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

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

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

The Original Series

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

The Animated Series

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

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

The first six films

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

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

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

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

The Next Generation (Seasons 1-5)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Generations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Contact

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Insurrection

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

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

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

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

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

Voyager (Seasons 6-7)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lower Decks

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

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

The Kelvin timeline

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

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

Short Treks

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

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

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

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

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• Series & Movies

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

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

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

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

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

How to watch Star Trek in order

Whether you're wanting to check out the Original Series or Discovery, figuring out how to watch Star Trek in order is a breeze with this easy guide!

Is it just us or is figuring out how to watch Star Trek in order getting more and more complex with each passing year? The prospect of watching Star Trek in order would be daunting for even the most decorated of starship captains with multiple series being brought to life on both the big and small screens. But fear not Trekkies - we've got you covered!

If you've ever tried to watch the Marvel movies in order , you'd be forgiven for thinking that was the most complicated franchise on the planet, but we kid you not - it has nothing on Star Trek. The 55-year-old sci-fi franchise includes nine (soon to be 11) TV shows and 13 movies and it spans 1000 years, making for one super complicated and vast timeline.

So, what is the best way to watch Star Trek in order? Well, that depends. For you purists out there, you might like to opt for viewing this franchise by release date, just like all the original Trekkie fans did back in the day. This will allow you to follow along as they did and get a similar experience. While the timeline does jump around, ( Star Trek: Discovery , for example, is set at the end of the 32nd century but was released before Star Trek: Picard , which is set in the 24th century), it gives you a more complete picture. 

Because the Star Trek franchise involves movies and TV series that take place at different times, another option is to watch everything in chronological order. This means you get to start with something a little bit more modern, but the one problem with this is that references will often be made to films you've not yet seen, which could make certain elements difficult to follow. 

To be honest, just like we recommend in our guide to how to watch the Star Wars movies in order , it really is a matter of personal preference. As long as you have one of the best TVs , you'll find you enjoy this franchise no matter what order you decide to watch it in.

So, without further ado, here's how to watch Star Trek in order - based on release date and in-universe continuity...

Star Trek TV shows and movies in chronological order

This is probably the list you're looking for if you're trying to figure out how to watch Star Trek in order. It's where things get really interesting, as Star Trek movies and TV shows have a habit of jumping around the franchise's chronology with sequels, prequels and bits in between. There are even two distinct timelines – but don't worry, we'll explain all that.

The original ‘Prime’ timeline was started by the Original Series, the Next Generation-era TV shows, and the first ten movies, The alternative ‘Kelvin’ timeline, meanwhile, was created in JJ Abrams’ first Star Trek (2009) to allow the familiar Enterprise crew of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov to have new adventures without contradicting canon . To avoid confusion, we've defined the two timelines as separate entities below.

This list doesn't, however, include all of the brief Short Treks – short stories which are mostly set around the Star Trek: Discovery era – and adventures where Starfleet crews time-travelled to the eras before any of the shows/movies are set (eg visits to 1986 in The Voyage Home and 2063 in First Contact). We've also left out upcoming Discovery spin-off Star Trek: Section 31 , since it's not yet in production. (Also, we're not entirely sure exactly when it'll be set.)

Let's start with everything in one big list. 

• Star Trek: Enterprise (seasons 1-4)
• ‘The Cage’
• Star Trek: Discovery (seasons 1-2)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• Star Trek: The Original Series  (seasons 1-3)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series 
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture 
• Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan 
• Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock 
• Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home 
• Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier 
• Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country 
• Star Trek: Generations (opening sequence)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (seasons 1-5)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (seasons 6-7), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (seasons 1-2)
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (seasons 3-4), Star Trek: Voyager (seasons 1-2)
• Star Trek: First Contact 
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (seasons 5-6), Star Trek: Voyager (seasons 3-4)
• Star Trek: Insurrection 
• S tar Trek: Deep Space Nine (season 7), Star Trek: Voyager (season 5)
• Star Trek: Voyager (seasons 6-7)
• Star Trek: Nemesis 
• Star Trek: Lower Decks
• Star Trek: Prodigy
• Star Trek (2009) – Prime timeline sequences
• Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Discovery (season 3-)
• Short Treks: 'Calypso'

If you watch in the order given above, you'll get a continuous ‘history’ of the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 32nd centuries according to the Star Trek timeline. That said, you will notice some odd discrepancies – thanks to the time in which respective shows were made, the technology in prequel show Star Trek: Discovery is significantly more advanced than what Kirk and Spock used in the Original Series.

Below, we'll explain how the different eras of the shows and movies break down for context. 

Note that Gene Roddenberry's original pre-Kirk Star Trek pilot, 'The Cage', is counted as an instalment of the Original Series. You'll usually find it listed as a bonus episode as part of season one when you're watching it on streaming services.

Star Trek: Enterprise era (22nd century) Begins and ends with: Star Trek Enterprise seasons 1-4

About a century before James T Kirk and his crew embark on their famous five-year mission in Star Trek: The Original Series, Captain Jonathan Archer leads Earth's first steps into the wider universe.

Star Trek: The Original Series era (23rd century) Begins with: 'The Cage' Ends with: Star Trek: Generations (opening sequence)

For many this is the most familiar era of Star Trek, since it involves Kirk, Spock and the classic Enterprise crew.  

This section of the Trek timeline kicks off with the original unaired Star Trek pilot, 'The Cage' . Next up in franchise chronology are the first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery , which work as a prequel to the Original Series (they even feature a younger version of Spock), but it's all change in season 3 – the events of the season 2 finale send the crew into the distant future of the 32nd century. More on that later...

Upcoming spin-off Strange New Worlds will follow the adventures of Captain Pike, Number One and Spock on the Enterprise after the USS Discovery travelled to the future. And at some point after that, Captain James T Kirk will take command of Starfleet's most famous ship – a role he filled throughout The Original Series , The Animated Series and the first six Star Trek movies ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture , The Wrath of Khan , The Search for Spock , The Voyage Home , The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country ).

The latest point we've seen (so far) in the 23rd century era is James T Kirk being taken away by the Nexus ribbon in the prologue of Star Trek: Generations . This is the event that allows Kirk to meet Picard when the Next Generation crew take on the mantle of headlining the big screen franchise.

Star Trek: The Next Generation era (24th century) Begins with: Star Trek: The Next Generation Ends with: Star Trek (2009) – Prime timeline sequences

The richest, most complicated period in Star Trek chronology. During The Next Generation era, Star Trek was experimenting with the idea of a shared universe years before Marvel got in on the act, with three TV shows (TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager ) and four movies ( Generations , First Contact , Insurrection and Nemesis ) interweaving through the same timeline – Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway even shows up in Star Trek: Nemesis as a newly promoted admiral.

New animated comedy spin-off Lower Decks is set a year after Picard and the Next Generation crew's final mission in Star Trek: Nemesis, while Nickelodeon kids' cartoon Star Trek: Prodigy will see Kate Mulgrew reprising her role as Voyager's captain, Kathryn Janeway. That suggests it will presumably be set at a similar point in the Star Trek timeline.

In JJ Abrams' first Star Trek movie (2009), the destruction of Romulus and Spock Prime's accidental trip back to the pre-Original Series era (in the Kelvin timeline) also take place after the events of Nemesis.

In the list above, we've shown how the movies (roughly) fit into the chronology of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. 

Picard era (turn of the 25th century) Begins with: Picard Ends with: ???

Aside from glimpses of the destruction of Romulus in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Picard gives us our first post-Star Trek: Nemesis look at what the United Federation of Planets has become. 

Since we last saw Jean-Luc Picard, he's retired to his vineyard in France, an android uprising on Mars has led to a ban on all synthetic life, and a disabled Borg Cube (known simply as the 'Artifact') is being mined for technology.

Distant future (32nd century) Begins with : Star Trek: Discovery season 2 (finale) Ends with: ???

In order to save the galaxy, the brave crew of the USS Discovery set off on a one-way mission 900 years into the future in Star Trek: Discovery 's season 2 finale. Their 32nd century destination is new territory for Star Trek – thanks to the mysterious 'Burn', most of the dilithium in the galaxy has been destroyed, making warp travel impossible. As a result, the Federation is a shadow of its former self – even Earth has decided to go it alone.

This isn't, however, the furthest Star Trek has ventured into the future – Short Trek ' Calypso ' is set on the Discovery in a distant future where the ship's computer has become sentient.

Star Trek's alternate 'Kelvin' timeline explained

In 2009's Star Trek movie directed by JJ Abrams, Spock Prime tries to save Romulus from a supernova, inadvertently creates a black hole while doing so, and gets pulled into the past, along with Romulan mining vessel the Narada. Once there, the Narada attacks the USS Kelvin on the day James T Kirk is born. The ship is destroyed as Kirk's father, George, sacrifices himself to save the rest of the crew. 

When all that happens, the alternative ‘Kelvin’ timeline is created, with events unfolding in parallel (but with remarkable similarity) to the original Prime timeline.

Got all that? There are just three movies set in the Kelvin timeline:

• Star Trek (2009)
• Star Trek into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek TV shows and movies in release date order

• Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
• Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock (1984)
• Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (1986)
• ‘The Cage’ (previously unavailable Star Trek pilot from 1965, given VHS release in 1986)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
• Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier (1989)
• Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
• Star Trek: Generations (1994)
• Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) 
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)
• Star Trek: Discovery (2017-)
• Short Treks (2018-2020)
• Star Trek: Picard (2020-)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (2021, TBC)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TBC)

Considering The Original Series was cancelled after just three seasons in 1969, it's remarkable that Star Trek is still around half a century later. But as the show's popularity grew in syndication on US TV, Trek fandom became a big enough force for the five-year mission to resume via Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973. Most of the original cast – with the notable exception of Walter Koenig (Chekov) – were enticed back to voice their characters. 

Then, helped by Star Wars turning sci-fi into the hottest genre in Hollywood, Star Trek beamed onto the big screen with 1979's The Motion Picture . The original crew headed up five more movies ( The Wrath of Khan , The Search for Spock , The Voyage Home , The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country ) before bowing out in 1991. The ’80s also gave the world a hint of the Star Trek that never was when 'The Cage' , the original unaired pilot, was released on VHS in 1986 (it appeared on TV two years later). Of the pilot crew, only Leonard Nimoy's Spock went on to reprise his role in the TV show, though footage from 'The Cage' was used extensively in the Original Series’ only two-parter, 'The Menagerie'. 

While the Enterprise was making it big in cinemas, the franchise returned to its TV roots in 1987 with The Next Generation . Set over 70 years after Kirk and Spock's final mission, it featured a new crew – led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard – on board a new starship Enterprise. The Next Generation was arguably even more successful than the Original Series, spawning two spin-off series: Deep Space Nine (which began in 1993) played with the Trek format by focusing on a space station, while Voyager (1995) dumped its crew on the other side of the galaxy, hundreds of light years from home. 

The Next Generation crew also fronted four movies of their own ( Generations , First Contact , Insurrection and Nemesis ) between 1995 and 2002.

After Voyager came to an end in 2001, Star Trek left the Next Generation era behind, and went in a completely different direction – Star Trek: Enterprise was a prequel set a century before Kirk and Spock's adventures. Enterprise lasted only four seasons, however (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager all made it to seven), and was canceled in 2005.

These were also dark times for the movie branch of the Trek franchise, as the disappointing box office performance of Nemesis had put the film saga on hiatus – it wasn't until 2009 that Star Trek warped back onto the big screen. 

Future Star Wars: The Force Awakens director JJ Abrams (already hot property as director of Mission: Impossible 3 and co-creator of Lost) gave the franchise an action blockbuster makeover, recasting Kirk, Spock and the rest of the original crew as rookies on their first mission. The reboot, simply titled Star Trek , made more than twice as much at the box office as any of its predecessors, and two sequels ( Star Trek into Darkness , Star Trek Beyond ) followed. 

Star Trek belatedly returned to TV in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery . Set a decade before the Original Series, it was a darker, more serialized Trek than we’d seen before – more in tune with the prestige shows of the so-called Golden Age of TV. As it’s turned out, it was just the beginning of Star Trek's renewed assault on TV...

A series of brief Short Treks appeared online ahead of Discovery's second season, while The Next Generation follow-up Star Trek: Picard left spacedock in January 2020. Animated series Lower Decks followed in August 2020, and Discovery spin-off Strange New Worlds – featuring Anson Mount's Captain Pike, Rebecca Romijn's Number One and Ethan Peck's Spock on the pre-Kirk Enterprise – is now in production. 

There's also another cartoon offering heading for the Alpha Quadrant, in the form of animated kids show Star Trek: Prodigy.

And there's potentially even more to come, as the much-talked about Michelle Yeoh vehicle Section 31 is still in development. But with Paramount Plus programming boss Julie McNamara telling Variety that the streaming service's current aim is to debut "a new Trek every quarter", we may have to wait for Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks and/or Strange New Worlds to stand aside before we get a new TV iteration of Trek.

To keep things simple, all the shows above are listed by the date their first episode aired. While the chronology does jump around if you watch Star Trek in order of release date, there are some benefits. For example, the prequel shows assume a fair bit of knowledge of earlier series, like the Borg's appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise episode 'Regeneration', or Star Trek: Discovery's revelations about the ultimate fate of Christopher Pike (the Enterprise captain in 'The Cage', who later shows up in 'The Menagerie'). Moments like that undoubtedly make more sense in the context of later events in the Star Trek timeline. 

How to stream Star Trek TV shows and movies

If you just want to know how to stream the 13 Star Trek movies and eight TV shows in the US and the UK, we've laid it out below. 

In the US, the newly rebranded Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) is definitely the place to go, with every TV show available to watch. In the UK, Netflix hosts all the Star Trek series except for Picard and Lower Decks.

Watching the 13 Trek movies is a rather more complex affair, with the films spread across numerous streaming services in the US and UK – and some of them you'll have to pay to rent/buy.

The TV shows

• Star Trek: The Original Series ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series ( US: Paramount Plus UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: Voyager ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: Enterprise ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: Discovery ( US: Paramount Plus UK: Netflix)
• Star Trek: Picard ( US: Paramount Plus UK: Amazon Prime Video)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (US: Paramount Plus US: Amazon Prime Video)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture ( US: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu UK: Only available to rent/buy)
• Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan ( US: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu UK: Sky Cinema/Now TV)
• Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock ( US: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu UK: Sky Cinema/Now TV)
• Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Sky Cinema/Now TV)
• Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier ( US: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu UK: Only available to rent/buy)
• Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country ( US: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu UK: Only available to rent/buy)
• Star Trek: Generations ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Sky Cinema/Now TV)
• Star Trek: First Contact ( US: Paramount Plus UK: Only available to rent/buy)
• Star Trek: Insurrection ( US: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu UK: Only available to rent/buy)
• Star Trek: Nemesis ( US: Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime Video UK: Only available to rent/buy)
• Star Trek 2009 ( US: DirectTV UK: Sky Cinema/Now TV)
• Star Trek Into Darkness ( US : FX Now UK: Amazon Prime Video)
• Star Trek Beyond ( US: Amazon Prime, Hulu UK: Amazon Prime Video)

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Richard is a freelance journalist specialising in movies and TV, primarily of the sci-fi and fantasy variety. An early encounter with a certain galaxy far, far away started a lifelong love affair with outer space, and these days Richard's happiest geeking out about Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and other long-running pop culture franchises. In a previous life he was editor of legendary sci-fi and fantasy magazine SFX, where he got to interview many of the biggest names in the business – though he'll always have a soft spot for Jeff Goldblum who (somewhat bizarrely) thought Richard's name was Winter.

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The Ultimate Chronological Star Trek Viewing Guide

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Newly added: Discovery Season 5!

Newly added: Lower Decks Season 2!

New: Print-friendly page added!

Abbreviation Guide

The 21st Century

The 22nd century, the 23rd century.

    (DIS,SNW,TOS,TAS)

The 24th Century

    (TNG,DS9,VOY,LDS,PRO,PIC)

The 25th Century

The 31st century, the 32nd century, introduction.

This Star Trek viewing guide will assist you through watching the entire franchise, based not on production dates, but on in-universe story order, all the way from the 21st to the 32nd centuries.  As it is a viewing guide and not a rigid chronology, some episodes are shifted to keep things as clear and fun as possible. The site is updated regularly to stay current. 

There is now a print-friendly version without the graphics as well.

To avoid spoilers, I’ve moved discussion of the thinking behind some less clear-cut decisions to a separate “methodology” page . Opinions and feedback are welcome!

Series Overview and Abbreviation Guide

Past Shows:

    TOS —> Star Trek - The Original Series (1964, 1966-1969)

    TAS —> Star Trek - The Animated Series    (1973-1974)

    TNG —> Star Trek - The Next Generation    (1987-1994)

    DS9 —> Star Trek - Deep Space Nine     (1993-1999)

    VOY —> Star Trek - Voyager (1995-2001)

    ENT —> Star Trek - Enterprise (2001-2005)

    SHO —> Star Trek - Short Treks (2018-2020)

    PIC —> Star Trek - Picard (2020-2023)

    MOV —> Theatrical Movies (1979-1991, 1994-2002, 2009-2016)

Current Shows:

    DIS —> Star Trek - Discovery (2017-2024)

    LDS —> Star Trek - Lower Decks (2020-)

    PRO —> Star Trek - Prodigy (2021-)

    SNW —> Star Trek - Strange New Worlds (2022-)

April 5th, 2063:

Star Trek essentially begins on this date, when Zefram Cochrane creates faster-than-light travel (“warp drive”) allowing humans to meet extraterrestrial life, the Vulcans, for the first time. We will see this event later in the viewing order, but for now it’s just backstory.

