star Trek Beyond , as are those of his original cast mates. William Shatner, James Doohan , and Walter Koenig (Kirk, Scott , and Chekov ) all appear in the first seven consecutive films. Majel Barrett has also appeared in seven of the films, albeit playing different roles: she appears as Christine Chapel in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , and supplied her voice for the Enterprise computers in Star Trek Generations , Star Trek: First Contact , Star Trek: Insurrection , Star Trek Nemesis , and Star Trek .
• Michael Dorn is the only member of the TNG cast to appear in more than four of the films. He plays his familiar character Worf in all four TNG-based films and has a cameo as Worf's (presumed) ancestor in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .
• Owing to Worf's transfer onto the crew of DS9 prior to the events of Star Trek: First Contact , Dorn is technically the only DS9 cast member to appear in any of the films playing his usual character. Rene Auberjonois appears in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country playing a different character than his usual one on DS9; his scenes were cut for the film's original theatrical release but subsequently restored for the film's VHS, DVD, and Special Edition releases. Both Armin Shimerman and Max Grodenchik filmed scenes for Star Trek: Insurrection – the former as his familiar character Quark and the latter as an unnamed Trill Starfleet officer – but these scenes were cut from the film as released.
• Kate Mulgrew , Robert Picardo , Tim Russ , and Ethan Phillips are the only VOY cast members to appear in any of the films – Mulgrew plays her familiar character in Star Trek Nemesis , Picardo plays an EMH Mark I in Star Trek: First Contact , wherein Phillips also appears – uncredited, at his own request, as a different character. (Having never before appeared in a Trek production without heavy prosthetics, he thought it would be amusing to leave fans wondering if the holographic Human he played was or wasn't him.) Russ appears in Star Trek Generations as a Human USS Enterprise -B crewman.
• To date, no principal cast members from Star Trek: Enterprise have appeared in any of the films, although Peter Weller (who guest-starred in two episodes of that series) plays a major role in Star Trek Into Darkness .
• Between Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek , all the films were produced in tandem with one or more of the spin-off series. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were made during the run of TNG; production on Star Trek Generations began while the final episodes of TNG were being shot, and while DS9 was in production; Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection were both produced during the runs of DS9 and VOY, and Star Trek Nemesis was made while ENT was in production. Star Trek was the first since Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to be produced without any other Star Trek project in progress.
• Perhaps reflecting their popularity as an alien race, the Klingons appear more than any other throughout the series of films – they appear, or are mentioned, in twelve of the films released so far. No Klingon characters appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek or Star Trek Beyond , although the former two films depict the Kobayashi Maru scenario which features Klingon ships. Scenes featuring Klingon characters were shot but not included in Star Trek .

The odd number / even number phenomenon [ ]

• A number of Star Trek fans ( citation needed • edit ) have expressed the opinion that the even-numbered films are generally better than the odd-numbered ones. Such an appraisal is obviously subjective, but it has its roots in a number of factors. The even-numbered films (apart from Star Trek Nemesis ) have enjoyed relatively greater success at the box office and higher critical acclaim, as opposed to various lukewarm reviews received by the odd-numbered films (with the exception of Star Trek ). Fans and critics have also noted that, in their opinions, the even-numbered films are better paced and more action-packed, with more memorable story lines, eminently quotable scripts and exciting special effects. (The first two films are often held up as examples of this trend from the outset of the series: Star Trek: The Motion Picture has very few battle or dramatic action sequences, presenting Kirk and crew with a mostly cerebral challenge, while Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is dominated by epic conflict, resulting in several battle sequences and heavy damage to the Enterprise and its crew.)
• By the time the TNG films were being produced, the "odd/even" phenomenon was effectively regarded as a curse, with members of the production crew fearing that, despite their best efforts, future odd-numbered productions were fated to be less successful than even-numbered ones. Jonathan Frakes , when interviewed by Star Trek Monthly ( citation needed • edit ) during pre-production for Star Trek: Insurrection , commented that he was looking forward to directing his second film "even though it's an odd-numbered Star Trek ." In 2002, however, the phenomenon was broken by the release of Star Trek Nemesis , which experienced the lowest box-office takings of any Star Trek film to date and was poorly received by even long-standing fans. (Though to a few ( citation needed • edit ) , this became an even further joke – a Star Trek film which was a multiple of five was cursed to fail catastrophically, as Nemesis pulled in poor reviews and revenue in a similar fashion to The Final Frontier .)
• The phenomenon has seemingly been broken further by the critical success of Star Trek , which has obtained a 95% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , as well as an opening weekend gross of nearly twice the full run of Star Trek Nemesis . [36] Sam Hughes, of the website, "Things of Interest", has suggested that the addition of "Galaxy Quest," the affectionate parody of Star Trek released in 1999, between Insurrection and Nemesis , as the "good" Star Trek movie fixes the odd-even curse. [37]
• In a 1999 episode of the British sitcom Spaced , the phenomenon was mentioned by the series' lead character, Tim Bisley, who was played by Simon Pegg – an irony not lost on Pegg during and after his work on Star Trek .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [ ]

• Whereas the preceding live-action television series had open endings that allowed for continuation into motion picture format, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended quite firmly and conclusively, with all its various plotlines resolved and the departure of various main characters. Any subsequent film would therefore have required a significantly different premise and different casting, departing radically from the series' format which had been so familiar to its fan base. On the possibility of a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine film ever happening, Ira Steven Behr commented: " I don't think so. I think we could do a pretty kick-ass Deep Space Nine film, but not even in my wildest imaginations do I consider it ". He also commented " The only Trek I think about is Deep Space Nine , to be honest. If they did a Deep Space Nine film, I certainly would like to be involved if that ever happened, which I doubt ". [38]
• After the release of Star Trek: Insurrection , Patrick Stewart commented, " I think we should pass the mantle on to the Deep Space Nine characters. We don't want to become The Rolling Stones of the Star Trek films ". [39] [40]
• Andrew Robinson commented " My feeling is that there is never going to be a Deep Space Nine film, they still have more to go with The Next Generation . I think it (" What You Leave Behind ") was really the right way to end the series. [41]
• A campaign for a Deep Space Nine film (or a miniseries) was launched in 2000 by fans Stacy Powell and Doug Wilson. Nana Visitor was thrilled to hear of the existence of the campaign and J.G. Hertzler and David B. Levinson joked with fans to " take one of these [flyers], don't throw it away or I'll come after you. " [42] [43]
• Fans Terry Harris and Gisele La Roche also launched a petition for a Deep Space Nine film, receiving several positive responses from actors. [44] (X)
• Notwithstanding the foregoing, elements from the series have appeared in all TNG films. The Enterprise -D crew wore the uniforms which had been introduced on Deep Space Nine (in addition to their own series' uniforms) in Star Trek Generations ; the uniforms were also used on Star Trek: Voyager , which premiered several months after the film's release. The USS Defiant appears in the Battle of Sector 001 during Star Trek: First Contact , under the command of Worf ( Michael Dorn ), who had become a regular character on DS9 by that time; he also appears in Star Trek: Insurrection . Both Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis contain references to the Dominion War story arc from the series. For Star Trek: Insurrection , a scene was written and filmed involving an appearance by Armin Shimerman as Quark ; this was cut from the film, but a still from it can be found among the extras on the DVD release.
• In 1998, Rick Berman commented " There are a few more movies left in the Generations franchise and there's a good chance we'll see a Deep Space Nine film. What we'd like to do is introduce a few of the characters from Deep Space into the next Generations movie just to tease audiences. " [45]

Star Trek: Voyager / Star Trek: Enterprise [ ]

• The conclusive endings of both these series likewise indicate little or no probability of future films being based on them. During the run of Voyager , there was speculation among fans (via the internet and other media) that the series would end on a cliff-hanger, to be resolved in a theatrical motion picture, but the ultimate release of " Endgame " as the series finale proved that idea to be unfounded. The potential for continuation of the series has instead been explored in novels and fan-fiction.
• There is a gap of six years between " Terra Prime " and " These Are the Voyages... " which could serve as the setting of an ENT film, although the timeline position of Star Trek and its sequel suggests that this would be unlikely.
• Star Trek Nemesis features a cameo by Kate Mulgrew , reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Voyager and thus marking the only direct big-screen appearance of any character from that series. (An EMH Mark I , played by Robert Picardo , appears briefly in First Contact , but this is not exactly the same character as the holographic doctor in the series.)
• Nemesis also features a graphic containing a reference to a USS Archer , named after Captain Jonathan Archer , the main character in Enterprise .
• Additionally, Star Trek features a reference to "Admiral Archer 's prized beagle ", intended by the writers to be a reference to Jonathan Archer and his beagle Porthos . [46]
• A replica of Enterprise NX-01 appears in Star Trek Into Darkness , marking the first appearance of any element from that series on the big screen. Star Trek Beyond refers to Military Assault Command Operations personnel and the Xindi encounter from ENT's third season, as well as depicting an early Starfleet ship whose design resembles that of the NX starships seen in ENT.

Further reading [ ]

• "Rumblings: The Bottom line", David Gerrold , Starlog , issue 30, January 1980, pp. 37, 63

See also [ ]

• Film performers
• Film recurring characters
• Film directors
• VHS releases
• LaserDisc releases
• DVD releases
• Blu-ray releases
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

This Is The Correct Order In Which To Watch The Star Trek Franchise

Don't look now, but "Star Trek" is a thing again. It's been a while — after redefining television in the 1960s and enjoying a resurgence in the '80s and '90s, the final episode of ""Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2005 marked the beginning of a dark period in which there was simply no "Trek" to be had. Then, in 2017, the drought ended with the premiere of " "Star Trek: Discovery ," and when it rains, it pours. "Discovery" heralded the arrival of a whole new era of ""Star Trek," and that's just the beginning — Paramount+ will soon play host to two new "Star Trek" shows, with three more currently in development, and there's a new movie scheduled for release in 2023 . Suddenly, we are awash in "Trek," which means that if you're unfamiliar with Gene Roddenberry's universe, it's a pretty good time to jump on board. Only where do you start with a franchise this big — and more importantly, what's the proper watch order?

These are the questions we're here to answer. While it's tempting to try and watch "Star Trek" chronologically, using either the fictional timeline or release dates, we recommend an order that's a bit of a blend of both. Following this list should result in an experience that provides a complete picture of what "Star Trek" is while also remaining easy to binge. With that in mind (and with the understanding that a few spoilers are unavoidable ), it's time to boldly go where every previous "Star Trek" installment has gone before!

The Original Series

When you watch "Star Trek," you really need to begin at the beginning. Not with Enterprise, which is set earlier in the "Trek" timeline than any show, but with "Star Trek" — or as it's lovingly called these days, "The Original Series." This is the show that ran on NBC from 1966 to 1969, forever altering the television medium, the science fiction genre, and the experience of being a fan. While some viewers may find the special effects laughable or the political themes unsubtle, the most astonishing thing about "TOS" is how well it holds up, even more than 50 years later. The first two seasons, in particular, are absolutely riddled with classic episodes, and while the third season is significantly worse due to changes in the creative team, it's still fun to watch William Shatner ham it up as Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy raise a single Vulcan eyebrow as Mr. Spock, and the original Starship Enterprise soar through space. Most importantly, though, those first 79 episodes introduce rules, concepts, and even characters that "Star Trek" is still playing with today, from Class M planets and the Prime Directive to Khan and the Klingons.

The Animated Series

The unofficial fourth and fifth seasons of "Star Trek," "The Animated Series" aired on NBC from 1973 to 1974, after tempers had cooled somewhat between NBC and Roddenberry, who left "Star Trek" after its second season out of frustration with the network. Not only was the entire original cast back (minus Walter Koenig), but so was Roddenberry, and so was D.C. Fontana, Roddenberry's longtime assistant who had grown into one of the most celebrated "Trek" writers and had also departed after Season 2. Between the return of some of the show's original creative minds and cast, and the fact that animation allowed them to do so much more than live action special effects of the era, "TAS" is pure, undiluted "Star Trek."

It's never been made explicitly clear whether "TAS" is canon, but considering the number of "TAS" ideas re-used in later live-action shows, plus the introduction in "TAS" of canon pieces of backstory, like Kirk's middle name, it's silly at this point to believe otherwise. And it's required viewing for completists who want to see every televised adventure undertaken by the original Enterprise crew.

The first six films

"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" was released by Paramount in 1979, and while it's not an especially good film, it holds historical importance as the launching point for the "Star Trek" movie franchise. The real highlights in this part of the list, though, are the three films that followed. The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home essentially form their own trilogy of movies within the larger "Trek" saga, and are some of the most popular and critically acclaimed installments in the franchise. "The Wrath of Khan," in particular, tends to show up near the top of "best science fiction films in history" lists, making the titular Khan such an iconic villain that he was recast for the J.J. Abrams reboot movies, while "The Voyage Home" is probably the most charming "Star Trek" film, as the Enterprise travels to the past to rescue the humpback whale species from extinction.

Even the most dedicated binge-watcher can safely skip the horrendous fifth movie, "The Final Frontier," but "The Undiscovered Country" is an absolute masterpiece, and taken together, these six films provide a worthy capstone to the franchise's inaugural era.

It might seem counterintuitive to follow up the oldest "Star Trek" series with one of the newest, especially given that "Star Trek: Discovery" actually takes place prior to "The Original Series." But there's a good reason to jump from the tales of Kirk and Spock to the tales of Michael Burnham and...well, and Spock, who shows up in Season 2. "The Original Series" and its accompanying animated and film extensions are foundational to "Discovery," which is set shortly after the events of the rejected "Star Trek" pilot "The Cage." And characters from "The Cage" show up in Season 2 and are also appearing in their own spinoff, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

While an in-universe chronological watch order would put the first two seasons of "Discovery" before "TOS" and the third season at the very end (as the crew travels forward in time to the far future) it makes more sense to us to treat "Discovery" as its own story. The third season does occasionally reference "past" events from other shows, but that does lead nicely into the next "Trek" installment...

The Next Generation (Seasons 1-5)

For many Trekkies today, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was their introduction to the franchise, and for good reason. If any one series beyond the original can lay a claim to being the single most iconic "Star Trek" story, it's Next Generation, which premiered in 1987 and went on to not only have seven seasons of its own, but to jumpstart a chain of interlocking "Star Trek" shows that would thoroughly dominate the 1990s. Before that, though, the first five seasons of Next Generation stood alone, and if you're trying to get somebody instantly hooked on Trek, this might actually be the place to start, despite the fact that the first couple of seasons don't hold up incredibly well.

If you're absorbing all of "Star Trek," though, "Next Generation" has to be the place to start. After all, it's the next generation of what, exactly? The answer is the Starship Enterprise, which comes with an entirely new cast and crew, introducing the world to Worf, Data, Counselor Troi, and Geordi LaForge, and permanently branding the hearts of a thousand Trekkies with the image of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard .

