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The best Star Trek series, ranked

Ready to settle in and watch some Star Trek episodes? Since there are so many, we’ve ranked all of the different series to help you get started on your quest.

Star Trek is one of the greatest franchises ever created. If you're new to the world of transporters and holodecks, you have so much wonderful content to catch up on — of course, some would say too much content.

Since there are over 850 episodes and counting (all of which you can stream on Paramount+ ), watching all of Star Trek can be more difficult than fighting a Gorn in the desert. To make things easier for you to get started, we've ranked every series (besides the short-form series Short Treks ) of this long-running franchise. Some of these choices were a bit daunting to play favorites with, but, like Jim Kirk, there's no belief in the no-win scenario.

Without further ado, here's our list of every Star Trek series ranked from worst to best.

11. Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023)

Star Trek: Picard was meant to be like comfort food to fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation . And whether fans were turned off by the changes in franchise direction with shows like Discovery or just wanted to see Patrick Stewart back in action, Paramount clearly thought this show would be almost universally beloved.

That didn't happen . The warm and fuzzy feeling of seeing a few familiar faces in the first season evaporated because of an often-confusing plot about androids. The second season continued this confusion with a time-travel story that often bordered on incoherence. While many Star Trek shows take a few seasons to hit their stride, it was shocking that so much of this relatively short series was seemingly created with "make it so-so" in mind.

10. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1974)

If you're in the right mood (or you've been sipping on some Saurian brandy), Star Trek: The Animated Series has some wacky entertainment value. Any given episode had the writers throwing in stories like a giant version of a beloved character. And the animators threw some fun curveballs, including making the embodiment of evil into a shirtless hottie that would make even shirtless Kirk jealous.

However, this animated show was often caught between two very different worlds. It wasn't fully a return to the (relatively) grounded exploration of space, science, and morality of The Original Series . And it didn't fully lean into the chaotic possibilities of a cartoon world (something Lower Decks would later handle much better). So, while more and more elements of The Animated Series have become canonical thanks to shows like Discovery , and it's fun to hear the voice acting of the Original Series cast, this cartoon is one that all but the most hardcore fans can skip.

9. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005)

Despite what you might have heard, Star Trek: Enterprise is not a bad show. It just didn't start as a very good show. The series was tragically canceled after the fourth season, which was arguably when it had just begun to hit its stride (thanks in part to longer story arcs and a really fun glimpse into Trek 's popular Mirror Universe).

At the end of the day, Enterprise is a show best enjoyed by Star Trek fans that like to pore over the Memory Alpha wiki and familiarize themselves with Trek minutiae. As a prequel show, it laid the groundwork for everything from Starfleet policy to alien interactions that other shows explore in more detail. If you don't have a shot at winning any Star Trek trivia contests at your local bar, it's still worth watching how captivating Scott Bakula can be in the captain's seat.

8. Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–present)

Star Trek: Prodigy was very difficult to rank. Unlike the other two Trek cartoons, this series was explicitly designed for younger audiences. Paramount clearly wants to use this show as a gateway for these younger fans to explore the wider world of Star Trek , but there are enough elements (most notably the return of Kate Mulgrew , reprising her role as Captain Janeway via a holographic form) to keep veteran franchise fans invested.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of this series will be largely dependent on how much you enjoy animated/YA entertainment. If nothing else, you should check out the first two episodes of this show to see just how beautiful the CGI animation can get.

7. Star Trek: Discovery (2017–present)

If Enterprise is the Star Trek show cut off too soon, Discovery may very well be the first Star Trek show to outlive its welcome, though it will end after its fifth season . There are many things the show gets right, from nifty effects to quirky characters to amazing casting (seriously, Sonequa Martin-Green is electrifying whenever she is on screen).

The show veers from a disjointed-but-interesting first season to a mesmerizing second season, which gets a real shot in the arm by introducing Captain Pike (played by the inimitably charming Anson Mount ) and Spock (played as a perfect homage to Leonard Nimoy by Ethan Peck). Later seasons, however, prove that the series can't get away from galactic-level threats, and character drama begins overriding plot development enough that we want to slingshot around the sun and return this series to its earlier roots.

6. Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)

Like many Trek series, Star Trek: Voyager had a rocky beginning, and it was often overshadowed by the excellent Deep Space Nine . Ironically, Voyager dramatically improved with what could be a cynical casting stunt: adding the alluring Jeri Ryan (constantly wearing a catsuit, no less).

Though it really looked like a desperate ratings stunt, Ryan turned the reformed Borg Seven of Nine into the most interesting character on the show. And, despite their alleged clashes behind the scenes, the actress helped to elevate every scene she shared with Kate Mulgrew. Between the new cast member, improved writing, and Mulgrew being nothing short of a damned icon, Voyager soon became appointment television, and it's definitely worth binge-watching for modern audiences.

5. Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–present)

Lower Decks is an impressive show for many reasons, including the fact that its execution elevates its initial premise, which focuses on the lives of the lower-level staffers aboard the starship. Because showrunner Mike McMahan previously wrote for Rick and Morty and the animation takes its cues from the cartoon adventures of Rick Sanchez, many fans may have assumed Lower Decks would simply be " Star Trek meets Rick and Morty ."

Thankfully, that's not the case. Aside from animation similarities, the main element these two cartoons have in common is a breakneck, borderline chaotic pace. But as entertaining as it can be, Rick and Morty is an often nihilistic show with gags revolving around how nothing really matters. Lower Decks , however, is a lighthearted series that serves as the cure to modern Trek . If you've dismissed other contemporary series such as Discovery and Picard because they are grim, violent, and serious, Lower Decks is a wonderfully lighthearted alternative that is never afraid to poke fun at its own franchise.

4. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022–present)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a truly pleasant surprise to fans of the franchise. Set years before Captain Kirk sat in that famous chair, we see Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount reprising the role) lead the U.S.S. Enterprise into bizarre adventures alongside some familiar characters (Ethan Peck returning as Spock, for example) and a few new ones.

Part of what helps this show shine is that it marks a return to episodic Trek in that every installment is a self-contained adventure as opposed to other newer series like Discovery and Picard , which build entire seasons around a single plot. The characters all ooze with the same swashbuckling charm of The Original Series characters, and we can't wait to see more of their adventures. We also can't wait to see more of Anson Mount's amazing hair (arguably the most awesome practical effect in the franchise).

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

Star Trek: The Next Generation has the dubious honor of being the first Trek show where veteran fans warn against new fans starting at the very beginning. Early episodes ranged from stupidly horny (planetary inhabitants in the episode "Justice" were barely wearing scraps of clothing) to ridiculously racist ("Code of Honor" may very well be the worst Star Trek episode ever made). Many of these problems stemmed from the fact that despite being called "The Next Generation," the show was trying to recreate The Original Series (right down to using some of the same writers and shamelessly reusing scripts from the scrapped Star Trek: Phase II series).

As fans like to joke, the show got better as Commander Riker's beard got longer. Season 2 was a major improvement, which was then usurped by season 3, which brought in new uniforms, new sets, and Michael Piller to head up the writing team. Just like that, TNG embraced its differences from its famous forerunner (Picard was cerebral whereas Kirk was impulsive, Data yearned for emotion whereas Spock detested it, and so on). At last, the gamble paid off, and the next generation of this franchise ushered in the next generation of Star Trek fans.

2. Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969)

What can we say about The Original Series that hasn't been said already? Gene Roddenberry successfully fused science fiction with American pioneer spirit to create his vision of this " Wagon Train to the stars." The episodes were both fun and thought-provoking in equal measure, and William Shatner as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock, among many others, turned in performances that seared themselves into our collective pop culture consciousness.

The Original Series offered social commentary about racism, imperialism, and (often to Spock's annoyance) the human condition. And the blend of big acting, ambitious sets, and poignant plots helped this show become something truly transcendent. The OG Star Trek shaped not only the future of the franchise but television itself, and it's not hard to see why it continues to win over new generations of fans year after year.

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

Placing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the top spot is perhaps a contentious decision. However, this series did more than measure up to the quality of The Next Generation (a lofty feat in and of itself). The show also made a number of storytelling and production choices that have helped DS9 seem more relevant in recent years than ever before, including tackling issues about race, religious fundamentalism, and war on a regular basis.