We start with Star Trek: Enterprise (technically just titled Enterprise until season three). While the first in the timeline, this show was actually the sixth Star Trek series made, and includes many fun hints of future events.  We will mostly follow the release order, but will skip some episodes in Seasons two and four until later in the viewing order.

• ENT    Season 1, episode 1    -    Broken Bow, Part 1
• ENT    Season 1, episode 2    -    Broken Bow, Part 2
• ENT    Season 1, episode 3    -    Fight or Flight
• ENT    Season 1, episode 4    -    Strange New World
• ENT    Season 1, episode 5    -    Unexpected
• ENT    Season 1, episode 6    -    Terra Nova
• ENT    Season 1, episode 7    -    The Andorian Incident
• ENT    Season 1, episode 8    -    Breaking the Ice
• ENT    Season 1, episode 9    -    Civilization
• ENT    Season 1, episode 10    -    Fortunate Son
• ENT    Season 1, episode 11    -    Cold Front
• ENT    Season 1, episode 12    -    Silent Enemy
• ENT    Season 1, episode 13    -    Dear Doctor
• ENT    Season 1, episode 14    -    Sleeping Dogs
• ENT    Season 1, episode 15    -    Shadows of P'Jem
• ENT    Season 1, episode 16    -    Shuttlepod One
• ENT    Season 1, episode 17    -    Fusion
• ENT    Season 1, episode 18    -    Rogue Planet
• ENT    Season 1, episode 19    -    Acquisition

• ENT      Season 1, episode 20      -      Oasis
• ENT      Season 1, episode 21      -      Detained
• ENT      Season 1, episode 22      -      Vox Sola
• ENT      Season 1, episode 23      -      Fallen Hero
• ENT      Season 1, episode 24      -      Desert Crossing
• ENT      Season 1, episode 25      -      Two Days and Two Nights
• ENT      Season 1, episode 26      -      Shockwave, Part I
• ENT      Season 2, episode 1      -      Shockwave, Part II
• ENT      Season 2, episode 2      -      Carbon Creek
• ENT      Season 2, episode 3      -      Minefield
• ENT      Season 2, episode 4      -      Dead Stop
• ENT      Season 2, episode 5      -      A Night in Sickbay
• ENT      Season 2, episode 6      -      Marauders
• ENT    Season 2, episode 7    -    The Seventh
• ENT    Season 2, episode 8    -    The Communicator
• ENT    Season 2, episode 9    -    Singularity
• ENT    Season 2, episode 10    -    Vanishing Point
• ENT    Season 2, episode 11    -    Precious Cargo
• ENT    Season 2, episode 12    -    The Catwalk
• ENT    Season 2, episode 13    -    Dawn
• ENT    Season 2, episode 14    -    Stigma
• ENT    Season 2, episode 15    -    Cease Fire
• ENT    Season 2, episode 16    -    Future Tense
• ENT    Season 2, episode 17    -    Canamar
• ENT    Season 2, episode 18    -    The Crossing
• ENT    Season 2, episode 19    -    Judgment

• ENT    Season 2, episode 20    -    Horizon
• ENT    Season 2, episode 21    -    The Breach
• ENT    Season 2, episode 22    -    Cogenitor

We are skipping episode 23 (“Regeneration”) for now, but will return to it later.

• ENT    Season 2, episode 24    -    First Flight
• ENT    Season 2, episode 25    -    Bounty
• ENT    Season 2, episode 26    -    The Expanse
• ENT    Season 3, episode 1    -    The Xindi
• ENT    Season 3, episode 2    -    Anomaly
• ENT    Season 3, episode 3    -    Extinction
• ENT    Season 3, episode 4    -    Rajiin
• ENT    Season 3, episode 5    -    Impulse
• ENT    Season 3, episode 6    -    Exile
• ENT    Season 3, episode 7    -    The Shipment
• ENT    Season 3, episode 8    -    Twilight
• ENT    Season 3, episode 9    -    North Star
• ENT    Season 3, episode 10    -    Similitude
• ENT    Season 3, episode 11    -    Carpenter Street
• ENT    Season 3, episode 12    -    Chosen Realm
• ENT    Season 3, episode 13    -    Proving Ground
• ENT    Season 3, episode 14    -    Stratagem
• ENT    Season 3, episode 15    -    Harbinger

• ENT    Season 3, episode 16    -    Doctor's Orders 
• ENT    Season 3, episode 17    -    Hatchery
• ENT    Season 3, episode 18    -    Azati Prime 
• ENT    Season 3, episode 19    -    Damage 
• ENT    Season 3, episode 20    -    The Forgotten 
• ENT    Season 3, episode 21    -    E² 
• ENT    Season 3, episode 22    -    The Council
• ENT    Season 3, episode 23    -    Countdown 
• ENT    Season 3, episode 24    -    Zero Hour 

In its fourth and final season, Enterprise, under the guidance of a new showrunner, really takes advantage of its ability to foreshadow events in later chronologically-placed stories. Please pay attention to the episode numbers as we skip episodes 18, 19, and 22 for now and watch them later.

• ENT    Season 4, episode 1    -    Storm Front, Part 1
• ENT    Season 4, episode 2    -    Storm Front, Part 2
• ENT    Season 4, episode 3    -    Home
• ENT    Season 4, episode 4    -    Borderland
• ENT    Season 4, episode 5    -    Cold Station 12
• ENT    Season 4, episode 6    -    The Augments
• ENT    Season 4, episode 7    -    The Forge
• ENT    Season 4, episode 8    -    Awakening
• ENT    Season 4, episode 9    -    Kir'Shara
• ENT    Season 4, episode 10    -    Daedalus
• ENT    Season 4, episode 11    -    Observer Effect
• ENT    Season 4, episode 12    -    Babel One
• ENT    Season 4, episode 13    -    United
• ENT    Season 4, episode 14    -    The Aenar
• ENT    Season 4, episode 15    -    Affliction
• ENT    Season 4, episode 16    -    Divergence
• ENT    Season 4, episode 17    -    Bound 

• ENT    Season 4, episode 20    -    Demons 
• ENT    Season 4, episode 21    -    Terra Prime 

Although we will be moving on from Enterprise for now, we will return to watch the skipped episodes and the series finale later. Even so, the two-parter above is near-universally considered a better end-point for this point in the story.

The Earth-Romulan War, which was first mentioned in the original 1960s series, occurs here. Enterprise intended to cover this starting in the fifth season, but was unfortunately cancelled after Season Four. While we don't get to see the conflict on screen, its impact is felt throughout Enterprise and beyond. During the war, Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites form a loosely structured Coalition of Planets which manages to push back the Romulans. This Coalition leads directly to…

…the formation of the United Federation of Planets, the primary political setting of the Star Trek franchise.

From this point on, Star Trek focuses on the Federation, depicting its periods of peace, war, expansion, and decline, which will set the agenda for much of the franchise.

Early 2230s

An adaptation of an (actual) ancient African legend, told to a young girl we will meet again later as an adult, this is our first “Short Treks” episode. These mini-episodes are not tied to any specific time or place in the Star Trek franchise and will appear occasionally throughout this list.

• SHO    Season 2, episode 5    -    The Girl Who Made the Stars 

2233 - A sidenote about universes/timelines:

There are two main “universes” in the Star Trek franchise: the Kelvin timeline (consisting of three feature films) and the Prime timeline (covering everything else). This year, 2233, is when events occur which split the universe into the Kelvin and Prime timelines. For now, we will stay with the Prime timeline in this viewing order, but keep in mind the Kelvin timeline for later. Note that there is a third universe, the "Mirror" universe, and occasional alternate timelines. However, for simplicity, our visits there will not be separated from the Prime episodes.

2233 (Prime)

The USS Kelvin flies through space, exploring strange new worlds. 

Nothing happens. 

All is well.

• SHO    Season 1, episode 3    -    The Brightest Star

After a quick Short Trek in which we meet a young ensign reporting to his new ship, we reach the very first Star Trek episode produced: The Cage, dating from 1964-65. Rejected by NBC for being "too cerebral," studio owner Lucille Ball convinced the network to give the show another chance at a pilot. While much of The Cage’s footage is reused in a later episode, "The Menagerie," we recommend that you don't skip either one. The character of Captain Pike becomes highly significant shortly, and both episodes offer valuable insights into him and Spock.

Viewing notes: When referring to the original 1960s "Star Trek," this guide uses the abbreviation TOS (The Original Series). TOS is available in two versions: the classic 1960s version and a CGI- enhanced remastered version made from 2006-08. The remastered versions do not alter the stories in any way making the version you choose a matter of personal preference.  

• SHO    Season 2, episode 1    -    Q&A 
• TOS    Season 0, episode 1    -    The Cage 

We now begin Star Trek: Discovery, which is the seventh Star Trek series produced, but only the second series chronologically. It also is the first series to significantly revamp the visual designs, departing from the previous assumption that the 23rd century looked the same as it did in the original 1960s series. Discovery updates the designs, and we are trusted to accept that they have "always" looked this way, affecting uniforms, ships, alien makeup, and more. The Klingons, in particular, received a dramatic redesign, though it was significantly backtracked after the first season. These are not continuity issues, and should not be viewed as such, though we could certainly nitpick details if we chose to. 

• DIS    Season 1, episode 1    -    The Vulcan Hello
• DIS    Season 1, episode 2    -    Battle at the Binary Stars
• DIS    Season 1, episode 3    -    Context is for Kings
• DIS    Season 1, episode 4    -    The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry
• DIS    Season 1, episode 5    -    Choose Your Pain
• DIS    Season 1, episode 6    -    Lethe
• DIS    Season 1, episode 7    -    Magic to Make the Sanest Man go Mad

• DIS    Season 1, episode 8    -    Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum
• DIS    Season 1, episode 9    -    Into the Forest I Go

Watching Trek in this order presents a quirk in episode 10, where the USS Defiant is, to avoid spoilers, somewhere it shouldn't be. The show assumes that we know the explanation, but don't worry about it. We will learn why when we reach 2268, but in the meantime, it is entirely unimportant to how the story in Discovery unfolds.

• DIS    Season 1, episode 10    -    Despite Yourself
• DIS    Season 1, episode 11    -    The Wolf Inside
• DIS    Season 1, episode 12    -    Vaulting Ambition
• DIS    Season 1, episode 13    -    What's Past is Prologue
• DIS    Season 1, episode 14    -    The War Without, The War Within
• DIS    Season 1, episode 15    -    Will You Take My Hand?
• SHO    Season 1, episode 1    -    Runaway
• SHO    Season 1, episode 4    -    Escape Artist
• DIS    Season 2, episode 1    -    Brother
• DIS    Season 2, episode 2    -    New Eden
• DIS    Season 2, episode 3    -    Point of Light
• DIS    Season 2, episode 4    -    An Obol for Charon
• DIS    Season 2, episode 5    -    Saints of Imperfection
• DIS    Season 2, episode 6    -    The Sound of Thunder
• DIS    Season 2, episode 7    -    Light and Shadows
• DIS    Season 2, episode 8    -    If Memory Serves
• DIS    Season 2, episode 9    -    Project Daedalus
• DIS    Season 2, episode 10    -    The Red Angel
• DIS    Season 2, episode 11    -    Perpetual Infinity
• DIS    Season 2, episode 12    -    Through the Valley of Shadows
• DIS    Season 2, episode 13    -    Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1
• DIS    Season 2, episode 14    -    Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2

I will avoid spoilers, but after watching the episode listed just above, it will be clear why we are pausing our viewing of Discovery, even though there are more episodes left to watch. We will come back to the series at the appropriate time to continue the series.

• SHO    Season 2, episode 2    -    The Trouble with Edward
• SHO    Season 2, episode 3    -    Ask Not

We now move away from the Discovery crew to follow Capt. Pike, back in command of the Enterprise, for an absolutely delightful series that deliberately throws back to 1960s Trek in many ways, including the first appearances of some characters we will continue to see for many years to come.

• SNW    Season 1, episode 1    -    Strange New Worlds
• SNW    Season 1, episode 2    -    Children of the Comet
• SNW    Season 1, episode 3    -    Ghosts of Illyria
• SNW    Season 1, episode 4    -    Memento Mori
• SNW    Season 1, episode 5    -    Spock Amok
• SNW    Season 1, episode 6    -    Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach
• SNW    Season 1, episode 7    -    The Serene Squall
• SNW    Season 1, episode 8    -    The Elysian Kingdom
• SNW    Season 1, episode 9    -    All Those Who Wander
• SNW    Season 1, episode 10    -    A Quality of Mercy
• SNW    Season 2 episode 1    -    The Broken Circle
• SNW    Season 2, episode 2    -    Ad Astra per Aspera
• SNW    Season 2, episode 3    -    Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
• SNW    Season 2, episode 4    -    Among the Lotus Eaters
• SNW    Season 2, episode 5    -    Charades
• SNW    Season 2, episode 6    -    Lost in Translation

Skipping Episode 7 for later…

Pay attention to the possible future laid out in this next episode; we see how the timeline actually plays out later in this chronology.

• SNW    Season 2, episode 8    -    Under the Cloak of War
• SNW    Season 2, episode 9    -    Subspace Rhapsody
• SNW    Season 2, episode 10    -    Hegemony

Here’s that second Original Series pilot Lucille Ball fought for, now with (most) of the classic 1960’s Star Trek crew. Still no Dr. McCoy, Uhura, or Chekov, Kirk has a different middle initial, the uniforms and sets still aren’t quite right… but we are for the first time recognizably in the world of the show that started it all.

• TOS    Season 1, episode 3    -    Where No Man Has Gone Before

2266-Notes on The Original Series

Just to clarify - the original Star Trek will appear less advanced in terms of its designs and aesthetic compared to the other Star Trek shows we have watched so far, but this is only due to the limitations of television production at the time. This is not “true” in story terms - the technology and society in TOS should be read as on par with Discovery and Strange New Worlds, which all take place at roughly this point in the timeline, and the Enterprise, despite looking different, should be accepted as the exact same ship Pike commanded in Strange New Worlds.

As for the actual viewing order, to fully appreciate the development of the show, it's recommended to watch TOS in production order instead of by air date.  In general, don’t get too hung up on continuity with the rest of the franchise in these early days - they take quite a while to pin some stuff down that the rest of the franchise takes for granted.

The Menagerie is largely reedited from The Cage, which we watched a while back, but don’t skip it - after spending so much time with Spock and Pike since, this episode is absolutely essential.

• TOS    Season 1, episode 10    -    The Corbomite Maneuver 
• TOS    Season 1, episode 6    -    Mudd's Women
• TOS    Season 1, episode 5    -    The Enemy Within
• TOS    Season 1, episode 1    -    The Man Trap
• TOS    Season 1, episode 4    -    The Naked Time
• TOS    Season 1, episode 2    -    Charlie X

Next we revisit SNW’s season 1 finale, “A Quality of Mercy”, and see how differently events play out with Kirk in command of the Enterprise.

• TOS    Season 1, episode 14    -    Balance of Terror
• TOS    Season 1, episode 7    -    What Are Little Girls Made of?
• TOS    Season 1, episode 9    -    Dagger of the Mind
• TOS    Season 1, episode 8    -    Miri
• TOS    Season 1, episode 13    -    The Conscience of the King
• TOS    Season 1, episode 16    -    The Galileo Seven
• TOS    Season 1, episode 20    -    Court Martial
• TOS    Season 1, episode 11    -    The Menagerie (Part I)
• TOS    Season 1, episode 12    -    The Menagerie (Part II)
• TOS    Season 1, episode 15    -    Shore Leave
• TOS    Season 1, episode 17    -    The Squire of Gothos
• TOS    Season 1, episode 18    -    Arena
• TOS    Season 1, episode 27    -    The Alternative Factor
• TOS    Season 1, episode 19    -    Tomorrow is Yesterday
• TOS    Season 1, episode 21    -    The Return of the Archons
• TOS    Season 1, episode 23    -    A Taste of Armageddon
• TOS    Season 1, episode 22    -    Space Seed
• TOS    Season 1, episode 24    -    This Side of Paradise
• TOS    Season 1, episode 25    -    Devil in the Dark
• TOS    Season 1, episode 26    -    Errand of Mercy
• TOS    Season 1, episode 28    -    The City on the Edge of Forever
• TOS    Season 1, episode 29    -    Operation: Annihilate!

• TOS    Season 2, episode 7    -    Catspaw
• TOS    Season 2, episode 9    -    Metamorphosis
• TOS    Season 2, episode 11    -    Friday's Child
• TOS    Season 2, episode 2    -    Who Mourns for Adonais?
• TOS    Season 2, episode 1    -    Amok Time
• TOS    Season 2, episode 6    -    The Doomsday Machine
• TOS    Season 2, episode 14    -    Wolf in the Fold
• TOS    Season 2, episode 3    -    The Changeling
• TOS    Season 2, episode 5    -    The Apple
• TOS    Season 2, episode 4    -    Mirror, Mirror
• TOS    Season 2, episode 12    -    The Deadly Years
• TOS    Season 2, episode 8    -    I, Mudd
• TOS    Season 2, episode 15    -    The Trouble with Tribbles
• TOS    Season 2, episode 25    -    Bread and Circuses
• TOS    Season 2, episode 10    -    Journey to Babel
• TOS    Season 2, episode 19    -    A Private Little War
• TOS    Season 2, episode 16    -    The Gamesters of Triskelion
• TOS    Season 2, episode 13    -    Obsession
• TOS    Season 2, episode 18    -    The Immunity Syndrome
• TOS    Season 2, episode 17    -    A Piece of the Action
• TOS    Season 2, episode 22    -    By Any Other Name
• TOS    Season 2, episode 20    -    Return to Tomorrow
• TOS    Season 2, episode 21    -    Patterns of Force
• TOS    Season 2, episode 24    -    The Ultimate Computer
• TOS    Season 2, episode 23    -    The Omega Glory
• TOS    Season 2, episode 26    -    Assignment: Earth

While Mirror, Mirror is the episode that first introduces the Mirror universe, we’ve already been there on Discovery. Enterprise had a two-part episode there too, actually, but that’s one of the ones we skipped for later viewing and will be arriving at shortly.