The Next Generation (Season 6) / Deep Space Nine (Season 1)

Okay, this is where it gets weird. "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" debuted in January 1993, just a few months after "Next Generation" kicked off its sixth season — a season full of unmitigated classics, incidentally, from the return of Montgomery Scott in "Relics" to the legendary two-parter "Chain of Command." Picard even makes a cameo in the first episode of "DS9," which takes place aboard a space station and uses the ideas and events of earlier "Next Generation" episodes to inform characters like Commander Benjamin Sisko and Quark. It's essentially impossible to understand Sisko's backstory, for example, without first having seen the "Next Generation" episode "The Best of Both Worlds."

Despite the fact that they take place over roughly the same time period, we recommend watching the entirety of Season 6 of "Next Generation" followed by the entirety of Season 1 of "DS9," if for no other reason than the former has more episodes than the latter, making it a complicated process to intercut between them. But however you choose to do it, these two seasons really should be watched back to back.

The Next Generation (Season 7) / Deep Space Nine (Season 2)

Similarly, the second season of "DS9" coincides with the last "Next Generation" season. While it might lack the standout episodes of earlier seasons, Season 7 manages a few achievements. For one thing, it puts a bow on one of the most beloved shows in television history with a flourish, ending the program with an ambitious, timeline-jumping two-parter that ties directly into the events of the very first episode. It also inadvertently lays the groundwork for a much more modern "Trek" show with an episode about junior officers called "Lower Decks." But most importantly, it ties into and reinforces "Deep Space Nine," most notably in the penultimate episode "Preemptive Strike," which deals with concurrent "DS9" problems like the Cardassians and the Maquis.

By the end of Season 2, "DS9" has already proven capable of standing on its own, having picked up and ran with the Maquis threads from earlier "Next Generation" episodes, returned to the Mirror Universe first introduced in the original series, and introduced the Dominion and the Jem'Hadar, who will serve as the series' primary antagonists. But the stories of Picard and company were far from over...

Generations

The four feature films built around the cast of "Next Generation" are a direct continuation of the movies that came before, not least because the first one, 1994's "Generations," serves as a bridge between "TOS" and its descendant, and between Kirk and Picard, in about the most literal way you could imagine. This movie marks the final appearance of several characters from the original show, including Kirk himself (the one played by William Shatner, at any rate) which makes it a crucial piece of the "Star Trek" timeline, as does the introduction of Data's emotion chip. Of course, some might consider the movie worth it just to see Malcolm McDowell chew the scenery like he hasn't eaten in three days, and we can't say they're wrong.

"Generations" launched Picard's crew onto the big screen almost immediately after their exit from the small one, meaning they would continue to be the face of "Star Trek" for the remainder of the decade. But back in the realm of "Trek" TV, things were only heating up, as a new series prepared to take the field and challenge "DS9" for television dominance.

Deep Space Nine (Season 3) / Voyager (Season 1)

Once again, it's time to switch between two seasons of "Star Trek," as the third season of "DS9" overlaps with the debuting "Star Trek: Voyager." The first "Trek" series to feature a woman (Kathryn Janeway) in the captain's chair, "Voyager" also had a unique and fascinating premise. Much of the "DS9" action is driven by the existence of a nearby wormhole that leads to the Gamma Quadrant, a section of space far away from the Federation's native Alpha Quadrant. This allows the titular space station and its intrepid crew to encounter any number of new and dangerous alien species. "Voyager" goes even farther, literally — a solitary ship finds itself transported to the even more distant Delta Quadrant and spends the rest of the series trying to get home.

Due to this premise, there's no reason whatsoever to jump between individual episodes of these two seasons, as the events of one show don't affect the other in any way. But jumping between shows by the season provides a fun and accurate experience of what it was like to watch the interlocking "Star Trek" programs of the 1990s.

Deep Space Nine (Season 4) / Voyager (Season 2)

Like most "Star Trek" shows, "Voyager" takes a couple of seasons to find its feet, and Season 2 in particular contains some of its most notoriously bad episodes, from the tone-deaf Native American implications of "Tattoo" to Janeway and Voyager pilot Tom Paris turning into salamanders and having salamander babies together in "Threshold" to the utter abomination that is "Tuvix." At least it has the consideration to get them all out of the way early on.

"DS9," meanwhile, was encountering its own problems in Season 4, which took a sharp turn away from the burgeoning conflict with the Dominion and instead spent most of its time dealing with the newly antagonistic Klingon Empire. Fortunately, even as the overarching plot went briefly off the rails, the writing was getting better and better, and the diversion is, if nothing else, entertaining. As a bonus, Season 4 features one of television's first lesbian kisses, and also brings in Worf, the Klingon security officer from "Next Generation" — until Picard, Michael Dorn was the only actor to star in the main casts of two different "Star Trek" shows.

First Contact

As a result of his dual roles, Worf would spend the next several years hopping back and forth between television and the movies. One reason it's important to watch Season 4 of "DS9" prior to watching "First Contact," the second film starring the "Next Generation" cast, is because in order to include Worf in the story, the latter is obligated to include a scene in which the Enterprise rescues another ship called the Defiant, introduced in "DS9" and captained by Worf himself. Future "Next Generation" movies, which decline in quality moving forward, come up with increasingly hand-wavy reasons for his presence on the Enterprise bridge.

"First Contact" itself, however, is by far the best of the "Next Generation" films and one of the best "Star Trek" films in general, as the crew travels back in time to prevent the cybernetic hive mind known as the Borg from altering history. Not only is "First Contact" a great movie (and the film directorial debut of Jonathan Frakes, who plays Commander William Riker), it also kicks off a spectacular "Star Trek" run that can stand up against any other period in franchise history.

Deep Space Nine (Season 5) / Voyager (Season 3)

With Season 5, "DS9" gets back on track after the previous outlier season, quickly focusing around a single unified threat thanks to an alliance between the show's original antagonists the Cardassians and the Dominion. The presence of the sinister Changelings adds an intrigue element to the story, as any character could potentially be a Changeling in disguise — a concept that would be used to great effect years later in the 2004 reboot of "Battlestar Galactica." The season concludes with the official start of the Dominion War, a conflict that would dominate the remainder of the show.

"Voyager," meanwhile, was also getting back on track in its third season, which generally sees an uptick in quality — particularly toward the end, with episodes like "Before and After," "Real Life," and "Worst Case Scenario." Robert Picardo, who plays Voyager's holographic doctor, also gets to make a cameo in "DS9" as the Doctor's creator, Lewis Zimmerman, in the episode "Doctor Bashir, I presume." And Season 3 ends with the first installment of "Scorpion," which catalyzed "Voyager's" official rise to greatness in part thanks to a memorable new character.

Deep Space Nine (Season 6) / Voyager (Season 4)

These two overlapping seasons, airing in late 1997 and early 1998, represent the pinnacle of "Star Trek's" '90s golden age. In "DS9," the Dominion War is in full swing, the series' much-discussed religions themes are building in prominence, the mysterious Section 31 is introduced, foreshadowing its prominent role in both "Enterprise" and "Discovery," and most memorably, the showrunners do what almost no iteration of "Star Trek" has ever dared to do: permanently kill off a member of the main cast.

Casting changes are also a major part of Season 4 of "Voyager," which jettisons the little-loved character of Kes and officially introduces Seven of Nine , a liberated Borg drone played by Jeri Ryan who quickly joins the ranks of the franchise's most widely known characters. It's an oversimplification to suggest that the overall brilliance of Season 4 is the direct result of Ryan joining the cast, but no matter how much of it you attribute to her, it's a phenomenal season of television, filled from start to finish with some of the best "Voyager" episodes (and also "Retrospect," but we don't talk about that one).

Insurrection

It's not "First Contact," but 1998's "Insurrection" is still a pretty good "Next Generation" movie, another solid offering from Jonathan Frakes. While "Insurrection" doesn't interact much with the events of "DS9" or "Voyager," watching it at this point in the "Trek" timeline provides an overall context for the state of the Federation, which has been intermittently challenged, as the movie's primary villain points out, by the Borg, the Cardassians, and the Dominion. A sense of the Federation being assailed from all sides isn't strictly necessary for the film's story of familial betrayal on a planet that confers immortality, but it does make viewing it a more interesting experience (though again, the perfunctory inclusion of Worf simply because he's expected to be in "Next Generation" movies is potentially jarring for "DS9" fans who have become invested in his character development, which "Insurrection" largely ignores).

"Insurrection" is Frakes' last "Star Trek" movie as director (though he would later direct episodes of "Discovery" and "Picard") and marks the beginning of the end of the '90s "Trek" boom. There's still plenty of great "Trek" ahead, but the curve is now pointing down.

Deep Space Nine (Season 7) / Voyager (Season 5)

The final season of "DS9" represents one of the single greatest creative accomplishments in "Star Trek" history, as no "Trek" show to date has managed to stick such an ambitious and satisfying landing. In a unique move, the last 10 episodes of the season form a single, series-ending story, and the feature-length finale, "What You Leave Behind," is considered one of the greatest "Trek" episodes of all time. "DS9" had been great for at least two seasons prior to this one, but the success of Season 7 cemented it as a foremost jewel in the crown of the "Star Trek" franchise.

"Voyager," meanwhile, continued its stellar run of episodes, capping off a three-year rehabilitation effort that saw one of the franchise's shakiest shows become one of its best. It was good timing, too, because with "DS9" wrapping up ("What You Leave Behind" aired the week after the Season 5 "Voyager" finale, "Equinox"), Captain Janeway and her crew were suddenly the only starship in the galaxy. And you, intrepid binge-watcher, can finally stop switching between two different shows.

Voyager (Seasons 6-7)

Unlike "DS9," the final seasons of "Voyager" are not its best, though admittedly, after Seasons 4 and 5, that's a high bar to clear. Season 6 comes close with a steady stream of classics, introducing both the popular Holodeck scenario Fair Haven and the "Pathfinder" storyline that sees "Next Generation" vets Reginald Barclay and Deanna Troi join up as recurring characters. By Season 7, however, the quality of "Voyager" has begun to dip noticeably — the final season contains few memorable episodes and at least one extremely ill-conceived romantic subplot. It earns some redemption, however, with the two-part series finale "Endgame," which, whether you like it or not, at least fulfills the promise of the show's premise and comes to a definitive conclusion about whether the ship and its crew are ever getting back to the Alpha Quadrant. It's a moment that would have been easy to shy away from, and "Voyager" meets it head on.

"Endgame" aired in May 2001, and in retrospect, the title didn't only apply to "Voyager." The continuous story that "Star Trek" had been telling for the past 14 years over the course of three different shows and three different movies was over. There was, however, one last (incredibly depressing) chapter to get through.

The final "Next Generation" film, released in 2002, is by far the worst of them, and the worst "Star Trek" movie in general since 1989's "The Final Frontier." It was so bad, in fact, that it notoriously killed "Star Trek" — plans for a fifth "Next Generation" movie were scrapped after "Nemesis" bombed at the box office, and creatively, it's an absolute nightmare, introducing a Romulan sister planet with the unfortunate name of Remus, blatantly attempting to restart Data's entire character arc via a literal copy with the also unfortunate name of B-4, and tying these and other unfortunate decisions together with a nonsensical plot featuring Tom Hardy as a secret clone of Picard. After "Nemesis," the scuttling of future franchise installments can honestly be seen as a mercy killing.

"Star Trek" wasn't quite dead in 2002, however. While we've now officially made it through the combined stories of "Next Generation," "DS9," and "Voyager," there's one more show, independent from the others, that now enters the viewing order. And watching it involves going back to the very beginning... and even before that.

In a chronological viewing, "Star Trek: Enterprise" would actually be the first show you watch, since it takes place a hundred years prior to "The Cage." Indirectly spinning off from the events of "First Contact," it tells the story of Earth's first warp starship, appropriately named the Enterprise and captained by Scott Bakula's Jonathan Archer, and of humanity's early relationships with alien species like the Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans, and Andorians. Despite its status as a prequel, the sheer degree to which "Enterprise" relies on its audience having knowledge of other "Star Trek" properties makes it almost impossible to recommend as an entry point. It fits much better here, as the official end of the franchise's second major era, especially given that the final episode, "These Are The Voyages...," frames itself as a holodeck simulation being watched by the Enterprise crew from "Next Generation."

"There Are The Voyages..." aired on May 13th, 2005. There wouldn't be another "Star Trek" show for more than 12 years. At this point, our watch order breaks away from order of release, but we feel strongly that it's how "Star Trek" from 1987 to 2005 should be watched.

Lower Decks

If you think 12 years is a long gap between "Star Trek" installments, that's nothing compared to the 45 years that went by between "Trek" stories told via animation. "Short Treks" was technically the first "Trek" show since "The Animated Series" to include animated episodes, and that aired in 2019, but 2020 gave us the first season of "Lower Decks," an entirely animated show about the people who don't get to hang out on the bridge.

The first franchise installment to ever concern itself primarily with characters who are not in command of a starship or space station, "Lower Decks" is the "Star Trek" equivalent of shows like HBO's "Harley Quinn" — an irreverent, adult-oriented comedy that revels in its TV-MA rating, delivering violence, sex, and swearing at warp speed frequencies. Chronologically, it's set shortly after the events of "Nemesis," but more importantly to the binge-watcher, it's the dessert following a feast — a vital dose of pure fun after absorbing almost four full decades of space drama.

The Kelvin timeline

After the box office failure of "Nemesis" brought an abrupt end to the "Next Generation" movies, there wasn't a new "Trek" film until 2009. And far from being a continuation of the existing movie franchise, this new version, simply called "Star Trek," was a reboot of "The Original Series," casting new, younger versions of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the first Enterprise crew. Sequels to the reboot followed in 2013 and 2016.

Watching these three movies as part of a "Star Trek" binge is pretty much entirely optional, since they take place in an alternate timeline created when the USS Kelvin was destroyed in battle with time-traveling Romulan ship from the 24th century, leaving an infant James T. Kirk without a father in the process. Moreover, the trilogy is widely considered to be of uneven quality (though the third movie, "Star Trek Beyond," is considerably better than its predecessor, possibly due to the departure of director J.J. Abrams). Still, if you're going to watch them, this is the place in the viewing order to do it, as a key plot point of the first film — the Romulan sun going supernova — plays a major role in "Picard."

Short Treks

The Kelvin movies might not exert much direct influence over the larger plot of "Star Trek," but they played a major role in the future of the franchise by bringing in Alex Kurtzman. Kurtzman is the showrunner on "Discovery," and with the exception of "Lower Decks," he has been directly involved in every modern "Trek" series. In 2018, after the successful first season of "Discovery" led to a new expansion of the "Star Trek" franchise, Kurtzman and co-creator Bryan Fuller (formerly a writer on "DS9" and "Voyager") premiered "Short Treks," an anthology series of short, unrelated stories. As of this writing, there have been two seasons and 10 total episodes, some live-action, some animated.

"Short Treks" spans almost the entire "Star Trek" timeline — two episodes are set in the period of time between "Enterprise" and "The Original Series," while a third takes place in the far future. As a result, watching it requires a sense of the entire scope of the "Trek" universe. It's the penultimate entry in this watch order, however, because the Season 2 finale, "Children of Mars," leads directly into the final entry: "Picard."