Perhaps the main way DS9 feels so pertinent is that the show broke the longstanding Trek rule of making only standalone episodes. As the powers that be focused more on creating their next show, Voyager , DS9 showrunner Ira Steven Behr was able to get away with creating long story arcs and frequent episode callbacks. The end result of this is that Deep Space Nine is the first of the pre-streaming era Trek shows that is perfect for binge-watching.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

(Photo by ©2023 CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

For Star Trek Day, we decided to have a look at how all of the Star Trek films and TV shows across the entire universe rank together. Interestingly, the most recent entry in the franchise came out on top. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  — led by Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike,  Rebecca Romijn as Number One, and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock — boasts two Certified Fresh seasons at 99% and 97% on the Tomatometer. Not too bad for the youngster of a franchise whose history goes back 57 years to its inception with the original Star Trek series created by Gene Roddenberry.

Related: • Star Trek TV Series Ranked by Tomatometer • All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

It’s worth noting that while SNW has a 98% average Tomatometer on 84 reviews across two seasons, the 2009 reboot film Star Trek in the No. 2 position is Certified Fresh on 356 reviews. Some might argue that the film’s volume of reviews makes it the top title, but if we want to start nitpicking on the franchise level, the series also represents 57 hours of programming compared to the film’s 2 hours and 7 minutes. Perhaps the audience score can settle the debate: a 78% average for the series versus 91% for the film. And should No. 3, The Animated Series , even be counted with its relatively meager 18 reviews?

And no “probably” about it, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is officially — by Tomatometer standards anyway — the worst of the franchise.

What do you think? Tell us which is your favorite Star Trek  movie or series  in the comments. 

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) 98%

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Star Trek (2009) 94%

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Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) 94%

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Star Trek: Prodigy (2021) 94%

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Star Trek: First Contact (1996) 93%

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Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) 92%

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Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) 92%

' sborder=

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) 91%

' sborder=

Star Trek: Picard (2020) 89%

' sborder=

Star Trek Beyond (2016) 86%

' sborder=

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

' sborder=

Star Trek: Discovery (2017) 85%

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Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 84%

' sborder=

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

' sborder=

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

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Star Trek (1966) 80%

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

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Star Trek: Voyager (1995) 76%

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Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) 56%

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Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 55%

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) 53%

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Star Trek Generations (1994) 48%

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Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) 38%

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

Star Trek movies and series can be viewed by subscription on Paramount+ , and purchased on demand on Vudu , Prime Video , Apple TV , and elsewhere.

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  • You are not prepared for the final season of Star Trek: Picard

The last season of Picard is truly wild, and while it’s filled with action, it never seems to lose that sense of wonder that makes Star Trek Star Trek.

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Two old men stare at a younger blond woman. They are all dressed in Star Trek uniforms.

After two middling but slowly improving seasons of Star Trek: Picard , the show has returned for one last hurrah — and god damn, was it worth the rest. If you have ever considered yourself a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation (or even, to a lesser extent, Deep Space Nine or Voyager ), then get ready for the love letter coming your way on February 16th.

While this season puts its characters in terrible spots, and there are rumors a few will die by season’s end, this wild ride has a real genuine affection for all the players. It's the absolute most fun I’ve had watching Paramount Plus’ myriad of Star Trek shows. And part of my love of this final season comes from how excited the show is to take some of Star Trek ’s most flawless heroes and find the humanity in them. These characters are messy dumbasses, and it makes the adventure all the better.

Back in Deep Space Nine , Worf, new to the station and struggling with the many conflicting personalities of the crew, speaks fondly of the crew of the Enterprise-D from Star Trek: The Next Generation. “We were like warriors from the ancient sagas,” he says wistfully, “there was nothing we could not do.” Which was true. The crew of TNG fought gods, survived wars, discovered new species, traveled through time, got turned into monsters and back to people again, and occasionally got busy with alien ghosts inhabiting antique candles (you had to be there).

An older woman points a phase rifle at someone off-screen.

But the problem with TNG was the characters seemed to be without significant flaws. Sure, Picard liked Shakespeare a bit too much, Riker had his love of the trombone, and Troi’s fatal flaw was her love of chocolate. But when put up against other crews, like the Deep Space Nine one (it had a terrorist on the team!) and Voyager (it had multiple terrorists on the team!), the TNG crew felt more sanitized. For many fans, this was the boring crew.

Yet, if you squinted, you could see where the show glossed over what might be some significant character issues. Picard’s love of adventure got him killed multiple times, while Crusher was so sure of herself she’d regularly ignore commands and once even was convinced the universe was the broken one. Riker cracked jokes and put his career first to avoid intimacy, and Geordi LaForge was so obsessed with engineering he fell in love with a hologram. These characters have always had flaws, but they rarely, if ever, drove the action.

Until Star Trek: Picard .

Twenty years after Nemesis , this crew’s last big adventure together, they’ve all returned, and they finally feel like messy humans instead of warriors from the ancient sagas. Picard and Riker race to save Crusher, Worf deals with a new threat to the Federation, and Troi, Geordi and whoever Brent Spiner is playing this time around get caught up in the action too. They all still feel like the characters of TNG — only pried out of the 1990s syndicated space adventure mold and put into the 2020s prestige streaming show mold.

A young Black woman dressed in a Starfleet uniform stares at something off screen with concern.

Watching the first six episodes of this season, I kept thinking this was what it must have felt like to be a fan of the original series and finally get great movies like Wrath of Kahn and The Voyage Home . These are still the same characters, played by the same actors, but we’re seeing them in a way the original show never could have allowed. And I don’t just mean that it’s more violent, although Worf does dismember some people. Sometimes the characters make bad decisions in Picard . They mess up. They fight.

But when you worry Picard is starting to feel like a too-edgy sequel, there will be little moments of wonder you can only get in Star Trek . New discoveries. Clever puzzles that get solved. Old villains reappear and feel more menacing thanks to the bigger budget and better special effects of Picard .

Picard and Riker flank Seven of Nine on the bridge of the Titan. They are all seated, with Seven seated in the center.

Like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, this feels like a proper Star Trek show in a way a lot of live-action Star Trek has failed to. But because these are characters we’ve known since 1987, there’s real emotional weight to these adventures. And some shockingly good acting. Jeri Ryan is back as Seven of Nine, and she continues to steal every scene she’s in by virtue of just being that good, but she’s not carrying the whole show on her back like she sometimes did the last two seasons. Patrick Stewart seems to sometimes doze his way through Picard , but there’s a scene with him and Gates McFadden’s Crusher that will have you sitting up straight — eyes glued to the screen. Michael Dorn and Michelle Hurd both have their own scene-stealing moments as Worf and Raffi, respectively, and in one scene, Brent Spiner reminds us of why he and his characters Data and Lore had such fervent followings in the ’90s. There’s something a little electric as all these characters come together.

There are still four episodes of Star Trek: Picard I haven’t seen, and the show could drop the ball spectacularly. The wildness of this show (you should really make an effort to avoid all spoilers) could veer into absolutely absurd territory. But in these first six episodes, you have a very goofy, very thrilling, and very fun sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Star Trek: Picard airs weekly on Paramount Plus beginning February 16 .

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Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet's new 'Star Trek' series focuses on the USS Enterprise under Captain Pike, Captain Kirk's predecessor.

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

In the ever-innovating landscape of television, what was old is suddenly new again.

Netflix is contemplating a subscription option with commercials. Hulu broke out of the small-batch programming rut by renewing a sitcom for a whopping 20-episode season. And, after a string of spinoffs characterized by gritty darkness or twisty mythologizing, Paramount+ may have cracked the Star Trek code with a new series that’s bright, optimistic and fundamentally episodic in nature.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Airdate: Thursday, May 5 (Paramount+)

Cast: Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Babs Olusanmokun, Christina Chong, Celia Rose Gooding, Jess Bush, Melissa Navia

Creators: Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet

I actually kinda liked both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard . Both have ideas that interest me and performances I’m happy to support. But they’re both shows that, once I fell a little behind, I never felt any desire to catch up on.

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I can’t say if Trek: Strange New Worlds is a series I’m going to want to pay close attention to every week, but that feels almost like what the new series is designed for. Through the five episodes sent to critics — half of the 10-episode first season — there are installments that hit and others that are completely forgettable. But the series has successfully and quickly established a small ensemble that’s easy to care about and a hopeful ethos that harkens back to the original Star Tre k series and the more procedural aspects of various popular spinoffs. It’s an amiable and entertaining throwback by intent and in execution.

Although the core ensemble of Strange New Worlds , created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, was introduced in the second season of Discovery , those episodes border on completely unnecessary when it comes to what is, on its most basic level, Star Trek: Muppet Babies .