• TOS    Season 3, episode 6    -    Spectre of the Gun
• TOS    Season 3, episode 13    -    Elaan of Troyius
• TOS    Season 3, episode 3    -    The Paradise Syndrome
• TOS    Season 3, episode 2    -    The Enterprise Incident
• TOS    Season 3, episode 4    -    And the Children Shall Lead
• TOS    Season 3, episode 1    -    Spock's Brain
• TOS    Season 3, episode 5    -    Is There in Truth No Beauty?
• TOS    Season 3, episode 12    -    The Empath
• TOS    Season 3, episode 8    -    For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
• TOS    Season 3, episode 7    -    Day of the Dove
• TOS    Season 3, episode 10    -    Plato's Stepchildren
• TOS    Season 3, episode 11    -    Wink of An Eye
• TOS    Season 3, episode 17    -    That Which Survives
• TOS    Season 3, episode 15    -    Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
• TOS    Season 3, episode 14    -    Whom Gods Destroy
• TOS    Season 3, episode 16    -    The Mark of Gideon
• TOS    Season 3, episode 18    -    The Lights of Zetar
• TOS    Season 3, episode 21    -    The Cloud Minders
• TOS    Season 3, episode 20    -    The Way to Eden
• TOS    Season 3, episode 19    -    Requiem for Methuselah
• TOS    Season 3, episode 22    -    The Savage Curtain
• TOS    Season 3, episode 23    -    All Our Yesterdays
• TOS    Season 3, episode 24    -    Turnabout Intruder

In one of the more fun examples of the shows tying together, the next three episodes we watch have a TOS episode leading into two of the Enterprise episodes we skipped, PLUS they finally explain why the Discovery detected the USS Defiant in the Mirror Universe.

• TOS    Season 3, episode 9    -    The Tholian Web
• ENT    Season 4, episode 18    -    In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I
• ENT    Season 4, episode 19    -    In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II

We finish Kirk's Five-Year Mission with Star Trek: The Animated Series. Is TAS in continuity? Debatable. In later years, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry liked to say it was not, but later works in the franchise certainly seemed to disagree, with Enterprise’s Vulcan arc as well as the first of the Kelvin films borrowing heavily from Yesteryear, Robert April appearing in Strange New Worlds, numerous references in Lower Decks, etc.,  so I see no reason not to consider it as canon as everything else. Besides, “La mort de l'auteur” means we don’t have to listen to Gene.

• TAS    Season 1, episode 5    -    More Tribbles, More Troubles
• TAS    Season 1, episode 6    -    The Survivor
• TAS    Season 1, episode 7    -    The Infinite Vulcan
• TAS    Season 1, episode 8    -    The Magicks of Megas-tu
• TAS    Season 1, episode 9    -    Once Upon a Planet
• TAS    Season 1, episode 10    -    Mudd's Passion
• TAS    Season 1, episode 11    -    The Terratin Incident
• TAS    Season 1, episode 12    -    The Time Trap
• TAS    Season 1, episode 13    -    The Ambergris Element
• TAS    Season 1, episode 14    -    The Slaver Weapon
• TAS    Season 1, episode 15    -    The Eye of the Beholder
• TAS    Season 1, episode 16    -    The Jihad
• TAS    Season 2, episode 1    -    The Pirates of Orion
• TAS    Season 2, episode 2    -    Bem
• TAS    Season 2, episode 3    -    The Practical Joker
• TAS    Season 2, episode 4    -    Albatross
• TAS    Season 2, episode 5    -    How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth
• TAS    Season 2, episode 6    -    The Counter-Clock Incident
• TAS    Season 1, episode 1    -    Beyond the Farthest Star
• TAS    Season 1, episode 2    -    Yesteryear
• TAS    Season 1, episode 3    -    One of Our Planets is Missing
• TAS    Season 1, episode 4    -    The Lorelei Signal

Movie time! Some background here. Paramount was planning on making a new network, and intended a new Star Trek series, "Star Trek Phase II", to anchor it. Scripts were written, sets were built, and actors cast. When network plans fell through, and Star Wars became a hit, they decided to take one of those scripts and streeeeeeeeeetch it out into a movie.

So…. Is it way too long for the amount of plot it has? Yes, though it has its charms. And isn’t it basically a retread of Nomad from the episode "The Changeling" anyway? It is. And hey, isn’t that the pedophile Dad from 7th Heaven? mm-hmm. Anyway, if you have access to it I recommend the Director’s Cut, in which pacing is much improved and some particularly flawed effects are redone, but either version works story-wise.

• MOV    Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Following The Motion Picture, the franchise underwent a significant transformation with the release of the next film, adopting a different style and tone that many, including the author, believe resulted in the best Star Trek movie to date.

• MOV    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• MOV    Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Ephraim and Dot ’s continuity really makes no sense anywhere, but it’s cute so who cares. Anyway, this seemed the BEST place to put it.

• SHO    Season 2, episode 4    -    Ephraim and Dot

• MOV    Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Or, to use the all-but-official secondary title, “The One With The Whales”

• MOV    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

A criminally underrated film.

• MOV    Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Sidenote: The opening sequence of the film. Star Trek: Generations takes place this year, a few months after The Undiscovered Country. I very much do not expect people to watch things in pieces, but as there IS a clear delineation in the film, you can, optionally, watch the beginning of Generations and stop when the “78 years later” caption comes up. Or you can just not worry about it, and watch the whole film in one sitting when we reach 2371. 

We now jump forward 70-odd years to see a far more established Federation, and perhaps the most popular and beloved Star Trek series of all, Star Trek - The Next Generation. That said, it is extremely rough at the outset, so you’ll need to give it some time. I promise you, the series gets a lot better later on and absolutely earns the affection it still receives to this day. 

• TNG    Season 1, episode 9    -    The Battle
• TNG    Season 1, episode 10    -    Hide and Q
• TNG    Season 1, episode 11    -    Haven
• TNG    Season 1, episode 12    -    The Big Goodbye
• TNG    Season 1, episode 13    -    Datalore
• TNG    Season 1, episode 14    -    Angel One
• TNG    Season 1, episode 15    -    11001001
• TNG    Season 1, episode 16    -    Too Short a Season
• TNG    Season 1, episode 17    -    When the Bough Breaks
• TNG    Season 1, episode 18    -    Home Soil
• TNG    Season 1, episode 19    -    Coming of Age
• TNG    Season 1, episode 20    -    Heart of Glory
• TNG    Season 1, episode 21    -    The Arsenal of Freedom
• TNG    Season 1, episode 22    -    Symbiosis
• TNG    Season 1, episode 23    -    Skin of Evil
• TNG    Season 1, episode 24    -    We'll Always Have Paris
• TNG    Season 1, episode 25    -    Conspiracy
• TNG    Season 1, episode 26    -    The Neutral Zone
• TNG    Season 1, episode 1    -    Encounter at Farpoint, Part 1
• TNG    Season 1, episode 2    -    Encounter at Farpoint, Part 2
• TNG    Season 1, episode 3    -    The Naked Now
• TNG    Season 1, episode 4    -    Code of Honor
• TNG    Season 1, episode 5    -    The Last Outpost
• TNG    Season 1, episode 6    -    Where No One Has Gone Before
• TNG    Season 1, episode 7    -    Lonely Among Us
• TNG    Season 1, episode 8    -    Justice

This season introduces the most popular and iconic character of the entire Star Trek franchise: Riker’s Beard. More seriously, due to a writers strike this year the producers had to dip into episodes written for the early 70’s Phase II series that was never made. Will Riker and Troi were ALWAYS a revamp of the original plans for Will Decker and Ilia, but the season opener was literally written in the 70s with Ilia in the place of Troi.

The series doesn’t truly find its footing until Season 3, but “The Measure of a Man” is widely considered TNG’s first “great” episode, a sign of many more to come. 

• TNG    Season 2, episode 9    -    The Measure of a Man
• TNG    Season 2, episode 10    -    The Dauphin
• TNG    Season 2, episode 11    -    Contagion
• TNG    Season 2, episode 12    -    The Royale
• TNG    Season 2, episode 13    -    Time Squared
• TNG    Season 2, episode 14    -    The Icarus Factor
• TNG    Season 2, episode 15    -    Pen Pals
• TNG    Season 2, episode 16    -    Q Who?
• TNG    Season 2, episode 17    -    The Samaritan Snare
• TNG    Season 2, episode 18    -    Up the Long Ladder
• TNG    Season 2, episode 19    -    Manhunt
• TNG    Season 2, episode 20    -    The Emissary
• TNG    Season 2, episode 21    -    Peak Performance
• TNG    Season 2, episode 22    -    Shades of Gray
• TNG    Season 2, episode 1    -    The Child
• TNG    Season 2, episode 2    -    Where Silence Has Lease
• TNG    Season 2, episode 3    -    Elementary, Dear Data
• TNG    Season 2, episode 4    -    The Outrageous Okona
• TNG    Season 2, episode 5    -    Loud as a Whisper
• TNG    Season 2, episode 6    -    The Schizoid Man
• TNG    Season 2, episode 7    -    Unnatural Selection
• TNG    Season 2, episode 8    -    A Matter of Honor

• TNG    Season 3, episode 1    -    Evolution
• TNG    Season 3, episode 2    -    The Ensigns of Command
• TNG    Season 3, episode 3    -    The Survivors
• TNG    Season 3, episode 4    -    Who Watches the Watchers?
• TNG    Season 3, episode 5    -    The Bonding
• TNG    Season 3, episode 6    -    Booby Trap
• TNG    Season 3, episode 7    -    The Enemy
• TNG    Season 3, episode 8    -    The Price
• TNG    Season 3, episode 9    -    The Vengeance Factor
• TNG    Season 3, episode 10    -    The Defector
• TNG    Season 3, episode 11    -    The Hunted
• TNG    Season 3, episode 12    -    A Matter of Perspective
• TNG    Season 3, episode 13    -    The High Ground
• TNG    Season 3, episode 14    -    Deja Q
• TNG    Season 3, episode 15    -    Yesterday's Enterprise
• TNG    Season 3, episode 16    -    The Offspring
• TNG    Season 3, episode 17    -    Sins of the Father
• TNG    Season 3, episode 18    -    Allegiance
• TNG    Season 3, episode 19    -    Captain's Holiday
• TNG    Season 3, episode 20    -    Tin Man
• TNG    Season 3, episode 21    -    Hollow Pursuits
• TNG    Season 3, episode 22    -    The Most Toys
• TNG    Season 3, episode 23    -    Sarek
• TNG    Season 3, episode 24    -    Ménage à Troi
• TNG    Season 3, episode 25    -    Transfigurations
• TNG    Season 3, episode 26    -    The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1

• TNG    Season 4, episode 1    -    The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2
• TNG    Season 4, episode 2    -    Family
• TNG    Season 4, episode 3    -    Brothers
• TNG    Season 4, episode 4    -    Suddenly Human
• TNG    Season 4, episode 5    -    Remember Me
• TNG    Season 4, episode 6    -    Legacy
• TNG    Season 4, episode 7    -    Reunion
• TNG    Season 4, episode 8    -    Future Imperfect
• TNG    Season 4, episode 9    -    Final Mission
• TNG    Season 4, episode 10    -    The Loss
• TNG    Season 4, episode 11    -    Data's Day
• TNG    Season 4, episode 12    -    The Wounded
• TNG    Season 4, episode 13    -    Clues
• TNG    Season 4, episode 14    -    Devil's Due
• TNG    Season 4, episode 15    -    First Contact
• TNG    Season 4, episode 16    -    Galaxy's Child
• TNG    Season 4, episode 17    -    Night Terrors
• TNG    Season 4, episode 18    -    Identity Crisis
• TNG    Season 4, episode 19    -    The Nth Degree
• TNG    Season 4, episode 20    -    Qpid
• TNG    Season 4, episode 21    -    The Drumhead
• TNG    Season 4, episode 22    -    Half a Life
• TNG    Season 4, episode 23    -    The Host
• TNG    Season 4, episode 24    -    The Mind's Eye
• TNG    Season 4, episode 25    -    In Theory
• TNG    Season 4, episode 26    -    Redemption, Part 1

• TNG    Season 5, episode 1    -    Redemption, Part 2
• TNG    Season 5, episode 2    -    Darmok
• TNG    Season 5, episode 3    -    Ensign Ro
• TNG    Season 5, episode 4    -    Silicon Avatar
• TNG    Season 5, episode 5    -    Disaster
• TNG    Season 5, episode 6    -    The Game
• TNG    Season 5, episode 7    -    Unification I
• TNG    Season 5, episode 8    -    Unification II
• TNG    Season 5, episode 9    -    A Matter of Time
• TNG    Season 5, episode 10    -    New Ground
• TNG    Season 5, episode 11    -    Hero Worship
• TNG    Season 5, episode 12    -    Violations
• TNG    Season 5, episode 13    -    The Masterpiece Society
• TNG    Season 5, episode 14    -    Conundrum
• TNG    Season 5, episode 15    -    Power Play
• TNG    Season 5, episode 16    -    Ethics
• TNG    Season 5, episode 17    -    The Outcast
• TNG    Season 5, episode 18    -    Cause and Effect
• TNG    Season 5, episode 19    -    The First Duty
• TNG    Season 5, episode 20    -    Cost of Living
• TNG    Season 5, episode 21    -    The Perfect Mate
• TNG    Season 5, episode 22    -    Imaginary Friend
• TNG    Season 5, episode 23    -    I, Borg
• TNG    Season 5, episode 24    -    The Next Phase
• TNG    Season 5, episode 25    -    The Inner Light
• TNG    Season 5, episode 26    -    Time's Arrow, Part 1

2369, Part 1

We now reach my personal favorite series: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine, which will eventually feature Star Trek’s first significant attempt at serialized storytelling. Like other shows in the franchise, it has a slow start, but once it gets going it’s a real joy. To stay in the correct chronological order, we’ll be bouncing between TNG and DS9, and later DS9 and Voyager, with occasional minor tweaks to avoid interrupting story arcs in progress. 

• TNG    Season 6, episode 1    -    Time's Arrow, Part 2
• TNG    Season 6, episode 2    -    Realm of Fear
• TNG    Season 6, episode 3    -    Man of the People
• TNG    Season 6, episode 4    -    Relics
• TNG    Season 6, episode 5    -    Schisms
• TNG    Season 6, episode 6    -    True-Q
• TNG    Season 6, episode 7    -    Rascals
• TNG    Season 6, episode 8    -    A Fistful of Datas
• TNG    Season 6, episode 9    -    The Quality of Life
• TNG    Season 6, episode 10    -    Chain of Command, Part 1
• TNG    Season 6, episode 11    -    Chain of Command, Part 2
• DS9    Season 1, episode 1    -    Emissary, Part 1
• DS9    Season 1, episode 2    -    Emissary, Part 2
• DS9    Season 1, episode 3    -    Past Prologue
• DS9    Season 1, episode 4    -    A Man Alone
• DS9    Season 1, episode 5    -    Babel
• TNG    Season 6, episode 12    -    Ship in a Bottle
• TNG    Season 6, episode 13    -    Aquiel

2369, Part 2

Pay attention to this next episode - it will be important (much, much) later.

• DS9    Season 1, episode 6    -    Captive Pursuit
• DS9    Season 1, episode 7    -    Q-Less
• TNG    Season 6, episode 14    -    Face of the Enemy
• DS9    Season 1, episode 8    -    Dax
• TNG    Season 6, episode 15    -    Tapestry
• DS9    Season 1, episode 9    -    The Passenger
• TNG    Season 6, episode 16    -    Birthright, Part 1
• TNG    Season 6, episode 17    -    Birthright, Part 2
• DS9    Season 1, episode 10    -    Move Along Home
• DS9    Season 1, episode 11    -    The Nagus
• TNG    Season 6, episode 18    -    Starship Mine
• TNG    Season 6, episode 19    -    Lessons
• DS9    Season 1, episode 12    -    Vortex
• DS9    Season 1, episode 13    -    Battle Lines
• DS9    Season 1, episode 14    -    The Storyteller
• TNG    Season 6, episode 20    -    The Chase
• TNG    Season 6, episode 21    -    Frame of Mind
• TNG    Season 6, episode 22    -    Suspicions
• DS9    Season 1, episode 15    -    Progress
• TNG    Season 6, episode 23    -    Rightful Heir
• DS9    Season 1, episode 16    -    If Wishes Were Horses
• TNG    Season 6, episode 24    -    Second Chances
• DS9    Season 1, episode 17    -    Dramatis Personae
• DS9    Season 1, episode 18    -    The Forsaken
• DS9    Season 1, episode 19    -    Duet
• TNG    Season 6, episode 25    -    Timescape
• DS9    Season 1, episode 20    -    In the Hands of the Prophets
• TNG    Season 6, episode 26    -    Descent, Part 1

2370, Part 1

By the end of this year we’ll have bid farewell to The Next Generation with the fantastic series finale “All Good Things,” we’ll have finally watched Enterprise’s far less popular finale “These are the Voyages…”, and we will have been introduced to The Dominion, the major story driver for most of Deep Space Nine. 