"Star Trek: Picard" is the first of the modern "Trek" offerings to look forward rather than back, giving us a story set after the events of "Next Generation," "DS9," and "Voyager." Indeed, not only does the series follow up with Jean-Luc Picard 20 years after we last saw him (and 12 years after the Romulan sun went supernova) but it also brings in an older version of Seven of Nine, once again portrayed by Jeri Ryan. As mentioned, Picard also ties into the most recent installment of "Short Treks," which involves a terrorist attack by synthetic life forms that eventually leads to a ban on their creation — one of the many plot elements of "Picard" that has drawn criticism for being inconsistent with the original utopian vision of "Star Trek."

With so many new "Trek" shows on their way, this list will quickly become outdated. But all the upcoming series will reward previous "Trek" viewing, from Janeway's return on "Star Trek: Prodigy" to a show focused entirely on Section 31. So if you're going to binge all of "Star Trek," you might want to get started now!

Star Trek Movies in Order: How to Watch Chronologically and by Release Date

Through 13 films with various different crews, take a look at how to watch the Star Trek movie series in either release or chronological order.

Star Trek is back in a big way. The franchise is going strong on Paramount+ through new original TV shows , with the recent Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiering to positive reviews while Star Trek: Picard finished season two. Paramount also announced the long-awaited fourth Star Trek film in the recent series, which will see Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Karl Urban return to the franchise following a seven-year hiatus from Star Trek Beyond . The franchise is now arguably the most popular and readily available that it's been in its entire history, gaining new fans every day.

The Star Trek film series currently includes 13 films and spans multiple generations of different crews that weave in and out of the different series. They form one giant massive timeline that builds off one another to show humanity's future among the stars and the constantly changing relationship between various alien species. If the 13 films seem daunting, and you're not sure how everything relates, take a look at this list that details the Star Trek film series in chronological and release order.

Update November 23, 2023: This article has been updated with where each entry in the Star Trek film is currently streaming and more details on each film in the franchise.

Star Trek Movies In Chronological Order

Star trek: the motion picture.

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star trek iv: the voyage home, star trek v: the final frontier, star trek vi: the undiscovered country, star trek: generations, star trek: first contact, star trek: insurrection, star trek: nemesis, star trek into darkness, star trek beyond, star trek: the motion picture (1979).

Star Trek: The Motion Picture takes place in 2273, five years after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, and finds Kirk and his crew retaking control of the renovated Enterprise to investigate a mysterious cloud of energy that has destroyed Federation and Klingon ships. The movie was a massive hit, yet the critical reaction was more on the mixed side than Paramount expected. Even with how much money the studio put into it, bringing in Academy Award-winner Robert Wise to direct, the film was seen as a disappointment, yet has found a cult status and recently got the director's cut released in 4K .

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is available for streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star trek 2: the wrath of khan.

A massive time jump, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan takes place in 2285, 13 years after the events of the previous film and 18 years since the original series ended. This film is less a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and more to season one, episode 22, or 'Space Seed,' from the original series, which now finds that episode's villain, Khan, seeking revenge on Kirk for marooning him on Ceti Alpha V. The movie sees an older Kirk wrestling with his age, and in the ultimate sign of time moving forward, Kirk loses his old friend Spock when the Vulcan-human hybrid sacrifices his life to save the crew of the Enterprise.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan also serves as the first part in a three-movie story arc, often referred to by fans as The Genesis Trilogy (named after the Genesis device which becomes a key factor in the life/death cycle the three films explore), one that continues in the following two sequels. While not making as much money as the previous film, Wrath of Khan had a smaller budget, so the profits of the film were greater and the film helped relaunch the popularity of the franchise. It still remains arguably the most acclaimed film of the franchise.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Picking up shortly after the previous film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock takes place in 2285 and focuses on Kirk and the Enterprise Crew's attempt to resurrect Spock when they find out his spirit has been left inside Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, which involves stealing the Enterprise from the Federation. Meanwhile, the crew must contend with a Klingon crew led by Kurge (Christopher Lloyd) who seeks to steal information on the genesis device.

Star Trek 4: Why Chris Hemsworth Turned Down Returning to the Franchise

The movie resurrects Spock but also sees another beloved member of the crew perish: this time in the form of the Enterprise. While the ship will be rebuilt, this marks the final appearance of the ship that Kirk and his crew piloted since the original series. Another major plot point is the death of Kirk's son (who was established in the previous film), killed at the hands of Klingons, which will go on to inform Kirk's bias a few films later.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home picks up shortly after the previous film, with the Enterprise crew returning to Earth to face trial for stealing the Enterprise to resurrect Spock; however, they find the planet is in grave danger when a mysterious alien probe cannot communicate with any humpback whales. To save the Earth, the crew travels back in time to 1986 (the release date of the film) to try to find a group of whales to bring back to the future. The movie concludes the Genesis Trilogy, and due to its fish out of water aspect was a massive success even outside the Star Trek fanbase, grossing more than both previous entries.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Set in 2287, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier focuses on the exploits of the Enterprise-A (the new ship that replaces the destroyed Enterprise) as they confront a renegade Vulcan who is attempting to search for God at the center of the universe. While opening big, the film had massive drop-offs in the following weeks due to poor word of mouth and competition from other summer movies like Ghostbusters II and Batman. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier almost killed the franchise for many, but the studio wanted to give the classic crew of the original series one final and proper goodbye.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Released in 1991, 35 years after the premiere of Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was to give the original cast their proper goodbyes. The movie is set in 2293, which makes it 24 years after the events of the original series. The Undiscovered Country acts as the end of the Cold War, but in space, the destruction of the Klingon moon, Praxis, leads the Klingon Empire to pursue peace with their longtime adversary, the Federation. However, a military conspiracy threatens to destroy the potential peace as Kirk is framed for a crime based on his prejudice towards Klingons for killing his son in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

Every Star Trek TV Series, Ranked

The movie ends as a proper conclusion to the original Star Trek series, as the two iconic foes of the Klingons and Federation have now found peace. With the Enterprise set to be decommissioned, Kirk and his crew take one final trip on the ship with the final mission log so that new crews, new ships and more will carry on their legacy, commenting on the future laid out in Star Trek series like The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager .

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

A passing of the torch film between the crew of the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Generations is the iconic meeting between the two captains, Kirk and Picard . The movie's prologue is set in 2293, shortly after the events of Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home, while the main action of the film is 2371, 78 years later and one year after Star Trek: The Next Generation .

The movie marks the final adventure for William Shatner's incarnation of James Kirk, and while it will not be the last time the character appears thanks to the reboot, it serves as a true end for the original series and full acknowledgment of Star Trek: The Next Generation being the face of the franchise for the 1990s.

Star Trek: Generations is available for streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Set two years after the previous film in 2273, Star Trek: First Contact sees The Borg as the film's primary villain and follows the crew of the Enterprise-D as they pursue the villainous species back in time, with the Borg's primary objective to take over in the past. The film borrows the time travel element of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and primarily is set on April 4, 2023, which is the day before Earth makes contact with alien life and begins the steps for the Federation of Planets to form, thanks to the work of Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), whose first successful warp drive creation draws the attention of the Vulcans.

Thanks to a heavy marketing push, Star Trek: First Contact was a major box office hit and also received positive reviews from critics, and until the release of 2009's Star Trek, was the best-performing film of the franchise internationally. Fans all over the world now celebrate April 5th as First Contact Day .

Star Trek: First Contact is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

In 2375, Star Trek: Insurrection sees the crew of the Enterprise-D rebel against Starfleet when they discover a conspiracy involving two alien species. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many claiming it lacked the scope of a movie and felt more like an extended episode of television.

The events of Star Trek: Insurrection are taking place around the time of both Star Trek: Voyager and at the end of the story for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and while there are no major references to the events of the series or vice versa, it does show how big the franchise was at this point in time but also how the overexposure and years of continuity were starting to hamper it.

Star Trek: Insurrection is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek: Nemesis takes place in 2379, meaning it is nine years after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation and 110 years since the end of the original series. Star Trek: Nemesis sees a clone of Picard (Tom Hardy, in his first movie), created by Romulans, take control of the Romulan Empire and seek war with the Federation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Characters, Ranked in Order of Awesomeness

The film received poor reviews from critics and was a box office bomb , becoming the lowest-grossing Star Trek film ever and was beaten out in its opening weekend box office by Maid in Manhattan . Combine that with competition from huge movies like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Die Another Day, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers during the holiday season, and Star Trek: Nemesis was dead on arrival, marking the final adventure for the crew of The Next Generation until the release of Star Trek: Picard . The film's box office disappointment, combined with the cancelation of Star Trek: Enterprise three years, later marked a quiet point in the franchise , where it would take a big swing to bring the series back.

Star Trek: Nemesis is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek (2009)

Marketed as a prequel, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is much more. It does show the origins of the original series cast but does so by taking place in an alternate reality that is kicked into motion by Spock from the original series traveling through a wormhole from 2387 (ten years after Star Trek: Nemesis ) that causes the timeline to split. So Star Trek is both a reboot, a prequel, and a sequel, as the events in Star Trek: The Original Series and all the following films need to happen to get Spock into a place to go back and time and create a new timeline, which will be called the Kelvin Timeline after the USS Kelvin, which is the ship at the center of the timeline divergence in 2233.

The great J.J. Abrams movie tells the story of how the crew of the Enterprise comes together, primarily taking place from 2258 to 2259, meaning that by the end of the film, when Kirk takes control of the Enterprise, it is earlier than the original timeline. The film was a surprisingly big success, grossing $386 million and becoming the highest-scoring Star Trek film on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition to the polished production and great effects, the excellent work of the cast was largely responsible for this; as Ty Burr writes in The Boston Globe :

What lifts the Abrams film into the ether is the rightness of its casting and playing, from Saldana's Uhura, finally a major character after all these years, to Urban's loyal, dyspeptic McCoy, to Simon Pegg's grandly comic Scotty, the movie's most radical reimagining of a Star Trek regular.

Star Trek is available for streaming on Hulu and Paramount+.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

With a new timeline in place, Star Trek Into Darkness sees the crew of the Enterprise encounter Khan years earlier, as the destruction of Vulcan causes the Federation to explore space and find Khan and his crew about eight years earlier than the original timeline. Star Trek Into Darkness takes place one year after the 2009 Star Trek , meaning it is 2259. With Khan awakened earlier, and the butterfly effect nature of the timeline is rewritten, Kirk meets Carol Marcus (the mother of his child in the original timeline) earlier, and instead of Spock dying, it is Kirk. Yet Kirk is able to be resurrected much quicker than Spock.

The film ends with Kirk, Spock, and the crew on a rebuilt Enterprise ready to begin their five-year mission, and it is revealed they were waiting a year, meaning, that the five-year mission begins in 2260, six years before the original series. The modern-day cast of these Star Trek movies continues to excel, and the inclusion of a great Benedict Cumberbatch performance as Khan is a highlight.

Star Trek Into Darkness is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The final film released so far in the Star Trek film series, Star Trek Beyond, is set three years into the Enterprise's five-year mission (a meta-joke about how the original series lasted three seasons). The movie finds Kirk and his Enterprise crew on an unexplored planet, encountering a hostile alien who has ties to the Federation.

Released to tie in with the 50th anniversary of the franchise, Star Trek Beyond serves as the perfect conclusion to the film series so far. When the Spock from the original timeline dies, he leaves the current Spock some of his belongings, which includes a photo of the crew from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Seeing the life his alternate timeline version had, inspires this version to stay with his crew on a rebuilt Enterprise (this universe's version of Enterprise-A) to continue the adventure in a recently announced fourth film , whose production seems to be encountering several setbacks .

Star Trek Beyond is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek Films In Release Order

Unlike Star Wars , The MCU, or the X-Men movie series , the release order of Star Trek is the same as the chronological viewing order, making it a straightforward viewing experience. Historically, Star Trek has been a winter franchise, finding great success during the holiday weekends around Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, in recent years, all three Kelvin timeline films were summer releases.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

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 pl... Read all 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. 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.

• J.J. Abrams
• Roberto Orci
• Alex Kurtzman
• Gene Roddenberry
• Zachary Quinto
• 1.6K User reviews
• 532 Critic reviews
• 82 Metascore
• 27 wins & 95 nominations total

• Spock Prime

• (as Zoë Saldana)

• Amanda Grayson

• George Kirk

• Winona Kirk

• Captain Robau

• Officer Pitts
• (as Antonio Elias)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Simon Pegg did not audition for the role - he simply received an email from J.J. Abrams asking if he would like to play Scotty. Pegg said he would have done this for free, or even paid Abrams to be in this film, if he had not been offered a role.
• Goofs After Spock boards the Vulcan ship on board the mining vessel, Kirk is seen walking through some pipes. His Starfleet phaser has switched to a Romulan gun (longer barrel and no lights), before switching back to the Starfleet one again in the next scene. He actually acquires the Romulan gun a few scenes later.

Spock Prime : James T. Kirk!

James T. Kirk : Excuse me?

Spock Prime : How did you find me?

James T. Kirk : Whoa... how do you know my name?

Spock Prime : I have been and always shall be your friend.

James T. Kirk : Wha...

[shakes head]

James T. Kirk : Uh... look... I-I don't know you.

Spock Prime : I am Spock.

James T. Kirk : Bullshit.

• Crazy credits The first part of the closing credits is styled after the opening credits of Star Trek (1966) , where the starship Enterprise blasts off into space as a monologue describes its mission, and then the cast names appear as the famous "Star Trek" theme music plays.
• Connections Edited into De wereld draait door: Episode #4.157 (2009)
• Soundtracks Theme from 'Star Trek' TV Series Written by Alexander Courage & Gene Roddenberry

User reviews 1.6K

• May 23, 2011
• If this premise is that an alternate timeline created when Nero traveled back in time, then what happened to James Kirk's older brother, Sam, aka George Samuel Kirk Jr.?
• How can Spock's mother still be alive years later (original series) when she dies earlier on in this movie ?
• What is Star Trek about?
• May 8, 2009 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Star Trek: The Future Begins
• Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA (Vulcan)
• Paramount Pictures
• Spyglass Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $150,000,000 (estimated)
• $257,730,019
• $75,204,289
• May 10, 2009
• $385,681,768

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• 2.35 : 1 (original ratio)
• 2.39 : 1 (original ratio)

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All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Star Trek (2009) is back in theaters for Rotten Tomatoes’ 25th anniversary screening series at AMC — get tickets now !

We’re boldly ranking the Star Trek movies by Tomatometer, from the original film series (1979’s The Motion Picture to The Undiscovered Country ), into the handoff to films featuring the Next Generation cast ( Generations to Nemesis ), and through to the reboot series (2009’s Trek to Beyond ). – Alex Vo

Star Trek (2009) 94%

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) 93%

Star Trek Beyond (2016) 86%

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) 87%

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 84%

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) 83%

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) 82%

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) 78%

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 55%

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) 53%

Star Trek Generations (1994) 48%

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) 38%

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) 21%

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How to Watch Every Star Trek Series (and Movie) in the Right Order

Ready for a rewatch but not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered.

