star trek opening dialogue

Star Trek opening title sequences

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Primary title screen for seasons 1 and 2

The opening title sequences for Star Trek: The Original Series featured the USS Enterprise flying through space and past planets , narrated by William Shatner : " Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise . Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before. "

As ITV is a commercial channel, the advert break for Star Trek: The Original Series featured a still screenshot of James T. Kirk, Spock, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Pavel Chekov, Christine Chapel, Uhura, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Hikaru Sulu are all sitting inside USS Enterprise . Also, there's no music.

As Robert H. Justman explained to Star Trek: The Magazine , footage of the Enterprise for the opening titles was expected to be produced by the Howard Anderson Company in Summer 1966 . By August 1966 , Gene Roddenberry and Justman were running out of time to get the footage, and insisted on a viewing, where most shots "jiggled and joggled" to the point of being nearly unusable. Roddenberry and Justman took what they had, along with footage from the two pilots (" The Cage " and " Where No Man Has Gone Before ") and cobbled together the sequence. Justman considered his major contribution to be the suggestion that the Enterprise "deliver" the cast credits as the ship zoomed by, rather than the names just pop on the screen as suggested by Roddenberry. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 1 , pp. 10-11)

• Main Title Theme (Season 1)  file info (composed by Alexander Courage )
• Main Title Theme (Season 2-3)  file info (composed by Alexander Courage )

Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics for the " Theme from Star Trek " in order to secure a partial writer's credit for the song. These lyrics were never recorded as part of the original theme song, and thus were never aired. ( citation needed • edit )

The opening tagline of Star Trek includes a split infinitive : " To boldly go where no man has gone before. " This fact was memorably highlighted by Cambridge-educated sci-fi writer and satirist Douglas Adams who wrote in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that, " all dared to brave unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before, and thus was the Empire forged. " The pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise , " Broken Bow ", has Zefram Cochrane delivering that phrase without the split infinitive as "to go boldly." The English rule forbidding split infinitives appeared in the mid-19th century; however, modern reference books do not include this rule, and the "to boldly go" from Star Trek is a prime example of where a split infinitive is perfectly acceptable. ( citation needed • edit )

• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

TNG: Opening Credits Monologue

Quick navigation:, opening credits monologue.

"Space... The final frontier... These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds... To seek out new life; new civilisations... To boldly go where no one has gone before!"           -- Jean-Luc Picard, Captain, Starship Enterprise; NCC-1701D

The evolution of William Shatner’s opening dialogue on Star Trek

By rachel carrington | jan 25, 2022.

Star Trek debuted in 1966 with a voice over by William Shatner for the opening theme

Every Star Trek fan is familiar with William Shatner’s voice over during the theme of The Original Series . Space. The final frontier. Most of us can quote it. But this simple opening didn’t come so easily. It was created over the course of a little over a week the summer before the series was set to premiere in September 1966, and it was rough going with several cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.

On August 1, 1966, Robert Justman, who was one of the producers of Star Trek, urged Gene Roddenberry to compose the standard opening narration for Shatner, and that it should run about fifteen seconds in length. Then came a flurry of rough drafts, that you can read here at  library.ucla.edu , none of which met with Roddenberry’s approval.

Certain words were deemed important for the Star Trek narration

Drafts bounced back and forth with words like adventures, galaxy patrol, and United Space Ship  taking center stage until producer John Black stepped in and came up with the first four words that became the opening. Space. The final frontier. He also provided the ending “where no man has gone before,” inserting the title of the second pilot.

Then Justman sent another note, mostly eradicting what Black had written, to Roddenberry telling him “these are the words you should use.”

"“This is the story of the starship Enterprise. It’s mission: to advance knowledge, contact alien life, and enforce intergalatic law…to explore the strange new worlds where no man has gone before.”"

Well, that certainly wasn’t to Roddenberry’s liking. A long week went by before, on August 10, 1966, Justman sent another reminder note to Roddenberry, telling him it was “absolutely imperative” that a narration be recorded as soon as possible.

That same date, the final dialgue for the narration was approved. Gone were words referencing aliens, replaced by new life, and there was, of course, no mention of advancing knowledge or enforcing intergalatic law. So Justman’s “should words” were jettisoned, replaced with the best opening narration in the history of television.

dark. Next. Why Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics to Star Trek: The Original Series theme song

A commonplace blog of gothic reflection

The Evolution of Star Trek’s Opening Narration

Today’s distraction was reading the opening narrations of the Dark Shadows series. The following was in the list of search results for one of my searches, and I thought I’d reprint it here. It’s a little archival detective work showing how the opening narration of Star Trek changed through several drafts.

(I believe the following to be Creative Commons license Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) .)

The following is taken from “ To Boldly Go: the Hurried Evolution of Star Trek’s Opening Narration ” by Caroline Cubé on Tue, 2016-10-11 10:33; blog post by Doug Johnson

Arguably the most famous introductory voiceover in the history of television,  Star Trek ‘s “Space…the final frontier…” began to lodge itself in the collective consciousness fifty years ago. But it didn’t just spring magically from the mind of Gene Roddenberry, the series’ creator. It was crafted collaboratively over the course of a week in the summer of 1966. In anticipation of the show’s September 8 premiere, producer Robert Justman urged Roddenberry to get to work writing the opening narration that they were planning to use.

August 2 saw a flurry of activity at Desilu’s Gower St. studios, as several producers sought to establish the desired tone at the appropriate length. Unfortunately, none of these memos are time-stamped, so this ordering is really just a guess, but one can glean a certain narrative progression.

A rough draft hits a couple of familiar points that will survive until the very end: “five year”; “strange new worlds.” But “regulates commerce” sounds decidedly unsexy and will not last long.