• TNG    Season 7, episode 5    -    Interface
• TNG    Season 7, episode 6    -    Phantasms
• DS9    Season 2, episode 6    -    Melora
• TNG    Season 7, episode 7    -    Dark Page
• DS9    Season 2, episode 7    -    Rules of Acquisition
• DS9    Season 2, episode 8    -    Necessary Evil
• TNG    Season 7, episode 8    -    Attached
• TNG    Season 7, episode 9    -    Force of Nature
• DS9    Season 2, episode 9    -    Second Sight
• DS9    Season 2, episode 10    -    Sanctuary
• TNG    Season 7, episode 10    -    Parallels
• DS9    Season 2, episode 11    -    Rivals
• DS9    Season 2, episode 12    -    The Alternate
• TNG    Season 7, episode 11    -    Inheritance
• TNG    Season 7, episode 12    -    Homeward
• TNG    Season 7, episode 13    -    The Pegasus
• ENT    Season 4, episode 22    -    These Are the Voyages...
• TNG    Season 7, episode 1    -    Descent, Part 2
• DS9    Season 2, episode 1    -    The Homecoming
• DS9    Season 2, episode 2    -    The Circle
• DS9    Season 2, episode 3    -    The Siege
• TNG    Season 7, episode 2    -    Liaisons
• TNG    Season 7, episode 3    -    Gambit, Part 1
• TNG    Season 7, episode 4    -    Gambit, Part 2
• DS9    Season 2, episode 4    -    Cardassians
• DS9    Season 2, episode 5    -    Invasive Procedures

2370, Part 2

• DS9    Season 2, episode 13    -    Armageddon Game
• TNG    Season 7, episode 14    -    Sub Rosa
• TNG    Season 7, episode 15    -    Lower Decks
• DS9    Season 2, episode 14    -    Paradise
• DS9    Season 2, episode 15    -    Whispers
• DS9    Season 2, episode 16    -    Shadowplay
• TNG    Season 7, episode 16    -    Thine Own Self
• TNG    Season 7, episode 17    -    Masks
• DS9    Season 2, episode 17    -    Playing God
• TNG    Season 7, episode 18    -    Eye of the Beholder
• DS9    Season 2, episode 18    -    Profit and Loss
• TNG    Season 7, episode 19    -    Genesis
• DS9    Season 2, episode 19    -    Blood Oath
• TNG    Season 7, episode 20    -    Journey's End
• DS9    Season 2, episode 20    -    The Maquis, Part 1
• DS9    Season 2, episode 21    -    The Maquis, Part 2
• TNG    Season 7, episode 21    -    Firstborn
• TNG    Season 7, episode 22    -    Bloodlines
• DS9    Season 2, episode 22    -    The Wire
• TNG    Season 7, episode 23    -    Emergence
• DS9    Season 2, episode 23    -    Crossover
• TNG    Season 7, episode 24    -    Preemptive Strike
• DS9    Season 2, episode 24    -    The Collaborator
• DS9    Season 2, episode 25    -    Tribunal
• DS9    Season 2, episode 26    -    The Jem’Hadar
• TNG    Season 7, episode 25    -    All Good Things, Part 1
• TNG    Season 7, episode 26    -    All Good Things, Part 2

2371, Part 1

Like Phase II was intended to do, and Discovery does again a few decades later, Star Trek Voyager is launched as the centerpiece of a new network: the short-lived UPN, home of Shasta McNasty and The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfieffer. Note that Voyager episode orders, particularly in season two, jump around a bit due to some production weirdness.

• DS9    Season 3, episode 8    -    Meridian
• VOY    Season 1, episode 3    -    Parallax
• MOV    Star Trek: Generations
• DS9    Season 3, episode 9    -    Defiant
• DS9    Season 3, episode 10    -    Fascination
• DS9    Season 3, episode 11    -    Past Tense, Part 1
• DS9    Season 3, episode 12    -    Past Tense, Part 2
• VOY    Season 1, episode 4    -    Time and Again
• DS9    Season 3, episode 13    -    Life Support
• DS9    Season 3, episode 14    -    Heart of Stone
• VOY    Season 1, episode 5    -    Phage
• DS9    Season 3, episode 15    -    Destiny
• VOY    Season 1, episode 6    -    The Cloud
• DS9    Season 3, episode 16    -    Prophet Motive
• VOY    Season 1, episode 7    -    Eye of the Needle
• DS9    Season 3, episode 17    -    Visionary
• VOY    Season 1, episode 8    -    Ex Post Facto
• DS9    Season 3, episode 1    -    The Search, Part 1
• DS9    Season 3, episode 2    -    The Search, Part 2
• DS9    Season 3, episode 3    -    The House of Quark
• DS9    Season 3, episode 4    -    Equilibrium
• DS9    Season 3, episode 5    -    Second Skin
• DS9    Season 3, episode 6    -    The Abandoned
• DS9    Season 3, episode 7    -    Civil Defense
• VOY    Season 1, episode 1    -    Caretaker, Part 1
• VOY    Season 1, episode 2    -    Caretaker, Part 2

2371, Part 2

• VOY    Season 1, episode 9    -    Emanations
• VOY    Season 1, episode 10    -    Prime Factors
• DS9    Season 3, episode 18    -    Distant Voices
• VOY    Season 1, episode 11    -    State of Flux
• DS9    Season 3, episode 19    -    Through the Looking Glass
• VOY    Season 1, episode 12    -    Heroes and Demons
• DS9    Season 3, episode 20    -    Improbable Cause
• DS9    Season 3, episode 21    -    The Die is Cast
• VOY    Season 1, episode 13    -    Cathexis
• DS9    Season 3, episode 22    -    Explorers
• VOY    Season 1, episode 14    -    Faces
• DS9    Season 3, episode 23    -    Family Business
• VOY    Season 1, episode 15    -    Jetrel
• DS9    Season 3, episode 24    -    Shakaar
• VOY    Season 1, episode 16    -    Learning Curve
• VOY    Season 2, episode 3    -    Projections
• VOY    Season 2, episode 4    -    Elogium
• DS9    Season 3, episode 25    -    Facets
• DS9    Season 3, episode 26    -    The Adversary
• VOY    Season 2, episode 6    -    Twisted
• VOY    Season 2, episode 1    -    The 37’s

2372, Part 1

• VOY    Season 2, episode 2    -    Initiations
• VOY    Season 2, episode 5    -    Non Sequitur
• DS9    Season 4, episode 1    -    The Way of the Warrior, Part 1
• DS9    Season 4, episode 2    -    The Way of the Warrior, Part 2
• DS9    Season 4, episode 3    -    The Visitor
• DS9    Season 4, episode 4    -    Hippocratic Oath
• VOY    Season 2, episode 7    -    Parturition
• DS9    Season 4, episode 5    -    Indiscretion
• VOY    Season 2, episode 8    -    Persistence of Vision
• VOY    Season 2, episode 9    -    Tattoo
• VOY    Season 2, episode 10    -    Cold Fire
• DS9    Season 4, episode 6    -    Rejoined
• VOY    Season 2, episode 11    -    Maneuvers
• DS9    Season 4, episode 7    -    Starship Down
• DS9    Season 4, episode 8    -    Little Green Men
• DS9    Season 4, episode 9    -    The Sword of Kahless
• VOY    Season 2, episode 12    -    Resistance
• DS9    Season 4, episode 10    -    Our Man Bashir
• DS9    Season 4, episode 11    -    Homefront
• DS9    Season 4, episode 12    -    Paradise Lost
• VOY    Season 2, episode 13    -    Prototype
• VOY    Season 2, episode 18    -    Death Wish
• VOY    Season 2, episode 14    -    Alliances
• DS9    Season 4, episode 13    -    Crossfire
• VOY    Season 2, episode 15    -    Threshold
• DS9    Season 4, episode 14    -    Return to Grace

2372, Part 2

• VOY    Season 2, episode 16    -    Meld
• VOY    Season 2, episode 17    -    Dreadnought
• VOY    Season 2, episode 19    -    Lifesigns
• VOY    Season 2, episode 20    -    Investigations
• VOY    Season 2, episode 21    -    Deadlock
• DS9    Season 4, episode 15    -    Sons of Mogh
• DS9    Season 4, episode 16    -    Bar Association
• DS9    Season 4, episode 17    -    Accession
• VOY    Season 2, episode 22    -    Innocence
• DS9    Season 4, episode 18    -    Rules of Engagement
• DS9    Season 4, episode 19    -    Hard Time
• DS9    Season 4, episode 20    -    Shattered Mirror
• VOY    Season 2, episode 23    -    The Thaw
• DS9    Season 4, episode 21    -    The Muse
• VOY    Season 2, episode 24    -    Tuvix
• DS9    Season 4, episode 22    -    For the Cause
• VOY    Season 2, episode 25    -    Resolutions
• DS9    Season 4, episode 23    -    To the Death
• DS9    Season 4, episode 24    -    The Quickening
• DS9    Season 4, episode 25    -    Body Parts
• DS9    Season 4, episode 26    -    Broken Link
• VOY    Season 2, episode 26    -    Basics, Part 1

2373, Part 1

• VOY    Season 3, episode 8    -    Future's End, Part 1
• VOY    Season 3, episode 9    -    Future's End, Part 2
• DS9    Season 5, episode 7    -    Let He Who is Without Sin
• DS9    Season 5, episode 8    -    Things Past
• VOY    Season 3, episode 10    -    Warlord
• MOV    Star Trek: First Contact
• VOY    Season 3, episode 1    -    Basics, Part 2
• DS9    Season 5, episode 1    -    Apocalypse Rising
• DS9    Season 5, episode 2    -    The Ship
• VOY    Season 3, episode 7    -    Sacred Ground
• VOY    Season 3, episode 5    -    False Profits
• VOY    Season 3, episode 2    -    Flashback
• VOY    Season 3, episode 3    -    The Chute
• VOY    Season 3, episode 6    -    Remember
• VOY    Season 3, episode 4    -    The Swarm
• DS9    Season 5, episode 3    -    Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places
• DS9    Season 5, episode 4    -    Nor the Battle to the Strong
• DS9    Season 5, episode 5    -    The Assignment
• DS9    Season 5, episode 6    -    Trials and Tribble-ations

Only took 222 years, but after this next episode, we’ll have completed all of Star Trek Enterprise.

• ENT    Season 2, episode 23    -    Regeneration
• DS9    Season 5, episode 9    -    The Ascent
• VOY    Season 3, episode 11    -    The Q and the Grey
• DS9    Season 5, episode 10    -    Rapture
• DS9    Season 5, episode 11    -    The Darkness and the Light
• VOY    Season 3, episode 12    -    Macrocosm
• VOY    Season 3, episode 13    -    Fair Trade

2373, Part 2

• VOY    Season 3, episode 14    -    Alter Ego
• DS9    Season 5, episode 12    -    The Begotten
• DS9    Season 5, episode 13    -    For the Uniform
• VOY    Season 3, episode 15    -    Coda
• VOY    Season 3, episode 16    -    Blood Fever
• DS9    Season 5, episode 14    -    In Purgatory's Shadow
• DS9    Season 5, episode 15    -    By Inferno's Light
• VOY    Season 3, episode 17    -    Unity
• VOY    Season 3, episode 18    -    Darkling
• DS9    Season 5, episode 16    -    Doctor Bashir, I Presume
• VOY    Season 3, episode 19    -    Rise
• DS9    Season 5, episode 17    -    A Simple Investigation
• DS9    Season 5, episode 18    -    Business as Usual
• DS9    Season 5, episode 19    -    Ties of Blood and Water
• VOY    Season 3, episode 20    -    Favorite Son
• DS9    Season 5, episode 20    -    Ferengi Love Songs
• DS9    Season 5, episode 21    -    Soldiers of the Empire
• DS9    Season 5, episode 22    -    Children of Time
• VOY    Season 3, episode 21    -    Before and After
• VOY    Season 3, episode 22    -    Real Life
• VOY    Season 3, episode 23    -    Distant Origin
• VOY    Season 3, episode 24    -    Displaced
• DS9    Season 5, episode 23    -    Blaze of Glory
• VOY    Season 3, episode 25    -    Worst Case Scenario
• DS9    Season 5, episode 24    -    Empok Nor
• DS9    Season 5, episode 25    -    In the Cards
• DS9    Season 5, episode 26    -    Call to Arms
• VOY    Season 3, episode 26    -    Scorpion, Part 1

2374, Part 1

Voyager gets a much needed shot in the arm with the introduction of Seven of Nine, and Deep Space Nine delivers a great season as the Dominion War arc reaches full swing. 

• DS9    Season 6, episode 6    -    Sacrifice of Angels
• VOY    Season 4, episode 6    -    The Raven
• VOY    Season 4, episode 7    -    Scientific Method
• DS9    Season 6, episode 7    -    You are Cordially Invited
• VOY    Season 4, episode 8    -    Year of Hell, Part 1
• VOY    Season 4, episode 9    -    Year of Hell, Part 2
• DS9    Season 6, episode 8    -    Resurrection
• VOY    Season 4, episode 10    -    Random Thoughts
• DS9    Season 6, episode 9    -    Statistical Probabilities
• VOY    Season 4, episode 11    -    Concerning Flight
• DS9    Season 6, episode 10    -    The Magnificent Ferengi
• DS9    Season 6, episode 11    -    Waltz
• VOY    Season 4, episode 12    -    Mortal Coil
• VOY    Season 4, episode 14    -    Message in a Bottle
• VOY    Season 4, episode 1    -    Scorpion, Part 2
• VOY    Season 4, episode 2    -    The Gift
• VOY    Season 4, episode 3    -    Day of Honor
• VOY    Season 4, episode 4    -    Nemesis
• VOY    Season 4, episode 5    -    Revulsion
• DS9    Season 6, episode 1    -    A Time to Stand
• DS9    Season 6, episode 2    -    Rocks and Shoals
• DS9    Season 6, episode 3    -    Sons and Daughters
• DS9    Season 6, episode 4    -    Behind the Lines
• DS9    Season 6, episode 5    -    Favor the Bold

2374, Part 2

• VOY    Season 4, episode 13    -    Waking Moments
• DS9    Season 6, episode 12    -    Who Mourns for Morn?
• DS9    Season 6, episode 13    -    Far Beyond the Stars
• DS9    Season 6, episode 14    -    One Little Ship
• VOY    Season 4, episode 15    -    Hunters
• DS9    Season 6, episode 15    -    Honor Among Thieves
• DS9    Season 6, episode 16    -    Change of Heart
• VOY    Season 4, episode 16    -    Prey
• VOY    Season 4, episode 17    -    Retrospect
• VOY    Season 4, episode 18    -    The Killing Game, Part 1
• VOY    Season 4, episode 19    -    The Killing Game, Part 2
• DS9    Season 6, episode 17    -    Wrongs Darker than Death or Night
• DS9    Season 6, episode 18    -    Inquisition
• DS9    Season 6, episode 19    -    In the Pale Moonlight
• VOY    Season 4, episode 20    -    Vis À Vis
• VOY    Season 4, episode 21    -    The Omega Directive
• DS9    Season 6, episode 20    -    His Way
• VOY    Season 4, episode 22    -    Unforgettable
• DS9    Season 6, episode 21    -    The Reckoning
• DS9    Season 6, episode 22    -    Valiant

We are skipping Voyager episode 23 (“Living Witness”) for now, and will be watching it later.

• VOY    Season 4, episode 24    -    Demon
• DS9    Season 6, episode 23    -    Profit and Lace
• VOY    Season 4, episode 25    -    One
• DS9    Season 6, episode 24    -    Time's Orphan
• VOY    Season 4, episode 26    -    Hope and Fear
• DS9    Season 6, episode 25    -    The Sound of her Voice
• DS9    Season 6, episode 26    -    Tears of the Prophets

2375, Part 1

• VOY    Season 5, episode 1    -    Night
• VOY    Season 5, episode 2    -    Drone
• VOY    Season 5, episode 3    -    Extreme Risk
• VOY    Season 5, episode 4    -    In the Flesh
• VOY    Season 5, episode 5    -    Once Upon a Time
• VOY    Season 5, episode 8    -    Nothing Human
• VOY    Season 5, episode 6    -    Timeless
• DS9    Season 7, episode 1    -    Image in the Sand
• DS9    Season 7, episode 2    -    Shadows and Symbols
• DS9    Season 7, episode 3    -    Afterimage
• DS9    Season 7, episode 4    -    Take Me Out to the Holosuite
• DS9    Season 7, episode 5    -    Chrysalis
• DS9    Season 7, episode 6    -    Treachery, Faith, and the Great River
• DS9    Season 7, episode 7    -    Once More Unto the Breach
• DS9    Season 7, episode 8    -    The Siege of AR-558
• VOY    Season 5, episode 9    -    Thirty Days
• DS9    Season 7, episode 9    -    Covenant
• VOY    Season 5, episode 7    -    Infinite Regress
• VOY    Season 5, episode 10    -    Counterpoint
• DS9    Season 7, episode 10    -    It's Only a Paper Moon

There’s no place where Insurrection’s references to the Dominion War and the presence of Worf really make perfect sense, but this is probably the closest to working. I’m not going to go too nuts about it.