Have you ever wondered what the best way is to stream Star Trek from start to finish? Look no further.

Approaching the chronological watch of a franchise that’s been on over fifty years can be daunting. Especially with a science-fiction universe that has time travel, multiple universes, concurrent shows and entirely new timelines.

Fear not, as we have created a handy binge-watch guide using the Stardate of each series and film. Here is our guide on how to watch every Star Trek series and movie in the right order.

Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

As a media phenomenon, "Star Trek" began on September 8, 1966 with the airing of "The Man Trap" (the sixth episode in production order, but the first aired). Originally, the show's writers, including creator Gene Roddenberry, used the concept of "stardates" to ensure the show's actual timeline was left vague; for several episodes, all audiences knew was that "Trek" was set in the future and that the future was a pretty keen place. It wouldn't be until the episode "The Naked Time" (seventh episode produced, fourth aired, first aired on September 29, 1966) that the Gregorian year would be mentioned out loud, and an actual timeline could begin to be constructed. 

Since then, "Star Trek" has extrapolated an extensive, centuries long timeline of events, often skipping merrily back and forth through the centuries, adding more and more to the franchises complex chronology. The chronology of "Star Trek" is so complicated that entire books have been published tracking the various shows' and films' events. Because of the constant production of new "Star Trek," these books became dated immediately. 

" Star Trek: Strange New Worlds " is set to debut on Paramount+ on May 5, and it is set immediately before the events of the original "Star Trek," making it the third "prequel" series to the original. To keep matters as clear as possible, here is a (very brief, by the standards of "Trek") rundown of "Star Trek" chronology from within its own canon. 

NOTE : This list will not necessarily include single episodes wherein characters go back in time, but give an overall timeframe for each individual film and TV show.

1986: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Although beginning and ending within the proper chronology of the "Star Trek" future, Leonard Nimoy's 1986 feature film " Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home " is set largely in the earliest point in the franchise's timeline (again, excluding single time travel episodes of any given TV series, wherein Mark Twain, the 1950s, and other eras are regularly visited). In the film, the crew of the Enterprise must go back in time to rescue a pair of humpback whales from extinction in order to appease an enormous, inscrutable space monolith that has been draining future Earth of its oceans, looking for its own kind. 

The bulk of "Voyage Home" takes place in 1986, and the film gained a lot of critical and audience attention for its fish-out-of-water humor and light tone; the previous three films had been comparatively dour, downbeat, or cerebral.

2024: Star Trek: Picard (Season 2)

As of this writing, the second season of "Star Trek: Picard" is still being released weekly on Paramount+, so the ultimate conclusion of the story is as yet unknown. 

What is known is that the trickster god Q (John De Lancie), a playful villain from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," visited an elderly Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to warn him of a parallel universe. In this parallel universe, Earth is a genocidal conqueror race that has wiped out most life in the galaxy. Picard must travel back in time, paralleling the story of "Voyage Home" in order to stop the fascist timeline from starting. Thanks to the limited information they have, they travel to the year 2024, and the bulk of the season's action takes place there. 

A bit of a continuity error already: In previously mentioned "Trek" canon, the Eugenics Wars — the conflagration that wrought Khan from "Star Trek II" — should have already happened by 2024 (I believe the original date for the Eugenics Wars was 1997), but, in "Picard," they had clearly been delayed. One of the subplots of the second season of "Picard,' however, involves a malevolent genetic engineer, so it looks like the Eugenics Wars may finally be nigh.

2063: Star Trek: First Contact

Although never directly filmed, there are constant references throughout "Star Trek" to World War III, an event that left the entire planet devastated. Despite destitution and technological ruin, an inventor named Zefram Cochran managed to invent an engine that allowed humanity to travel faster than light. This technology, when being tested for the first time in the solar system, attracted the attention of some Vulcans who just happened to be passing by. This was the First Contact mentioned in the title of the 1996 film " Star Trek: First Contact ." 

In that film, the characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" travel back in time to foil a plot by a malevolent species of cyborgs called The Borg, and find themselves in the year A.D. 2063 where they could witness First Contact themselves. This was the event that essentially kicked off creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of a peaceful future. In meeting intelligent space aliens, a hobbled humanity learned that war was churlish, and that unity as a species was preferable in the face of a suddenly occupied cosmos. 

"First Contact" is essentially the "Star Trek" origin story.

2151 - 2155: Star Trek: Enterprise

After first talking to Vulcans, humans were eager to take to the stars and join the galactic community. The conceit of the 2001 TV series " Star Trek: Enterpris e" (originally just called "Enterprise") was that the Vulcans, seeing how illogical and roughhewn humanity still was, encouraged them to stay on Earth for nearly a century before actually taking to the stars. In that century, humanity rebuilt, formed a Starfleet, and constructed its very first long-mission starship, the U.S.S. Enterprise NX-01. The show is about the adventures of the very first humans in space, circa A.D. 2151.

"Enterprise" took place before a lot of established "Trek" tech had been invented. There were transporters, but they weren't entirely safe for use on humans. There were no shields around the ship. There were no food replicators, and the Enterprise required a galley. Most notably, there wasn't a Prime Directive yet, so a lot of mistakes are bound to be made. It wouldn't be until 2161 — according to ancillary revelations — that the Federation would be formed. 

2254: The Cage

The unused "Star Trek" pilot has probably gained more canonical traction than any other unused footage from any other work of filmed fiction. "The Cage" didn't air in its complete form until 1986, 20 years after its making. Previously, footage from "The Cage" was incorporated into a two-part "Star Trek" episode called "The Menagerie" (November of 1966). 

In the pilot, we first meet Capt. Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his ship the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. We were first introduced to Spock as well, although Spock would be the only character carried over into the second pilot that was eventually used. Majel Barrett played the Enterprise's first officer in "The Cage," and she would go on to play multiple other roles throughout "Star Trek," including Nurse Chapel, M'Ress, Lwaxana Troi, and the voice of the ship's computer. 

The events of "The Cage" would also be revisited in the second season of "Star Trek: Discovery."

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

Another cataclysm that had been mentioned multiple times throughout "Star Trek" was a war between the Klingons and the Federation. The first season of "Star Trek: Discovery," which debuted on CBS All Access (now Paramount+) in November of 2017, dramatized those events explicitly, as seen through the eyes of the U.S.S. Discovery. This new ship was a science vessel that had figured out a way to tap into a galaxy-wide network of near-undetectable, microscopic spores into order to teleport anywhere in the galaxy instantaneously. 

After surviving the Klingon war, the Discovery teamed up with the U.S.S. Enterprise while it was still being captained by Christopher Pike (now played by Anson Mount), putting the events of "Discovery" immediately after the original pilot. There were a lot — and I mean a LOT — of narrative excuses as to why the high-tech Discovery (realized with late-2010s special effects) didn't match the boxier, monochromatic world of "The Cage." 

The show's writers also needed to come up with an organic reason why a ship that can teleport — a technology that would have fundamentally changed the world of "Star Trek" — was never mentioned in any of the "Trek" shows made from 1966 until 2017. As such, at the end of the second season of "Discovery," the ship was thrown almost 1,000 years into the future in order to outrun an insidious computer intelligence that would spread throughout the galaxy if knowledge of it was passed around. As such, the Discovery more or less deleted itself from existence. As panicked, narrative ass-saving measures go, it's a 7.

2258: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The appearance of Capt. Pike on "Discovery" was so well-received that Paramount+ elected to go back to the Enterprise, bring back the characters from "The Cage," lump in a few familiar faces from the 1966 "Star Trek," and make " Strange New Worlds ," a series that takes place only eight years prior to the events of the original TV series. 

"Strange New Worlds" brings back Anson Mount as Pike, as well as a young Spock, a very young Uhura, a young Nurse Chapel, one of Khan's ancestors, and Dr. M'Benga, who showed up in a few episodes if the 1966 show. It also, notably, will not have season-long story arcs, but a single-hour episodic structure, standing in contrast with most of the other Paramount+-era "Star Treks," with "Lower Decks" being the proud exception.

2258 (KELVIN): Star Trek (2009)

Thanks to "Star Trek," the notion of parallel universes is quite well-known to the public. Incidentally, it's been quite odd watching the films and TV shows in the Marvel universe slow-walk the notion of a multiverse over the course of multiple installments when we've already seen Spock with a goatee. 

Thanks to complicated studio politics, there was a split in Paramount in the mid-2000s, and the Paramount side of the schism — when wanting to make a new "Star Trek" feature film — was legally required to make something distinguishable from the TV shows. Enter J.J. Abrams and his 2009 feature film " Star Trek " which takes place at the same time as "Strange New Worlds," but in a parallel universe where the characters from the 1966 show now look like a new cast, the Enterprise looks brighter and sleeker, and everything is more intense and action-packed. 

This new timeline would be created when a villain went back in time interfered with James T. Kirk right when he was born.

2259 (KELVIN): Star Trek Into Darkness

Although taking place far before the events of 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," J.J. Abrams' " Star Trek Into Darkness " (2013) drew a lot of story parallels to the Nicholas Meyer film. Taking place almost immediately after the 2009 film, "Into Darkness" involved the character of Khan who, in the timeline of the 1966 series, wouldn't be resurrected from cryogenic sleep for a few years hence. In "Into Darkness," he was awakened early, became involved in a plot to smuggle other cryogenically frozen compatriots. 

Originally, the Eugenics Wars were meant to have started in the 1990s, but — as "Star Trek" persisted, and the '90s came and went in the real world — that timeline had to be altered several times. The timeline of the Eugenics Wars in "Into Darkness" are a little unclear. As we saw above in "Star Trek: Picard," we know that they'll now take place sometime after 2024.

2263 (KELVIN): Star Trek Beyond

In Justin Lin's " Star Trek Beyond " (2016), Kirk (Chris Pine) laments that his adventures have already become episodic. It's unusual that the 2009 film and the 2013 sequel are essentially origin stories about the young Kirk coming into his own, and "Beyond" skips ahead to the point where he's already tired of being on "Star Trek." We missed the actual "five year mission" part!

Another interesting wrinkle in "Beyond" is that it alludes to a time somewhere after "Star Trek: Enterprise": The evil Kroll (Idris Elba) was, in fact, a human captain named Edison who led his own starship in the "Enterprise" era. Before the film, he was mutated into an evil alien. "Beyond," in explicitly mentioning the Xindi wars and other events from "Enterprise," anchors the Kelvin films a little more solidly into the "Trek" timeline.

2265 - 2269: Star Trek

After "The Cage" was abandoned by Paramount, the studio and Gene Roddenberry reworked the show into the 1966 program we all know and love. As mentioned, Spock was the only character carried over from the original pilot, and "Star Trek" now featured William Shatner as Captain Kirk and a host of new characters besides. "Star Trek" began as a horror show — there are many monsters and scare moments in the first season — eventually tackling ethical issues in a sci-fi fantasy context. 

"Star Trek" ran for three seasons, ending its initial run on June 3, 1969. Thanks to the gods of syndication, "Star Trek" would remain in reruns for the following decade, building up interest, spawning Trek conventions, and allowing the show to grow into a full-blown cultural phenomenon.

2269 - 2270: Star Trek: The Animated Series

In the opening credits of " Star Trek ," Shatner brazenly informed the audiences that the U.S.S. Enterprise was on a five-year mission. Given that the show was canned after only three years, there was more mission left to witness. In 1973, Roddenberry teamed up with Filmation to make an animated "Star Trek" series that would, by dint of its two seasons, ostensibly complete the five-year mission. Chekov (Walter Koenig) was absent from this show, but other unusual aliens took his place, including a cat woman named M'Ress and Mr. Aryx, a being with three arms. The animated format allowed for wilder ideas, aliens, and ships to be employed, and there are stories featuring flying serpents, aliens made of plants, an undersea episode, and a story with a 50-foot Spock. 

This 1973 version of "Star Trek," in only running 30 minutes per episode, cut out a lot of extraneous character moments from the traditional "Trek" structure, and got straight to the story. It's a far more efficient show than the 1966 program, and it has a passionate following of fans. 

2273: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The decade of syndication, "Trek" conventions, and the financial success of George Lucas' sci-fi serial epic " Star Wars " in 1977 led Paramount to start thinking about restarting "Star Trek" on TV. A project was put into production that was to be called "Star Trek Phase II," and would have reunited several familiar "Trek" characters as well as introduce some new ones. For various reasons, "Phase II" was abandoned and elements of it were transformed into what would become the 1979 theatrical release " Star Trek: The Motion Picture ."

If all you had prior to "The Motion Picture" was a failed, low-budget TV show and a little-regarded animated series, this movie would feel grand in ways that you couldn't previously imagine. A lot of time was devoted to the size of the Enterprise, the importance of the characters, and mind-bending notions about the unending vastness of the cosmos. Here was a "Star Trek" film that is often compared to 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Good gracious was it enormous. 

"The Motion Picture" was successful enough to warrant a sequel, but not so successful that Roddenberry was welcomed back. Remember that detail when we get to "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

2285: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

2285 was a significant year. In the events of Nicholas Meyer's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982), a thawed out Khan — the version played by Ricardo Montalbán from the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Space Seed," not the version played by Benedict Cumberbatch in "Star Trek Into Darkness" — hijacked a starship called the U.S.S. Reliant and set out on a mission of revenge against Admiral Kirk. The good admiral, we find, had forgotten about a lot of irresponsible actions taken in his past and had to face them head on just as he was looking down the barrel of old age. "Star Trek II" didn't end well for Kirk or for Spock. In that film, Spock famously dies. 

Not wasting any time, however, Kirk and co. sprang back into action in Leonard Nimoy's " Star Trek III: The Search for Spock " (1984), which picks up immediately after "Khan" ended. Thanks to the fineries of Vulcan psychic powers, and a high tech radiation wave that can generate life out of nothing, Spock could potentially be resurrected, and Kirk hijacks the Enterprise in order to help a friend. In so doing, Kirk destroys the ship, rouses the ire of some Klingons, loses his son (killed by said Klingons), and possibly destroys his career in Starfleet. Oops. 

Perhaps one of the reasons "Star Trek IV" (which began in 2286) was so popular was that it was the first "Trek" film to end on a wholly positive note. 

2287: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Often cited as the worst of the "Trek" movies, William Shatner's "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989) starts with a promising concept, but was undone by a bad script hastily written during a strike, and a repeatedly cut FX budget. The film ultimately feels flimsy and ill-considered, not able to truly confront the interesting ideas it brings up. Shatner has apologized for the poor quality of his film, which was fraught with production troubles.