A prequel to Gene Roddenberry’s mothership, Strange New Worlds puts us back on the slightly shinier, slightly newer USS Enterprise under the watch of Captain Christopher Pike ( Anson Mount ), Captain Kirk’s predecessor, suggesting Starfleet used to make leadership decisions primarily on bone structure. Pike is still a bit haunted from the Discovery incident in which he saw the cause and context of his death, 10 years in the future.

Carrying over from those Discovery episodes are Pike’s second-in-command Una “Number One” Chin-Riley ( Rebecca Romijn ) and Baby Spock (Ethan Peck), who make up the key leadership trust on the Enterprise, which is sent on deceptively simple exploratory missions to seek out new life and new civilizations — and to, as the new-fangled phrasing puts it, “boldly go where no one has gone before.” Their crew includes variably familiar future faces including Baby Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), a fresh-out-of-the-Academy communications prodigy, Baby Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush), security officer La’an Noonien Singh (Christina Chong), whose last name points to a distant relation to iconic franchise villain Khan, and more.

If you keep your ears open, you’ll hear mentions of many additional names and alien races from various pieces of the Star Trek universe, but the degree to which you want to obsess over connections is up to you. Strange New Worlds is, in the original series tradition, an encounter-of-the-week narrative as the crew learns about different alien cultures, some benign and some hostile, some with very, very direct allegorical connections to human life in 2022 and some just lizard creatures that want to eat us.

Each of the five episodes I’ve seen is different from the others, while also evocative enough of some of the most repeated structural tropes from the franchise that the Star Trek show this one often most closely resembles is the animated Lower Decks , which lovingly parodies those tropes. So there’s one of those episodes in which an alien infection runs rampant on the Enterprise and makes everybody behave strangely; several episodes in which different landing parties are isolated from the Enterprise and have to learn valuable lessons about not making assumptions; and at least one action-driven episode with a fearsome alien foe that’s mostly pew-pew-pew space blasting and laying the foundation for future antagonistic run-ins. And then there’s a wacky body-swap episode!

Perhaps because the effects work on Strange New Worlds is only average, I wasn’t blown away by any of the episodes that involved somewhat weightless ships and objects flying around in space blasting at each other. Meanwhile, anything depicting character trauma felt flat and prestige-by-the-numbers. But when Strange New World keeps things light — a description that doesn’t preclude plots set among warring races or potentially planet-ending cataclysms — the series is a pleasure and makes up for any CGI limitations with top-notch makeup, costuming and production design.

The cast is across-the-board sturdy, led capably by Mount’s Ken Doll-with-snark attitude. Romijn isn’t all that interesting in dramatic mode, but any time she gets to show a dose of levity, Number One works well. Although Spock’s droll exercises in logic have now been played indelibly by multiple actors over the years, Peck’s interpretation is a worthy one, and he’s especially good in the episodes featuring Vulcan love interest T’Pring (Gia Sandhu).

My favorite performances came from Chong, Gooding, Bush and Melissa Navia as Enterprise helmsman Erica Ortegas. Chong has a dark intensity that plays well whether the context is dramatic or comic, and her scenes with Romijn in the fifth episode are standouts. Bush has a wide-eyed openness and Navia something more wryly sardonic, and the contrast works well. And Gooding is just a general delight, funny and emotionally available, honoring the Nichelle Nichols original and making Uhura her own.

Pervasively progressive, but not so progressive as to alienate that portion of the Star Trek audience in denial that the franchise was always progressive, Strange New Worlds may aim for something less ambitious than the most recent Star Trek shows, but it’s also more successful. In a streaming universe, it’s a broadcast-friendly Star Trek , with a not-unwelcome emphasis on “broad.”

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‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Succeeds by Going Back to Basics: TV Review

By Zack Handlen

Zack Handlen

  • TV Review: ‘Mayans M.C.’ on FX 6 years ago

Star Trek New Worlds TV Review

For the first 40 years of “Star Trek” history, the character of Christopher Pike was little more than a footnote in the franchise’s lore. Captain of the Enterprise in the failed original NBC series pilot “The Cage,” Pike, as played by Jeffrey Hunter, wound up as the dry run for William Shatner’s James T. Kirk, a square-jawed hero doing square-jawed hero stuff who fell a few inches short of being right for the job. Gene Roddenberry, ever the environmentalist, recycled scenes from that unaired pilot for a two-part episode of the original series called “The Menagerie,” which allowed for, until 2009, Pike’s greatest contribution to popular culture: his transformation into a hideously scarred burn victim who lived in a large black box that beeped whenever someone asked him a question.  

It’s not much build off of, but Pike has become increasingly important to “Trek” as the franchise looks to its past to build a future. Bruce Greenwood played the role J.J. Abrams’ big screen reboot “Star Trek” in 2009, as a mentor figure quickly sidelined for the people who actually mattered, but it wasn’t until Pike became a regular on the second season of “Star Trek: Discovery” that the character came fully into view. Stepping into the vaguely dad-shaped space left by Greenwood in Paramount+’s “ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ,” Anson Mount offers up something surprisingly rare on TV these days: a charming, straightforward good guy. His affable presence is maybe not the best reason to produce yet another “Star Trek” prequel series — but it’s not the worst, either.  

Popular on Variety

Not that Mount is the only thing “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has to offer. The new series is full of familiar character names, taken both from that failed pilot and from the original series proper. These include Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Number One, both reprising roles they first played on “Discovery,” as well Celia Rose Gooding as communications prodigy Noyta Uhura and Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel. Trivia fans will recognize Doctor M’Benga from two episodes of the original series (here played by Babs Olusanmokun), and the eyebrows of anyone familiar with the franchise will likely be raised at hearing the name of the Enterprise’s new chief of security, La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong).  

As fan service goes, it’s reasonable enough, only occasionally veering into the overly cute. But fan service on its own does not a show make, and the question “Strange New Worlds” has to answer right from the start is: why? “ Trek” has done prequel series before, but both “Enterprise” and “Discovery” at least tried to find new angles on the material, with varying degrees of success. “Strange New Worlds” is telling the story of a captain whose most important action was sitting in a chair before someone else used it. Where’s the novelty? What’s the point?  

Going by the first five episodes of its first season, “Strange New Worlds’” answer is more or less: who cares? The new series wallows in references to the original, and while some of the nods offer a different perspective on established canon (for example, a chance to hear T’Pring’s side of the story a decade before she forces Spock and Kirk to fight to the death in “Amok Time”), there’s no serious attempt at subversion here. Where “Discovery” spent most of its first season putting on and taking off half a dozen different identities, “Strange New Worlds” is content to fall back on the basics: a likable cast traveling the galaxy, having wacky sci-fi adventures, and generally having a hell of a good time.  

By and large, this approach works. While it lacks “Discovery’s” ambition, “Strange New Worlds” also avoids that show’s struggles with serialization and scope, as each episode limits its focus to the story at hand. The result is as straightforward and direct as the show’s leading man, and nearly as likable. There’s no strain here, and while the more episodic style may be old-fashioned, it’s refreshing to watch something that isn’t pretending to be a 10-hour movie. There’s none of the bait-and-switch that so often plagues modern streaming shows, the promise that the fireworks factory will be along soon, provided you keep watching. Characters develop and change, but their narratives don’t display the overstuffed exhaustion that comes from needing to drag a single plot out over the span of an entire season.  

Anyone who’s watched a modern “Trek” show will recognize the franchise’s current fixation on broad emotional beats, with every heartfelt moment landing with all the subtlety of a Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercial. It’s an approach that can wear thin over time, especially given the soundtrack’s insistence on underlining every earnest confession and inspiring speech with the musical equivalent of a firehose. But even there, the episodic storytelling helps, as the show rarely gets bogged down for long by angst or despair. In some ways, the broadness feels reminiscent of the original series, back when every scene felt about three minutes away from a fist-fight or a hook-up, and if the vibe these days is more family friendly, that may be for the best.  

It helps that the cast is clearly enjoying themselves. Mount’s brand, “chill silver fox with occasional worries,” sets the tone; efforts to tie in his time on “Discovery” with the current series are somewhat strained, but the overall effect of his performance is laidback and welcoming. Peck remains a strong presence as Spock, lacking Nimoy’s intensity but balancing the character’s stoicism and drier-than-dry wit with aplomb; Romijn gets more to do here than on “Discovery,” and rises to the occasion admirably. Of the rest, Chong’s security chief may be the standout, if only because her grim practicality helps to differentiate her from what is, on the whole, an aggressively lovable bunch. But there’s no deadweight to speak of, and the first five episodes give all of the main ensemble their chance to shine.  

