star trek original series watch order

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!

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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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 – both release and chronological orders

From The Original Series to Strange New Worlds, here's how to watch the entire Star Trek canon in order.

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It's a hugely exciting time to be a Star Trek fan, especially after the news that we'll be getting a new prequel movie from the director of Andor!

The Star Trek franchise has enjoyed a dramatic revitalisation in recent years, returning to its original home on the small screen to launch a sprawling shared universe of exciting shows.

Coming up next in the world of Star Trek, we've got Star Trek: Discovery season 5 to look forward to, as well as Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 after the series was saved by Netflix – and more! Meanwhile, Star Trek: Picard wrapped up with a third and final season, while we got renewals for shows like Lower Decks .

With all these interconnecting stories, it's not surprising that newcomers to the franchise want to ensure they are watching in the correct order. Fortunately, we can help with that.

Below, we've compiled how to watch Star Trek in release and chronological order, while we also weigh in on the pros and cons of each method. Once you have all the information you need, venture forth into the final frontier.

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How to watch star trek in release order.

Arguably, the most faithful way of watching Star Trek is in the order each series was made, allowing you to follow the franchise from its inception and explore its universe as the original fans did decades ago.

It makes sense to do it this way as while the shows do jump around in terms of time period, they still find ways to build on what came before in order of release.

In that sense, you're likely to get a slightly more complete picture of Star Trek by watching in this order, instead of piecing the shows together in a chronological timeline.

Star Trek release order (films listed in italics )

• Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)
• The first six Star Trek films (The Motion Picture up to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
• Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)
• Star Trek films 8-10 (First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)
• Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness, Star Trek Beyond
• Star Trek: Discovery (DSC)
• Star Trek: Short Treks*
• Star Trek: Picard (PIC)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (LOW)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (PRO)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)
• Untitled Toby Haynes Star Trek prequel film

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* Star Trek: Short Treks premiered after Discovery, hence the listing here. However, Short Treks season 2 sets up some plot threads picked up in Discovery season 2 and beyond, so it's best to alternate between them if you can.

Some people who watch in this order choose to skip over the first three steps and begin with Star Trek: The Next Generation. There is a belief among certain Trekkies that TNG has aged better than The Original Series, making it an easier entry point for newcomers to the franchise.

It would be worth watching the first few episodes of TOS to see what you think of it, but if William Shatner's Captain Kirk doesn't quite cut it for you, feel free to move on to the dulcet tones of Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard. The two shows have relatively few connections, so you don't need to worry about feeling lost (although they do eventually cross over in a major way in the Star Trek: Generations movie).

How to watch Star Trek in chronological order

As previously stated, the various shows in the Star Trek universe take place at different points in a sprawling timeline, so an alternative method is to watch in chronological order.

This comes with pros and cons: on the one hand, it allows you to begin with a modern show, which may be preferable to some people. But on the other hand, some of the references contained in more recent episodes may not land with you in the way they were intended.

Star Trek chronological order (films listed in italics )

• Star Trek: Enterprise (Year: 2151-2161)
• Short Trek: The Girl Who Made the Stars (Year: 2230s)
• Short Trek: The Brightest Star (Year: 2239)
• Star Trek: The Cage – The Original Series one-off pilot episode (Year: 2254)
• Short Trek: The Escape Artist (Year: 2250s)
• Short Trek: Q&A (Year: 2253)
• Star Trek: Discovery season 1 (Year: 2256)
• Short Trek: Runaway (Year: 2257)
• Star Trek: Discovery season 2 (Year: 2258)
• Short Trek: The Trouble with Edward (Year: 2250s)
• Short Trek: Ask Not (Year: 2250s)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Year: 2259)
• Star Trek: The Original Series (Year: 2265-2269)
• Short Trek: Ephraim and Dot (Year: 2267-2285)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (Year: 2269-2270)
• The first six Star Trek films (Year: 2273-2293)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (Year: 2364-2370)
• Star Trek films 7-10: Generations up to Nemesis (Year: 2293-2379)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Year: 2369-2375)
• Star Trek: Voyager (Year: 2371-2378)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (Year: 2383)
• Short Trek: Children of Mars (Year: 2385)
• Star Trek: Picard seasons 1-3 (Year: 2399-2402)
• Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3-4 (32nd Century)
• Short Trek: Calypso (far future, year unknown)

Note – Star Trek: Short Treks was a two-season anthology series, which visits various periods on the franchise timeline. Anything listed as a Short Trek is a single episode of this show (with a runtime between 8 and 18 minutes).

It's not currently confirmed where precisely Toby Haynes' film will sit in the chronology but we do know it'll be a prequel film, taking place "decades" before Star Trek (2009).

For those wondering, the recent trilogy of Star Trek movies directed by JJ Abrams and Justin Lin – Star Trek, Into Darkness and Beyond – are set in an alternate universe, meaning they do not connect to a chronological order of the series.

They do, however, contain references to The Original Series – most notably the return of Leonard Nimoy as Spock – but can be watched at any point as standalone stories.

Star Trek: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine are available to stream on Netflix .

Star Trek: Picard is exclusive to Prime Video. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Prime Video and pay £8.99 a month after that.

Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds can be found on Paramount Plus. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on tonight.

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How to watch the Star Trek movies and TV shows in order

When the USS Enterprise first brought audiences aboard in 1966, few imagined that Star Trek: The Original Series ( TOS ) would spawn a media empire half a century later — including both live-action and animated Star Trek series, as well as more than a dozen Star Trek movies.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star trek: discovery, seasons 1 and 2, star trek: the original series, star trek: the animated series, the original six star trek movies, star trek: the next generation, seasons 1 to 5, tng, seasons 6 to 7 and star trek: deep space nine, seasons 1 to 2, ds9, season 3; star trek: voyager, season 1, and star trek: generations, ds9, seasons 4 to 5; voyager, seasons 2 to 3; and star trek: first contact, ds9, seasons 6 to 7; voyager, seasons 4 to 5; and star trek: insurrection, voyager, seasons 6 to 7, and star trek: nemesis, star trek: lower decks.

• The Kelvin Timeline — Star Trek (2009) to Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Star Trek: Picard

Star trek: discovery, season 3.

• What’s next for Trek?

As the Star Trek universe expands, so does its fictional timeline, and for fans who want to know exactly what happened and when, it’s getting a little difficult to navigate. That’s why we put together a guide to enjoying all of Star Trek’s canonical films and series in chronological order .

If you’re new to Star Trek, be warned: We’ll do our best to avoid spoilers, but for the sake of clarity, here and there, a tribble-sized reveal will have to make its way through the cracks.