In "Frontier," a newly-built Enterprise is hijacked by Spock's half-brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), who is leading a cult of brainwashed followers, freed from pain by their leader's psychic powers. He seeks a mysterious planet at the center of the galaxy where he believes God physically lives. The final frontier of the title is not space, but the soul, religion, or spirituality. Many "Trek" purists will point out that seeking the center of the galaxy, and finding a deity there, is similar to an Animated Series episode called "The Magicks of Megas-Tu," wherein Kirk found the planet at the center of the galaxy is actually home to Satan. 

Note : "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" is far better than "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."

2293: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Made after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nicholas Meyer's " Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country " (1991) was very clearly a metaphor for the end of the Cold War. In it, the Klingon Empire is crippled by the accidental explosion of one of their moons, leaving the entire government requiring Federation help. "Country" is about how difficult it is to give up being enemies, especially when so much of one's identity is tied in with hate. There's an assassination, a investigation, a trial, a prison break ... It's one of the best "Trek" movies. 

One might glean from the title of the previous film in the series that the entire Kirk era was meant to end with "The Final Frontier." One might also glean that the poor reception and bad box office of "Final Frontier" led to one last go 'round. Fans may be relieved that the final feature film in the Kirk era was actually, y'know, a good one.

2364 - 2370: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Throughout the 1970s, Gene Roddenberry made tours on the convention circuit, talking about his vision for "Star Trek," and interacting with fans who were inspired by the peace, diplomacy, and calm that "Star Trek" has written into its DNA. Looking back over the 1966 show, notions of optimism and diplomacy are present, but they are mixed in with a lot of violence, sexism, and other now-backward ideas. After Roddenberry was essentially barred from involvement on the "Star Trek" feature films, he decided to make a purer, better version of his old show, set another 80 years in the future, and even more devoted to intelligence and diplomacy than ever before. Hence, 1987's " Star Trek: The Next Generation ." 

Taking place on a new ship, the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and featuring an all new cast, the update of "Star Trek" started a little clumsily, but eventually found its stride to become the best "Star Trek" has offered to date. The tech was more convincing than it ever was, and it featured professional, adult characters who deal with crises with stiff upper lips. More so, it more frequently addressed questions about the meaning of life that humanity will always, it seems, wrestle with.

"Next Generation" last for seven full seasons, and its characters ended up occupying just as large a place in the pop consciousness as the characters from the 1966 TV series. 

Yes, "Next Generation" went back in time several times.

In terms of chronology, "Next Generation" overlapped with...

2369 - 2375: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

" Deep Space Nine " (1993 – 1999) was an unusual animal in many ways. It was the first time two "Star Trek" shows would run concurrently, and would take place over the same time frame (Picard from "Next Generation" appeared in the show's pilot). It was not about trekking at all, as it took place aboard a space station. It was also not set in the world of the Federation, often revolving alien species who were not offered protection from the organization. It was a show of healing and animosity. Of war and death. It started with an ensemble of seven or eight people, and eventually expanded to include about 30 main characters. "Deep Space Nine" is "Star Trek" via a Russian historical novel. 

When taken as a unit, "Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," both excellent in their own rights, become a complementary mass that is greater than their sum. The strength of diplomacy vs. its breakdown. The avoidance of war vs. the involvement in it. The absence of fascism vs. its inevitable regrowth. 

Yes, "Deep Space Nine" went back in time several times. 

"Deep Space Nine's" chronology would overlap with "Star Trek: Voyager," as well as with...

2371: Star Trek: Generations

The 1994 feature film " Star Trek: Generations " was a strange excursion. Although "Next Generation" had already run for seven years, "Generations" was still insistent on "passing the torch" from Kirk to Picard, and it bent over backwards to create the means by which Kirk and Picard, separated by 87 years of history, could meet face-to-face. It was the fan crossover no Trekkie wanted. As such, "Generations" is a flimsy affair, speeding through a ridiculous plot about a mobile temporal nexus that serves as Heaven for the people it scoops up along its path. 

Trekkies were even-headed enough to realize that Kirk and Picard weren't meant to meet, and that "Next Generation" was its own entity. The decision to aggressively tie the two shows even more closely together was just baffling. 

Notable too: The Enterprise-D was destroyed in "Generations," and would be replaced by a big ol' ugly thing for three additional feature films.

2371 - 2378: Star Trek: Voyager

" Star Trek: Voyager " debuted in 1995 and ran concurrently with "Deep Space Nine" both on television and within the chronology of "Star Trek." To cleverly avoid any interference between the two shows, however — "Deep Space Nine" would eventually become embroiled in a galaxy-spanning war — "Voyager" was given a "Lost in Space"-style premise wherein the title ship was thrown all the way across the galaxy to a portion of space that has never been explored by Starfleet, and could otherwise only be reached by 70 years of space travel. 

While the premise would perhaps lead a viewer to believe that "Voyager" was going to be about resource allocation and survival, it quickly became more about the Borg, a character played by actress Jeri Ryan, and Captain Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) steady slide into autocracy. 

"Voyager" struggled with ratings for years, but still managed to last seven seasons like "Next Gen" and "Deep Space" before it. The final episode of "Voyager," a time travel story called " Endgame ," would air in March of 2001.

2375: Star Trek: Insurrection

While "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine" were running concurrently on television, the "Next Generation" crew were yukking it up in the overwhelmingly mediocre 1998 Jonathan Frakes film " Star Trek: Insurrection ." Like "The Final Frontier," "Insurrection" can be seen straining against the limits of its budget, with bad CGI, bland costumes, and locations clearly found in the California mountains. The cheapness of "Star Trek" has often served as a boon for its story, forcing writers to insert interesting and challenging ideas into their plywood sets. "Insurrection" has no such ideas, asking the ethical question of forced relocation, but never feeling threatening, and offering a magical curative radiation that would require study and collection. 

Although one can admit this: "Insurrection" captures the tone of the "Next Generation" TV series far better than any of the other movies in this part of the series. It's a pity, though, that after the grand finale of "Next Generation," we find ourselves with suck lackluster films. 

Speaking of lackluster films ...

2379: Star Trek: Nemesis

Released in 2002, Stuart Baird's " Star Trek: Nemesis " was poised to be the final gasp for "Star Trek." "Enterprise" was already taking the franchise in a new direction, and the "NextGen" cast was clearly too tired to handle a continued barrage of poorly planned action movies, and thrillers that didn't resemble the show they were inspired by. "Nemesis" is dark and action-packed and violent and takes a lot of structural cues from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." 

In it, Tom Hardy plays a character named Shinzon who is, in fact, a clone of Captain Picard, grown in a Romulan lab, and eventually discarded into a Romulan mine. Shinzon escaped the mine, built an army, and is poised to take a giant death ship into Federation space to revenge all over people. "Nemesis" is also the film in which Data (Brent Spiner) dies, and Captain Picard drives a dune buggy. 

The sentiment of the time was reminiscent of T.S. Eliot's " The Hollow Men ." This is the way "Next Gen" ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Worry not. There will be further whimpers for the NextGen crew.

2380 - ?: Star Trek: Lower Decks

Named after a seventh season episode of "Next Generation," and taking place in line with the end of "Nemesis" and "Voyager," " Star Trek: Lower Decks " debuted on Paramount+ in 2020 as part of a slew of "Star Trek"-related indicia that the company was desperate to exploit. And while the all-your-eggs-in-one basket approach to TV production affected by Paramount led to stinkers like "Discovery" and "Picard," it did lead to this surprisingly good animated program. 

One of the more appealing aspects of "Star Trek" is that it's essentially a series of workplace shows. The characters are typically vocation-forward, and take their duty to their ship very seriously. Where a "Star Trek" character works speaks powerfully to who they are. "Lower Decks" follows the people who have the worst possible jobs on a Starfleet vessel, often tasked with cleaning holodecks, sanitizing floors, and arranging widgets for the senior staff. It's rough going for ensigns. They sleep in the hallway and are typically not deemed important enough to include on more exciting missions. What's more, the central ship on "Lower Decks" is a tiny, crappy ship with substandard tech. Surely such jobs would exist in "Star Trek." 

"Lower Decks" is eager to make "Trek" references, and is clearly made by people who understand "Trek's" ethos, but who still have a raunchy sense of humor. The future is here. And it's still crappy for those on the bottom. 

2383: Star Trek: Prodigy

Produced under the auspices of Nickelodeon, " Star Trek: Prodigy " (2021) was the first Trek series to be made explicitly with a younger audience in mind. The series follows a ragtag group of alien youths as they flee a prison mine and discover an abandoned Starfleet vessel called the U.S.S. Protostar. On board is an instructional hologram of Captain Janeway from "Voyager," and she teaches the kids how to behave like Starfleet officers, the importance of duty and compassion, and how their trauma does not define them. The design and the creatures are more reminiscent of "Star Wars" than "Star Trek" (the series features an evil emperor and his powerful masked servant, invoking the Emperor and Darth Vader), but it certainly functions as a generic space adventure. The "Star Trek" stuff is mere window dressing. 

It's almost disappointing to include "Prodigy" on this timeline, as one of the show's central mysteries — at least for the first part of its first season, the only part to have aired as of this writing — is when and where it takes place. It was possible that "Prodigy" took place centuries or even millennia beyond the known Trek universe. The last we saw, however, the real Captain Janeway is still alive, giving "Prodigy" a known place in Trek chronology. 

2399: Star Trek: Picard (Season 1)

After nearly 20 years of a world without Picard, Paramount+ convinced Patrick Stewart to reprise his role in a new show named for him. " Star Trek: Picard " debuted on Paramount+ in 2020, taking place further in the future than any other Trek show to date. In the timeline of "Picard," the Federation had become soured by xenophobia and openly discouraged the evacuation of Romulus, historically an enemy world, but now in dire straits after their sun went supernova (something something J.J. Abrams). Picard had left Starfleet in disgust, and had now retired to his winery. 

The story of the first season is too convoluted to get into here, needless to say it involved a Romulan secret society, a planet of androids, a reclaimed Borg cube, and a robot Cthulhu. I'm not kidding. 

It's a pity that "Picard" did not roll with its future setting more, establishing new tech or positive sea changes in the "Trek" universe. Instead, everything is devoted to a chewy, awful story about androids. Indeed, by the end, Picard himself would have his consciousness shunted into an android body. What a snore.

3188 - 3190: Star Trek: Discovery (Seasons 3 and 4)

When last we saw the U.S.S. Discovery, it was being pulled through a time hole into the distant future. In the third and fourth seasons , Discovery's crew learns that they are stranded 930 years from home, and now must rediscover their function as Starfleet officers after the Federation went into hiding. A galaxy-wide disaster — The Burn — spontaneously destroyed millions of starships, and a fierce new criminal enterprise, The Emerald Syndicate, now rules the galaxy.

The 23rd-century ship now has to learn how to use 32nd-century technology. The Discovery was redesigned, and the new mission became to spread diplomacy in a galaxy unready for it. This is the premise, it seems, that Discovery should have started with two years prior. The writing is still rather weak, and the characters are callow and weepy, but "Discovery" does excel in one notable way: Queer representation. Seven of the main cast members are openly queer. After 55 years of a dodgy relationship with queerness, "Discovery" finally nailed it.

I just wish it were a better show.

The Star Trek: Origins movie shouldn't ignore Star Trek: Enterprise

A new origins movie for Star Trek is set to go into production later on this year for a possible 2025 or 2026 release. There's has been a lot of speculation about the timeline of the film, with Inverse offering plenty of detail about the Star Trek timeline and how a film set in the 2210s or 2220s wouldn't rattle too much of Trek's history in either timeline with the caveat that "if you don't think about the prequel series, Star Trek: Enterprise."

Enterprise was set during 2151, and the events of the series were interwoven with other series in the franchise, such as the Ferengi's first appearance on the series instead of Star Trek: The Next Generation and, of course, the horrible series finale that connected The Next Generation's Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis). Yes, plenty of fans would love to forget the finale, but the fact remains that it happened. And even Star Trek: Discovery referenced Archer's visit to Qo'noS from the premiere of the series. So it's kind of hard to jettison the series as a whole.

With the Origins movie supposedly set before the Kirk and Spock era as the movie has been touted, that could put it after Enterprise, but, if the movie is set during the Prime timeline, there are a lot of landmines that could potentially disrupt canon. Some fans, of course, will say that canon has been shredded by various other series already, but a film on the big screen takes things to a new level, especially if it's supposed to be the origination of some aspect of Star Trek.

One possible idea would be to take the story back to Captain Pike's origins, which would still put the movie in the 2230s, roughly, with Strange New Worlds being set in 2259. Since Strange New Worlds is an ongoing series, that would be a great tie-in. Another option would be the origins of Captain April who helmed the Enterprise in 2245. Hopefully, the movie won't take the origin storyline so far back in time that it will disrupt everything that has been created. And, if that's the choice that is taken, then we can just hope the movie gets set in the Kelvin timeline so the Prime timeline remains as unaffected as possible!

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as The Star Trek: Origins movie shouldn't ignore Star Trek: Enterprise .

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Paramount Developing Second Star Trek Movie In Parallel With ‘Star Trek 4’

| January 10, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 205 comments so far

News broke this afternoon that Paramount Pictures is looking to expand the Star Trek universe on the big screen, putting another film into development with a new director and writer hired.

Another Star Trek movie!

According to Deadline (later confirmed by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter ), Paramount Pictures has another Star Trek feature film in development. Reports say the film “expands on the Star Trek universe.” J.J. Abrams is producing, and to direct they tapped Toby Haynes, who is nominated for an Emmy for Andor and is a Hugo winner for his work on Doctor Who . Deadline reports the Haynes Star Trek movie is “an origin story that takes place decades before” the 2009 Star Trek movie, so presumably also set in the Kelvin Universe, assuming it is set after the attack on the Kelvin . Seth Grahame-Smith ( The Lego Batman Movie , Beetlejuice 2 ) is writing the script.

For more on Haynes, see our follow-up: New Star Trek Movie Director Is A Fan And Directed The ‘Black Mirror’ Trek Episode “USS Callister”

Toby Haynes and Seth Grahame-Smith (Getty/Deadline)

Star Trek  4  will be “final chapter”

According to both reports, the “Star Trek 4” follow-up to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond remains in “active development.” That film was originally set for a Christmas 2023 release but delays and disagreements over the script led to director Matt Shakman exiting the project in 2022. Deadline is now describing the Star Trek 4 project as “the final chapter in the main series.”

Deadline offers this background on the development of the new movie:

Though there hasn’t been a film since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond , the brand is still strong as its ever been with popular Paramount+ shows like Picard and Strange New Worlds , earning strong reviews and big ratings in the time since the last film bowed in theaters. Brian Robbins led-regime, saw an opportunity to build on that popularity with multiple films in development the same way the streamer had multiple shows going at once.

No details on production or a release date have been reported for the new movie or for Star Trek 4. It is unknown if this new Toby Haynes-helmed Star Trek movie has anything to do with the movie script Patrick Stewart talked about in a November 2023 interview released last week. However, a movie featuring Jean-Luc Picard (last seen in the 25th century of the Prime Universe) does not appear to fit with one set in the 23rd century of the Kelvin Universe.

This is a development story so stay tuned for updates.