“Strange New Worlds” isn’t trying to break new ground, which is something of a relief. The show looks great, moves quickly, and does everything it can to keep the audience entertained. At times, its excess of charms can border on cloying, and some of the attempts at moral lessons are distractingly ham-fisted, but everything passes by so smoothly it’s hard to hold a grudge. The going may not be as bold as it once was, but it’s fun and rarely insulting, and most of the time, that’s enough.  

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” premieres May 5 on Paramount+ in the U.S., with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays.

Correction: Dr. M’Benga appeared in Season 2 and Season 3 of the original series of “Star Trek,” not in the original pilot, “The Cage.”

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David Ajala as Book and Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham.

Star Trek: Discovery season three review – its most thoughtful series yet

Opening on a broken world where hope seems to be the only thing left, the latest chapter in Trek lore is likely to strike a chord with viewers in 2020

A fter three seasons, Star Trek: Discovery has got around to boldly going where no one had gone before – namely 900 years into the future, far beyond the time periods charted out with extensive lore by other Trek shows.

This decision, and the accompanying hypnotic space worms, disreputable space bazaars and alluring space rogues, comes as a great relief. Discovery has been hemmed in since its inception by everything else bearing the Star Trek name. The show was originally set 10 years before the original series, in a parallel universe populated by the characters of the current Trek movie franchise, also named Kirk and Spock, rather than the versions played by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy – though not played by the actors in the recent films, either – and if that all sounds confusing, and possibly not worth spelunking through Wikipedia to work out, then good.

Season two had some behind-the-scenes drama: the showrunners left the series after complaints by staff that they were mistreated; now the show is run by Alex Kurtzman and Discovery writers’ room veteran Michelle Paradise, who both wrote this first episode with Jenny Lumet, the author of, among other things, the screenplay to Jonathan Demme’s masterly Rachel Getting Married. So there are reasons to hope, which, incidentally, is also now the theme of the series.

Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) crash-lands on an unfamiliar world after leaping through a temporal wormhole at the end of Discovery’s second season, to defeat an evil artificial intelligence. The friction of the planet’s atmosphere seems to have burned away all the optimism that has always been the most basic atomic unit of Star Trek – when Michael arrives, she immediately stumbles across a piratical “courier” of contraband goods named Book (David Ajala in an enjoyable Han Solo mode) and learns that a huge cataclysm has essentially ended the peace enforced for so many centuries by the omnipresent Federation.

Somehow, this isn’t gloomy. Martin-Green is very funny, and she is, finally, our guide to the secrets of an unknown world. Her boring love interest is gone, her crewmates are awol (though some of them will turn up), and the future is filled with the sort of double-crosses, shootouts and ramshackle spaceships you associate with a Star War, rather than a Trek. The possibility of the network high-fiving itself over references to shows that have been over for decades seems blessedly remote. The result is a far weirder and more eccentric show than Discovery has ever been – one character has a digital alarm parrot in lieu of a clock. There are even signs that it may begin affording its characters the kind of quiet everyday business that will allow the audience to know them as people, rather than as entries in branching wikis of lore.

I reviewed the programme when it began in 2017; I wasn’t a fan of the elongated story arcs or the heavy-handed politics. The sadder-but-wiser show it has become mirrors the toll the past three years have taken on so many of us. It’s a Star Trek that takes place, for the first time, in a broken world where there is no benign bureaucracy that must be saved from space invaders, brightly coloured disasters or a few bad apples. Now, Discovery promises to explore the idea of salvage – how to make the most of what we have, especially when we don’t have enough. In this, as in a few other ways, it seems to take its cues not from the voyages of Captain Cook (who inspired Gene Roddenberry to create the original Trek), but from modern sci-fi writers such as NK Jemisin, who are concerned with how societies can – or can’t – be built to survive hostile worlds.

That requires vigilance, something this opening episode shows us in moving closeup. At the outset, we see a man who is waiting to fulfil his duties as an officer of an institution so thoroughly destroyed that it has been reduced to a mere idea. At the end of the episode, he finally gets to do so, giving meaning to his years of waiting. In our own world, so many public institutions seem to have become only slightly less fictional than Starfleet, and this humble resurrection seems a bit miraculous. Discovery is a show given to histrionics, but stripped of its familiar setting, it now reaches for profundity with a little more assurance.

“Hope is a powerful thing,” muses one character. “Sometimes it’s the only thing,” Michael replies.

Star Trek: Discovery is available on Netflix in the UK and CBS in the US

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The heroes of Star Trek: Prodigy stand and talk

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Star Trek: Prodigy takes a different opening tack than any previous Trek series

The show aims at viewers who are tuning into the final frontier for the first time

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When the title of a new TV series begins with “Star Trek,” it’s natural to be intimidated. The Trek franchise has a well-earned reputation for having a dense canon, which has been built up over the course of 55 years and more than 800 canonical installments. It’s possible to start any individual series and eventually get your bearings, but many of them aren’t terribly welcoming unless you’ve absorbed the prerequisite mythology, either directly or through cultural osmosis. Star Trek: Prodigy , the new animated series that premiered Oct. 28 on Paramount Plus, fully breaks from this trend, presenting Star Trek in an entirely new way, and becoming the most accessible jumping-on point for the franchise since J.J. Abrams’ 2009 film reboot.

Most Star Trek spin-offs presume a level of pre-existing engagement in the franchise, and use their first episodes not to sell viewers on Star Trek , but to sell them on this Star Trek . They’re in the business of iteration and contrast, of proving that this incarnation has something sufficiently different in store. For 1987’s The Next Generation , the very premise of doing Star Trek without familiar characters Kirk and Spock was novel enough to differentiate the series. Deep Space Nine and Voyager are distinguished by their placement in space, Enterprise and Discovery by their placement in time, Picard and Lower Decks by their vastly different approaches to the legacy of The Next Generation . Every series has developed its own identity, but each is defined from the outset by its relationship to what’s come before.

But the double-sized premiere of Prodigy seems to be entirely in its own lane, refreshingly unconcerned with previous Star Trek series until two minutes before the closing credits. The first episode, “Lost and Found,” takes place on the mining colony asteroid Tars Lamora, where teenage prisoner Dal R’El (voiced by Brett Gray) is making his umpteenth unsuccessful escape attempt. Over the course of this opening hour, we see Dal assemble a ragtag group of fellow enslaved workers to hijack an advanced derelict starship that’s buried within a crevice of the asteroid.

Anyone even vaguely familiar with Star Trek will recognize this ship, the USS Protostar, as having all the aesthetic markers of a Starfleet vessel. Dal and his companions, however, do not — in fact, they’ve never heard of Starfleet or the United Federation of Planets that it serves. To them, it’s just a way out of bondage. The fact that it’s also their gateway into a diverse space utopia only sweetens the deal. They’re in the middle of their own space adventure, only to discover at the last minute that they’re on Star Trek , whatever that is.

Two characters from Star Trek: Prodigy staring each other in the eyes

Shifting the perspective of the characters from seasoned professionals coping with new wrinkles to complete outsiders learning the ropes was a deliberate decision made by series creators Kevin and Dan Hageman ( Trollhunters, LEGO’s Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu ), as they explained at New York Comic Con earlier this month. Star Trek head honcho Alex Kurtzman tasked them with devising an entry point through which young, uninitiated viewers might find their way into Star Trek , and determined that the best way to do that would be via characters who would be introduced to it themselves.

Exploring the Star Trek canon is typically easier with a guide, and the crew of the Protostar have one of their own — a holographic training program in the likeness of Star Trek: Voyager ’s Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). Introduced at the end of “Lost and Found,” Hologram Janeway is the only element that places the episode in a particular place or time in the Star Trek universe.

Prodigy has a few other, looser ties to the franchise’s past. Three members of the main ensemble represent races from previous Star Trek works, but each is more obscure than the last. Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) is a Tellarite, the least recognizable of the Federation’s four founding species (alongside Humans, Vulcans, and those blue guys with the antennae, the Andorians). Zero (Angus Imrie) is a Medusan, a non-corporeal entity whose people haven’t been heard from since the 1968 episode which introduced them. Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) is a Brikar, a species that originates in Peter David’s tie-in novels from the 1990s, and has never been depicted on screen before. Since even the established pieces of lore are plucked from obscurity, viewers for whom “Lost and Found” is their very first Star Trek aren’t missing anything. At least for now, dyed-in-the-wool Trekkies have almost no advantage over the new kids.