• MOV    Star Trek: Insurrection
• DS9    Season 7, episode 11    -    Prodigal Daughter
• VOY    Season 5, episode 11    -    Latent Image
• VOY    Season 5, episode 12    -    Bride of Chaotica
• DS9    Season 7, episode 12    -    The Emperor's New Cloak
• VOY    Season 5, episode 13    -    Gravity
• DS9    Season 7, episode 13    -    Field of Fire
• VOY    Season 5, episode 14    -    Bliss
• DS9    Season 7, episode 14    -    Chimera
• VOY    Season 5, episode 17    -    The Disease
• DS9    Season 7, episode 15    -    Badda-Bing Badda-Bang
• DS9    Season 7, episode 16    -    Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

2375, Part 2

• VOY    Season 5, episode 18    -    Course: Oblivion
• VOY    Season 5, episode 15    -    Dark Frontier, Part 1
• VOY    Season 5, episode 16    -    Dark Frontier, Part 2
• VOY    Season 5, episode 19    -    The Fight
• VOY    Season 5, episode 20    -    Think Tank
• DS9    Season 7, episode 17    -    Penumbra
• DS9    Season 7, episode 18    -    'Til Death Do Us Part
• DS9    Season 7, episode 19    -    Strange Bedfellows
• DS9    Season 7, episode 20    -    The Changing Face of Evil
• DS9    Season 7, episode 21    -    When it Rains
• DS9    Season 7, episode 22    -    Tacking into the Wind
• DS9    Season 7, episode 23    -    Extreme Measures
• DS9    Season 7, episode 24    -    The Dogs of War

Farewell, DS9. I’ll always love you best. 

• DS9    Season 7, episode 25    -    What You Leave Behind, Part 1
• DS9    Season 7, episode 26    -    What You Leave Behind, Part 2
• VOY    Season 5, episode 21    -    Juggernaut
• VOY    Season 5, episode 22    -    Someone to Watch Over Me
• VOY    Season 5, episode 23    -    11:59
• VOY    Season 5, episode 24    -    Relativity
• VOY    Season 5, episode 25    -    Warhead
• VOY    Season 5, episode 26    -    Equinox, Part 1

• VOY    Season 6, episode 1    -    Equinox, Part 2
• VOY    Season 6, episode 2    -    Survival Instinct
• VOY    Season 6, episode 3    -    Barge of the Dead
• VOY    Season 6, episode 4    -    Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
• VOY    Season 6, episode 7    -    Dragon's Teeth
• VOY    Season 6, episode 5    -    Alice
• VOY    Season 6, episode 6    -    Riddles
• VOY    Season 6, episode 8    -    One Small Step
• VOY    Season 6, episode 9    -    The Voyager Conspiracy
• VOY    Season 6, episode 10    -    Pathfinder
• VOY    Season 6, episode 11    -    Fair Haven
• VOY    Season 6, episode 15    -    Tsunkatse
• VOY    Season 6, episode 12    -    Blink of an Eye
• VOY    Season 6, episode 13    -    Virtuoso
• VOY    Season 6, episode 16    -    Collective
• VOY    Season 6, episode 14    -    Memorial
• VOY    Season 6, episode 17    -    Spirit Folk
• VOY    Season 6, episode 18    -    Ashes to Ashes
• VOY    Season 6, episode 19    -    Child's Play
• VOY    Season 6, episode 20    -    Good Shepherd
• VOY    Season 6, episode 23    -    Fury
• VOY    Season 6, episode 21    -    Live Fast and Prosper
• VOY    Season 6, episode 24    -    Life Line
• VOY    Season 6, episode 22    -    Muse
• VOY    Season 6, episode 25    -    The Haunting of Deck Twelve
• VOY    Season 6, episode 26    -    Unimatrix Zero, Part 1

• VOY    Season 7, episode 1    -    Unimatrix Zero, Part 2
• VOY    Season 7, episode 3    -    Drive
• VOY    Season 7, episode 4    -    Repression
• VOY    Season 7, episode 2    -    Imperfection
• VOY    Season 7, episode 5    -    Critical Care
• VOY    Season 7, episode 6    -    Inside Man
• VOY    Season 7, episode 7    -    Body and Soul
• VOY    Season 7, episode 8    -    Nightingale
• VOY    Season 7, episode 9    -    Flesh and Blood, Part 1
• VOY    Season 7, episode 10    -    Flesh and Blood, Part 2
• VOY    Season 7, episode 11    -    Shattered
• VOY    Season 7, episode 12    -    Lineage
• VOY    Season 7, episode 13    -    Repentance
• VOY    Season 7, episode 14    -    Prophecy
• VOY    Season 7, episode 15    -    The Void
• VOY    Season 7, episode 16    -    Workforce, Part 1
• VOY    Season 7, episode 17    -    Workforce, Part 2

• VOY    Season 7, episode 18    -    Human Error
• VOY    Season 7, episode 19    -    Q2
• VOY    Season 7, episode 20    -    Author, Author
• VOY    Season 7, episode 21    -    Friendship One
• VOY    Season 7, episode 22    -    Natural Law
• VOY    Season 7, episode 23    -    Homestead
• VOY    Season 7, episode 24    -    Renaissance Man
• VOY    Season 7, episode 25    -    Endgame, Part 1
• VOY    Season 7, episode 26    -    Endgame, Part 2

• MOV    -    Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek returns to animation with its ninth series, and first all-out comedy, Star Trek: Lower Decks, aimed towards a more adult audience than The Animated Series or Prodigy.

• LDS    Season 1, episode 1    -    Second Contact
• LDS    Season 1, episode 2    -    Envoys
• LDS    Season 1, episode 3    -    Temporal Edict
• LDS    Season 1, episode 4    -    Moist Vessel
• LDS    Season 1, episode 5    -    Cupid’s Errant Arrow
• LDS    Season 1, episode 6    -    Terminal Provocations
• LDS    Season 1, episode 7    -    Much Ado About Boimler
• LDS    Season 1, episode 8    -    Veritas
• LDS    Season 1, episode 9    -    Crisis Point
• LDS    Season 1, episode 10    -    No Small Parts

2381, Part 1

• LDS    Season 3, episode 3    -    Mining The Mind's Mines
• LDS    Season 3, episode 4    -    Room for Growth
• LDS    Season 3, episode 5    -    Reflections
• LDS    Season 3, episode 6    -    Hear All, Trust Nothing
• LDS    Season 2, episode 1    -    Strange Energies
• LDS    Season 2, episode 2    -    Kayshon, His Eyes Open
• LDS    Season 2, episode 3    -    We’ll Always Have Tom Paris
• LDS    Season 2, episode 4    -    Mugato, Gumato
• LDS    Season 2, episode 5    -    An Embarrassment of Dooplers
• LDS    Season 2, episode 6    -    The Spy Humongous
• LDS    Season 2, episode 7    -    Where Pleasant Fountains Lie
• LDS    Season 2, episode 8    -    I, Excretus
• LDS    Season 2, episode 9    -    wej Duj
• LDS    Season 2, episode 10    -    First First Contact
• LDS    Season 3, episode 1    -    Grounded
• LDS    Season 3, episode 2    -    The Least Dangerous Game

We now travel back for our last Strange New Worlds episode, which is ABSOLUTELY a delight.

• SNW    Season 2, episode 7    -    Those Old Scientists
• LDS    Season 3, episode 7    -    A Mathematically Perfect Redemption
• LDS    Season 3, episode 8    -    Crisis Point 2: Paradoxus
• LDS    Season 3, episode 9    -    Trusted Sources
• LDS    Season 3, episode 10    -    The Stars at Night

2381, Part 2

• LDS    Season 4, episode 1    -    Twovix
• LDS    Season 4, episode 2    -    I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee
• LDS    Season 4, episode 3    -    In the Cradle of Vexilon
• LDS    Season 4, episode 4    -    Something Borrowed, Something Green
• LDS    Season 4, episode 5    -    Empathological Fallacies
• LDS    Season 4, episode 6    -    Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place
• LDS    Season 4, episode 7    -    A Few Badgeys More
• LDS    Season 4, episode 8    -    Caves
• LDS    Season 4, episode 9    -    The Inner Fight
• LDS    Season 4, episode 10    -    Old Friends, New Planets

The first Star Trek since The Animated Series to be geared explicitly for kids, Star Trek: Prodigy takes place on the border of the Delta Quadrant last seen in Voyager, and features the return of several characters from that series. Don’t dismiss this as “just a kids show” though — it’s quite complex, quite good, and quite Star Trek.

• PRO    Season 1, episode 1    -    Lost & Found, Part 1
• PRO    Season 1, episode 2    -    Lost & Found, Part 2
• PRO    Season 1, episode 3    -    Starstruck
• PRO    Season 1, episode 4    -    Dream Catcher
• PRO    Season 1, episode 5    -    Terror Firma
• PRO    Season 1, episode 6    -    Kobayashi
• PRO    Season 1, episode 7    -    First Con-tact
• PRO    Season 1, episode 8    -    Time Amok
• PRO    Season 1, episode 9    -    A Moral Star
• PRO    Season 1, episode 10    -    A Moral Star, Part Two
• PRO    Season 1, episode 11    -    Asylum
• PRO    Season 1, episode 12    -    Let Sleeping Borg Lie
• PRO    Season 1, episode 13    -    All the World’s a Stage
• PRO    Season 1, episode 14    -   Crossroads
• PRO    Season 1, episode 15    -    Masquerade
• PRO    Season 1, episode 16    -    Preludes
• PRO    Season 1, episode 17    -    Ghost in the Machine
• PRO    Season 1, episode 18    -    Mindwalk
• PRO    Season 1, episode 19    -    Supernova, Part 1
• PRO    Season 1, episode 20    -    Supernova, Part 2

As of this update, no episodes of this season have aired in a language I speak. It is possible that when they are viewed, I will wish to update their placement in this list. The below is tentative.

Also note, the listed titles are derived from their French-language titles, and their eventual English titles may vary.

• PRO    Season 2, episode 7    -    The Race
• PRO    Season 2, episode 8    -    Veritas?
• PRO    Season 2, episode 9    -    The Time Devouring Scavengers, Part 1
• PRO    Season 2, episode 10    -    The Time Devouring Scavengers, Part 2
• PRO    Season 2, episode 11    -    The Last Flight of the Protostar, Part 1
• PRO    Season 2, episode 12    -    The Last Flight of the Protostar, Part 2
• PRO    Season 2, episode 13    -    A Tribble Called Bridule
• PRO    Season 2, episode 14    -   The Mirror Universe
• PRO    Season 2, episode 15    -    The Ascent, Part 1
• PRO    Season 2, episode 16    -    The Ascent, Part 2
• PRO    Season 2, episode 17    -    On the Brink
• PRO    Season 2, episode 18    -    Behind Enemy Lines
• PRO    Season 2, episode 19    -    Ouroboros, Part 1
• PRO    Season 2, episode 20    -     Ouroboros , Part 2
• PRO    Season 2, episode 1    -    Into the Breach, Part 1
• PRO    Season 2, episode 2    -    Into the Breach, Part 2
• PRO    Season 2, episode 3    -    Who Saves the Saviors?
• PRO    Season 2, episode 4    -    Temporal Mechanics 101
• PRO    Season 2, episode 5    -    The Mystery Spiral
• PRO    Season 2, episode 6    -    Imposter Syndrome

The events of this Short Trek set the events of Star Trek - Picard, which we’ll be coming to shortly, in motion.

• SHO    Season 2, episode 6    -    Children of Mars

Okay. Deep breath. In 2387 the Romulan sun goes supernova, devastating the Romulan empire. A failed attempt by Starfleet to help stop this accidentally sends the Romulan mining vessel Narada back to 2233, creating an alternate reality  known as the “Kelvin Universe” or “Kelvinverse.” We'll be watching the three movies set in this universe next. It's essential to note that this new timeline DOES NOT replace the original “Prime” timeline, which still exists as it always has and to which we will be returning shortly.

2233 - (Kelvinverse)

The USS Kelvin is destroyed by the Narada, newly arrived from the Prime Universe 2387. This begins the divergence from the Prime timeline.

2258 - (Kelvinverse)

Too action-oriented for some, and plot-holes galore, 2009’s “Star Trek” is not what I would want Star Trek to be all the time, but is a quite fun alternate take on the original series, with some great acting and effects. Don’t overthink the chronology and details of this batch of movies though, or you’ll start seeing all kinds of things that make no sense.

• MOV    Star Trek (2009)

2259 - (Kelvinverse)

• MOV    Star Trek Into Darkness

2263 - (Kelvinverse)

• MOV    Star Trek Beyond

This film, while a solid improvement on Into Darkness, did not perform to expectations, meaning that the long-promised fourth film has been in-and-out of production for years, and I cannot say if we’ll ever see the Kelvin timeline again.

Therefore, we now return to the Prime timeline, already in progress.

• PIC    Season 1, episode 1    -    Remembrance
• PIC    Season 1, episode 2    -    Maps and Legends
• PIC    Season 1, episode 3    -    The End is the Beginning
• PIC    Season 1, episode 4    -    Absolute Candor
• PIC    Season 1, episode 5    -    Stardust City Rag
• PIC    Season 1, episode 6    -    The Impossible Box
• PIC    Season 1, episode 7    -    Nepenthe
• PIC    Season 1, episode 8    -    Broken Pieces
• PIC    Season 1, episode 9    -    Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1
• PIC    Season 1, episode 10    -    Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2

I gotta say, I strongly feel the Picard seasons all would make much more sense if you assume A LOT more time takes place between them than what the official sources say, but it is what it is.

• PIC    Season 2, episode 1    -    The Star Gazer
• PIC    Season 2, episode 2    -    Penance
• PIC    Season 2, episode 3    -    Assimilation
• PIC    Season 2, episode 4    -    Watcher
• PIC    Season 2, episode 5    -    Fly Me to the Moon
• PIC    Season 2, episode 6    -    Two of One
• PIC    Season 2, episode 7    -    Monsters
• PIC    Season 2, episode 8    -    Mercy
• PIC    Season 2, episode 9    -    Hide and Seek
• PIC    Season 2, episode 10    -    Farewell
• PIC    Season 3, episode 1    -    The Next Generation
• PIC    Season 3, episode 2    -    Disengage
• PIC    Season 3, episode 3    -    Seventeen Seconds
• PIC    Season 3, episode 4    -    No Win Scenario 
• PIC    Season 3, episode 5    -    Imposters
• PIC    Season 3, episode 6    -    The Bounty
• PIC    Season 3, episode 7    -    Dominion
• PIC    Season 3, episode 8    -    Surrender
• PIC    Season 3, episode 9    -    Võx
• PIC    Season 3, episode 10    -    The Last Generation

As you watch this you’ll see why the exact placement can be debatable, but 3074ish seemed best. With this episode, we finish Star Trek: Voyager. Keep in mind that this episode takes place entirely in the Delta quadrant, far away from most of the events of the franchise.

• VOY    Season 4, episode 23    -    Living Witness

Several hundred years later, we rejoin Star Trek: Discovery, already in progress, to discover what has happened in the interim.

• DIS    Season 3, episode 1    -    That Hope is You, Part 1

• DIS    Season 3, episode 2    -    Far From Home
• DIS    Season 3, episode 3    -    People of Earth
• DIS    Season 3, episode 4    -    Forget Me Not
• DIS    Season 3, episode 5    -    Die Trying
• DIS    Season 3, episode 6    -    Scavengers
• DIS    Season 3, episode 7    -    Unification III
• DIS    Season 3, episode 8    -    The Sanctuary
• DIS    Season 3, episode 9    -    Terra Firma, Part 1
• DIS    Season 3, episode 10    -    Terra Firma, Part 2
• DIS    Season 3, episode 11    -    Su’Kal
• DIS    Season 3, episode 12    -    There is a Tide…
• DIS    Season 3, episode 13    -    That Hope is You, Part 2

• DIS    Season 4, episode 1    -    Kobayashi Maru
• DIS    Season 4, episode 2    -    Anomaly
• DIS    Season 4, episode 3    -    Choose to Live
• DIS    Season 4, episode 4    -    All is Possible
• DIS    Season 4, episode 5    -    The Examples
• DIS    Season 4, episode 6    -    Stormy Weather
• DIS    Season 4, episode 7    -    …But to Connect
• DIS    Season 4, episode 8    -    All In
• DIS    Season 4, episode 9    -    Rubicon
• DIS    Season 4, episode 10    -    The Galactic Barrier
• DIS    Season 4, episode 11    -    Rosetta
• DIS    Season 4, episode 12    -    Species Ten-C
• DIS    Season 4, episode 13    -    Coming Home

As of this update, only four episodes of this season have aired. It is possible that when they are viewed, I will wish to update their placement in this list. The below is tentative.

• DIS    Season 5, episode 1    -    Red Directive
• DIS    Season 5, episode 2    -    Under the Twin Moons
• DIS    Season 5, episode 3    -    Jinaal
• DIS    Season 5, episode 4    -    Face the Strange
• DIS    Season 5, episode 5    -    Mirrors
• DIS    Season 5, episode 6    -    Whistlespeak
• DIS    Season 5, episode 7    -    Erigah
• DIS    Season 5, episode 8    -    Labyrinths
• DIS    Season 5, episode 9    -    Lagrange Point
• DIS    Season 5, episode 10    -    Life, Itself

Far Future:

Calypso is intentionally somewhat mysterious, and we have yet to learn exactly how it fits into the Star Trek timeline, but for now it seems to be the final part of our Star Trek Viewing Guide. There are still questions here. I expect Disco to answer them in Season 5, which will be the final season.

• SHO    Season 1, episode 2    -    Calypso

Click here to read about my methodology and intentions with this list.

If you use or have an opinion on this viewing order, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts!

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The Best Order to Watch All of Star Trek

Whether you’ve overlooked Star Trek for the past 60 years, looking to finally catch up, or are a die-hard fan setting out on a new binge, this list is here help you figure out the best order to watch everything the long-running sci-fi series has to offer.