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While Star Trek: Enterprise proved to be the last of the Trek revival series (it ended in 2015 after four seasons) until Star Trek: Discovery ‘s premiere 12 years later, ironically, it’s your first stop on any franchise-wide binge. Beginning in 2151 — a little over a century before the events of TOS — Enterprise  has no United Federation of Planets, no Prime Directive, and no shields.

Considering how often time travel comes up in Star Trek, it shouldn’t be a surprise that while most of the events of  Enterprise  take place long before any other shows or films, there are a few exceptions. Some leftover Borg from 1996’s  Star Trek: First Contact  show up in season 2, a season 3 two-parter connects with TOS ‘ The Tholian Web  episode, and the series finale surprisingly crosses over with the Star Trek: The Next Generation  ( TNG ) season 7 episode The Pegasus .

Star Trek: Discovery ‘s premiere takes place a little over a century after the Enterprise  finale and roughly a decade before TOS . The United Federation of Planets has been formed, and Discovery  opens with its first destructive war with the Klingon Empire.

If you’re doing a franchise-wide binge, make sure to schedule TOS ‘s pilot episode The Cage  before season 2 of Discovery . It’s Captain Christopher Pike in the Enterprise’s captain’s chair in the pilot, played by the late Jeffrey Hunter. Anson Mount plays Pike in season 2 of Discovery , and the events of The Cage  are critical to the plot.

At the end of season 2,  Discovery  jumps ahead over 900 years into the future, so you should probably wait a bit before getting back to it.

Finally, the series that started it all with its iconic trio: The always pensive and logical Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the always complaining Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and between them, the adventurous James T. Kirk (William Shatner).

It can be a little jarring to watch The Original Series  after Discovery . Not only is it weird to see a spaceship run on dials, buttons, and paper printouts after witnessing a ship like Discovery — where every panel looks like it was designed personally by Tony Stark —  but particularly in season 1, it’s clear TOS  hadn’t yet worked out everything about the Federation and Starfleet. For example, in one early episode, McCoy makes a joke implying that rather than being Earth’s allies, the Vulcans were conquered by humans.

While the original crew’s live-action adventures went on hold after  TOS ‘ final season, in 1973, almost the entire regular cast — save for Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov in TOS — returned to voice their characters in Star Trek: The Animated Series ( TAS ). They were joined by a couple of new alien crew members who would’ve been nearly impossible to make work in a live-action series of the time.

Even though it originally aired as a Saturday morning cartoon, TAS  is impressively faithful to the canon. We see the return of recurring characters like Harry Mudd and Spock’s father, Sarek, and even minor details from  TOS  — such as a brief mention of Spock’s childhood pet — are faithfully reproduced in  TAS .

If you get this deep into the Trek-wide binge and are getting tired of TV episodes, this will be a nice break. Kirk, now an Admiral, muscles his way back into the Captain’s chair in 1979’s  Star Trek: The Motion Picture  and the timeline continues through Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , and ending with 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

TNG ‘s first five seasons enjoy the single longest chronology of all the franchise’s shows to go uninterrupted by other series or films. While there were plenty of naysayers who never thought the series would last or live up to the original,  TNG  outlives  TOS  by four seasons, and its success would help make even more spin-offs viable.

For its final two seasons,  TNG  shares time with the first two seasons of  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  ( DS9 ). Still traumatized by the death of his wife at the hands of the Borg, Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) takes command of a space station overlooking the newly liberated Bajor.

Make sure to not start DS9  until at least after watching TNG ‘s Rascals  episode — chronologically, it’s Chief Miles O’Brien’s (Colm Meaney) final episode of TNG  as a member of the ship’s crew, after which he jumps ship to become the Chief of Operations on  DS9 .

Deep Space 9 enjoys precious little time at the end of its second season and the beginning of its third as the only Star Trek  game in town. Early in its third season, it’s joined by the beginning of  Star Trek: Voyager, and in fact, part of Voyager ‘s premiere episode takes place on the DS9 space station guarding the Bajoran wormhole.

Originally tasked with capturing the rebellious Maquis, Voyager ‘s Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) soon finds herself and her crew thrown across the galaxy, and both Starfleet and Maquis have to work together to begin the long journey home.

About midway through  DS9 ‘s third season comes the first film to feature the  TNG  crew — 1994’s  Star Trek: Generations , which features the first and only meeting between Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and TOS ‘s Captain Kirk.

Season 4 of  DS9  opens with the fan-favorite episode The Way of the Warrior , with Michael Dorn joining the show’s regular cast as Worf — but don’t worry, they keep sneaking him onto the Enterprise for the movies anyway. Seasons 4 and 5 of DS9  run fairly concurrently with seasons 2 and 3 of Voyager . Early in season 5 of DS9, the Starfleet uniforms change to gray, and that change is reflected on the Enterprise in  TNG ‘s first motion picture, 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact , pitting the TNG crew against fan-favorite villains the Borg, set toward the end of  DS9 ‘s fifth season and  Voyager ‘s third.

With  Voyager ‘s fourth season comes the game-changing addition of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, while back in the Alpha Quadrant on DS9 , open war rages between the Federation and the tyrannical Dominion. The Dominion War lasts until the very end of the series, which unfolds around the same time as the end of  Voyager ‘s fifth season. In the meantime, the eighth Trek film, 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection , takes place fairly early in DS9 ‘s final season.

For its final two seasons,  Voyager  gets to fly all on its own. The lost ship’s journey culminates in the two-part Endgame , with the heroes confronting the Borg while making a desperate attempt to get back home.

And in the final Trek film before J.J. Abrams steps in to create the so-called Kelvin Timeline stories, 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis  takes place about a year after the  Voyager  finale, and the film doesn’t forget about the show. One of  Voyager ‘s lead characters makes a cameo, and since the show ended, they’ve gotten enough pips on their collar to give Captain Picard orders.

In 2020,  Trek  fans were introduced to one of the most unique series in the franchise — the animated  Star Trek: Lower Decks . Partly inspired by the  TNG  final season episode Lower Decks , focusing on the usually anonymous crew members we see milling in the background aboard Starfleet ships and space stations, the series feels like Star Trek with a couple of dashes of  Rick & Morty . In spite of its goofiness,  Lower Decks  is canonical, and its first season begins in 2380 — one year after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis .

The Kelvin Timeline — Star Trek (2009) to Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The films of what’s come to be known as the Kelvin Timeline have an interesting, if confusing, place in Trek chronology.

Rather than acting as a prequel, as some thought it would, 2009’s Star Trek introduces a whole new timeline. In the prime timeline’s 24th century, the Romulan sun goes supernova. Romulus is destroyed, and both Spock and the Romulan mining ship Narada are sucked into a black hole and sent backward in time. Coming out the other side in the 23rd century, the Narada — captained by the vengeful Nero (Eric Bana) — destroys the Kelvin, creating a new timeline.