This distance from the larger Star Trek universe won’t last, and it’s not meant to. The Hagemans have already indicated that the Protostar’s course will take them closer to Federation space, and that they’ll encounter more familiar characters and cultures over time. This doesn’t have to make the series any less approachable to new viewers. As the young crew journeys in from the outskirts, hopefully new fans can be gradually acclimatized. Success would mean that a young viewer can explore the wider Star Trek library with Prodigy as their compass, not their homework agenda.

The first episode of Star Trek: Prodigy’s 10-episode opening season is now streaming on Paramount Plus, with new episodes arriving on Thursdays.

Star Trek: Discovery is cracking open a box Next Gen closed on purpose

Star trek: discovery is finally free to do whatever it wants, the 10 horniest episodes of star trek, ranked by cultural impact.

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Wilson Cruz, Robinne Fanfair, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Sonequa Martin-Green, and Mary Wiseman in Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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

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Doug Jones and Sonequa Martin-Green in Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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Nichelle Nichols and Sonequa Martin-Green at an event for Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

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

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  • September 24, 2017 (United States)
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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 5 Review – Mirrors

Star Trek: Discovery reaches the halfway point of its final season by providing the L'ak and Moll backstory no one asked for.

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Burnham and Book in Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

This Star Trek: Discovery review contains spoilers .

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 5

Star Trek: Discovery reaches the midpoint of its final season with “Mirrors,” an hour that is probably the worst of the five installments we’ve seen so far. To be clear, the episode isn’t necessarily bad , per se, and those who’ve been with this show since the beginning have definitely sat through much worse than this during its run. But it is an hour that, at best, is pretty darn boring, and that can’t help but feel like a colossal waste of time when we have so few hours left with the characters whose stories we care about. 

Look, most of us ( read: me ) expected this season to include a flashback-laden hour that explained the very obviously telegraphed, clearly semi-tragic backstory of the season’s villains, intended to make us reevaluate how we feel about their quest to find the Progenitors’ technology. But Moll and L’ak have been such poorly sketched adversaries so far that it’s extremely difficult for the show to suddenly turn them into characters we care about or build a relationship between them that we’re invested in. After all, it’s hard to sell a desperate star-crossed love story between two characters we’ve spent such little time with and barely know, and who have generally been huge jerks every time they do appear on our screens.

(Don’t get me wrong, I like Book just fine, and I adore his relationship with Michael, but I don’t think he’s an important enough character to make his vaguely tenuous familial connection to Moll as compelling as the show seems to think it ought to be.)

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It’s a shame that so much of this hour is dedicated to providing a backstory no one really asked for, because its general premise is actually super interesting. Still on the hunt for the location of the Progenitors’ mysterious device, Discovery tracks Moll and L’ak’s ship into a wormhole-like anomaly that leads to a pocket of interdimensional space where the next clue is supposedly hidden. (These scientists from back in the day put in work to hide whatever this thing is, is what I’m saying.) Burnham and Book take a shuttle inside it—at least one of its primary commanders stays on the ship this time—where they find the Terran I.S.S. Enterprise , the Mirror Universe version of the famous starship that’s been damaged and abandoned.

I doubt I’m the only person who wants to know more about the Terrans who were once on board this ship, why they decided to flee to our universe, or how the Mirror Universe version of Saru—ostensibly the same one Michael taught how to fight seasons ago—helped lead them to safety. I mean, I just have so many questions: When did this happen? How long has this Enterprise been abandoned in interdimensional space? (It had to be some time after Michael and Discovery jumped to the future, since the Mirror Universe Enterprise had to remain in its own dimension long enough for the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Mirror, Mirror” to take place, right?) Were there two Sarus in this universe at any point? Did any of the Mirror Universe Enterprise crew cross over as refugees? We’ll likely never know but I’m curious anyway. I also have questions about how the folks hiding all these clues in the first place determined this was a must-have hiding spot, but very little about this puzzle quest has made all that much sense, so let’s just go with it.

It’s unfortunate that the Terran Enterprise connection is so much more intriguing than the hour’s big reveal, which is that L’ak is a member of the Breen, and he and Moll have a blood bounty on their heads. The Breen are an alien species with both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine origins, and whose faces we’ve never seen onscreen before. Their culture is reclusive and mysterious and this twist should be so much more compelling than the catalyst for a star-crossed Romeo & Juliet-style romance with a little overt grifting thrown on top.  

A courier delivering dilithium to the Breen in the wake of the Burn, Moll’s cutting her shipments with other materials to make more money. She offers to bring disgraced royal L’ak into her scheme, to give him a chance to get payback against the uncle who demoted him because he was too different from the rest. How was he different? Why did that matter? Shrug emoji. He accepts and flirting ensues.

Before you know it, they’re having allegedly meaningful conversations about “true faces” and performing The Mandalorian – style slo-mo helmet removals alongside their scammer delivery runs. But of course, they eventually get caught, and now they’re being eternally hunted by very talented trained killers and have to hope that they can trade the Progenitor tech for their lives. This is not a great plan—as Michael correctly points out the Breen will probably just take their world-destroying tech and kill them anyway if they make it that far—but it’s the one they’re going with. 

On the plus side, “Mirrors” is the best Book and Burnham episode we’ve had in a while. A solid reminder of how good they are as a team, both tactically and emotionally—Michael’s unexpected reminiscing about Spock was lovely, as was the bittersweet moment between them when they both thought they were likely to die trying to get out of the wormhole. Beyond the whole Book committing some light treason last season thing, which it’s clear Michael (and the Federation writ large) has forgiven him for, it’s not entirely clear why the two of them aren’t together right now beyond the need for dramatic tension between them. And since the show could not be telegraphing that reunion any harder, maybe it’s just time to cut to the chase where the two of them are concerned.

It’s obviously not Discovery ’s fault that the folks in charge didn’t know this was going to be the show’s final season—and a truncated run at that—when they shot it. But it’s still hard not to feel a bit cheated here. This episode spends so much time on Moll and L’ak and their stilted declarations about how they’d rather die than be separated from each other, all when there are a good half dozen other major characters whose stories I’d rather be watching. And I’m more than a little annoyed that I have to hear all about Moll’s weapons-grade daddy issues in stultifying detail when we could give that screentime to Tilly or Stamets or Culber or Saru, who all seem to be going through some pretty big life changes and emotional adjustments this season and whose individual journeys I’m already invested in. These characters deserve better than this and we, as viewers, do too. 

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Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher

Lacy Baugher is a digital producer by day, but a television enthusiast pretty much all the time. Her writing has been featured in Paste Magazine, Collider,…

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Episode 4 Review: Rayner & Burnham Faced the Strange

By using a Time Bug, Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 revisited the series' greatest hits, and deepened its heroes' characters and journeys.

The following contains spoilers from Star Trek: Discovery, Season 5, Episode 4, "Face the Strange," now streaming on Paramount+ .

In Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Captain Michael Burnham and her crew are in a race against a pair of space-pirates for the future of the Federation. Yet, with only five clues to find before getting to the finish line, there were bound to be some detours. "Face the Strange" is one such side-mission, but it's also a brilliant way to look back at the series' larger journey from being the new kid on the franchise's block to becoming a classic Star Trek series .

Producers said that Season 5 wasn't supposed to end the series, yet this episode is a perfect addition for its final mission. By using time travel as a framing device, the episode looked back at the journey the crew, and especially Burnham, embarked on ever since the show launched in 2017. This was exactly the kind of nostalgic and emotional trip down memory lane that one would expect a character-driven series like Star Trek: Discovery to do in its swan song.

Of course, time travel shenanigans are a classic Star Trek motif, and Star Trek: Discovery already had its share of such adventures. That said, what made this particular time-traveling escapade special was that it allowed for the return of a long-lost character, and it gave Commander Rayner a chance to further define and refine his character while also affirming his place on the Discovery's crew . While his connection to the crew is still a bit tertiary, this episode really showed that Burnham and Rayner made a fantastic and complementary duo.

Face the Strange Revisited Star Trek: Discovery's Greatest Hits

Captain michael burnham and commander rayner relived some of the show's best moments, star trek: discovery ending is a blessing in disguise.

At the end of "Jinaal (Season 5, Episode 3)," Moll slipped into the Trill symbiont caves and planted a strange device on Ensign Adira Tal's sleeve. When "Face the Strange" opened while affirming that the recently broken-up Gray Tal and Adira will remain friends, the spider-like device (later referred to as the Time Bug) crawled from their sleeve and onto the ship.