Find more news on all the upcoming Trek movies at TrekMovie.com .

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Oh, Paramount, when will you learn that Star Trek is neither Marvel nor Star Wars? Make a little movie that’s mostly about the characters, make it with only a medium budget, and you might succeed.

IMO, Disney and Marvel Studios should be following your advice too since the MCU isn’t doing so well now either.

Honestly, the problem is Avengers: Endgame was aptly named. They had no where interesting to go after that which anyone cared about beyond Loki.

there are decades of marvel stories still to be told on screen and now they have mutants, FF, galactus and Dr doom to put in play

But they haven’t yet. We can see how Deadpool goes but the problem specifically in the movies is that X-men has already been done and they can’t get over losing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. And X-men from FOX has never been nearly as successful as the MCU.

Even without adjusting for inflation, Logan and Days of Future Past rival a lot of Disney Marvel box office performances. There’s a huge audience for that franchise (and anecdotally, boy did I see a lot of film fans tossing aside concerns about the Disney-Fox merger just because it meant Kevin Feige could get X-Men back). Deadpool being such a big hit on its own complicates things, but now that they’ve embraced the messiness of a multiverse, who knows what will happen?

I feel like Logan sort of closed the book on the X-Men and I really don’t need to see anymore — and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way.

It doesn’t matter – they’re going to reboot it sooner than later, and hope the characters are more Batman than Superman with audiences. Deadpool 3 will be a big hit, but Marvel’s larger woes are as big an issue going forward as any waning interest in X-Men.

I agree with him — Kind of lost interest now myself

I agree about Endgame. I, personally, haven’t cared about a Marvel film since and have only watched a handful of them afterward.

Although, I will see Deadpool 3 just for the return of Wolverine.

Yep agreed. Deadpool is the first movie I will care about since endgame. Frankly losing Iron Man and Cap is like losing Kirk and Picard. Once they are gone, so is your franchise.

“dr strange and the multiverse of bad VFX and scarlet moron” was enough for me.

I agree 100%. Deadpool’s a different animal. It’s a comedy thing I like so I’ll still see that one — but that has nothing to do with me needing more from marvel… And I really don’t care all that much about seeing the wolverine again either — except for the comedy interaction with Deadpool

Avengers: Endgame didn’t feature Steed or Mrs. Peel so I passed.

People say this yet post Endgame Wandavision was a huge success, as was Loki and falcon and the winter soldier. Secret Invasion? spiderman No way home did over a billion dollars, dr strange performed very well as did GOTG3 and Blackpanther…. Thor performed modestly, only really Antman and The Marvels flopped

Ditching JJ would help with the movie. He’s the villain ruining franchises.

He produced Beyond and that was fine. When he doesn’t direct, it’s a different story.

That’s the thing tho, Beyond was “fine”. Compared to Into Darkness it looks like a brilliant movie but that wasn’t exactly hard given the competition. I liked Beyond for the way it honored Leonard Nimoy and the TOS crew but part that frankly I found the movie meh at best.

the problem isn’t direction it’s writing.

• ”Lens flares”
• Abrams had no idea how to direct a Star Trek movie because he has no knowledge of it and he purposely let whatever happen *happen* because he didn’t care. He wasn’t just the director he was the producer and had a hand in everything,

I actually liked Beyond because it at least felt like a TOS movie and not Star Wars. But I’ve only watched it three times to this day. The story just felt like a bigger budget Insurrection but at least it was decent.

That’s the thing. It felt like a TOS episode to me and not like a real movie. Just IMHO of course. And stop destroying the Enterprise for the love of *********

It isn’t a case of him becoming the villain, he always was.

JJ’s name attached to these alone means I am not interested.

That’s sort of good for Trek fans in a weird way.

We’ve been saying Trek has a hard time in the market competing with the bigger franchises, but now the bigger franchises are having trouble competing with themselves.

I think that leaves an opening for Trek, assuming they can finally get their act together and get something to the production stage in time.

That’s the problem IMHO, with Abrams at the helm I have a hard time believing that will happen.

Just my opinion…..

The problem is that they won’t be making Star Trek. It will be action adventure but nothing more. Pass on both.

(Is that a word? Whatever)

Agreed. The very best Star Trek films are always character-driven. Hopefully this announcement has nothing to do with the reported script Patrick Stewart mentioned.

Agreed and I doubt it does. I bet anything the Stewart project is a P+ direct to streaming project. And nothing to do with Abrams

From your lips to the prophets’ ears …

Yuppers! Abrams hasn’t ever seemed like he was ever interested in anything TNG related anyways. I remember b4 ST 09 came out and he was asked which generation his movie would be and he said something like, there is only one that matters and that’s Kirks or something. I am misquoting but it was something like that,

I mean, he was making a TOS reboot at the time, so what’s he going to say? That he prefers TNG?

Well, I’m surer Paramount would have given him his choice of any crew to use. How do we know he didn’t just choose to use the TOS crew.

We don’t. Do we even know if the idea to reboot TOS came from Bad Robot or Paramount? Being much older than TNG, TOS certainly gave them an opportunity to radically upgrade stuff and make it “cool” for new audiences. Maybe, someone at Paramount was also still considering a TNG reunion so didn’t want to reboot that (yet).

To be fair…that could clearly be what they’re doing with this. Nothing about it says spectacle.

So agreed my friend

While I totally agree, they have recognized this to a degree. Section 31 and likely the Picard movie I’ll be mid budget movies direct to streaming.

For theatrical releases, it does make some sense to invest more money and make a bigger spectacle.

In what way has Paramount been treating Star Trek like its Marvel or Disney? Are we getting 3 Star Trek films a year, every year since JJ’s STAR TREK in 2009?

No. Paramount seems to be able to do one Star Trek film every 4-6 years on average; and it’s going on 8 years since the last one. hardly a Disney MARVEL style release schedule to date.

And as for Budget being the issue – the only Star Trek feature film to really bomb at the Box Office was Star Trek Nemesis, which had a mid-sized (for it’s day) $60 million budget.

So no the Budget isn’t the real issue here its first and foremost the writing, the fact that Paramount does have a system that can put a movie out when the interest is at its peak (they took 4 years to get a sequel out the ST2009 when 2 years would have been better); and oftentimes Paramount’s marketing department screws the pooch too.

I never get this argument, spend less to earn more right? But who goes to a movie theater to see a small low budget Star Trek movie, especially when there is tons of it on TV right now?

I go back and forth on whether any of the movies from TWOK through INS would have made much more money if they’d had slightly bigger budgets. Does spending a million more on the space battle for Generations get you that many more tickets or DVDs sold? Does a better VFX company and the Rock Man sequence make the difference in getting TFF to no longer be disappointment at the box office? I have no idea.

I do know that a cleanish slate (and a fun enough script and good casting) but especially the $150 million dollars in production value is what enticed millions more people to see the 2009 film than had seen any one of the previous films. We’ve established that $190 million is ridiculous as a budget for these films, but even with top quality VFX being cheaper now and clever scripting and production tricks you’d be hard pressed to argue the franchise should go back to sub-$100 million budgets. It’s not practical and it undermines the jobs of the marketing department by giving them less spectacle to promote.

Make a  little  movie that’s mostly about the characters, make it with only a medium budget

Instant fail.

Wrath of Khan disagrees with you but OK

I don’t know — Picard season 3 was kind of produced as you are recommending and that didn’t prevent it from being like Star Wars.

You could also say it stole from The Wrath of Kahn big time also. So what if the last two episodes stole from Star Wars, the previous eight were way too talky to be Star Wars. We could also go down the road that the Abrams movies felt more like Guardians of the Galaxy than Trek. The were 3 action movies with a lot of comedy.

Andor was great. If Toby Haynes can deliver a movie half the quality of that TV show we could be in for a treat.

Andor was very good, easily the best Disney live-action Star Wars series. But great? Nah. It meandered too much in the second half of the season. And it really should have been called “Resistance” or “Rise of the Rebellion” or something. There were whole episodes Andor himself was hardly in.

The second half of the season is when it hit its stride for me. Right when Haynes’ episodes started.

Andor was my favourite Star War followed by Rogue One.

Yay more prequels!

Exactly. Although I would like to see a movie or series about the Federation-Romulan Wars post-NX-01 pre-NCC-1701.

I’d love an animated show set in that time. A semi follow up to Enterprise with new and old characters. That’s my #1 fanfic Trek dream.

SAME. It would be amazing.

Omigosh that would be awesome!

Weird that I had just written a comment to that effect on a Facebook Trek site a couple of hours before the news broke!

It can’t be “set in the Kelvin universe” if it happens before Nero/Trek 2009. That’s a shared history before the divergence of the prime/kelvin universes. “That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works.” :)

It could theoretically take place between 2233 and 2258.

True. I stand corrected. :)

After Kelvin but before the main events of 2009’s film.

Kinda vague. I’m assuming this would be a young Pike or a Young Spock movie. Not sure where else there is to go with this.

I’m of the belief that Kelvin universe existed before Nero arrived and that it’s not a shared past. It’s just another alternate universe like the mirror one. I believe this because things were already different when Nero arrived:

The USS Kelvin is HUGE and has different technology. Khan, who was born hundreds of years before the Kelvin incident, is a white, British guy. I think there are more but I’d need to research it.

Wait I’m confused wasn’t it just always an alternative universe like the Mirror universe? How could white Khan be floating around for 300 years of it didn’t exist before then?

And why would the Kelvin just be there when the black hole formed? It’s JJ verse, trying to make sense of it is like trying to understand how cats think but this should just be a given it was always there.

Hi My friend. Yes it is an alternate universe. Both Bob Orci and Simon Pegg defined this. Although the red matter black whole created the Kelvin universe, the Kelvin Universe existed in its own reality since its own big bang. Than means before the Kelvin incident. It’s based on the idea of quantum mechanics or at least Orci’s understanding of it.

The whole concept of the Kelvin-verse is confusing. I see many articles calling it an altered timeline and others calling it an alternate universe. If it is confusing to fans, imagine how it is for the casual person who calls it “Star Track” and mentions “Dr. Spock” when the subject comes up.

Yep it is totally confusing and I can’t blame anyone. The thing I try to point out as an example is the mirror universe. It has existed since its own big bang. Some people like to point out the moment when Cochrane shot the Vulcans at first contact as the moment it “verged” but even that isn’t true if you look at the opening credits of the 2 part Enterprise Mirror episodes.

Kelvin is the same way. Sure the Universe was created in the Prime 24th century from the black hole, but people forget in different universes time works differently. And that’s a real life theory. Just because it is the 24th century in one universe does not mean you are creating that in the second. The Kelvin universe was born the moment in Prime universe the black hole was created but within it’s own time it started at the Big Bang and lasted from then till the 23rd century when Nero and Spock showed up. It could even be because in the time it took them to travel through the wormhole, that much time in the Kelvin-verse had past.

The casual person most likely doesn’t care how exactly Kelvin relates to what came before. To most people who’re not hardcore fans it’s probably simply a high-budget, slick reboot of an old entertainment property.

And unfortunately it’s the casual person’s money the studio is chasing now.

At least the fans still have the streaming productions and the past stuff that was created with them in mind as the primary demographic.

The movies could never succeed on Trek fans alone. They have always chased general audiences.

Completely agree.

It also throws everything streaming into a gray area (even PIC S03).

Agreed. I do believe that the black hole sent Nero and Spock back in time to the same parallel dimension, at two different points within that dimension. It never made sense to me that it would send Nero back in time within the same Prime ST Universe, and Spock back in time to a splinter timeline.

Also, the story of the USS Franklin just doesn’t quite fit with ST: Enterprise.

I think at one point in time, JJ, or someone on ST Beyond, said that Nero’s incursion changed the timeline going forward and backward (explaining the USS Franklin), which makes no sense at all.

according to the the writers and directors of beyond the kelvin timeline was always seperate and different from the prime verse and only certain personal histories were altered by the destruction of the kelvin and more was altered due to the destruction of Vulcan that is way Edison exists and the Franklin exists and was a maco ship to start with prior to the federation and there was a xindi war non of which happened or existed in the prime verse

I somewhat wonder if this will be a Franklin movie.

Yuppers exactly. Ther red matter black whole did create the Kelvin Universe but it existed since its own big bang. It is not an alternate skewed timeline of Prime. If it were ST Picard and Discovery S3 on would not be a thing.

Yes it can. The Kelvin universe is a universe, as you state, not an alternate timeline. It existed since its own big bang. It’s true it was created when Nero/Spock entered the black hole, but that black hole created an entirely new universe that existed from beginning to end. They had their own version of events that were not the same necessarily as the prime universe events prior to the Kelvin events.

Yuppity yup yup yup my friend!!! :)

Also, not holding my breath. Wolf has been cried many times. Like, many, many times at this point. When shooting begins, I’ll believe it.

I read that as “Worf” has been cried many times for some reason.

I agree we have been here many times now, but I still can’t help but to feel excited about the news.

I wish I had written that. :) Better turn of phrase. I am excited for any new Trek. I just have lost a lot of respect for the corporate cubicle climbing milquetoast talents at Paramount that come and go from the various executive roles since the canceling of Prodigy. It’s all temp execs at just another job that they will likely underwhelm in making calls that disrespect the cultural value that Trek has earned over the decades. They come and go, but Star Trek, and its connection the audiences’ hopes and aspirations, remains.

Paramount has a Trek movie in development could be a drinking game…..

Looks like mini-Phil also agrees

Star Trek movie false starts, how come Picard’s son has zero resemblance and what awards has LDS won — I think we have lots of fun material for that game! Lol

We’d all have alcohol poisoning by now

Sadly, I have to agree with you.

I agree completely. But 2 things are giving me pause. Giving the news as of late I have a sneaking suspicion there is already a merger deal in place with something like WBD that is a financial backer. 2, like the article says, the success of Trek on streaming gives them added incentive unlike the last attempts.

Don’t people get tired of entertainment vaporware? Ever hear of the boy who cried wolf? https://trekmovie.com/2018/04/25/breaking-paramount-ceo-confirms-two-star-trek-films-in-development/

I understand the cynicism but eventually one of these films will get made. It’s not a curse or anything, it’s just a series of bad luck. Something will punch through.

But the wolf eventually showed up

A white male director?! Awesome. It’s good that that group of people is not being disproportionately represented at all – and I’m one of them. All film directors have been men. Only one has not been a white guy. Seems odd that only white men have talent. Hmmmmm. No obvious, glaring bias here at all. Just a “coincidence” that’s not evidence of anything. Move along. This is not continued male and white supremacy at work creating a vision of the future that is supposed to represent the whole of humanity… but served up by white men almost exclusively on the big screen and with only recent small screen improvements.

Well maybe there would be more diversity if the current forced diversity was working (it’s not) you can’t force people to do something and then be surprised when it’s not that good.

I really don’t care who writes or directs as long as they truly care enough about what they are doing to write a smart story with good characters (aka the exact opposite of Discovery and Picard S1-2)

Oh, Americans and your identity politics. You lot won’t be happy till you have a 2nd civil war.