So, in one sense, the three Abrams-era films — Star Trek , 2013’s  Star Trek Into Darkness , and 2016’s  Star Trek Beyond  — come between the events of Lower Decks and those of  Star Trek: Picard , because that’s when the Romulan sun goes boom. But in another sense, they run partly concurrent to the events of  Discovery ‘s first two seasons and between those seasons and TOS . We’re putting it here because, all things considered, it’s the less confusing option.

We can only imagine where (and when) the events of subsequent seasons will take Captain Picard and his new friends, but the first seasons of  Star Trek : Picard  are set at the end of the 24th century, in 2399. Since we last saw him in Star Trek: Nemesis , Picard’s been promoted to admiral, led an ultimately abandoned evacuation of Romulus, and left Starfleet in protest. In spite of the time that’s passed, the series’ opening episode makes it clear Picard is still not over a tragic loss he suffers in the final  TNG -era film.

While  Discovery  begins as a prequel series, in its third season, it becomes something different. At the end of season 2, the heroes jump forward over 900 years into the future, and the galaxy is a changed place.

A little over a century before the events of  Discovery season 3, a cataclysmic event known as The Burn destroys almost all the dilithium in the galaxy, killing untold numbers of space-bound people and making warp technology almost useless. As a result, while the Federation still exists, it’s fractured, with its number of member planets shrinking from around 350 to 38.

Among the major historical events to have occurred between the 24th and 32nd centuries, we learn that at one point, Spock’s dream of reuniting the Vulcan and Romulan people has become a reality, with both races giving Vulcan the new name of Ni’Var. There was also a series of conflicts known as the Temporal Wars, whose events led to such destruction that all forms of time travel have been banned within the Federation.

What’s next for Trek?

Along with future seasons of  Discovery ,  Picard , and  Lower Decks  on their way — not to mention the possibility of future films — the timeline of Star Trek is always changing. While there’s no firm release date,  Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is expected to release sometime in 2022. Anson Mount will reprise the role of Christopher Pike from season 2 of Discovery , and along with brand new characters, he will be joined by Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Number One. The series promises to take place between the events of  Discovery ‘s second season and  TOS , as well as reportedly giving fans a more episodic format reminiscent of Trek’s earliest series . 

Timeline-wise, as far as some of the upcoming Trek series are concerned, there are a couple of unknowns. First, there’s the animated kids’ series, Star Trek: Prodigy , in which a group of alien teens commandeers a derelict Starfleet ship. According to TrekMovie ‘s April 2021 report, Prodigy ‘s first season begins in 2383, placing it between Lower Decks and Picard , assuming Lower Decks — which begins in 2380 — doesn’t go past 2383. If it does, then eventually, the two timelines will intermingle.

Likewise, there’s  Star Trek: Section 31 , which is still in development. Michelle Yeoh will reportedly lead the series in her role as the Mirror Universe version of Philippa Georgiou, and Shazad Latif is also believed to be returning as Ash Tyler. Our best guess is that Section 31 ‘s timeline will intermingle with that of  Strange New Worlds , but it’s too early to tell. While she initially joins the Discovery crew in the 32nd century, Georgiou is sent back to an undisclosed point in time in season 3’s episode Terra Firma, Part 2 .

We know the Star Trek timeline keeps getting more complex — not only because new properties keep getting added, but because the franchise’s heroes use time travel almost as often as they do phasers. But don’t worry. As Trek keeps trekkin’, we’ll keep updating our timeline guide.

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Sequels have a bad reputation for being less than impressive. On the plus side, you have franchises like the new Star Trek movies and Guardians of the Galaxy, where the sequels aren't necessarily bad, they're just more of the same. On the bad end, you're left with what most sequels become: desperate attempts from studios to make more money by churning out absolute garbage, like Son of the Mask, Basic Instinct 2, Sex and the City 2, and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde.

Luckily, sci-fi is a genre that's largely been spared from horrific theatrically released sequels (the straight-to-DVD ones are another story). In fact, there are quite a few heavily praised sci-fi sequels out there ... some of which have even won Oscars. If you want to watch some great sci-fi sequels, check out the list below to discover the seven best. 7. Jurassic World (2015)

Netflix continues to bolster its sci-fi library with a wide selection of films. Right now, one of the most popular sci-fi franchises on Netflix is Jurassic Park. Witnessing the moment when Dr. Grant watches the dinosaurs for the first time is still a breathtaking scene. Other sci-fi blockbusters making the rounds on Netflix include Meg 2: The Trench, Rebel Moon, and Ready Player One.

Below, we picked five sci-fi movies to watch in March. One of our picks is Spaceman, a new sci-fi drama starring Adam Sandler as a lonely astronaut who bonds with an extraterrestrial creature. Other films on our list include an underrated mystery from 2023, a visually appealing monster movie, and a fun sequel to an independent action film. They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

The Ultimate Chronological Star Trek Viewing Guide

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Newly added: Discovery Season 5!

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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!

PCMag editors select and review products independently . If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing .

How to Watch Every Star Trek Movie and TV Show in Order

If you're looking to boldly go where no streamer has gone before, here's where to watch star trek tv shows and movies..

Star Trek is a multi-generational franchise and cultural touchstone that has turned into a streaming juggernaut. By subscribing to Paramount+ , you get access to every TV show in the franchise, including new Star Trek series like Discovery , Picard , and Strange New Worlds . But while the service holds the bulk of Star Trek content, many of the films are streaming elsewhere. You need a subscription to Max if you want to watch The Wrath of Khan, First Contact , and others, for example. Here is where you can find every Star Trek show and movie.

Where to Watch Star Trek TV Shows

Star Trek has always been best on television. When you think of the adventures of Kirk and Picard, episodic storytelling is what comes to mind first. In recent years, Paramount has decided to go all in on Star Trek TV in order to recapture some of the magic from past years.

If you're looking to watch some Star Trek—whether it be the classic shows or new streaming productions—you will find everything on the Paramount+ streaming service. If you don't pay for Paramount+, you can still get a taste of Star Trek through Pluto TV , a free ad-based streamer also owned by Paramount. This service only has the first season of various shows, but it's better than nothing!

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

• Pluto TV (Season 1 Only)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

• Pluto TV (Season 3 Only)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

• Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

Star Trek: Discovery (2017-2024)

Short Treks (2018-2020)

Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023)

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-Present)

Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-Present)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-Present)

Where to Watch the Star Trek Films

Even as as television-first franchise, Star Trek has always been very cinematic in nature. That's why the show lends itself so well on the big screen. Where else can you get a real sense for the epic scale of command ships and space battles than in a feature film?

While all the TV shows are on Paramount+, the films depicting the continuing adventures of the Enterprise crews from The Original Series and The Next Generation are all on Max. However, if you want to see the reboot films starring Chris Pine, those are still on Paramount+.