Meanwhile, Rayner's harsh style of command rubbed Burnham the wrong way. She asks him to join her in the ready room for a slight dressing down, which inadvertently proves to be the crew's saving grace. When the Time Bug does its dirty work, the captain and first officer use their personal transporters, which prevents them from becoming unstuck in time like the rest of the ship and crew. This allowed them to find a way to free the Discovery from its time-displaced prison, and to reflect on their lives.

There is a brief jaunt to the future, Burnham and Rayner learn that their crew died and that the Federation was decimated after a Breen attack. This was also the third mention of the Breen this season, and one of their heaviest bits of foreshadowing yet. Interestingly, this grim sequence evoked the Star Trek: Short Treks episode "Calypso (Season 1, Episode 2)," which featured a marooned soldier many, many tears in the future encountering an abandoned USS Discovery occupied only by Zora.

The two Starfleet officers then appear on the ship during its journey through the wormhole at the end of Season 2. Next, they were thrown back to the battle against Control, the evil artificial intelligence that wanted to merge with the "Sphere Data" that became Zora. They also traveled to the distant past before the Discovery was even launched. However, their most important trip to the past took place just a few weeks after Burnham joined the ship. The best thing about this sequence was that it allowed Airiam, the human-turned-cyborg who died in Season 2, to return for a brief few scenes. That said, this sequence was all about Burnham and her personal journey.

Captain Michael Burnham Confronted Her Past, Insecure Self in Face the Strange

It's been a long road for michael burnham, going from mutineer to captain, star trek: discovery's alex kurtzman & michelle paradise talk final season.

As Rayner and Commander Paul Stamets try to figure out how to stop the Time Bug, Burnham encountered her past self in a turbolift. Past Burnham immediately thinks her future self is a shapeshifter. Nitpicky fans might wonder why Future Burnham didn't just drop some knowledge only they would know. However, in a universe with wormholes, time travel and the USS Discovery's spore drive , the possibility of a shapeshifter using their telepathic abilities to copy the memories of whoever they impersonated wasn't a big stretch. This led to a fun sequence where Burnham fought her past self.

After incapacitating her past self with a Vulcan Nerve Pinch, Burnham gave voice to the subtext of this entire journey. Burnham reminded audiences just how desperate things were for her back then. She was Starfleet's first mutineer, and her actions led to the death of her mentor, Captain Philippa Georgiou. Even though the Klingon leader, T'Kuvma, was going to start a war with the Federation, Burnham also blamed herself for this close call. The most unbelievable thing for the understandably self-loathing Past Burnham to accept was a future in which she not only had rank again, but was trusted enough to be given a ship.

While this makes Burnham Star Trek 's most relatable captain among the franchise's imperfect fans, the character herself can't believe she could attain new heights after falling so far. Yet, in trying to stop Rayner and Stamets, Burnham again proved her worth . She's determined to do the right thing to protect her ship, her crew and Starfleet itself. This episode underscored that Burnham's unique skill isn't her intellect or fighting prowess, but her commitment to higher ideals even when she thinks she's failed them in unforgivable ways.

Commander Rayner Finally Connected with the Crew in Face the Strange

Commander rayner learned new things about himself by visiting the past, star trek: discovery actors doug jones & david ajala prepare for their last adventure.

While Burnham is and always was heroic, it's actually Rayner who saved the day and the rest of time in this episode. Hearkening back to his previous attempts to know the crew, Rayner was now able to prove to Past Lieutenant Commander Gen Rhys that they do know each other. Rayner may have only given Reese 20 words, but these were enough to discover Rhys's affection for Constitution class ships like the USS Enterprise . Still, Past Burnham was not convinced. It's only through Rayner sincerely connecting with her and his own understanding of what it's like to fall from grace that seals the deal.

He told Past Burnham something no one but she could know. Specifically, that when she first stepped on the bridge of the Discovery, she felt like she didn't belong. Yet, he reaffirms that she does belong not just on the vessel, but in command of it. Yes, she's made mistakes, huge ones when compared to those committed by previous Starfleet heroes and captains. However, her heart is always in the right place. In Season 1, Burnham seemed more Vulcan than human, but her emotions were still there. In fact, she cared so much that she told Captain Gabriel Lorca she didn't deserve to serve on a starship.

Another touching moment between crew members in "Face the Strange" came via Rayner's collaboration with Stamets . He was already depressed this season since the spore drive is, effectively, dead technology. Rayner also killed his science-buzz upon realizing the potential of the Progenitor's technology. Yet, when Stamets was worried about being able to save the ship, Rayner motivated him by saying "old dogs" like them still had life-saving tricks up their uniform sleeves. Despite his gruff demeanor, this episode showed why Rayner was such a successful long-serving leader in Starfleet -- especially in a post-Burn galaxy.

Moll & L’Ak’s Time Bug Is a Brutal Weapon Tied to Star Trek Mythology

The time bug was used for more than just nostalgic fanservice, star trek: discovery's sonequa martin-green embarks on one final voyage.

Star Trek is full of near-magical and nonsensical technology like the transporters themselves , but even by these loose standards, the Time Bug is a little confusing. If Burnham, Rayner and Stamets weren't immune from its effects thanks to the latter's "tardigrade DNA," it's unclear exactly what the device does. Somehow, the present-day USS Discovery is incapacitated while the ship jumps back and forth through time. No one on the vessel is aware of this, and the crew complement changes with the times.

When Burnham and company arrive back in the 22nd Century, it's unclear what happened to folks like Commander Jett Reno or Adira, who were always in the 32nd Century. Trying to figure out how the Time Bug works is really a waste of time, since it's nothing more than a fun sci-fi concept that was used to drive an episode. The show gets around this when Rayner says the Time Bug is technology leftover from the Temporal War first introduced back in Star Trek: Enterprise, and wrapped up for good in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' Khan episode .

In previous episodes, Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 brought in connections to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Chase (Season 6, Episode 20)," and it also built on the Trill mythology established in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . The Time Bug is yet another way the series used past Star Trek events to tell new, fresh stories instead of just dropping cute Easter Eggs. The bug was an illegal black-market weapon, but one that (despite its inconsistent details and lack of specifics) fit neatly into this six-decade-old universe.

While the crew lost six hours in their race against Moll and L'ak, they still came out ahead. They are now a more cohesive unit than ever before, meaning they will face whatever challenges come next as a tightly-knit crew. This was the way that any Star Trek crew should be.

Star Trek: Discovery debuts new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+ .

Star Trek: Discovery

  • Time Bug allows for the series to revisit past moments and characters in its final season.
  • The focus on Burnham's journey from mutineer to captain underscores her remarkable journey over five seasons.
  • The episode reveals more aspects to Rayner's character making him more well-rounded.
  • "Face the Strange" is a near-perfect blend of action, sci-fi problem-solving, and character moments.
  • The ensemble takes a backseat because of the time-travel nature of the episode's plot.
  • Moll and L'ak return for a scene but are still not as present as in each episode as perhaps they should be.
  • Saru and T'Rina don't appear making last episode's story with them feel more like an aside.
  • Other than Ariam, past characters like Ash Tyler, Nilsson, Captains Lorca or Pike don't appear feeling like a missed opportunity for a final season victory lap.
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Or, they try to. And okay, it turns out the gratuitous beaming was for good reason, story-wise, because in the instant that the pair attempt to beam back to the bridge, Discovery plunges through time, and only their mid-transport timing protects them from the ship’s time-hopping. Everyone else aboard Discovery is experiencing “regular” time travel, as it were, unaware of their movement and remaining “of the time” they jump to.

Everyone, that is, except for Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), who thanks to his tardigrade DNA infusion all the way back in Season 1, the scientist is bouncing through time like the rest of the crew — but he’s mentally aware of the jumping remains “himself” like Burnham and Rayner.

Like “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad,” this is another episode about time shenanigans centering on Stamets and Burnham (and now also Rayner), but it doesn’t feel like a repeat of the same story so much as a deliberate permutation on a theme. Discovery , the show, is revisiting its past just the same way Burnham revisits her past self here; in both cases, the future versions have grown and changed in ways their past selves could never have imagined.

Who could have guessed, watching the series’ seventh episode, that original showrunner and creator Bryan Fuller would leave after just one season and a majority of the show would end up taking place in 32nd century? Not me, that’s for sure.