We don’t have it all figured out like the model UK has.

We already have one in case you haven’t noticed.

Oh, please, this is nothing like a civil war. It was far, far worse in the Vietnam era than it is now, and no one calls the late ’60s a “civil war”.

Jan 6th was nothing short of an attack by the American people on the United States Government. Whether it happened during Vietnam does not negate that.

But I haven’t seen the National Guard murdering protesters on college campuses lately.

Like I said, I am not comparing better or worse. Just that it was BAD and a literal attack by US citizens on the government of the United States. That’s Civil War, or at least the attempted start of one in my book.

I grew up on the ’70s — this is worse than that period for sure

The sclerotic thinking behind these projects also points to the global deterioration of the white male imagination. Navel-gazing rehashes of things their fathers and grandfathers built and they can only think to duplicate without heart or soul.

Appointing a Star Trek movie director is “white supremacy.” Gotcha.

Yeah, that was nutty

13 films. All male directors. Only one wasn’t a white guy. Seems odd that only one ethnicity/gender would get to direct… unless there was some sort of systemic racism/sexism giving white men a child’s booster seat at the table or a head start. Speaking of society at large. This is just a symptom. (Haven’t some of you actually watched Trek with its messages of social equality, or do you just think it’s about spaceships that go vroom in space?)

Who would you nominate to direct instead?

Lots of female and non-white directors are being given opportunities on the TV side, with Olatunde Osunsanmi being the top director for Disco and now Section 31. Hopefully some get to make the jump to theatrical features sooner than later, but the talent pool for diverse filmmakers with a good track record for helming big budget tentpoles is still shallow – it needs time to fill up. The most likely diverse and proven directors have very full dancecards now. Also, in Paramount’s defense, for every Jonathan Frakes and Leonard Nimoy they entrust with those responsibilities, there’s a William Shatner or Roberto Orci giving them second thoughts.

Knowing Paramount got as far as actually hiring S.J. Clarkson to direct a Kelvin film and the last director was an Asian man, perhaps we could tone down the accusatory tone a little. They’re obviously trying to do better, so it doesn’t really help to come in so hot. Haynes is talented as hell, that’s worth mentioning before lamenting his race and gender.

S. J. Clarkson

Pay attention!

Didn’t direct.

Too bad tho

Not because of anything she did. They did hire her, the project died in development hell.

Yeah exactly — they had her hired as the first female director for a Star Trek movie and the project died in development hell.

But they had hired her, so on this dude’s whiney point I am calling BS on — especially since we don’t even know if this new white guy will even direct a real movie anyway.

Like you know, this new guy’s actually going to direct a real Trek movie???

Not sure if you’re taking a stab a dry humor or sarcasm here. They did hire SJ Clarkson for one of the previous false starts. I have no idea if Jordon Peele or Greta Gerwig are available or not, but the reality in Hollywood is that if you put all the available directors in a room and threw in a rock, you’re going to hit a white male. I completely agree the industry needs more diversity, but it’s going to take time.

If it takes place decades before Star Trek (2009), could it be an Enterprise movie?

I’d love it if it were a Romulan Wars movie. But then I would want it to be the Prime universe.

I wonder if this is an attempt to get a movie made with Chris Hemsworth starring as George Kirk?

It’s possible, although we are about 15 years later in real time so I’m not sure if they want to do a movie where they have to de-age the lead for the whole movie.

What in the ever lasting HELL is Star Trek doing? “Set decades before the 2009 movie.” Do you know how time travel works? You bunch of morons. Unless it is AFTER the incursion that destroyed the Kelvin, its not a Kelvinverse movie because anything before it would be Prime. 

And you SAY you’re still developing number 4 at the same time as whatever the hell this other one is? Whatever. Believe it when I see it.

Let me guess. Sir Patrick got a scripts the other day. Said scripts is gonna have Picard interact with Kelvin folks and either make it where that timeline never happened or………….oooooooo I got it. Because we can never drop the Borg. People from the Kelvinverse will go seek out Picard after the Kelvinborg are discovered.

They’ll go recruit Picard from his timeline to fight the Borg. Oh, and this time the Borg queen will be a hottie with a big bust cuz Kelvinverse. 

Halfway through your post you just started yelling at people for your own bad fanfic.

Calm down, kid.

Whoever’s writing these pieces isn’t going to be fully familiar with Star Trek lore inside out. ST09 is the most popular recent reference point for most casual audiences.

Do YOU know how time travel works? Nero’s incursion was in 2233, the bulk of the 2009 film took place in 2258. That’s 25 years later (two and a half decades). So a film taking place decades before the 2009 movie is likely to be set right after the incursion, literally the origin point of the Kevin Universe. Seems like the perfect time to set an origin story. I’m not going to argue about whether or not a film that hasn’t been made yet and we know next to nothing about is going to be good or bad, but you’re so desperate to have something to complain about that you can’t even get the facts in your own argument straight.

Do you know what you are talking about? Both Bob Orci and Simon Pegg confirmed YEARS AGO that Kelvin is it’s own universe and not its own timeline. Yes, the red matter created Kelvin but it is NOT an alternate timeline. If it were Star Trek Picard and Discovery Season 3 and Beyond would not have happened in the PRIME UNIVERSE!

I think Pegg stated it was a different universe (bc of all the hoo-hah about kelvin sulu being gay but takei saying his version of sulu wasnt gay), Orci had previously said it was a new separate timeline (obviously existing in parallel to the prime timeline) created due to the Narada incursion and anything before that was the Primeverse.

Orci’s is the correct explanation

IIRC both had stated different universe due to quantum mechanics of a wormhole creating a new universe when matter goes through it which is actually a real scientific theory which obv no one can prove of course.

Switch to decaf, Raun, you sound like a shouty old man/nerd. Not saying I entirely disagree, but do calm down.

Borg Queen will be 7/9 then :D

It would kind of make sense for there to be a movie crossover (for 60th) with Picard/TNG and kelvin cast (Generations II) as it would mirror the end of TNG/Generations in 1994.. bringing together the biggest Trek crews/casts probably taking on the kelvin borg for maximum box office potential (250m ww.. j/k) and the multiverse/legacy movies with old actors all trendy now (except The Flash)

Alternate headline: “Paramount announces another Star Trek movie that it will never make; hires director and screenwriter to develop it to movie hell”

I would follow Toby Haynes into a sleazy Klingon pub. Fight me. Because Andor was real.

Haynes also helmed 5 of my favorite Doctor Who episodes and the USS Callister episode of Black Mirror. Great talent.

Great!!! They’ll send someone back in time to before Star Trek: Enterprise. Wipe away the entire franchise so they can start “fresh”!!! SMFH!!!

So how can this film take place in the Kelvin universe if the events that triggered the Kelvin universe haven’t happened yet? 😁

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again right now: Their dogged insistence on time travel being the creator of the Kelvin timeline only leads to MORE having to explain things away.

Kelvin/prequel personal thoughts aside…if this comes out in 2024 (which it won’t) 8 years after Beyond, can we expect the same elevated level of visual improvement and bombasity we saw from Nemesis (2002) to Star Trek (2009)? Radom thought for discussion

Considering that post-production for a movie like this takes upwards of a year and they haven’t even started writing it, a 2026 release is much more likely, assuming it happens at all, which it won’t.

Agreed. I have no faith in any Trek project outside of P+

I wasn’t aware it was April’s fools day. Its Jan 10th 2024.

I am of three minds on this. 1) I would like them to get a real finale for the Kelvin-verse so we can finally say good bye to it. 2) I am tired of them not developing something in the Prime universe. 3) I am really tired of them announcing movies that never go anywhere.

From what I have read so far, here and other sites, it isn’t clear if this movie is in the Prime or Kelvin universe. Only that it takes place decades before the 2009 movie. If it is before the Nero incursion then it should be in the Prime timeline.

Well they are developing in the prime universe, just not in the movies. Nemesis screwed everything up so bad that they gave up on it except for streaming. But I was hoping the success of Picard and SNW would put Prime back in the movies. I guess not. Frankly I don’t even need an end to Kelvin. Just let it die already.

This is adorable.

Not to be a naysayer, but I’m taking this with a grain of salt at the present time. And, another prequel, super.

This project sounds suspiciously like a revival of the Jendresen movie about the Romulan war.

That’s not the *worst* idea for a prequel — it’s probably more interesting than what we got with Discovery. But at the end of the day, do we really need yet another prequel?

Nope. Prequels (with the exception of SNW) suck

While SNW is technically a prequel, I view it more as a reboot.

Well I guess ever since that 2024 Khan ep it kinda is,

Enterprise could have been a great show, though. The premise of “birth of the Federation” had a huge amount of potential. What we got instead was two seasons of mostly rejected Voyager scripts and then a season-long 9/11-inspired war arc, and then finally some ‘birth of the Federation’ stuff in the last season when about 47 people were still watching.

I agree with you. But I didn’t want a retread of yet another ship with yet another crew. I wish we had gotten much more of a “For all mankind” kind of show where we see the birth of Starfleet by Humanity struggling to make it out into the galaxy with the first WARP drive and failing at first.

The original premise of Enterprise did have the whole first season on earth about the politics and such.

The Star Trek brand is popular as ever? It absolutely is… Largely among us old timer fans that is. Many casual TV audiences, especially those who only have Netflix, are still not even aware of the current shows out there. Seriously, just chat with any non-Trek fan who is a TV watcher and find out how much they actually know/care about the franchise or any of the new shows on the go. I also haven’t seen the expected deluge of new fans praising the shows and recommending that their friends jump on board too.

I said this before as well and recently a week ago in another thread. No one I know knows any of these shows exist, mostly because none of them have Paramount+ or care about Star Trek.

I’m on Facebook every week discussing Picard, SNW, Discovery and so on and almost every single member in that group have all been fans since the 90s. Some even since the 7Os and 80s. Not a single one became a fan due to any of the new shows. One became a fan due to JJ verse at least but that’s because his dad was already a Trekkie growing up on TNG and took him to see it when he was 12.

It’s very weird to me because I didn’t become a fan until Voyager started and was around 18 at the time but met other people like me who was green on Trek until the 90s when they became teenagers or of age too. I don’t see any teenagers talking about these new Trek shows today.

That’s why I’ve decided Prodigy being on Netflix is a good thing. P+ is way too weak of a service to carry a franchise like Star Trek.

I love Prodigy, but I suspect it’s mostly popular with old Voyager fans like me and not the demographic it was created for.

I wish all of the shows would return to Netflix.

Definitely agree. Prodigy has way more exposure now no matter what. P+ is becoming the UPN of streaming and probably won’t last half as long if they sell it.

old time (but young) fan here. Very big fan and I know of the new series, I’ve watched most of them and found them very lackluster… I have no reason to praise or pass on the new shows, I do still talk about and recommend the older ones.

Sweet! Another couple of movies to add to: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Undeveloped_Star_Trek_projects

Woooaah now Paramount is not developing one but TWO Star Trek movies at the same time??

Amazing, this is 2018 all over again! 😂😂😂

Bruh what is WRONG with these people? Of course we are all so positive about it since we saw how great the last movie that was released a month ago.

Oh wait. 😆🙄

And more JJ verse and prequels? Eh, really don’t care. Buuut if one of them involves Picard from the script Stewart mentioned then I can pretend to care?

Whatever we can’t go a year without another movie ‘announcement’.Was JJ there to reveal it at another shareholder event too?

Totally dude. Kelvin? No thanks. I’ll stay home. And I’m not even sure I’d be interested on P+ at this point. Let it die already.

I don’t know why they just won’t let it die?? And look I’ll play fair and be nice and say I understand there are people that like those movies and want more. But at some point when you keep cancelling and delaying the same movie over and over for seven years now, Paramount is making it clear they have no faith in this movie or they would’ve made it already. 🙄

And what’s hilarious when I saw the headline they got a new director for the Star Trek movie I thought it was for that one. You know the one they announced three years ago and keep saying they want to make but haven’t replaced the last director who bounced over a year ago? Now they got this new guy for another movie entirely. That’s probably the one Stewart is tied to if he’s really in it.

I guess it’s announced it’s the final one because they already know the next movie, if it ever gets made is probably not going to be a huge hit. They probably just hope it does better than Beyond but I bet it’s going to do worse since only Trekkies even care about them at this point and half them don’t even care anymore.

I gotta be honest with you. I gave up with this idea when I saw “JJ”. He buried Star Trek into the ground, Then he got Star Wars. He nearly buried that into the ground too. The only thing that saved both franchises was when they went to tv and were out of his hands. And how Paramount is SO STUPID they are putting it back in his hands again?

Abrams does not get Trek. Nor does he care. He is ON RECORD as saying as much when Tarantino was possibly attached to Trek for 5 minutes and said he doesn’t get “Pine Trek” and Abrams said, “I don’t either, just do whatever you want”. Screw you dude. Normally I am a very nice person. But in this case? Seriously, screw you Abrams.

I do think it’s funny that you hate those movies more than I do? 😂

But I agree, Abrams doesn’t care about Star Trek just how much money he can make from it. I’m not naive I understand who makes it wants to make money off of it. You can do that and still care about it. Abrams just saw it as a way to push his new directing career that got him Star Wars and he did that franchise even dirtier in the end. What’s ‘great’ about JJ verse is that you can totally ignore it and not have it touch the real Trek IMO or the Trek I’m deeply devoted to and care about. Those movies are isolated from the bigger universe.

Definitely not the same with the Sequel Trilogy. Those movies are tied in to everything now.

And everyone seems to know Abrams is poison because no one is remotely suggesting that he should direct any of these movies. The guy hasn’t directed in 5 years and his other projects just keep dying so now is the shot to get back on the saddle but no one seems to be in a rush to have him direct anything these days.

I’m OK if he produces but stay far away from writing or directing or we get much worse schlock than STID or TROS as scary as that sounds. 🤮

I guess if he is just collecting a paycheck as a producer but stays as far away from creative control that would be ok lol.

And ya I agree with everything you said as per usual. But you mention the best thing about the kelvin movies was that they were completely separate from the Prime Universe. I agree 100%. But here’s the thing. That was Orci, not Abrams. By his own admission to Tarantino, he doesn’t even get it.

My feelings on Abrams, is he comes up with 4 or 5 “key” exciting scenes he wants to happen, puts them onto the writing staff and says I dont care how we get here, but I need to see these epic scenes.. plot be dam make it happen cappt’en!!

I’d like to see a Star Trek movie along the lines of “Prelude to Axanar” which was good for a fan-made film.

It’s a real stretch to call the Axanar a fan film. It was an unauthorized professional production.

For Spock’s sake! Not another bloody prequel, this is getting ridiculous now.

It is. But it also seems like the sequels belong to P+ more than the movies. More than anything else they need to end the Kelvin universe. Not with one last movie, just stop already. IMHO this movie will hysterically fail like Beyond did.

The chances of this (or probably any other Trek movie by JJ Abrams) getting made are zero, so you can relax.