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 V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

• Star Trek: Generations (1994)
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
• Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Star Trek Watch Order

There are two main ways to watch Star Trek—release order and chronological order. Star Trek has been very linear for much of its existence. It has only been since Paramount's new Trek shows that the series has moved around the timeline.

As such, release order is the standard watch order and is recommended for anyone new to Star Trek. Advanced viewers who have gone through the series multiple times may want to change things up and stream everything in chronological order.

Release Order

By watching in release order, you get to see William Shatner as James T. Kirk in  The Original Series  before transitioning to Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard on  The Next Generation . From there, you will watch  Deep Space Nine ,  Voyager , and  Enterprise  before moving on to  Discovery ,  Picard , and the other streaming shows.

Since the original films were released after the conclusion of their associated TV shows, it's easy to slip them in to the watch order.  TNG  and  DS9  overlap to some degree, but you may want to finish the first series and its films before transitioning to  Deep Space Nine , though that's up to you.

• Star Trek: The Animated Series  (1973-1974)
• 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 V: The Final Frontier  (1989)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  (1991)

Star Trek: The Next Generation  (1987-1994)

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  (1993-1999)
• Star Trek: Enterprise  (2001-2005)
• Star Trek  (2009)
• Star Trek Into Darkness  (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond  (2016)

Star Trek: Discovery  (2017-Present)

• Short Treks  (2018-2020)
• Star Trek: Picard  (2020-Present)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks  (2020-Present)
• Star Trek: Prodigy  (2021-Present)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds  (2022-Present)

Chronological Order

Now, if you are a seasoned veteran and want to view things a little differently, try watching everything in chronological order based on when events take place in-universe. Watching things this way would have you start out with  Enterprise , then the first two seasons of  Discovery . Strange New Worlds  will then pick up here. You then have the option to watch the reboot films, or skip them entirely and head straight for  The Original Series .

Once you get to  The Next Generation , things get a little complicated. You can either watch all of  TNG  or switch off with  DS9  starting with season six. By season three of  DS9 , you can then start switching off with  Voyager  before finishing with  Nemesis . Considering the complexity, though, it's perfectly fine to silo each show before moving on. You would then pick up with  Lower Decks ,  Prodigy , and  Picard  before returning to  Discovery  for season three and beyond.

• Star Trek: Enterprise  (2151-2156)
• Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 & 2 (2256-2258)
• Short Treks (2256-2258)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2259)
• Star Trek  (2258) - Optional
• Star Trek Into Darkness  (2259) - Optional
• Star Trek Beyond  (2263) - Optional
• Star Trek: The Original Series  (2265-2269)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series  (2269-2270)
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture  (2273)
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  (2285)
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock  (2285)
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home  (2286)
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier  (2287)
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  (2293)
• Star Trek: The Next Generation  (2364-2370)
• Star Trek: Generations  (2371)
• Star Trek: First Contact  (2373)
• Star Trek: Insurrection  (2375)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  (2369-2375)
• Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378)
• Star Trek: Nemesis  (2379)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks  (2380)
• Star Trek: Prodigy  (2383)
• Star Trek: Picard (2399-2401)
• Star Trek: Discovery  Season 3 (3188-3190)

Note that before you get heavily invested here, remember that this is just for fun. Star Trek has a continuity, but it isn't vital to enjoying your time with Starfleet. Feel free to watch any movie or TV show that calls to you; it will all make sense in the end.

More Inside PCMag.com

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• Make It Stop: How to Turn Off Autoplay Videos on Social Media, Streaming Apps
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Star Trek The Original Series in production order

It is better to watch in production order than in air date order. (Also, includes animated series)

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Cage (1966)

TV-PG | 63 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Capt. Pike is held prisoner and tested by aliens who have the power to project incredibly lifelike illusions.

Director: Robert Butler | Stars: Jeffrey Hunter , Susan Oliver , Leonard Nimoy , Majel Barrett

Votes: 7,171

2. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)

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

The flight recorder of the 200-year-old U.S.S. Valiant relays a tale of terror--a magnetic storm at the edge of the galaxy.

Director: James Goldstone | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Gary Lockwood , Sally Kellerman

Votes: 6,427

3. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966)

After the Enterprise is forced to destroy a dangerous marker buoy, a gigantic alien ship arrives to capture and condemn the crew as trespassers.

Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Anthony D. Call , Clint Howard

Votes: 4,884

4. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Mudd's Women (1966)

The Enterprise picks up untrustworthy entrepreneur Harry Mudd accompanied by three beautiful women who immediately put a spell on all the male crew members.

Director: Harvey Hart | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Roger C. Carmel , Karen Steele

Votes: 4,806

5. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Enemy Within (1966)

A transporter malfunction splits Captain Kirk into two halves: one meek and indecisive, the other violent and ill tempered. The remaining crew members stranded on the planet cannot be beamed up to the ship until a problem is fixed.

Director: Leo Penn | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Grace Lee Whitney

Votes: 4,921

6. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Man Trap (1966)

Dr. McCoy discovers his old flame is not what she seems after crew members begin dying from a sudden lack of salt in their bodies.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Jeanne Bal , Alfred Ryder

Votes: 5,867

7. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Naked Time (1966)

The crew is infected with a mysterious disease that removes people's emotional inhibitions to a dangerous degree.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Stewart Moss , Majel Barrett

Votes: 5,192

8. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Charlie X (1966)

Captain Kirk must learn the limits to the power of a 17-year-old boy with the psionic ability to create anything and destroy anyone.

Director: Lawrence Dobkin | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Robert Walker Jr. , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 5,483

9. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Balance of Terror (1966)

The Enterprise must decide on its response when a Romulan ship makes a destructively hostile armed probe of Federation territory.

Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Mark Lenard , Paul Comi

Votes: 5,700

10. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1966)

Nurse Chapel is reunited with her fiancé; but his new obsession leads him to make an android duplicate of Captain Kirk.

Director: James Goldstone | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Michael Strong , Sherry Jackson

Votes: 4,642

11. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Dagger of the Mind (1966)

Kirk and psychiatrist Helen Noel are trapped on a maximum security penal colony that experiments with mind control and Spock must use the Vulcan mind-meld to find a way to save them.

Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , James Gregory , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 4,352

12. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Miri (1966)

The Enterprise discovers a planet exactly like Earth, but the only inhabitants are children who contract a fatal disease upon entering puberty.

Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Kim Darby , Michael J. Pollard

Votes: 4,474

13. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Conscience of the King (1966)

While Captain Kirk investigates whether an actor is actually a presumed dead mass murderer, a mysterious assailant is killing the people who could identify the fugitive.