There are really three ways to approach a binge of this size and complexity: chronologically, by release, or the mythical “best.” Here we’ll provide you with the full list of how to do each one and you can choose for yourself from there.

How to Watch All of Star Trek in Release Order

Watching by release date is probably the easiest way to do this, though it might not deliver the best overall experience. Considering this is how much of the fanbase got hooked, however, it’s a perfectly valid way to get into Trek . It also helps with the times when later shows reference earlier ones, ensuring you’ve seen everything that’s being referenced. It should be noted here that many series and films — especially the current Paramount+ ones — overlap. For these moments, which are noted below when shows/movies were on at the same time, it might be wise to stagger your viewing of the seasons as there may be overlap in their storylines.

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• Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974) — (Note: Maybe not canon but maybe also is.)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) — (Note: some characters overlap with TNG )
• Star Trek: Generations (1994) — (Note: Overlap with TNG )
• Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001) — (Note: While rare, some characters overlap with DS9 )
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
• Star Trek (2009)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)
• Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024)
• Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-2020) — (Note: Bridges gaps between Discovery seasons)
• Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-Present) (Note: Overlaps with SNW )
• Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-Present)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-Present) — (Note: Overlaps with Discovery and Lower Decks )
• Star Trek: Very Short Treks (2023) — (Note: Not canon)

How to Watch All of Star Trek in Chronological Order

Watching a franchise with as many entries as Star Trek in chronological order can be pretty tricky since some newer shows and films take place in the earlier in the timeline while older shows take place later. There’s also the films starring Chris Pine that take place on a different timeline entirely (the Kelvin timeline). That’s not to mention that time travel is an accepted and heavily regulated science in-universe and a popular plot mechanic, so almost every crew has, at some point, done it. That raises the question of where to put films like The Voyage Home , which has the TOS crew traveling back to the 1980s, or something like Discovery , which starts in the TOS era, spends half its first season in a parallel dimension, and then jumps millennia forward. Let’s not even get started on the ending of Enterprise . The point being is that chronological order is a terrible way to watch this franchise. If you must, though, here is the correct order, based on what time period each crew called “home” originally.

• Star Trek: Enterprise (Stardates: 2151-2156)
• Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Short Treks (First two seasons: 2256-2258, Final three seasons: 3188-?)
• Star Trek (2258-2259 Kelvin Timeline)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2259-2260 Kelvin Timeline)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2259-??)
• Star Trek Beyond (2263 Kelvin Timeline)
• Star Trek: The Original Series (2265-2269)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (2269-2270)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2273)
• Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (2285)
• Star Trek: The Search for Spock (2285)
• Star Trek: The Voyage Home (2286)
• Star Trek: The Final Frontier (2287)
• Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (2293)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (2364-2370)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2369-2375)
• Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378)
• Star Trek: Generations (2371)
• Star Trek: First Contact (2373)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (2375)
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2379)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380-??)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (2383-??)
• Star Trek: Picard (2399-2402)
• Star Trek: Very Short Treks — (Not canon)

How to Watch All of Star Trek in the Best Order

As you can tell from the two very long lists above, there is a lot of Star Trek to watch. Those lists don’t even do it justice considering that even without all the new streaming shows and movies, there are 709 episodes. That is a lot of time to dedicate to one franchise (and it is totally worth it), but if you’re going to do it, you’ll want an order that gets you hooked. Release date order may work for some, but it’s not the best way to get into great Trek right away. Instead use the method below to enjoy your journey through Star Trek to its fullest.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Start with what is easily the most accessible series and, for many, still the best. The first two seasons can be a little rocky, but they build the foundations for basically all Trek to come. The majority of Star Trek’s greatest episodes reside within this series, making it easy to get into and stick with. The episodic nature also makes it a good series to binge in free time to get your addiction kicked off without paying 100% attention. Yes, there are references and cameos from TOS , Voyager , and DS9 but not enough to not recommend simply watching TNG on its own straight through.

Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek movies I-VI

Now that you’re hooked, go back to the start. TOS may be a bit dated and wonky, but it’s all Trek , and it’s incredibly ahead of its time. The contrast between Kirk and Picard as Captains will also play off each other by watching these series back-to-back. Once you’re done, jump into the TOS films, which will keep things chronological for a good while as none of these films cross over with the TV shows in any way.

Star Trek Kelvin Timeline Films

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter where you watch Star Trek , Star Trek Into Darkness , or Star Trek Beyond as long as you’ve watched TOS and its films already. The movies are heavily connected to that series but kick off an entirely different timeline from every other show and film. Since they’re separate, you can really watch these at any point post- TOS , but watching it right after will give you the best experience of Star Trek ‘s “What if…?” storylines.

Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and TNG Films

Here’s where things get a little mushy. You can quite easily binge these three completely separately as they have minimal impact on each other. However, the best experience is probably to watch these as audiences of the time would. That means binging Deep Space Nine for two seasons, then alternating between episodes with Voyager while watching the TNG films during the seasons they came out before capping it all off with Star Trek: Nemesis . This order should give a good variety through a very long stretch of what can be some fantastic television and film. Fair warning, however, that the groundbreaking, serialized, final season of DS9 is going to be very hard to pause for even one episode of Voyager .

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy , having recently been renewed by Netflix , pops up in a weird place in the watch order because it’s just hard to place. Geared towards engaging younger viewers in Trek , it’s absolutely fantastic. Honestly, if you’re watching with a child, it could even be a perfect way to start your viewing. However, the Voyager cast play a large role in the first season, so watching it after Voyager is really helpful if you care about plotlines and canon like any well-respected adult should. Can you watch it any time after your Voyager binge? Sure, but why not dive into something really good before you start Discovery ?

Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Short Treks , and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

You have to watch Discovery to get to SNW , which is the only reason this list doesn’t have SNW higher. The second season of Discovery functions as a backdoor pilot to SNW while also being the best season of Discovery . Once the latter show jumps to the far future, they’re entirely separate so there’s no need to alternate viewing between the two if you feel like binging all of Discovery before moving onto SNW . You’ll need to watch Short Treks between the Discovery seasons they debuted before as they have some plot points in them you would miss otherwise.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Look, there’s very obviously a lot of not-so-great Trek to get through at the end of this list, but the goal is to be such a fan by this time that you’ll watch it anyway. Enterprise isn’t as bad as you may have heard, but it isn’t good either. Get through it. Enjoy the weird season set almost entirely in a hidden portion of the universe known as The Expanse, and then get just as angry as everyone else at its idiotic conclusion. At least you’ll be able to complain with the best of them once you’re done.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

We’re going to break up the suck with some of the best Trek on TV right now. Lower Decks is a Star Trek parody made by Star Trek . As such, you can’t really appreciate it until you’ve watched everything else. In fact, thanks to binging the rest, you may appreciate it more than most as you pick out deep cuts and references that those who watched the shows as they aired might miss. It’s a great reminder why you’re watching all of this before having to suffer through the final show.

Star Trek: Picard

One might expect that you’d just keep the good times rolling by watching Picard right after TNG . The show is, after all, a continuation of that series built on nostalgia and some unfinished plotlines. However, the first two seasons of Picard are so terrible that doing so would be like eating filet mignon and then instantly washing it down with some moonshine. Plus, the third and only decent season, is a massive nostalgia trip that can only be fully appreciated if you’ve spent the hours and hours and hours it takes to get through all of Trek . It’s the perfect victory lap for what you’ve just accomplished.

Bonus: Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Very Short Treks

Is it canon? Is it not? Who cares. TAS is weird, dumb, poorly animated, and kind of hard to watch — but there’s some great episodes in there. You can avoid it entirely and be totally fine or slot it into any watch order you want post- TOS . Very Short Treks are just some fun YouTube shorts released in the style of TAS . Watch them whenever too.

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Which order should I watch the new Star Trek shows?

• Thread starter Hobbun
• Start date Jan 24, 2024
• Entertainment  

• Jan 24, 2024

I am a long time watcher of Star Trek. I've seen TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise (well, most of the series, at least). And TNG I have watched numerous times over. As well as seeing all of the movies, even the more recent ones. But what I haven't seen is the more recent Star Trek shows, at least a few of them. I've watched Picard, as well as Prodigy (great show!). But still haven't gotten to Discovery, Strange New Worlds (SNW) or Lower Decks. So my question is, with the shared universe, what is the best order to watch these shows? Also, are there story lines that refer to the older series that maybe I need a refresher on. I prefer not spoilers for the new show, but if you want to indicate which older show it refers to then I can get an idea what I might need a rewatch on. To be honest, I could probably use a rewatch on all of them except TNG. But I mainly want to know the best order to watch them, like if they make references to story lines from the other current Star Trek shows. Like I know SNW and Lower Decks had a crossover at some point, so I don't want to watch all of Lower Decks to find out it continues in SNW and haven't watched any of it yet. I am not looking to jump from one episode of one show to an episode of another show, but at least let me know "You should watch this show first up to this season, and then pick up this show. And then finish the other/continue with this, etc." What is the best order to watch to appreciate references in the shared universe? Any suggestions would be appreciated!  

Technically: DSC S1 and S2 SNW S1 Then you can watch either concurrently. Lower Decks exists in a differen time period so it doesn't matter, except that you can theoretically say that you may want to get to Lower Decks S3 first before SNW S2 for spoiler reasons.  

I would start with Star Trek Discovery and at some point I believe in S2 they introduced the some of the cast of Star Trek Strange New World. Then you can pick up S1 of SNW from there. I would start watching Lower Decks S1 before you start SNW S2 though. Cause the crossover episode happen in SNW S2 and I think maybe Lower Decks S3. But Lower Decks is 99% it's own thing. Picard is it's own separate thing so watch that whenever. Only Discovery and SNW share a path up to a certain point.  

Shadownet said: I would start with Star Trek Discovery and at some point I believe in S3 or S4 they introduced the some of the cast of Star Trek Strange New World. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Schwarzbier

Watch them based on air date IMO. Except for LD. Cherish every minute of Lower Decks.  

Don't. They're terrible and a waste of time. Just pretend nothing comes after Enterprise.  

red_shift_ltd

Lower Decks got my partner and me watching DS9 and planning on Voyager. There are so many thought out references in LD that make it fun to watch the old shows. I went into it wanting to hate it but it's such a great tribute to Star Trek.  

Wrexis said: If you want something episodic and cosy like TNG, watch Strange New Worlds directly. It's self contained, for 99% of it. There is a single plot line that you will miss out on, and it's something simple: Captain Pike Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Wrexis said: If you're open to something a little different, watch Discovery S1-S2 first, which are serialized. They do lead into Strange New Worlds, and technically Strange New World's Enterprise and Captain appear on Discovery first. Lower Decks can be watched in any order. There isn't a plot that starts in Lower Decks that continues in SNW. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

• Discovery S1
• Discovery S2
• Lower Decks S1
• Lower Decks S2
• Lower Decks S3

Hobbun said: So I know they did a crossover with Lower Decks and SNW, was it a crossover in a sense that it was only on one show and didn't have a continuing story line from show to show? I know they are in different time periods, but there is a crossover for some reason, so there is a connection there in some way. I just want to make sure it's not something where I need to watch episodes back to back (similar to the Arrowverse crossovers). Click to expand... Click to shrink...

B.K. said: Don't. They're terrible and a waste of time. Just pretend nothing comes after Enterprise. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Joeytj said: You can watch Lower Decks without any need to see anything else. The crossover episode affects SNW more than it does LD. But if you really want to absolutely avoid missing out on any references or plots in either Discovery, SNW, or LD, then go with original airing order until you get to S3 of Discovery, then you can start with SNW and LD. You already saw Picard, so that helps with S3 of Discovery and beyond (there are a couple of references to plot points from Picard there.) So, it can be: Discovery S1 Discovery S2 SNW S1 Lower Decks S1 Lower Decks S2 Lower Decks S3 SNW S2 LD S4 Disco S4. In that order. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Joeytj said: EDIT: It actually does move forward some/a bit of character development and plot points in SNW, but almost none in LD, which is why I recommend watching a bit of Strange New Worlds before Lower Decks and SNW S2 first before Lower Decks S4. Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Hobbun said: So where do you recommend Discovery S3? Ok, thanks, exactly what I was looking for! Click to expand... Click to shrink...

chrominance

Sky van gogh.

I think other people have essentially answered the OP question, but I want to add that I honestly don't think it matters THAT much. The two major examples of shared universe references aren't actually necessary to appreciate the shows they link, I think, though obviously you'll get the extra colour from doing so. Doing things out of order doesn't really feel like a big problem either. If you want to do things "right" then you have the info you need to do so, but if you feel at all conflicted about watching things in the suggested order I don't think you should hold yourself to it. All the information you need to enjoy each show is contained in that show.  

Hobbun said: So where do you recommend Discovery S3? Ok, thanks, exactly what I was looking for! Heh, if I'm going to do that, then I may as well just put Voyager at the end. (Wasn't a fan of Enterprise). Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Hobbun said: So it sounds like I will go with Lower Decks first, as it isn't really linked to anything. And then do the first couple of seasons of DSC and then watch SNW 1 (or just both seasons). And then finish out DSC. So I know they did a crossover with Lower Decks and SNW, was it a crossover in a sense that it was only on one show and didn't have a continuing story line from show to show? I know they are in different time periods, but there is a crossover for some reason, so there is a connection there in some way. I just want to make sure it's not something where I need to watch episodes back to back (similar to the Arrowverse crossovers). Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Have you watched Orville? It's like TNG.  

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The beginner's guide to Star Trek: What to watch first

The Star Trek television world consists of eleven full and distinct television series released across the decades, going all the way back to the mid-1960s. While some of the older sets and effects are certainly dated, some of the issues the shows grappled with back in the day are as relevant now as they were almost 60 years ago.

When Star Trek debuted on September 6, 1966, it was a relatively low-budget TV series with only lukewarm network support. It took two pilot episodes before the series was picked up by NBC, only to be unceremoniously cancelled three years later. Nobody back then knew that Star Trek would create cultural touchstones and iconic characters, or that it would go on to spawn ten more TV series (so far) and thirteen movies (also, so far).

Today, Star Trek is deeply entrenched in modern mythology, with characters like James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard as familiar to us as Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo.

But not everyone is fully up to speed on all things Trek . Perhaps you're seeing promotions for the new shows coming out this year and wonder what all the fuss is about. Perhaps you want to introduce Star Trek to a younger generation or catch up after a long hiatus.

No matter what, we're here to help. In this guide, I'm going to take you through the TV series and help you understand what each is about, give you some hints about watching order, and share with you my subjective perspective on the shows.

Also:  14 unofficial Star Trek series and films

Star Trek has inspired a tremendous amount of media. Beyond the TV shows, there are movies, video games, books, comics, fan fiction and productions, collectables, and more. Because the commercial world of Star Trek fandom is so huge, I'm going to limit our discussion to just the TV shows -- although there will be a few mentions of one or two movies that are requisite viewing for later series' continuity.

How to get started

There are four Star Trek series currently in production right now. More are rumored to be on the way. And there's even a Seth McFarland-helmed homage to Star Trek called The Orville that carries on the Trek spirit (new episodes will be broadcast on Hulu in June).

So, you could get started watching a current show, especially since the visuals and production quality are top-notch. If you feel strongly about starting with new material, I'd recommend kicking off your watching with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on the Paramount+ streaming service. I'll talk more about SNW (most Trek series get abbreviations) in a bit. Another choice would be the gorgeous animated series Star Trek: Prodigy . It's intended to bring kids into the Star Trek universe, but it fires on all cylinders for adults just as well.

But I recommend you start where it all started: Star Trek , the original series ( TOS ) produced in the 1960s. It's here you'll meet Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Scotty the engineer. This is where it all began, and everything builds upon this fundamental mythology.

And with that, let's get started!

1. Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)

The series that began it all.

• Production Years:  1966-1969
• Trek Timeline Years:  2266-2269
• Seasons:  3
• Episodes:  79
• Stream on:   Paramount+
• Buy:   Amazon

This is it. The series that began it all. I recently rewatched the entire run of  TOS  after not having seen it in years, and the thing that made the biggest impression on me was how much they got right in those early years. Roddenberry was building a mythos out of thin air, and yet many of the foundational elements that  Star Trek  folks know and love today were written into those early shows.

Of course, Roddenberry didn't get it perfect right out of the gate. He did two pilots which introduced Captain Christopher Pike instead of Captain Kirk and a female "Number One" as second in command. This pilot, called " The Cage " never made it on the air but was repurposed into a two-parter late in the first season. You'll want to remember Pike and Number One because they're prominent in the new modern-day  Trek  series currently being released.

Some episodes of this very early series age well, while others are deeply cringeworthy. Because it's 1960s entertainment (and relatively low-budget entertainment at that), it can be a bit tedious at times. And yet, it touched on some really important themes.  Martin Luther King Jr. actually reached out to Nichelle Nichols , who  played Lt. Uhura , when she was considering leaving the show. He urged her to stay on because he saw her role as a very important inspiration.

If you want to understand all the  Trek  lore that comes after, this is the place to start.

Must watch episodes:   The City on the Edge of Forever, Space Seed, The Trouble with Tribbles

Movies:  There were six movies made with the  TOS  cast. Of them, the best two are  The Wrath of Khan  (which sets up a lot of subsequent mythos) and  The Voyage Home , which is probably the most fun of them all.

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

The story forward 100 years.

• Production Years:  1987-1994
• Trek Timeline Years:  2364-2370
• Seasons:  7
• Episodes:  178

Star Trek's  continuing popularity during the eighteen years after NBC cancelled the original series was unexpected.  Star Trek , that weird space show with the pointy-eared alien, turned out to have legs. It took ten years of fan pressure and conventions, but in 1979  Star Trek: The Motion Picture  was released. It was... not so good. But three more movies came out over the next eight years, and they were great. So the momentum was in place for a  Star Trek  reboot.