I feel like they want to get these two movies out for the 60th anniversary of the franchise. Could this be the story of Captain Robau of the USS Kelvin before his eventual encounter with Nero’s ship. I remember hearing about them wanting to do a Robau show back when ST09 first came out.

That might be tough considering Chris Helmsworth would be hysterically out of reach for them.

And way too old at this point as well.

Yuppers that too lol

I don’t see nothing wrong with any of the reboot films. It was JJ who refused new blood into this fifty off yrs old franchise. There only misstep was into darkness. But it was vastly improved with Beyond..

They could do a SNW movie, it would be amazing.

Honestly I am down for more exploring of the Kelvin timeline/universe. Yes it is highly contested, but it does give us amazing visuals (I still absolutely love the Kelvin-prise design) as well as a non-prime universe to play in (new stories, new or familiar yet somewhat different characters).

I do still wish one day we’d get a deeper look at the TOS-movie era universe (TMP-VI), but aside from the occasional comic book or beta-canon novel, I don’t see it happening.

Hey to each their own. But I loathe the Kelvin-Prise design. Those nacelles were ridiculously large. And the fact that it was built on Earth and not in space makes it even less believable because that ship by design should have collapsed due to the weight of the nacelles and the pylons being no where near strong enough to support them.

I’m always amused that I read about people believing the starship Enterprise, in any configuration, is “believable”. It’s an artistic design, nothing more. While I’ve enjoyed it as such over the years, I can say with 100% certainty that if we ever do get out of our solar system someday, none of those ships will even remotely resemble the Enterprise.

Here is why I think it is believable. One, Roddenberry IIRC spoke with futurists when creating Star Trek and the enterprise. 2. The Enterprise has a very thoughtful design. People live in the saucer section of the ship. Engineering is in the, well, engineering hull of the ship. The nacelles which might create radiation are purposely placed as far away as possible from both.

The Enterprise was never designed to fly in an atmosphere of a planet (even if it did in TOS and Kelvin Trek). It was designed to be built and function solely in space.

Without it’s structural shields up, it’s design can not take the gravity of a planet pulling it apart due to it’s design.

In fact, NASA in real life hired Mike Okuda to design theoretical designs for a real life starship. And I know Okuda didn’t invent the OG Enterprise but that speaks to Trek’s starship design language.

Everything you mention in your first paragraph about the general design is still valid for the Kelvin redesign. You acknowledge in your second paragraph that the Enterprise was shown entering an atmosphere even in TOS. We’ve also seen other Federation starships enter atmospheres, e.g. Voyager. So that basically leaves your objection that the ship shouldn’t be built on the surface because the structures couldn’t support their weight. Two points to that: 1) “anti-gravity technology” and “structural integrity fields” exist in Trek canon. 2) The 2009 movie actually shows scaffolding supporting the ship under construction. Once construction is finished (and the scaffolding is removed) the ship should very well be able to support and lift off on its own. Starships may normally operate under no-gravity or low-gravity conditions but we’ve also often seen starships withstand much stronger gravitational forces than those on Earth’s surface. In fact, each time the ship accelerates or decelerates it experiences forces much stronger than Earth’s gravity.

I still think the worst design is the Kelvin A. Or at least as rendered looked too dreamlike and whispy. Maybe if we had a better look at her.

Very excited about Toby Haynes.

Much, much less excited about ‘expanding the Kelvinverse’. That part feels like a deliberate effort to finally wipe out TOS&TNG.

Paramount needs to upgrade and future-prood DS9&VOY.

Who cares about movies, give me Star Trek: Legacy!

I want a gritty, dark Star Trek movie with nudity. The more the better.

You want to see Picard naked? To each his own…

Star Trek: Nudity

Maybe we’ll get a p0rn star academy award – a stiffy?

Cause that went over SO WELL with Into Darkness.

Into Darkness is my favorite Trek movie.

I’ve only seen Into Dumbness once…in the theater and never again. There is so much wrong with it, you could write a thesis on it . It’s my second worst movie in the franchise after Nemesis.

But I’m not judging, I don’t think The Final Frontier is as bad as people say, but it’s pretty bad lol.

expanding on the universe is good idea at this point if staying in the Kelvin-verse. They’ve squandered that cast to the point where they are too expensive / busy to use so might as well branch out

Would love to see a STAR TREK origin movie about Captain Robert April, his wife, and crew at the start of the 1701 voyages.

I’d love to see a film or set of films based around the Earth Romulan war

I think it’s pre the opening scene of ST09. It’s gonna be a Romulan war movie. You could bring back Idris Elba and Scott Bakula and deage / age them up.

Oh good an origin story set before the origin story.

For Star Trek 4 they should do something special for the 60th Anniversary. It will be the last Kelvin Movie. Make it special. Have fun with it. Have a good entertaining story. Use some Legacy characters. If we are fortunate enough to have any of the TOS stars available for the 60th just do it. Paramount should market the history of the franchise this time.

How would they get Walter, Bill and George into the movie though, Deepfake?

Would have to be some cgi deaging magic. I just think they should do a better job than they did for the 50th anniversary. If they are able to do it i think it would be a nice touch.

Yeah thats what should be done (like Dr Who’s 50th), a big multiverse ‘Generations’ style movie for the 60th featuring the kelvin cast, deepfake ToS actors, even some TNG cast if possible with tons if ships from all eras (like Picard s3). Kind of what 50th anniversary movie should’ve been instead of attack of the robotic bee ships on some random space station

Absolutely. The Final Movie with the Kelvin cast could truly be epic. Paramount just doesn’t get it. I did enjoy Beyond however it totally failed to be the grand story they should have had for the 50th anniversary.

Exclusive: Paramount Executive meeting discussing the new Star Trek movie announcement

Head Studio Guy : We’re all on a sinking ship and Redstone wants us to pump up the stock and get a buyer fast before all of you start driving for Uber. So I got a great idea to get everybody excited to invest in the future of this studio!

Executive #1: Whatever it is sir we know we’re all going to love it!

(Executives 2-5 agrees): The rest of us agrees!

Head Studio Guy: I been thinking about this for hours and one idea I think we should do to get some juicy headlines is announce a new Star Trek movie!

(Confusion)

Executive #3: Um sir… didn’t we already announce a new Star Trek movie… like three years ago? And one before that one? And the another before that one? And the one before…?

Head Studio Guy: Yeah…and now we’re announcing another one! Think of all the nerds out there and how excited they will be that we will yet announce another movie! And maybe we will get an offer from Elon Musk to buy the company. Look how amazing he’s done with Twitter!

(All executives claps in unison): Brilliant sir!

Executive #4: What will this one be about?

Head Studio Guy: I was thinking we should have a clean slate. Start from the beginning and this time it will be an origin story! The fans love prequels! Can’t get enough of them. It can be a story about the origins of Star Trek! Huh???????

Executive #1: Didn’t we already do that with Enterprise?

Executive #2: What’s Enterprise?

Head Studio Guy: Don’t worry about it! Maybe it could be an origin story of Kirk and Dr. Spock then.

Executive #4: Um I think the other movies already did that. And isn’t Strange New Worlds kind of doing that too?

Executive #2: Is that one with the kids on the ship with the hologram lady?

Head Studio Guy: No. And we don’t talk about that show ever again. Do you hear me? NEVER AGAIN! But OK, fine it won’t be Kirk and pointy ears guy, we’ll come up with another origin story then. We’ll hire some writer and director and let them come up with something.

Executive #5: Maybe we can see if Tarantino is interested again?

(Room bursts into laughter)

Head Studio Guy (wipes tear): Ah good one Executive #5. We trolled the nerds hard with that one. Harder than the Shareholder event thing with Abrams. That announcement trended for months though. No way would that dumpster fire ever get a greenlight. Good times. Anyway I have a title too. We’re going to call it, you ready.. ..Star Trek: Origins!

(All executives clapping): “Brilliant! Very original! You the man sir!!!”

Executive #1: Actually didn’t a Wolverine movie already have that title 15 years ago? We don’t want to confuse our audience. They might think it’s related.

Head Studio Guy: Great point #1! Yeah horrible title. Whoever came up with it should be fired.

Executives: Yeah bad! Very bad! Boo!

Head Studio Guy: We’ll leave that to the new writer and director then. But it looks like we have a game plan now! We’re off and running now boys!

Executive #4: Um…sir? Are we going to actually MAKE this one this time?

Head Studio Guy (hard shrug): Who the bleep knows? But the nerds will be stoked over the announcement. That should keep them happy for six months at least until we sell this puppy. Make it so!

Executives: (High fives and chest bumps!)

ANOTHER prequel?

But this time it’s a prequel of a prequel. They are really spoiling us.

I’ve generally enjoyed the Kelvin movies.But It is hard to get excited about the repots of a new one with all previous reporting going nowhere.

Screen Rant

Star trek origin movie officially announced by paramount for 2025 release.

Paramount Pictures officially announces the next Star Trek movie at CinemaCon, which will arrive in movie theaters in 2025.

• Paramount Pictures announces new Star Trek movie for 2025, directed by Toby Haynes and written by Seth Grahame-Smith.
• Chris Pine-led Star Trek 4 remains in development, while the new film is an origin story set decades before Abrams' 2009 movie.
• Alongside the Star Trek origin movie, Paramount reveals a packed slate of exciting films for 2025-26 at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.

Paramount Pictures officially announces the next Star Trek movie, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2025. As reported in January, the next Star Trek movie isn't the long-delayed, Chris Pine-led Star Trek 4 produced by J.J. Abrams, which remains in development at Paramount. Rather, the next Star Trek movie is an origin story directed by Toby Haynes ( Star Wars: Andor ) and written by Seth Grahame-Smith (A braham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ).

Screen Rant' s Rob Keyes (@rob_keyes) is at CinemaCon in Las Vegas where Paramount Pictures confirmed the next Star Trek movie , currently called Untitled Star Trek Origin Story , to be released in 2025. J.J. Abrams is also producing Untitled Star Trek Origin Story, which takes place decades before Abrams' Star Trek 2009 movie. See Rob Keyes' Tweet below:

Paramount also confirmed Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will begin production later this year for theatrical release in 2025.

Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

Star trek's new movies in theaters and paramount plus explained, star trek is finally making movies again.

After nearly a decade, Star Trek i s back to making movies. Star Trek on Paramount+ has created a television renaissance for the franchise, but the theatrical side of Star Trek overseen by Paramount Pictures has languished in development hell since Star Trek Beyond bowed in the summer of 2016. Toby Haynes' Untitled Star Trek Origin Story is yet another prequel, but as it's said to be set decades before Star Trek 2009, it could very well be set after Star Trek: Enterprise 's mid-22nd century voyages but otherwise be an origin story for both Star Trek 's Prime and alternate Kelvin timelines .

Meanwhile, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 4 , which is the "final chapter" of the USS Enterprise crew led by Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto's Spock, has seen some movement with a new screenwriter, Steve Yockey ( The Flight Attendant ), tackling the long-delayed sequel. Pine and his fellow Star Trek actors, including Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, and Sofia Boutella, have all expressed their eagerness to return if Star Trek 4 can come together.

It's a positive sign that Star Trek movies are finally coming back.

Paramount+ is making their own Star Trek movies, with the recently-wrapped Star Trek: Section 31 awaiting a release date. Starring Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, Section 31 i s the first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie, and it is reportedly set during Star Trek 's "lost era" with connections to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Section 31 could get a sequel if successful, and the Star Trek: Picard spinoff dubbed Star Trek: Legacy may also become a streaming movie instead of a series. However all this shakes out, it's a positive sign that Star Trek movies are finally coming back.

Source: Rob Keyes Twitter

153 episodes

Covering the entire Star Trek franchise in chronological order for fans now and old.

Computer Resume Podcast Todd A. Davis

• TV & Film
• 28 APR 2024

"A Chance To Be Human" w/ Drag Performer Flippe Kikee

Strange New Worlds, Ssn 1 Ep 7 – “The Serene Squall”   Todd welcomes back The Trek Queen of NYC, Flippe Kikee (@FlippeKikee on IG) to discuss the importance of this long-overlooked representation, an affinity for catsuits, and our desire to be anywhere close to Jessie James Keitel...and Star Trek!   Hoverboard by Sydney Freelandhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAeq-oJXZNw  

• 1 hr 16 min

Trek Long Island AD

• 16 APR 2024

“That’s Where The Cookies Are” w/ Thomas Fletcher

Strange New Worlds, Ssn 1 Ep 6 – “Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach”   Todd welcomes back, Thomas Fletcher (@minimalbricks on IG) to discuss LEGO building, LEGO crews, LEGO relationships, LEGO mental health, LEGO my Eggo...and Star Trek!

• 1 hr 15 min
• 30 MAR 2024

BONUS - Interview w/ Tom Salinsky, author of Star Trek: Discovering the TV Series

Author of Star Trek: Discovering the TV Series from Pen And Sword Books Limited.   Todd welcomes Playwright, author of many audio dramas for Big Finish, co-author of The Improv Handbook, Lifelong science-fiction fan, podcaster, and corporate coach, Tom Salinsky (@tomsalinsky on X). They chat about all manner of Trek and Comedy!   https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Discovering-Original-Generation/dp/1399035045/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2D7TLQ5MZMFLV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.3e0XFGs29icsTz-567-WweHcS_u38Y74BDw4WXzcGNO4OUBw3fp-2sgaiOYKh52jamJ8kEqaUGQi0HDJIZptObPwuJi5bu1cJY0UFf7BogjDF7XAVnCzQZppKBZlcWG1-5d1_O6l0m3iz-DN7X7X5Gx8GdPq1NfI88zPP_qfQ_cwfqOwAsJhxJItvpgR5A2kRXY_zlvxqF7j3XtwDUzP7L_d0xhZHPOvbHUJnx2z-sU.z4b-ODwgl-mXQFcUNLD_thXds63_mOM5iUqa-xSMuRE&dib_tag=se&keywords=star+trek+discovering+the+tv+series&qid=1711858295&sprefix=star+trek+discovering+%2Caps%2C458&sr=8-1

• 1 hr 26 min
• 17 MAR 2024

“Treky Friday” w/ Gary Horne

Strange New Worlds, 1x5, "Spock Amok"   Todd welcomes back to the show our very first guest (!) 1/3 of CinemaShock(.net) and backstage interviewer for The National Wrestling Aliance (@NWA on IG), Gary Horne (@ThisIsGaryHorne on IG) for a discussion about Marvel Comics, floundering as POTUS, and outkicking our coverage with our spouses...Ooh, and a RomCom episode of Star Trek!

• 1 hr 22 min

"Are You Gorny?" w/ Drew Burris

Strange New Worlds, 1x4, "Memento Mori"   Todd welcomes back podcaster (TheMoreYouNerd.com), game master (CosmicCrit.com), and Gorn enthusiast Drew Burris to talk about Gornagraphic material, Gornography, and making sure nobody's around while you watch Gorn...ooh, and Star Trek!   Tough Crowd (2008) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S80I-aINxC8  

• 1 hr 13 min
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