Director: Gerd Oswald | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Arnold Moss , Barbara Anderson

Votes: 4,214

14. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Galileo Seven (1967)

The Galileo, under Spock's command, crash-lands on a hostile planet. As the Enterprise races against time to find the shuttlecraft, Spock's strictly logical leadership clashes with the fear and resentment of his crew.

Director: Robert Gist | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Don Marshall , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 4,240

15. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Court Martial (1967)

Kirk draws a court martial in the negligent death of a crewman.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Percy Rodrigues , Elisha Cook Jr.

Votes: 3,979

16. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Menagerie: Part I (1966)

Spock kidnaps the disabled Capt. Pike, hijacks the Enterprise, and then surrenders for court martial.

Directors: Marc Daniels , Robert Butler | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Jeffrey Hunter , Susan Oliver

Votes: 4,862

17. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Menagerie: Part II (1966)

At Spock's court martial, he explains himself with mysterious footage about when Capt. Pike was kidnapped by powerful illusion casting aliens.

Directors: Robert Butler , Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Jeffrey Hunter , Susan Oliver

Votes: 4,658

18. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Shore Leave (1966)

The past months have left the crew exhausted and in desperate need of a break, but does this explain McCoy's encounter with a human-sized white rabbit or Kirk crossing paths with the prankster who plagued his days at Starfleet Academy?

Director: Robert Sparr | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Emily Banks , Oliver McGowan

Votes: 4,431

19. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Squire of Gothos (1967)

A being that controls matter and creates planets wants to play with the Enterprise crew.

Director: Don McDougall | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , William Campbell , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 4,155

20. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Arena (1967)

For bringing hostility into their solar system, a superior alien race brings Captain Kirk into mortal combat against the reptilian captain of an alien ship he was pursuing.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , George Takei

Votes: 4,512

21. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Alternative Factor (1967)

Existence itself comes under threat from a man's power-struggle with his alternate self, with the Enterprise's strained dilithium crystals presenting his key to a final solution.

Director: Gerd Oswald | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Robert Brown , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 3,882

22. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967)

The Enterprise is thrown back in time to 1960s Earth.

Director: Michael O'Herlihy | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Roger Perry , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 4,306

23. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Return of the Archons (1967)

Seeking the answer to a century-old mystery, Kirk and crew encounter a vacantly peaceful society under a 6000-year autocratic rule that kills all those it can't absorb.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Harry Townes , Torin Thatcher

Votes: 3,866

24. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: A Taste of Armageddon (1967)

Kirk and Spock must save their ship's crew when they are all declared killed in action in a bizarre computer simulated war where the actual deaths must nevertheless occur.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , David Opatoshu , Gene Lyons

Votes: 4,194

25. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Space Seed (1967)

While on patrol in deep space, Captain Kirk and his crew find and revive a genetically-engineered world conqueror and his compatriots from Earth's Twentieth Century.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Ricardo Montalban , Madlyn Rhue

Votes: 5,412

26. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: This Side of Paradise (1967)

The Enterprise investigates a planet whose colonists should be dead, but are not.

Director: Ralph Senensky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Jill Ireland , Frank Overton

Votes: 4,065

27. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Devil in the Dark (1967)

The Enterprise is sent to a mining colony that is being terrorized by a mysterious monster, only to find that the situation is not that simple.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Ken Lynch

Votes: 4,299

28. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Errand of Mercy (1967)

With a war with Klingons raging, Kirk and Spock attempt to resist an occupation of a planet with incomprehensibly placid natives.

Director: John Newland | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , John Abbott , John Colicos

Votes: 4,052

29. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)

When a temporarily insane Dr. McCoy accidentally changes history and destroys his time, Kirk and Spock follow him to prevent the disaster, but the price to do so is high.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Joan Collins , DeForest Kelley

Votes: 6,578

30. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Operation -- Annihilate! (1967)

The Enterprise crew attempts to stop a plague of amoeba-like creatures from possessing human hosts and spreading throughout the galaxy.

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

Votes: 3,687

31. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Catspaw (1967)

Very alien visitors to our galaxy attempt to connect with human consciousness but miss, winding up tapping into the regions of human nightmares instead.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Antoinette Bower

Votes: 3,587

32. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Metamorphosis (1967)

While returning to the Enterprise aboard the shuttlecraft, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a seriously ill Federation diplomat find themselves kidnapped by an energized cloud.

Director: Ralph Senensky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Glenn Corbett

Votes: 3,624

33. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Friday's Child (1967)

The Federation clashes with the Klingon Empire over mining rights to Capella IV. A sudden coup between its warrior-minded inhabitants forces Kirk's party to flee with the now dead leader's pregnant wife.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Julie Newmar

Votes: 3,391

34. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967)

A powerful being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo appears and demands that the crew of the Enterprise disembark onto his planet to worship him.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Michael Forest

Votes: 4,022

35. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Amok Time (1967)

In the throes of his Pon Farr mating period, Spock must return to Vulcan to meet his intended future wife, betrothed from childhood.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Celia Lovsky

Votes: 4,745

36. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Doomsday Machine (1967)

The USS Enterprise encounters the wrecked USS Constellation and its distraught commodore who's determined to stop the giant planet-destroying robot ship that killed his crew.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , William Windom

Votes: 4,500

37. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Wolf in the Fold (1967)

Kirk and the Enterprise computer become detectives after Scotty is accused of murdering women on a pleasure planet.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , John Fiedler

Votes: 3,357

38. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Changeling (1967)

A powerful artificially intelligent Earth probe, with a murderously twisted imperative, comes aboard the Enterprise and mistakes Capt. Kirk for its creator.

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

Votes: 3,665

39. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Apple (1967)

Primitive inhabitants of Gamma Trianguli VI worship a god who orders them to kill visitors from the Enterprise.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Keith Andes

Votes: 3,446

40. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Mirror, Mirror (1967)

A transporter accident places Captain Kirk's landing party in an alternate universe, where the Enterprise is in the service of a barbarically brutal empire.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , BarBara Luna

Votes: 5,140

41. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Deadly Years (1967)

A landing party from the Enterprise is exposed to strange form of radiation which rapidly ages them.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Charles Drake

Votes: 3,428

42. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: I, Mudd (1967)

Harry Mudd returns with a plot to take over the Enterprise by stranding the crew on a planet populated by androids under his command.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Roger C. Carmel

Votes: 3,738

43. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967)

To protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures as pets.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , William Schallert

Votes: 4,932

44. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Bread and Circuses (1968)

The Enterprise crew investigates the disappearance of a ship's crew on a planet that is a modern version of the Roman Empire.

Director: Ralph Senensky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , William Smithers

Votes: 3,277

45. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Journey to Babel (1967)

The Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.