(As a side note, I was hoping one of the pasts they visited would be the “Magic” situation, just because come on, who doesn’t want to see what a time loop within a time loop looks like?)

star trek series review

It takes them all a few time jumps to figure out what’s going on, and a few more after that for all three of them to rendezvous. The second jump takes them back to Discovery mid-construction, sitting in dry dock at the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the Golden Gate Bridge framed nicely in a missing bulkhead section. (Both Star Trek and The Room have one rule: If you’re in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge must be visible at all times!)

Next jump is to the Season 2-ending battle with Control, and finally with three jumps there’s enough of a pattern visible for Rayner to identify what’s going on and what, exactly, is causing it. First, each time they jump Burnham and Rayner always return to the ready room – the place where they beamed themselves out of time — and second, that little mechanical spider that’s been crawling around the ship since it first detached itself from Adira’s uniform is a Krenim chronophage (yes, those Krenim ) left over from more lawless times  when paralyzing a ship by having it randomly cycle through time was a thing that apparently people did.

After a few more jumps, including one where a past version of Jett Reno (Tig Notaro) happens to save Rayner’s hide, he and Burnham land on an empty, dusty Discovery , abandoned by everyone except the one person who can’t leave: Zora (Annabelle Wallace). Listening to “Que Sera, Sera” and convinced that she’s dreaming, Zora explains that in this future, Discovery remained stuck in its time paralysis long enough for the Breen to get their hands on the Progenitor’s technology.

star trek series review

It’s a bleak future to visit, but it’s also very fortuitous that they did, because Zora is able to quickly do the math necessary for Stamets — who they finally meet up with in the next time jump –to figure out how to get them out of this. Just build a chroniton stabilizer and squish the bug with it, easy peasy!

And all Burnham has to do is get a component for it from her quarters without being seen. Not so easy as it turns out, as she runs into Book (David Ajala) who is very much in love with Burnham during this time period — and keen to show it. And she, as we all probably suspected, is still very much in love with him and gives herself a brief moment to indulge in that fact.

In their final final jump — this time to early in Lorca’s captaincy — Burnham runs into her much angrier and more jaded younger self; a Michael Burnham who is so barely out of prison that she still doesn’t even have a combadge and who flat-out does not believe this woman in a strange red uniform who claims to be her. Why? Because there’s no way anyone would ever make Michael Burnham a captain .

After a fight in a thankfully empty corridor, our Burnham ends up victorious and heads to the bridge… where she needs to convince everyone that they should listen to her and do something you never really want to do with a warp engine going at maximum speed: intentionally break the warp bubble and slam yourself back into the effects of general relativity.

star trek series review

Flashbacks are a tried and true way for shows to bring back departed characters, so the choice to include Airiam (Hanna Spear) on the bridge makes sense and is nice for audience members who miss her. What doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me is how her presence is used (which is a bit of an unfortunate parallel to her death for me – or at least the impact it was supposed to have).

Burnham knows she needs to convince the crew that she really is herself and that she really is from the future, but instead of, I don’t know, showing them her combadge which is full of 32nd century bells and whistles and exotic alloys that haven’t been invented yet she… convinces Airiam that they know each other because Burnham knows Airiam would sacrifice her life to save the ship? Then someone blurts out a “No she wouldn’t!” like that’s not the first thing any appropriately heroic Starfleet officer would do?

This scene is the one fumble in an otherwise great episode. Two minutes after this weird “I know you and here’s a generic hypothetical that applies to most people in Starfleet to prove it,” Airiam sees Burnham’s fancy holographic combadge and openly gawks at it. See, easily convinced! That would have worked and it wouldn’t have required the show to reexamine the hollowness of Airiam’s death without correcting its mistake.

The fact that Burnham doesn’t have anything better or more personal to say to or about Airiam except “You died, sorry that happened,” underscores just how undeveloped she was as a character. Why bring that up again? But hey, Burnham’s tactic works, and I suppose that’s what really matters here.

star trek series review

Meanwhile, past-Burnham and her era’s Rhys (Patrick Kwok-Choon) show up in engineering, phasers drawn, to try and stop Stamets and this weird guy they’ve never seen before from doing whatever it is that they’re trying to do to the ship. Rayner, solidifying himself as a solid gold example of a favorite character trope of mine — Grumpy Guy who’s a Secret Softie — defuses the situation by being brave as hell (he walks right into Burnham’s drawn phaser) but also emotionally astute.

He doesn’t just tell Burnham personal facts he couldn’t have known if he were really a stranger, he tells her with conviction that she really does deserve to be here on Discovery…  something that sinks to the core of who she is and what she’s battling in this moment in time.

The plan succeeds: the time bug is proverbially squished, and Discovery and her crew are all right back where they belong, minus the six hours they lost during all the jumping. Unfortunately, those six hours were long enough for Moll and L’ak to catch up with them and leave again. Did they find anything, or did they get sick of looking at seemingly empty space and leave? We don’t know yet, so tune in next week.

star trek series review

Which brings us to the beginning of “Face the Strange” — see, I can jump through time too! — when we see Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) acquiring the bug in the first place. While the Progenitors’ technology is enormous in its power and implications and Moll and L’ak are willing to do just about anything to find it, their motivations seem strictly personal.

Sure, if the way Moll takes revenge on the guy who sells her the chronophage is any indication, they’ll get some personal satisfaction out of seeing the Federation burn, but more than anything they’re in it for their freedom. Freedom from someone or something, certainly – though who or what we still don’t know – but, given the themes in “Face the Strange”, I’d guess freedom from their pasts might be the real goal.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

  • “Face the Strange” is a reference to the David Bowie classic “Changes.”
  • This episode is a spiritual sequel to Star Trek: Voyager’s “Shattered,” a similar final-season tale which saw Chakotay bouncing through different eras of Voyager adventures.
  • Discovery’s time jumps include visits to the ship’s transit through the Red Angel wormhole (leading to the ship’s crash-landing in “Far From Home” ), a time when the starship was under construction in the San Francisco Fleet Yards, the battle with Control ( “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2” ), Stardate 865422.4 (during Osyyra’s takover in “There Is A Tide…” ), an unknown date nearly 30 years into the future, a period in early Season 2 (shortly after Jett Reno’s rescue in “Brother” ), a point ahead of the Season 4 premiere after Burnham was promoted to captai), and the encounter with past-Burnham which takes place just ahead of “The Butcher’s Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry” (denoted by the reference to a still-alive Ellen Landry ).

star trek series review

  • Retrofit into corridor after Season 2’s set updates, the passage to the left-rear of Discovery’s command chair returns to its Season 1 “blue blinkies” configuration.
  • Captain Pike’s broken wood-and-glass conference table returns to the ready room set during the first time jump, a good touch from the set decoration department.
  • We’ve seen the San Francisco bay many times in Star Trek history… so just where in the heck was Discovery’s dry dock located?
  • A Krenim chronophage — or “time bug” — snared Discovery in a time bubble, from the species behind Star Trek: Voyager’s “Year of Hell.”
  • Season 3-era Reno’s drink of choice is a Vesper martini, served ice cold — and she tells Rayner that he can buy her a drink “at Red’s,” the onboard bar and lounge set added to Discovery during its 32nd century upgrades (though not introduced until Season 4).
  • While the ready room set was not built for Discovery until Season 2, the second time jump confirms the room existed as part of the ship’s original construction… but in a continuity goof, the 32nd century version of the Starfleet emblem remains on the Discovery ready room floor in each different time period, instead of the old version seen in Seasons 1 and 2.

star trek series review

  • Burnham gives a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nostalgic smile when Stamets hands her a 23rd century Starfleet communicator, retired after the crew upgraded to 32nd tricombadges in Season 3’s “Scavengers.”
  • Saurian officer Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) appears in the Season 1 time period, indicating he boarded Discovery long before his first actual appearance in Season 2’s “Brothers.”
  • Former Discovery cast members Hannah Cheesman and Ronnie Rowe, Jr. return as Airiam and Bryce, Julianne Grossman returns as the original voice of Discovery’s computer. (While Cheesman portrayed Airiam in Season 2, the role was actually portrayed by Sara Mitich in Discovery’s first season.)
  • I forgot just how much Airiam moves like C-3PO. Might have toned down that arm placement there in that wide shot if it were me, yikes.
  • Discovery’s viewscreen may be an open window to space, but it features blast doors which can be closed as necessary.
  • The future time period Burnham and Rayner visit is reminiscent of the alternate future setting in “Calypso,” where Zora and Discovery sat abandoned for nearly 1000 years. Zora even believes she’s having “another dream” when the officers arrive, perhaps hinting that the events of “Calypso” may have been one of Zora’s dreams — as the “Zora-point-of-view” shots mirror moments from that  Short Trek  tale.