Rather than recasting the original characters, Roddenberry decided to move the story forward almost 100 years, create a version of the  Enterprise  starship whose interior decor most resembled a Marriott hotel in outer space, and give it warp nacelles and photon torpedos. This was  The Next Generation , with Captain Picard, first officer William Riker, the android Data, the boy wonder Wesley Crusher, his mom, the Klingon Worf, and unlucky-in-love engineer Geordi La Forge. Roddenberry even created the role of a mental health counsellor (Deanna Troy) as a key member of its bridge crew.

While Patrick Stewart's Picard was much more  Captain Stubing  than Shatner's Captain Kirk, there's no doubting this Shakespearean actor's talents. Brent Spiner, as the android-who-wants-to-be-human, was another standout performer. The first two seasons were a little rocky. Remember: back then, nobody knew whether this show would last, and the actors and showrunners were still trying to come to terms with how to move beyond  TOS . But subsequent years are among the best science (and societal) fiction you'll ever see on TV.

Must watch episodes:   The Measure of a Man, Yesterday's Enterprise, The Best Of Both Worlds I  and  II

Movies:  There were four movies made with the  TNG  cast. The first one,  Generations , also included key members of the  TOS  cast. I recommend you watch  First Contact  because it's a really good movie. And you might want to watch  Nemesis  because it sets up some details you'll need in later series (but it's definitely  not  the best movie made).

Also: Best video streaming service  

To boldly go...

Once you've watched  TOS  and  TNG , you're pretty much ready to travel wherever you want throughout the  Star Trek  franchise. You'll have a good foundational understanding of the Federation, the various alien species, the rules and regulations of Starfleet, and most of the iconic characters.

My recommendation is to wrap up the early  Trek  productions by taking in the two seasons of the first animated series. Then, move on to the middle period of  Star Trek  production, with  Voyager, Deep Space 9 , and  Enterprise , and then jump forward to the current productions. That's how I'm going to present the remaining series to you, but you can pretty much choose any order you want once you've made it this far.

3. Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)

Worthwhile animation with tos voices.

• Production Years:  1973-1975
• Trek Timeline Years:  2269-2270
• Seasons:  2
• Episodes:  22
• Buy:  Amazon

A few years after NBC canceled TOS , Roddenberry managed to convince studio heads to let him produce an animated version of the show. While it was considerably less expensive to produce than the live-action  Star Trek , the animated series was the most expensive animated show airing at the time, but that was mostly because nearly all the original series actors (Walter Koenig as Chekov was missing) lent their voices to the show.

While the series was intended as a kid's show, it hews pretty closely to classic  Star Trek  themes and can be considered a proper sequel to  TOS . Watching it in 2022 is a bit weird because cartoons from the 1970s definitely seem a bit weird to our 2022 mindset, but  TAS  is a worthwhile romp, especially since it features the voice work from the core actors who first made  Star Trek .

Must watch episodes:   Yesteryear, The Slaver Weapon, More Tribbles, More Troubles  (because...Tribbles)

4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (DS9)

Thought-provoking, must-watch tv.

• Production Years:  1993-1999
• Trek Timeline Years:  2369-2275
• Seasons:  7
• Episodes:  176
• Stream on:   Paramount+ , Netflix
• Buy: Amazon

By many measures,  Star Trek: Deep Space 9  is as good as  Star Trek  (or science fiction overall, for that matter) gets. Rather than exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations,  Deep Space 9  takes place mostly on the eponymous space station, Deep Space 9.

The station sits at the junction of a wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant (a far off part of space) and the planet Bajor, a planet previously occupied by Cardassians' warlike race (not to be confused with the Kardashians). DS9's leader is played by actor Avery Brooks, who starts off with the Starfleet rank of Commander and later gets promoted to Captain.  DS9  starts off slow but ends with a massive war and some of the best space battles ever put on film.

While there are a few silly episodes, most plotlines are tight, deep, and thought-provoking. Characters develop complex and compelling personalities. And the show takes some powerful swings at issues of the day, with  Far Beyond the Stars  an absolute standout showing issues of racism in 1950s America and yet fitting totally in with the rest of  DS9 . If anything can be considered must-watch TV, chock full of religious and political intrigue, it's  Star Trek: Deep Space 9 .

Must watch episodes:   Far Beyond the Stars, The Visitor, Trials And Tribble-Ations  (because...Tribbles)

5. Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

A female badass captain who guides her crew on the uss voyager.

• Production Years:  1995-2001
• Trek Timeline Years:  2371-2378
• Episodes:  172

The series starts with the crew of the  Voyager  chasing after a Maquis raider ship in a rough part of space. Suddenly, both ships get pulled into a spatial distortion, only to wind up far, far away from home. A super-powerful being called the Caretaker brought both ships to the Delta quadrant as part of its quest to help a species it cared for.

The plot of the pilot is a bit convoluted, but the Captain Kathryn Janeway makes a decision that strands  Voyager  and the crew of the Maquis ship in the Delta quadrant. The voyage home will take 75 years. Kate Mulgrew was not the franchise's first choice for a Janeway captain. Instead, Geneviève Bujold was originally cast in the role, but she apparently  crashed and burned in a day and a half . That's fortunate because Mulgrew absolutely owns the part, turning the Janeway character into a tough, sensitive, compassionate, and absolutely kick-ass leader.

The  Voyager  crew becomes a blended crew with both Starfleet and Maquis. Early episodes playoff that dynamic, but the early crew conflicts tend to slip away as the series progresses and the crew coalesces. Throughout it all, the series is about how this crew survives all on its own, trying to find a way home and the adventures along the way.

Must watch episodes:  Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Spy, Year of Hell  (two-parter),  Timeless Worst episode in any science fiction, ever:  Threshold

6. Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)

The start of the prime universe.

• Production Years:  2001-2005
• Trek Timeline Years:  2151-2161
• Seasons:  4
• Episodes:  98
• Stream on:  Paramount+

With  Enterprise  (the series debuted without the " Star Trek: " prefix), we're starting to move around the "Prime Universe" timeline. So, okay, some definitions are in order. In 2009, J. J. Abrams did a reboot of the original  Star Trek  crew in a three-movie set. That reboot changed some of the  Star Trek  canon (its established mythology) and became known as the "Kelvin Universe". All the  Star Trek  that exists in the unaltered (or mostly unaltered) mythology is called the "Prime Universe." All of the TV shows so far (but not all the movies) are considered Prime Universe.

In the Prime Universe,  series timelines span centuries . The majority of established canon takes place in the  TNG  era, which is 2364-2379.  TOS ,  Discovery , and  Strange New Worlds  take place 100 or so years earlier than  TNG , while  Discovery  eventually jumps to about a thousand years later. But  Enterprise  is a prequel to all of that, showcasing a ship just beginning to travel between the stars. It takes place starting in 2151, a century before the days of Kirk and Spock.

There are some nods to the idea that technology wasn't as advanced in 2151 as it was in later centuries, but since  Enterprise  itself was made 35 years after  TOS , the production value and effects made it seem somewhat more advanced. That will prove to be an ongoing problem with Trek prequels: what do you do when the real tech to produce the prequel is half a century more advanced? What do you do when the actual tech we have in our pockets seems far more advanced than the "future" tech shown in the early shows? Artistic license is used.

The  NX-01 Enterprise  is led by Captain Jonathan Archer (played by  Quantum Leap's  Scott Bakula) and his Number One is a Vulcan named T'Pol (played by Jolene Blalock). In  Enterprise's  time frame, trust between Earth and the Vulcans is tenuous, and that tension plays out over the series. Unfortunately,  Enterprise  only lasted four seasons. It, like most other  Trek , was a bit rocky in the first seasons, but by Season 4, it was producing excellent television.

My biggest question about Enterprise is about Porthos, Archer's adorable beagle. Porthos spent most of his time in Archer's cabin, but I've always been curious about how Porthos took care of business. Did they just walk him around the decks and some crewmember cleaned it up? Was there a spot of grass somewhere in an unused cabin? It keeps me up at night.

In any case, I consider  Enterprise  criminally underrated. It was a great show.

Must watch episodes:   In a Mirror, Darkly  (two-parter),  Carbon Creek, Similitude, Twilight, The Breach  (because...Tribbles)

7. Star Trek: Discovery (DIS)

Discover the fun in star trek.

• Production Years:  2017-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2255-2259, 3188-3190 (so far)
• Seasons:  4 (so far)
• Episodes:  55 (so far)

Star Trek  production effectively went into shutdown for about a decade after  Enterprise . After the success of the reboot movies in the late 2000s,  Star Trek  TV experienced a resurgence in  Discovery .  Discovery  is a hard beast to pin down, and this had the effect of turning off some of the entrenched  Star Trek  fanbase. That said, it's still great TV.  Discovery  was the first of the modern-day  Star Trek  series to be available solely on streaming, via what was then CBS All Access and is now Paramount+.

Somehow (spoiler alert), Micheal Burham goes from the Federation's first mutineer with a life sentence to a beloved starship captain. Burnham is Spock's human sister (yeah, that was a surprise to everyone). Played by Sonequa Martin-Green, the standout feature of  Discovery  is some of its great performances and characterizations.

My favorites are the gangly alien Saru (played with absolute perfection by Doug Jones), the mirror universe emperor Georgiou (played with scenery-eating intensity by Michelle Yeoh), cranky under-utilized engineer Jett Reno (played by the wonderful-in-anything Tigg Notaro), and Captain Christopher Pike, reimagined from the pilot for  TOS  (who was played to such perfection by Anson Mount that the minute he hit the screen, everyone knew a series had to be made around him -- which became  Strange New Worlds ).

The first season takes place ten years before the original series. Klingons don't really look like Klingons, Burnham starts a war,  Discovery  travels to the mirror universe where everything is  Bizarro World , and chaos ensues. The second season is back in the home universe where the crew tries to stop an AI bent on destroying all life in the universe. To avoid that fate, the crew travels 930 years into the future and...okay, let's take a breather for a second.

Do. Not. Try. To. Make. Sense. Of. All. This.  Discovery  is weird enough to be pretty much the  Twin Peaks  of  Star Trek . Just enjoy the fact that the visuals are impressive, the characters (at least most of them) are great, and the stories hold together long enough to make it through each episode as long as you don't think about it too much.  Discovery  can be annoying and sappy, to be sure. But it's also a heck of a lot of fun.

Must watch episodes (so far):  An Obol for Charon, The Sound of Thunder, Short Trek: The Trouble with Edward  (because...Tribbles)

8. Star Trek: Lower Decks (LD)

Focus on life onboard for low-ranking members of starfleet.

• Production Years:  2020-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2380- (so far)
• Seasons:  2 (so far)
• Episodes:  20 (so far)

Back in 1994, there was an episode of  TNG  called  Lower Decks . It focused on lower-ranking crew members and looked at what life onboard a starship was like for the non-hero characters of Starfleet. In 2020, Mike McMahan, previously known for his work on the animated comedy  Rick and Morty , took the lower decks concept into an entire animated  Star Trek  series.

And it works. McMahan also addressed a lot of fan complaints about  Discovery  by including an almost overwhelming array of  Star Trek   Easter eggs  as fan service in the series. If you've ever wondered about  Cetacean Ops , for example, McMahan has an entire episode devoted to Starfleet's underwater crew.

Overall,  Lower Decks  delivers fully  Star Trek  plots, along with a lot of genuinely funny moments. But it doesn't sacrifice good storytelling either for laughs or nostalgia.

Must watch episodes (so far):   No Small Parts, First First Contact, An Embarrassment of Dooplers

9. Star Trek: Prodigy (PRO)

Animated and visually stunning.

• Production Years:  2021-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2383- (so far)
• Seasons:  1 (so far)
• Episodes:  9 (so far)

Prodigy  is the second animated series currently in production. It has a completely different theme and art style from  Lower Decks  and is most definitely its own thing.

The premise is that a bunch of enslaved tweenagers of varying non-human species in the Delta Quadrant find a dormant Federation starship. While exploring, they activate the "emergency training hologram," which turns out to be an animated Captain Janeway (voiced by Kate Mulgrew herself). Hologram Janeway thinks the interlopers are cadets and helps them start the ship up so they can make their escape.

The series is Nickelodeon-branded and is supposed to be for kids, but the episodes are well-written and even suspenseful. The first season ended on a cliffhanger that both newbies to  Star Trek  and long-time fans will find compelling. And can we talk about the visuals? This series is just absolutely gorgeous. Watch it on the largest, brightest TV you can. It's that good.

Must watch episodes (so far):   Time Amok, First Con-tact, Kobayashi

10. Star Trek: Picard (PIC)

New adventures of an older captain picard.

• Trek Timeline Years:  2399- (so far)
• Seasons:  2 (so far)
• Episodes:  20 (so far)

The premise behind  Star Trek: Picard  is simple. Thirty years after  TNG , Admiral Picard goes back out into space for new adventures. Picard (and Patrick Stewart) are much older, and the series addresses the challenges of ageing and how someone who was once the galaxy's hero deals with becoming irrelevant -- just as events reach out to bring the retired admiral back onto center stage once again.

Have you noticed how most of the  Star Trek  series have three-letter abbreviations?  Star Trek: Picard's  should be WTF. There are moments in  Picard  that are wonderful. But a lot of  Picard  is just plain terrible. If you even try to think about all the plot holes and paradoxes in just the final episode of Season 2, you'll find your brain sucked into a wormhole. As much as it's an absolute pleasure to see Patrick Stewart in anything,  Star Trek: Picard  is undeniably the worst television  Star Trek  has yet produced.

Like all of the current-era  Star Trek , it's gorgeous. There's fan service everywhere, and we do get to meet some of the  TNG  characters again. More are promised for Season 3. But something went horribly wrong in the writers' room for the storylines in most of the episodes to be this convoluted, self-referential, internally inconsistent, and rather unbelievable (trust me, suspending disbelief often just doesn't work here). If anything, Season 2 is even more disastrous than Season 1, and that's saying something.

All that said, should you watch  Star Trek: Picard ? Of course. It's a hoot. Plus, the episode  Nepenthe  (where we get to meet a gray-haired Captain Riker and his wife, Deanna Troy, along with their daughter Kestra) makes the whole series worthwhile.

Must watch episodes:   Nepenthe, Stardust City Rag

11. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)

Referential to established canon for entrenched trek fans.

• Production Years:  2022-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2259- (so far)
• Seasons:  1 (so far)
• Episodes:  4 (so far)

Strange New Worlds  has been jokingly called the longest order from the pilot to series in television history, but there's some truth to that. The very first  TOS  pilot back in the 1960s spotlighted the main characters of  Strange New Worlds . As the legend goes, NBC didn't like those characters, so Roddenberry retooled and the result was Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Today, however, Anson Mount is center stage, along with Ethan Peck as the third actor to play Spock, and Rebecca Romijn playing Number One. We haven't seen too many episodes yet, but so far it's good. Really, really good. Sure, this  U.S.S. Enterprise  is supposed to be from a time ten years before Kirk's in  TOS , and it's far fancier. But that's what you get with 2022 budgets and CGI compared to the hand-me-downs that went into the original  Star Trek .

You can follow the story well enough without having seen any other  Star Trek , so it makes for a good first series. But it also is so reverently referential to established canon (while blazing its own way as well) that deeply entrenched Trek fans will undoubtedly enjoy it as well.

Must watch episodes (so far):  Strange New Worlds, Children of the Comet, Ghosts of Illyria, Memento Mori

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What are the worst to best Star Trek series?

This is a highly subjective list, but I know you're going to want to know. So here it is. My call for worst series to best. You'll be surprised.

10. Picard :  I had high hopes, I love the reunions, but the plots don't hold together if you think about it for just one minute.

9. The Original Series :  Yes, it started everything. And yes, they got a lot right. But some of it is just downright hard to watch.

8. The Animated Series :  Like  TOS , it's a rough ride to watch. Pacing is very late sixties.

7. Lower Decks :  I'm not a huge animation fan, and the silliness is a bit annoying.

6. Prodigy :   Prodigy  is gorgeous, and the plots hold together well. But I'm not as into it as I could be. Perhaps with more seasons.

5. The Next Generation :   TNG  defines  Star Trek , and while there are some great shows there, it's getting old. I'm just not that invested anymore.

4. Discovery :  I really like some of the characters and the modern visuals are spectacular. The focus on one character as a  Mary Sue  gets tiresome, as do the somewhat lazy resolutions for season-long mysteries.

3. Voyager :  Some of the premise broke down in early years, but the overall crew survival dynamic makes for worthwhile TV. I've become attached to some of the characters after watching them grow into their responsibilities.

2. Enterprise :  Yes, I consider  Enterprise  among the best  Star Trek  ever, even though it died an early death. From Archer's relationship with the Andorian commander Shran (played by the wonderful Jeffrey Combs) to some really excellent standalone episodes, I miss  Enterprise  more than any other series.

1. Deep Space 9 :  Yeah, this is just about the best science fiction you're going to find anywhere.

* Strange New Worlds :  I'm not rating  Strange New Worlds  yet. I've only seen a few episodes. But from what I've seen, it has the potential to be among the favorites.

What about you? What's your favorite Star Trek series? Are you Trek-curious and just getting started? Are you coming back after a long hiatus? Share with us in the comments below. Live long and prosper.

You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz , on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz , on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz , and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV .

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The Correct Order to Watch Every Star Trek Show In, if You’re New to the Galaxy

With so many options it can be a bit tough to know what to watch, where to watch it, or how to even watch it. Although every show roughly exists together and uses the same canon, they each exist at different points along the confusing timeline (the reboots really messed things up). If you want to know what the canonical timeline is like, here’s a graphic from Wikipedia .