Director: Joseph Pevney | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Jane Wyatt

Votes: 4,029

46. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: A Private Little War (1968)

Peaceful, primitive peoples get caught up in the struggle between superpowers, with Kirk unhappily trying to restore the balance of power disrupted by the Klingons.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Nancy Kovack

47. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Gamesters of Triskelion (1968)

Kirk, Uhura and Chekov are trapped on a planet where abducted aliens are enslaved and trained to perform as gladiators for the amusement of bored, faceless aliens.

Director: Gene Nelson | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Joseph Ruskin

Votes: 3,501

48. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Obsession (1967)

Capt. Kirk obsessively hunts for a mysterious cloud creature he encountered in his youth.

Director: Ralph Senensky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Stephen Brooks

Votes: 3,287

49. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Immunity Syndrome (1968)

The Enterprise encounters a gigantic energy draining space organism that threatens the galaxy.

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

Votes: 3,294

50. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: A Piece of the Action (1968)

The crew of the Enterprise struggles to cope with a planet of imitative people who have modeled their society on 1920s gangsters.

Director: James Komack | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Anthony Caruso

Votes: 3,819

51. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: By Any Other Name (1968)

Galactic alien scouts capture the Enterprise for a return voyage and a prelude to invasion. Kirk's one advantage - they're not used to their adopted human form.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Warren Stevens

Votes: 3,389

52. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Return to Tomorrow (1968)

The Enterprise is guided to a distant, long-dead world where survivors of an extremely ancient race - existing only as disembodied energy - desiring the bodies of Kirk, Spock and astro-biologist Ann Mulhall so that they may live again.

Director: Ralph Senensky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Diana Muldaur

Votes: 3,309

53. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Patterns of Force (1968)

Looking for a missing Federation cultural observer, Kirk and Spock find themselves on a planet whose culture has been completely patterned after Nazi Germany.

Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Richard Evans

Votes: 3,465

54. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Ultimate Computer (1968)

Kirk and a sub-skeleton crew are ordered to test out an advanced artificially intelligent control system - the M-5 Multitronic system, which could potentially render them all redundant.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , William Marshall

Votes: 3,479

55. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Omega Glory (1968)

Responding to a distress signal, Kirk finds Captain Tracey of the U.S.S. Exeter violating the prime directive and interfering with a war between the Yangs and the Kohms to find the secret of their longevity.

Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Morgan Woodward

Votes: 3,437

56. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Assignment: Earth (1968)

While back in time observing Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew encounters the mysterious Gary Seven who has his own agenda on the planet.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Robert Lansing

Votes: 3,701

57. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Spectre of the Gun (1968)

TV-PG | 51 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

As punishment for ignoring their warning and trespassing on their planet, the Melkot condemn Capt. Kirk and his landing party to the losing side of a surreal recreation of the 1881 historic gunfight at the OK Corral.

Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Ron Soble

Votes: 3,376

58. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Elaan of Troyius (1968)

While transporting an arrogant, demanding princess for a political marriage, Captain Kirk must cope both with her biochemical ability to force him to love her, as well as sabotage on his ship.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , France Nuyen

Votes: 3,167

59. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Paradise Syndrome (1968)

Trapped on a planet whose inhabitants are descended from Northwestern Native Americans, Kirk loses his memory and is proclaimed a God while the crippled Enterprise races back to the planet before it is destroyed by an asteroid.

Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Sabrina Scharf

Votes: 3,280

60. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Enterprise Incident (1968)

An apparently insane Capt. Kirk has the Enterprise deliberately enter the Romulan Neutral Zone where the ship is immediately captured by the enemy.

Director: John Meredyth Lucas | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Joanne Linville

Votes: 3,901

61. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: And the Children Shall Lead (1968)

The Enterprise reaches a Federation colony where the adults have all killed themselves but the children play without care.

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Craig Huxley

Votes: 3,405

62. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Spock's Brain (1968)

The crew of the Enterprise pursues a mysterious woman who has abducted Spock's brain.

Director: Marc Daniels | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Marj Dusay

Votes: 3,618

63. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Is There in Truth No Beauty? (1968)

Lovely telepath Miranda is aide to Ambassador Kollos, in a box to stop insanity when humans see Medusans. She rejects Larry, a designer of Enterprise, and senses murderous intent nearby.

Votes: 3,205

64. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Empath (1968)

Trapped in an alien laboratory, Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet an empath and are involved in a series of experiments.

Director: John Erman | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Kathryn Hays

Votes: 3,171

65. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Tholian Web (1968)

With Capt. Kirk and the derelict USS Defiant apparently lost, the Enterprise grapples with an insanity causing plague and an attack by the Tholians.

Directors: Herb Wallerstein , Ralph Senensky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 3,425

66. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (1968)

The Enterprise discovers an apparent asteroid that is on a collision course with a planet is actually an ancient populated generation ship.

Director: Anton Leader | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Katherine Woodville

Votes: 3,122

67. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Day of the Dove (1968)

Both humans and Klingons have been lured to a planet by a formless entity that feeds on hatred and has set about to fashion them into a permanent food supply for itself.

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Michael Ansara

Votes: 3,367

68. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Plato's Stepchildren (1968)

After Dr. McCoy helps the leader of a planet populated by people with powerful psionic abilities, they decide to force him to stay by torturing his comrades until he submits.

Director: David Alexander | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Michael Dunn

69. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Wink of an Eye (1968)

A group of aliens who exist in a state of incredible acceleration invade the Enterprise and abduct Capt. Kirk.

Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Kathie Browne

Votes: 3,161

70. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: That Which Survives (1969)

After the Enterprise landing party beams down to investigate a geologically interesting planet, their ship is hurled across the galaxy. Kirk and company find a deserted outpost guarded by the deadly image of a beautiful woman.

Director: Herb Wallerstein | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Lee Meriwether

Votes: 2,941

71. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969)

The Enterprise encounters two duo-chromatic and mutually belligerent aliens who put the ship in the middle of their old conflict.

Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Frank Gorshin

Votes: 3,252

72. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Whom Gods Destroy (1969)

Kirk and Spock are taken prisoners by a former starship captain named Garth, who now resides at, and has taken over, a high security asylum for the criminally insane.

Director: Herb Wallerstein | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Steve Ihnat

Votes: 3,096

73. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Mark of Gideon (1969)

Kirk beams down to the planet Gideon and appears to find himself trapped on a deserted Enterprise. Spock on the real Enterprise must use his diplomatic skills to deal with the uncooperative inhabitants of Gideon and find the Captain.

Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Sharon Acker

Votes: 3,012

74. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Lights of Zetar (1969)

A mysterious, twinkling mass of sapient energy ravages an important archive and Scotty's new girlfriend may be linked to it.