star trek series review

  • This episode marks the first time we’ve seen Discovery’s original hull and nacelle configuration since its big 32nd century upgrade in “Scavengers.”
  • Even living “outside of time,” it’s curious that Stamets can jump back to a time period before his tardigrade DNA injection occurred.
  • Stamets’ tactics for clearing engineering get less and less sophisticated as the episode proceeds — going from making up specific problems with the spore drive containment field to just shouting “I’m grumpy!” It works.
  • “Hey Paul, let’s show ‘em how a couple of old dogs still know the best tricks!” Whoever gave Rayner a used copy of a dictionary of idioms from 1962, I thank you for your service.
  • Rayner’s hand gets the “Timescape” treatment, aging uncomfortably fast while he squashes the time bug — though thankfully avoiding those awful long fingernails.
  • Rayner surmises that Burnham must be the first person in Starfleet to captain a ship she first boarded as a prisoner. He’s probably right, but if we allow for a few technicalities I’d put Seven of Nine in that rare club as well: she’s imprisoned very quickly after boarding Voyager , and while she doesn’t hold a Starfleet rank at the time, she does command that vessel for over a month during the events of “One”.

star trek series review

Even with all the time jumping and the temporal-relativity-heavy plot, “Face the Strange” is a straightforward hour of television that confidently knows exactly what it wants to do – both in terms of the story and the characters. There are almost no extraneous moments, but the episode doesn’t feel rushed or overly full. The pacing is great: quick enough that we get to jump through a lot of different time periods, but relaxed enough that there’s room for smaller moments of comedy and character work.

The pacing and placement of the more emotional moments is especially effective, with characters examining and confronting their past and present selves in a way that’s emotionally resonant but also truly moves the story forward both at the episode and season levels.

A frequent frustration I have with Discovery is that the emotional beats and plot beats feel like they’re competing with each other for the same space, but with “Face the Strange” it feels like the show has finally figured out a way to have them work together and compliment one another.

star trek series review

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 returns with “Mirrors” on Thursday, April 25.

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, shake hands over the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at the Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, view the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

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DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

AP AUDIO: Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage.

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on the return of the original model of the USS Enterprise from the TV show “Star Trek.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

This image released by Disney/Pixar shows Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, left, and Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, in a scene from "Inside Out 2." (Disney/Pixar via AP)

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

star trek series review

star trek series review

Original USS Enterprise model from ‘Star Trek’ returned to creator’s son

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roddenberry, who is known as Rod, said Saturday that he would restore the model and seek to have it displayed in a museum or other institution.

He said reclaiming the item had only piqued his interest in the circumstances about its disappearance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .

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'Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story' Review: This Docuseries Needed to Rock Harder

Shot through the heart, and this docuseries is to blame.

The Big Picture

  • Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story lacks focus, with repetitive content.
  • The documentary feels biased, insular, and overly focused on petty grievances.
  • Modern sections lack depth, making the band appear irrelevant and past their prime.

When you think of iconic hair bands, you probably think of Bon Jovi . The band behind hits like “You Give Love a Bad Name,” fronted by singer and eponymous frontman Jon Bon Jovi , is responsible for much of the image people associate with typical 1980s rock and roll, along with bands like Twisted Sister , Mötley Crüe , and Poison . Whether you’re a die-hard fan of the band or simply remember “Wanted Dead or Alive” from Rock of Ages , Hulu and director Gotham Chopra have arrived with a new documentary about the band’s history: Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story .

Following in the footsteps of documentaries like Wham! and The Greatest Night in Pop , Thank You, Goodnight follows both the history of the band, from its beginnings in New Jersey in 1983 to now, as well as a contemporary look at the band, with footage from 2022 following the eponymous singer as he attempts to prepare for the band’s fortieth anniversary and fights various vocal health issues along the way. The series takes a deep dive into both the band’s discography and Bon Jovi’s perspective on it at sixty years old, a kind of nostalgia trap for anyone who graduated high school in 1984 and spends their days following rock and roll stars around the country.

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story

Exploring the career of a famous rock band, a film delves into their early days, breakthrough hits, and the highs and lows of the music industry. It captures the essence of their enduring appeal through behind-the-scenes insights, concert clips, and candid interviews with band members and those who know them best.

‘Thank You, Goodnight’ Doesn’t Know Where to Put Its Focus

With both present and past elements of the story fighting for supremacy over the course of four episodes, there’s a strange kind of indecision in the docuseries, with almost no connective tissue between the two beyond the singer himself and a handful of their hits (mostly off of Slippery When Wet ). With each episode capping out at around ninety minutes each, it makes you wonder whether it would’ve been better to pick one or the other, considering neither offers much in the way of new information that isn’t available on Wikipedia. Six hours of documentary on any one subject is an awful lot, even for the biggest superfan — and I doubt Bon Jovi diehards would learn much from what’s offered to begin with, as each episode runs in circles, dragging out eras of the band’s history so that every minute detail makes it to screen.

That’s all good and fun when it’s focusing on the most well-known parts of the band’s forty-year career, notably the making of Slippery When Wet , which features their hit songs "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Livin' on a Prayer," and "Wanted Dead or Alive." For eighties fanatics and nerds like me who love the minutiae of music production, there’s enough meat on the bone to keep you satisfied, but not much else is worth the time it takes to slog through all four episodes.

The series rambles like a relative who can never quite make it to the end of a story, who keeps diverting on side tangents that make you desperately wish you’d never asked. Similarly, the series’ attitude about the state of music outside of the band is also giving “cranky uncle” — at one point, it pits Bon Jovi against Nirvana and the grunge movement of the 1990s, which feels like a crock not only because it doesn’t make sense, but because many of the band’s contemporaries (notably singers like David Bowie ) had no qualms about embracing the style and the artists who came with it.

‘Thank You, Goodnight’ Is Too Biased In Its Own History to Work

The larger problem, though, is how insular the documentary is as a project . It feels like a rock’n’roll boys’ club, with not a single talking head featured who wasn’t directly involved with or in the band at some point in history. (The only woman featured is Bon Jovi’s wife Dorothea Bongiovi , despite their large female following, which is also telling.) Where director Chopra had an opportunity to explore the band’s impact on music history, as one of the first rock acts to make it big in the MTV era, he chose instead to focus on petty grievances and personal matters, the kind of sex, drugs, and rock and roll content that’s been explored so extensively in almost every other rock doc that the horse being beaten isn’t just dead at this point, it’s decayed away to nothing but bones.

Matters aren't helped by the perspectives of many of the talking heads. It’s already difficult for me to trust a doc that doesn’t bother to source any academics or other contemporaries — something that cannot possibly have been difficult, given the amount of writing that exists on hair bands and Bon Jovi specifically — but when your interviewee’s attitude is that of “I’m just telling it how it is” (a real quote from former guitarist Richie Sambora , I kid you not), the story being told boils down to nothing more than bog-standard pettiness in my eyes. (The same is true of former manager Doc McGhee , who contributes nothing but proving the theory that rock band managers are total scumbags.) You’re being barred from the boys’ club even as you sit through six hours of them telling their stories, and even then it still feels disparate, like there’s still enough in-fighting in the band that Chopra couldn’t decide what kind of story to tell.

It all comes back around to Jon Bon Jovi himself, as we watch him attempt to recover his singing voice in time to tour for the band’s anniversary. While he’s charismatic, and it’s no surprise to anyone why he was such a hit as a frontman in the '80s, it’s tough to garner much sympathy for a millionaire who's seen unparalleled success in his lifetime, especially when contemporary bands have faced far bigger tragedies than their singer simply getting older and losing his voice. (Cue me staring at my collection of Queen records.)

There’s not enough depth to the modern sections of the series to really give us an understanding of the band as it stands anyway, beyond having lost two founding members and hitting forty years of making music. I hesitate to call this an attempt at a comeback (even though it clearly is, given their recently released single, “Legendary”), because it seems like they’ve tried too hard to stay relevant for the last twenty years, but for anyone who isn’t a diehard, all Thank You, Goodnight seems to do is make it seem like one — and skews a little too much towards making the band look like has-beens .

Thank You, Goodnight doesn't quite know what it's doing, a boys' club that refuses to let the viewer in.

  • For fans of the band, it's an informative look at how they came to be, with plenty of material.
  • The series lacks cohesion, jumping from the past to the modern day in an indecisive manner.
  • No experts outside of the band were consulted, creating an inherent bias that soon becomes repetitive.

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story premieres April 26 on Hulu.

Watch on Hulu

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