The “story” becomes an “adventure,” a “bold crew” appears, and the script promises “excitement.” But it might be the word “assigned” that’s really getting in the way here.

Producer John D. F. Black makes great progress, apparently coming up with the four opening words that are so familiar to us now. And toward the end he inserts the title of  Star Trek ‘s second pilot episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which was written by Samuel A. Peeples.

Black’s attempt to shorten the narration is, for the most part, a step backwards, but it does have the advantage of eliminating the awkward “United Space Ship” language.

Justman tries to be decisive, telling Roddenberry what he “should” do, but the handwritten notes at the bottom of the page belie any certitude. The notes are hard to read, but someone likes the emphasis on the word “starship.” And then there is silence, or at least no evidence of continued conversation. A week goes by without another of these memos. Perhaps they were written and discarded before they could reach UCLA, or perhaps further deliberations occurred over telephones and in offices. On August 10, Justman sent Roddenberry an even more urgent memo indicating that the narration, whatever it was, needed to be recorded very soon. 

 And suddenly here it is. Written sometime after Justman and Roddenberry spoke on the phone on the evening of August 9, the language is identical to that intoned by William Shatner at the beginning of every opening credits sequence. 

 “Space…the final frontier” regains its place at the beginning. The word “bold” returns to create the most famous split infinitive in the history of the English language. And, for the first time, the “life” being sought out, which had previously been “alien,” becomes simply “new.” Perhaps Roddenberry detected something pejorative in the word “alien,” something distasteful that was at odds with his optimistic vision. Perhaps “new” just scanned better. Whatever the case, he had, with his team of writer-producers, fashioned an introduction to his unique universe that would resonate for decades to come. All items are from the  Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (Collection PASC 62) , available in Library Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

(100 Days of Blogging: Post 072 of 100)

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture ( Paramount Pictures , 1979 ) is the first feature film based on the popular science fiction television series , Star Trek: The Original Series .

• 1 Versions and dialogue
• 2 Transporter chief
• 3 Leonard McCoy
• 7 Main cast
• 8 External links

Versions and dialogue [ edit ]

Transporter chief [ edit ].

• Enterprise, what we got back didn't live long... fortunately.

Leonard McCoy [ edit ]

• It learns fast, doesn't it?
• Your child is having a tantrum, Mr. Spock!
• Spock, this child is about to wipe out every living thing on Earth. Now, what do you suggest we do? Spank it?
• Well, Jim, I hear Chapel's an M.D. now. Well I'm going to need a top nurse... not a doctor who will argue every little diagnosis with me. And they probably redesigned the whole sick bay, too! I know engineers—they love to change things.

Spock [ edit ]

• This simple feeling, is beyond V'Ger's comprehension.

Dialogue [ edit ]

• 2001 Director's Edition only.
• "82 AUs" in 1979 theatrical version and 1983 television version, "two AUs" in 2001 Director's Edition.
• Preceding dialogue in 2001 Director's Edition. Following dialogue included in all versions of the film.
• 1983 television version
• Concluding lines

Tagline [ edit ]

• Closing text

Main cast [ edit ]

External links [ edit ].

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture at StarTrek.com

• Star Trek films
• Films based on television series
• Robert Wise films
• Films about revenge
• Films about artificial intelligence

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This is Probably the Opening Monologue of 'Star Trek: Discovery'

When Captain James T. Kirk talked about “space…the final frontier,” in the opening monologue of the original Star Trek , future history was made. And although those sentences have been updated a few times, Star Trek hasn’t had a new opening monologue since The Next Generation. But, now that might change. The opening-monologue to looks Discovery to be a new spin on figuring out how exactly to boldly go.

On Monday, TrekCore reported on the various new offical Discovery images released by CBS on Twitter. Most of these images spotlight specific characters, but the most recent tweet seems to tease out what very well could be the words that open each episode of Discovery , spoken by lead character Commander Michael Burnham( Sonequa Martin-Green).

Here’s what she says:

As we stand at the edge of an unknown universe, we know our greatest challenges lie before us – that our future is not bound by fear, and that our mission is not to conquer, but to discover. That is our destiny: a destiny written in the stars… and so we boldly go where we have never gone before.

Of course, it’s possible that this isn’t the opening monologue for Discovery , and instead, just something CBS is using in the marketing of the show. But if it does turn out to be how each episode of the show will open, it’s significant. Though there have been five live-action Star Trek TV shows prior to Discovery , only two of them — the original series and The Next Generation — have opening monologues. Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager opened with their own respective orchestral themes, sans voiceover. Meanwhile the opening of Enterprise was set to the sounds of the pop song “Faith of the Heart,” which earned mostly scorn from fans and critics alike.

According to Slashfilm , the opening theme music for Discovery will be more traditional, and features a 60 piece orchestra. The theme song is reportedly a minute and half in length, though it’s not clear if it will be accompanied by an opening monologue or not. Either way, Star Trek has a long history with iconic music, so much in fact, that Trekkies probably all couldn’t agree on which theme best represents the franchise.

Star Trek: Discovery will debut on CBS All-Access on September 24.

See also: Daft Punk Mashed-Up With ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’

Written by Ryan Britt

More articles by Ryan  •  Follow Ryan on Twitter

More From Inverse

Spock’s Dad Sarek Will Force 'Star Trek: Discovery’ to Make Sense

5 Ways 'Star Trek: Discovery' References the Whole Franchise

Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Will Be the Next ‘Game of Thrones’

Spock Should Definitely Appear in 'Star Trek: Discovery'

Everything We Know About 'Star Trek: Discovery'

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