That’s why we’re putting together this article, so you can be prepared for Star Trekking across the universe. This isn’t a power ranking of every Star Trek show, but more of a basic starter guide for new fans.

As such, we’ll be breaking this guide up based on a new fan getting into Star Trek, accompanied by explainers on where each show fits into the canon. Depending on how far you want to boldly go, we’ll include more shows.

Don’t worry about missing out on any necessary canon — it’s already fragmented as it is and Star Trek shows have done a pretty good job of explaining larger canon concepts within their own self-contained plotlines. Without any further adieu, here’s how to Star Trek .

The new movies

Okay, they’re not shows, sue me, but the rebooted films are a terrific way of picking up on Star Trek’s vibe and seeing if it’s for you.

The rebooted films include Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Into Darkness and Star Trek: Beyond , each telling the stories of Captain Kirk, Spock and the original crew of the USS Enterprise. They’re a great watch and are very palatable.

The first two films were directed by J.J. Abrams , while the third film was directed by Justin Lin. For older fans, they have a bit of fan service in them, but newer fans will definitely appreciate how easy they are to follow and how modern they are. After all, they are a reboot of The Original Series which began in 1965.

You can watch Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Into Darkness and Star Trek: Beyond on Stan .

The new live-action shows

Next on our list are the new live-action shows, which include Star Trek: Discovery , Star Trek: Picard and  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Star Trek: Discovery does a really good job of exploring the Star Trek universe on its own terms, rarely bringing in a concept unexplained to new fans and creating exciting plots on its own. That being said, it has a fair amount of content for returning fans.

Conversely, Star Trek: Picard has lots of content for returning fans as a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation . New fans might not want to dive into Picard first, considering that it relies pretty heavily on pre-existing canon, but it’s not egregious doing this. It’s a great show on its own, and it’ll be tying off both Picard and The Next Generation in its third season ( or so it may seem ).

Then, the newest show, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,  tries to meet the old Star Trek vibe with the flair of the new movies and TV shows. A second season is on the way .

You can watch Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  on Paramount+ and Star Trek: Picard on Amazon Prime Video.

The animated shows

Just quickly, we’ll mention Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek Prodigy . These shows are animated: Lower Decks is a PG animated comedy and Star Trek Prodigy is intended for younger audiences (it’s a Nickelodeon show).

These shows might be worthwhile if you’re after something a bit lighter, but they lack the drama of the other shows. That’s not a bad thing, just be aware of what you’re getting into.

You can watch  Star Trek: Lower Decks and  Star Trek Prodigy  on Paramount+.

The Next Generation shows

If you like Star Trek enough to plunge into some of the older shows, here’s where we start on that. In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation aired for the first time, bringing in Patrick Steward as Captain Picard. This is a terrific series (although the first few seasons can be a bit hard to watch) with several movies accompanying it.

In 1993, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine aired, set within the same timeframe as The Next Generation with the odd call-back. Personally, I kind of saw this spin-off as Space Neighbours (RIP) as some of its plots focused a bit on melodrama, but it genuinely has some great Star Trek moments.

Then, in 1995, my favourite series aired – Star Trek: Voyager . Set during the timeframe of Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation , Star Trek: Voyager follows the crew of said USS Voyager as they try to return to Star Fleet space, after being plunged far out into the Delta Quadrant (a region of space unexplored by Star Fleet). It’s great in that it scarcely explores canon from the other shows while being exciting on its own.

Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager can be streamed on Netflix , whereas the accompanying movies of The Next Generation can be watched on Stan .

Enterprise and The Original Series

Finally, we’ve gone back as far as being a Star Trek fan will take you, both in terms of canon and chronology.

The Original Series is where it all started, with the pilot episodes back in 1965. These are… look, they’re old. You might see them as dated (they are) and think that William Shatner’s acting is bad (it is) but this is the show that set it all up. If you want to commit to everything Star Trek , this is where you must boldly go.

Additionally, Star Trek: Enterprise (2002) is the oldest show in terms of timeline, set further back than any mainline show (unless you’re counting time travel episodes, and if so, why?). It wasn’t loved much by fans, although it’s kind of juicy, following the original crew of the USS Enterprise shortly after humanity made first contact.

Personally, I recommend you tackle these shows last, for their own reasons. The Original Series is super dated and Enterprise isn’t terrific compared to some of the other shows, but all things considered, if you make your way to these shows, I’m happy for you.

You can watch Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Enterprise on Netflix . Additionally, you can watch the movies accompanying Star Trek: The Original Series on Stan .

That’s about it for Star Trek

Although the MMO is a lot of fun and there are heaps of books, that’s pretty much where it ends with Star Trek.

This is surely enough content to keep you going for a while, but just so you’re aware, streaming services are often changing their libraries, so don’t be surprised if, one day, your favourite Star Trek is removed from a platform.

Make sure you check out our article on every major sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, horror and adventure TV shows and movies  hitting streaming services this month . 

This article has been updated since it was first published.

How to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation TV shows and movies in order

Image: ©CBS

Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science-fiction show, set in the 24 th Century. The series – created by Gene Roddenberry – follows the story of the crew of the USS Enterprise and its exploration of space.  

The series was created as a follow-up show to the popular Star Trek TV series of the 1960s, as well as the successful run of Star Trek movies of the late ‘70s onward. Unlike the original show and movies, which focused on the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew, The Next Generation focused on Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his team, including Riker, Data, Worf, Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi, Tasha Yar, and Beverly and Wesley Crusher.

Upon making its debut, Star Trek: The Next Generation built up a loyal fanbase, and became popular with audiences. Over time, it established itself as a fantastic piece of television, stepping out the shadow of its predecessor, and boasted excellent stories and well-written characters.

So, when it came time to end the show on television, not everybody was quite ready to say goodbye. Mere months after the television adventures wrapped, the Next Generation crew took to the big screen to appear in a series of movies.

And the Next Gen journey didn’t quite end with movies either. Almost two decades after the final film hit screens, Jean-Luc Picard, and a handful of his crew mates, returned for another television show.

In short: Between shows and movies, there’s a lot of Next Generation content out there. But if you’re a complete newcomer to The Next Generation , where do you begin?

With this post, of course!

Below, I am providing a run-through of Star Trek: The Next Generation , detailing the viewing order for the shows and the movies. So, if you’re not sure how best to watch the series, how many seasons there are, or when to begin watching the films, you simply need to follow the details below.  

Understanding Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation hit television screens in 1987, with the two-part story: Encounter at Farpoint . This double-length episode, kicked off the show’s first season, which comprised a total of 26 episodes.

The following year, The Next Generation returned for its second season. This was then followed by seasons three, four, five, six, and seven, all popping up on an annual basis.

The seventh and final season of the show, aired between 1993 and 1994, concluding with the two-part story: All Good Things… . By the time the show reached the end of its run, Star Trek: The Next Generation had clocked up 178 episodes of television.

But this wasn’t the end for The Next Generation – the cast simply side-stepped from television into movies, beginning with Star Trek Generations (1994). The movie combined the cast of the original Star Trek television show, with the cast of The Next Generation , for a big screen adventure.

Star Trek Generations proved to be a box office hit, and The Next Generation cast returned for further movies, including: Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

Star Trek: Nemesis essentially ended the adventures of The Next Generation crew on the big screen, and bar the odd guest spot on television, the actors largely stepped away from the Star Trek universe. But this still wasn’t the end – in 2020, actor Patrick Stewart (aka Jean-Luc Picard) returned to the small screen for yet another television show.

The series was called Picard . It centred largely around the eponymous character, but also included various Next Gen cast members, who appeared in the series in guest roles.  

Due to the popularity of Picard ’s first season, as well as a positive reception from critics, the show returned for subsequent seasons.

Star Trek: The Next Generation in order

If you wish to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation in order, begin with the original television show, taking it season by season, then move onto the four films followed by Picard .

The Star Trek: The Next Generation viewing order is as follows:

• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season One (1987 – 1988) – TV series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Two (1988 – 1989) – TV series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Three (1989 – 1990) – TV series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Four (1990 – 1991) – TV series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Five (1991 – 1992) – TV series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Six (1992 – 1993) – TV series
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Seven (1993 – 1994) – TV series
• Star Trek Generations (1994) – Movie
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – Movie
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – Movie
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – Movie
• Picard – Season One (2020) – TV series
• Picard – Season Two (2022) – TV series
• Picard – Season Three (2023) – TV series

If you’re a fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation , you may be interested to know that all the episodes of the original showare currently available on Blu-ray in a neat little box set.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Complete Series Blu-ray Box Set includes all seven seasons of the show, covering 178 episodes.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Complete Series Blu-ray Box Set is available from all good entertainment stockists, including Amazon US and Amazon UK .

Thank you for taking the time to stop by It’s A Stampede! to read this post about the viewing order for Star Trek: The Next Generation – I hope it has proved useful. For more useful posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.

Disclaimer: I earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

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Every Actor Who's Played Superman in Live-Action

All 13 superman animated movies ranked worst to best, superman confirms his bond with one shocking dc antihero.

• Superman's rich cinematic history showcases cutting-edge special effects and a legacy spanning multiple reboots and adaptations over the years.
• From George Reeves to Henry Cavill, Superman's iconic character has been portrayed by several actors, each leaving their mark on the superhero genre.
• The DCEU's Superman movies, including Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, have redefined the character for modern audiences, setting a darker tone.

Superman is one of DC 's most illustrious properties with a chronology of live-action movies whose release dates span decades, with several reboots begging the question of how to watch them in order. With modern comic book movies being so prolific, Superman boasts a status as one of the most iconic originators, with DC heroes in general being the most prevalent in earlier decades. While the Superhero genre may stoke debate among cinema-goers nowadays, Superman's prevalence in media proves just how influential superheroes have been in cinema since as early as the 1940s.

It isn't hard to see why Superman has such a well-established back catalog given the spectacle the character offers a big-screen adaptation. His cinematic outings are often facilitators of cutting-edge special effects as adaptations depict Superman's vast array of superpowers from flight to heat vision. This history is poised to continue with Superman kicking off a new era of DC in cinema with the DCU with 2025's Superman , which faces a challenge in bringing something unique to a character that has appeared so frequently on the big screen thus far.

The first major superhero to be created, Superman is one of pop culture's biggest icons, and here are all the actors who've played him in live-action.

Every Superman Movie In Order

With a cinematic legacy that began in the 1940s, Superman boasts one of the oldest filmographies in the superhero movie genre. His cross-generational legacy also boasts the accolade of featuring the first feature-length movie of any superhero, which would give way to entire cinematic franchises. These franchises would comprise the first two of Superman's cinematic career before the DCU debuts his third with Superman in 2025 and subsequent as-yet-unannounced sequels. Until then, these are the 13 movies that star Superman in order of their release dates.

The Best Order To Watch Superman Movies (& Which To Skip)

The definitive list of Superman movies comprises just 7 of his 13-movie back catalog . These movies span three franchises and star four actors in the eponymous role, with each garnering a loyal fanbase for their faithful and nuanced depictions of the Man of Steel. Much like the eponymous hero, Superman movies are far from infallible, with Reeves' lattermost two outings being largely lambasted for missing the mark - something which the Brandon Routh-fronted Superman Returns helped to rectify in 2006.

Two of Superman's cinematic releases are Directors' cuts intended to add more value to the originals in the form of added scenes and a more accurate depiction of the original creative vision. The earliest live-action depictions of Superman, meanwhile, are potentially too dated to be thoroughly enjoyed by modern audiences, while Superman and the Mole Men offers the definitive example of Superman in his earliest guise. For the most rewarding Superman marathon, however, these are the best to watch in chronological order.

Superman And The Mole Men (1951)

The first feature-length appearance of a DC hero in cinema features one of the most comic-accurate renditions of Superman in live-action thanks to George Reeves. Though the black-and-white movie falls short of doing Superman's famously vibrant outfit justice, this live-action depiction of Superman in the tail-end of the Golden Age of Comic Books expertly depicted a more lighthearted era as he confronts a particularly hammy cohort of villains. The movie was ahead of its time as it ultimately delivers a message rallying against prejudice , turning the titular Mole Men into some of the earliest sympathetic villains in comic book movies .

Superman (1978)

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To date, Reeve's debut remains the best-rated Superman movie and stands as a paradigm for subsequent movies to follow.

The first movie to star Christopher Reeve in the eponymous role remains the best of his tenure, with even less favorable reviews citing his depiction of Superman as a highlight. In many ways, Superman is the definitive cinematic take on the hero , debuting such ingrained features of Superman's mythos on the big screen as Lex Luthor and the Fortress of Solitude in the first of his origin stories to be committed to a feature-length movie. To date, it remains the best-rated Superman movie and stands as a paradigm for subsequent movies to follow.

Superman II (1981)

Superman ii (1980).

The first Superman sequel experienced some developmental issues as the original movie's director, Richard Donner, was fired part-way through production, with Richard Lester taking the reins in his stead. This led to re-shoots, resulting in a new beginning and ending for the movie, while several cast and crew departed in protest. Thankfully, the switch-up did not hamper the final product, with Lester's vision of Superman II housing some of the most memorable moments in Superman's cinematic career , including his amnesia-inducing kiss and the slightly inconvenient deployment of a cellophane "S" symbol.

The Donner Cut of Superman II is also worth a watch for fans of the director's original vision, though Superman II has had a greater impact on Superman's cinematic legacy.

Superman Returns (2006)

Superman returns.

Superman Returns is a soft reboot of the original franchise, continuing the story from Superman II and ignoring the events of Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace , which were far less well-received than Reeve's preceding movies. Brandon Routh was cast out of thousands of actors and would garner significant praise for his portrayal as Superman returning to Earth after a five-year absence. Superman Returns succeeds in remaining true to the original movies while capitalizing on the special effects of the era , rounding out the first franchise in a more satisfying manner than Reeve's final two portrayals.

Routh would go on to reprise his role in the Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths adaptation.

Man Of Steel (2013)

Man of steel.

Though it wasn't intended at the time, Man of Steel would kick off the DCEU with an all-new retelling of Superman's iconic origin story. Henry Cavill originally auditioned for the eponymous role in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns , though it fell to Man of Steel to vindicate his efforts as he drew substantial praise for his nuanced take on the character. Man of Steel would set the darker tone for which the DCEU would become known and featured the controversial decision to have Superman kill in his debut movie. Despite this, it remains one of the best-rated DCEU movies .

Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

Batman v superman: dawn of justice.

The DCEU's second movie drew a substantial level of criticism for being overstuffed and failing to win over superfans of its main characters for questionable characterization decisions. Despite this, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice offers a decidedly off-piste take on the titular heroes that warrants a watch , and plenty of visual spectacles typical of Director Zack Snyder's distinctive style. Batman v Superman is evidently designed to be one part of a sprawling franchise that debuted three members of the Justice League, but the movie was nonetheless a compelling portrayal of an antagonistic Superman.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Zack snyder's justice league.

The theatrical release of Justice League was criticized for tonal inconsistencies, though the switch to Joss Whedon as director was hard to avoid. Thankfully, the cacophony of calls for the " Snyder Cut " would bear fruit and give way to the definitive take that is Zack Snyder's Justice League , in which Superman's unique characterization is vindicated in a darker movie more tonally consistent with his previous two DCEU outings . The movie is bulkier by some margin, giving the titular team the sprawling epic they deserved before they were forced to disband with the DCEU's demise .

Superman's 4 Movie Timelines Explained

Several reboots and alternate timelines have warranted an understandable level of confusion when it comes to Superman's cinematic continuity. With two directors' cuts and one alternative sequel, it can be hard to judge where one franchise ends and the other begins. Generally speaking, however, there are three Superman franchises and one standalone movie so far, before the DCU's Superman gives rise to a fourth franchise.

The Original Superman Serial Timeline

The original Superman serial debuted with 1948's Superman and 1950's Atom Man vs. Superman . Kirk Alyn starred in both serials, which were each composed of 15 chapters that totaled 244 and 252 minutes, respectively, and featured Superman's origin story and encounters with Lex Luthor. A timeline of feature length Superman movies wouldn't appear until three decades later, with Christopher Reeve in the starring role.

The Standalone George Reeves Timeline

The standalone movie Superman and the Mole Men does not depict a Superman origin story and works on the assumption that audiences are generally familiar with the character. Given the movie released just one year after the Alyn-starring serial, this isn't too surprising, though it was never billed as a straight sequel to the serial. Nevertheless, this is perhaps the neatest of Superman's timelines insofar as it comprises just one movie without any alternative sequels or Directors' cuts to muddy the waters.

The Christopher Reeve Timeline

The Christopher Reeve franchise of Superman is possibly the most confusing owing to the Brandon Routh-fronted reboot of 2006. Superman Returns is ostensibly the third sequel to 1978's Superman, offering a branching timeline of subsequent events following Superman II . Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace , meanwhile, are the original continuations of this same story, ostensibly leaving it up to the viewer to discern which branch of the Christopher Reeve timeline they would prefer to accept as canon.

The DCEU Timeline

The DCEU timeline includes all of Henry Cavill's appearances as Superman. These include Man of Steel , Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , and Justice League , while Zack Snyder's Justice League offers a different version of events in yet another branching timeline. Although the DCEU would fizzle out before a direct Justice League sequel could emerge, The Flash would establish Zack Snyder's Justice League as being official DCEU canon , which leaves the canonicity of the theatrical Justice League up for debate. What isn't in question is the fact that Henry Cavill's Superman will not be canon in the upcoming DCU reboot.