Director: Herbert Kenwith | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Jan Shutan

Votes: 2,890

75. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Cloud Minders (1969)

Kirk and Spock are caught up in a revolution on a planet where intellectuals and artists live on a utopian city in the sky while the rest of the population toils in mines on the barren surface below.

Director: Jud Taylor | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Jeff Corey

Votes: 3,031

76. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Way to Eden (1969)

A group of idealistic hippies, led by an irrational leader, come aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Director: David Alexander | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Skip Homeier

Votes: 3,413

77. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Requiem for Methuselah (1969)

On a planet, looking for an urgent medicinal cure, Kirk, Spock and McCoy come across a dignified recluse living privately but in splendor with his sheltered ward and a very protective robot servant.

Director: Murray Golden | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Daly

Votes: 3,242

78. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: The Savage Curtain (1969)

Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln and Vulcan legend Surak are pitted in battle against notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a conscious rock creature's understanding of a concept he does not understand, "good vs. evil".

Director: Herschel Daugherty | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Lee Bergere

Votes: 3,069

79. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: All Our Yesterdays (1969)

When Kirk, Spock and McCoy investigate the disappearance of a doomed planet's population, they find themselves trapped in different periods of that world's past.

Director: Marvin J. Chomsky | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Mariette Hartley

Votes: 3,392

80. Star Trek (1966–1969) Episode: Turnabout Intruder (1969)

Captain Kirk's insane ex-lover Dr. Janice Lester forcibly switches bodies with him in order to take command of the Enterprise.

Director: Herb Wallerstein | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , Sandra Smith

Votes: 2,999

81. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: More Tribbles, More Troubles (1973)

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

Cyrano Jones returns, infesting the Enterprise with tribbles that now grow to monstrous size.

Director: Hal Sutherland | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , George Takei

82. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Infinite Vulcan (1973)

TV-PG | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure

On a planet of intelligent plantlike creatures, the clone of a human scientist clones Mr. Spock for use in a galactic peace mission.

83. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: Yesteryear (1973)

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

After finding himself erased from recent history, Spock must travel back in time to save himself as a youth.

Votes: 1,129

84. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: Beyond the Farthest Star (1973)

The Enterprise finds an ancient abandoned starship with a malevolent entity aboard, eager to take over the Starfleet ship.

Votes: 1,076

85. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Survivor (1973)

A famous humanitarian is found alive near the Romulan Neutral Zone after being missing for five years, but he may not be who he claims to be.

86. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Lorelei Signal (1973)

Female crew members must take over the Enterprise when the men are incapacitated by a race of sirens.

87. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: One of Our Planets Is Missing (1973)

The crew of the Enterprise must stop a living planet-consuming cloud before it attacks an inhabited world.

88. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: Mudd's Passion (1973)

The Enterprise crew once again runs afoul of the incorrigible Harry Mudd, this time hawking a love potion that greatly influences Spock and the crew.

89. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Magicks of Megas-Tu (1973)

At the centre of the galaxy, a race puts the Enterprise crew on trial for past grievances.

90. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Time Trap (1973)

TV-Y7 | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure

The Enterprise and a Klingon ship are trapped in space-time warp where only their cooperation will allow them to escape.

91. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Slaver Weapon (1973)

Spock, Uhura and Sulu discover an ancient multi-use weapon and are captured by the Kzinti who are equally interested in it.

92. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Ambergris Element (1973)

While the Enterprise investigates a water-world, Captain Kirk and Commander Spock go missing. They've been abducted by the world's inhabitants and altered into water-breathers as well.

93. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Jihad (1974)

A team comprising various experts (Kirk and Spock among them) must recover an artifact known as the Soul of the Skorr. The theft must be kept secret or a galactic holy war could break out.

94. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Terratin Incident (1973)

Exposed to spiroid epsilon waves, the Enterprise crew begins to shrink in size. If a way can not be found to stop their condition, they will soon be too small to control the ship.

95. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Eye of the Beholder (1974)

While investigating the disappearance of Federation members, Kirk and his landing party find themselves placed in an alien zoo.

96. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: Once Upon a Planet (1973)

Upon returning to the amusement park planet, the Enterprise crew finds the computer, which generates the planet's sophisticated robots, running amok, with the caretaker nowhere to be found.

97. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: Bem (1974)

The Enterprise crew is being observed to evaluate their suitability to meet with advanced civilizations.

Directors: Bill Reed , Hal Sutherland | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , George Takei

98. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: Albatross (1974)

Dr. McCoy is arrested and charged with causing an alien plague.

99. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Pirates of Orion (1974)

Spock contracts a fatal disease, and the medicine required for his cure is stolen by Orion pirates.

100. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1975) Episode: The Practical Joker (1974)

The computer of the Enterprise gains partial sentience and a taste for playing practical jokes on the crew.

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‘Star Trek’: The Ultimate Guide To Watching Every Series in Order

There’s a lot of Star Trek out there, and it can be intimidating figuring out where to get started if you’re new to the franchise and don’t know your TOS from your Ent. With almost 60 years and 12 whole series’ worth of content, there’s a lot out there, but don’t worry: We’re here with a comprehensive guide to watching every Star Trek series in order.

There’s two options here: order of release, or attempting to construct some sort of in-world timeline where you can watch the events in the order that they happen—but given the mind bending time travel hijinks pretty much every ship gets up to, I can promise you, that way lies madness. Besides, tempting as the chronological version might be ( because there have been attempts ), if you take this route for your first watch, you won’t know what’s going on or who the characters are half the time, and you’ll have spoiled a lot of long-term plot arcs for yourself. Don’t do it, is what I’m saying. Just stick with the nice order-of-release approach we’ve laid out for you below.

Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)

This is where it all began. Star Trek , the Original Series, is 80 episodes of sometimes campy madness. Featuring Greek gods, telepathic powers, and Captain Kirk (William Shatner)’s utter inability to keep his shirt on. Follow the crew of the Enterprise as they fight space Nazis, slip into the evil mirror-verse, and battle multiple hostile artificial intelligences. Roddenberry designed this series to emulate a Western in space and it really does feel like it, with stories and characters that are obviously offensive to a modern audience alongside ones that were highly progressive at the time. But because most of the episodes are self-contained, with very few overarching plot lines, you can skip occasional episodes if you want and won’t miss very much.

Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)

Picking up where TOS left off, Star Trek: The Animated Series is like TOS but wackier. It was originally intended to be canon but was later retracted—except that some parts of it still are canon and it’s not always clear which ones are and aren’t. It’s complicated, basically. But it’s a lot of fun to watch, and has the vibe of an old school Saturday morning cartoon, so it’s nostalgic, too.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

Star Trek’s triumphant return to live-action syndication, Star Trek: The Next Generation features everyone’s favorite space daddy, Captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Continuing to boldly go, TNG introduces new species, more serialized story arcs, and for some reason switches the uniform colors around for command and operations, which always bothered me as a kid. It also introduces beloved android Data (Brent Spiner), kicking off the exploration of what defines sentience and personhood that’s a running theme through Star Trek .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)

Unlike all the other Treks, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine takes place on a station, run by first Commander and then Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks), and while there is a ship—the Defiant, introduced in later seasons—the station remains the focal point of the action. Set in the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, Starfleet is given command over the former Cardassian station Deep Space Nine to act as both a deterrent to future Cardassian aggression, and prepare Bajor to join the United Federation of Planets. DS9 is a darker series, exploring the tensions between the Federation and less powerful, non-member worlds, the cultural imperialism Starfleet is prone to, and the long term impacts of colonialism and genocide. DS9 is always forcing the characters, and the viewer, to confront uncomfortable moral dilemmas, and face up to the fact that sometimes there isn’t an easy answer that lets everyone involved keep their hands clean.

Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

What was meant to be a short mission chasing after a ship full of Maquis into the Badlands became a years-long attempt to get home in Star Trek: Voyager , after an energy wave took both ships 70,000 light years across the universe into the Delta Quadrant. Starting around halfway through DS9, the series kicks off with a crossover episode where the Voyager crew visits the station before beginning their mission. Similarly to TOS, Voyager does a lot of “episode of the week” self-contained first contact missions, but there are overarching plots in addition to the central mission of getting everybody home.

Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)

The post-9/11 jingoistic Trek, Star Trek: Enterprise imagines the early days of Starfleet and the birth of the Federation, with plenty of grave threats to Earth to justify grim, unethical behaviour. Routinely panned as the worst Trek, Enterprise goes hard on time travel plots, with the Temporal Cold War spanning several seasons, as well as introducing new (hostile) alien species. Enterprise featured regular first contact encounters, an explanation for the dramatic changes in appearance the Klingons underwent between TOS and TNG, and attempted a classic Star Trek anti-racism plotline that paved the way for Spock’s birth in the future.

Star Trek: Discovery (DIS)

Starting with the beginning of a new war between the Federation and what remains of the Klingon Empire, Star Trek: Discovery follows Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) on her path to captaincy. With plenty of time and dimensional travel and season spanning plot arc each season also has its own unique plot and vibe. The Discovery is also unique in that, unlike previous ships in other series, it uses a piece of technology called the spore drive to make jumps across the galaxy. Discovery does some very interesting things with this, involving mushrooms and an intergalactic biological network, but I won’t spoil it for you by going into details.

Star Trek: Short Treks (SHO)

Short Treks is a companion series to Discovery , and features short episodes (10-20 minutes each) focused on small groups of characters that flesh them out or provide background information about the Star Trek -verse. It’s best to watch each season of Short Treks after the corresponding season of Discovery because they were intended to go together like that.

Star Trek: Picard (PIC)

Returning to Captain Picard, now a retired Admiral in his nineties, Star Trek: Picard has a darker perspective on the Federation than TNG. Picking up where TNG left off in its interrogation of artificial intelligence and personhood, the series begins when Picard is contacted by a woman asking for his help, who turns out to be a synth connected to Data. Synthetic lifeforms—as well as any practical research unto them—have been banned, meaning she and all other existing synths are under a death sentence. Picard finds this abhorrent and, knowing some of them have survived, commits himself to ensuring they stay that way. PIC is full of intrigue, with conspiracies layered on top of each other, and provides an interesting expansion on what we know about Romulan society and culture.

Star Trek: Lower Decks (LOW)

Another animated series Star Trek:Lower Decks explores the lives of lower ranking Starfleet characters with a mix of adult humour and sincere storytelling. Incredibly fun, with a lot of the TOS zaniness that later shows are missing, LOW is sometimes strangely serious as well. Unlike TAS, LOW is canon and sometimes ties in with other series.

Star Trek: Prodigy (PRO)

Aimed at children, Star Trek: Prodigy features a crew made up of teenagers and children of different species and is set in the Delta Quadrant. Imprisoned in a mining colony on an asteroid, the children find a Federation starship inside, with a holographic Captain Janeway serving as ship’s adviser/assistant. Using the ship to escape, and under pursuit from the prison’s villainous overseer, the children learn about the Federation and decide to make their way to the Alpha Quadrant in hopes of a better life. Obviously, on the way they have various adventures and regularly find themselves in child-friendly peril.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)

Following on from Captain Pike (Anson Mount)’s appearance is Discovery , Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is about the Enterprise during his time as captain. Featuring beloved classic characters like Spock and Uhura, SNW recaptures some of the feel of TOS with high stakes, single episode adventures and a wide variety of plots—ranging from classic first contact encounters to body swaps and sentient nebulas. SNW also deals with some of the complex, ethical questions Star Trek is so good at, and does it well (no spoilers here). One of the most interesting things about the series is Captain Pike’s awareness of his eventual, horrible fate and his path to accepting it in order to do the right thing for the rest of the galaxy. SNW balances classic sci-fi adventure with serious, personal drama.

If after all that you still want to try and re-watch every Star Trek series in chronological order instead, well—good luck and godspeed! Let us know how it turns out in the comments.

(featured image: Paramount / The Mary Sue)

The Right Order to Watch ALL of Star Trek

By: Author Brad Burnie

Posted on Published: January 13, 2021  - Last updated: December 19, 2022

Share the Universe!

If you’ve just learned about the Star Trek universe and want to watch all of the series and movies within the franchise, you will want to start at the very beginning to understand what is happening and the references made in later series or movies. While you might be tempted to start with the Original Series, you will miss critical information based on later shows. What is the right order to watch all of Star Trek?

There are two timelines: the Prime timeline and the Kelvin timeline. Begin with the Prime timeline, as this is where the Original Series started. Begin with the movie “First Contact” to understand how space exploration began, then watch Enterprise to see the continuing voyages.

While it all seems confusing right now, you will understand how to watch the entire Star Trek franchise after you read the article. Let’s dig in!

A Brief Explanation of the Order

While most advice is to start with the series “ Enterprise ,” that doesn’t explain how Earth ended up in space, or how the Vulcans became involved as consultants on Earth in the pursuit of space travel. The movie “ First Contact ” answers those questions, and though it involves the Next Generation crew, it shows how the first warp ship got the Vulcans’ attention and how humans become space-faring.

The order given here puts the movie first, as it gives you a background to the Enterprise series and helps you understand what happened. While it is a time travel movie, it starts you at the very beginning. But there are two separate timelines you need to be aware of.

The Prime Timeline

Gene Roddenberry started the Prime timeline with the Original Series. The movies and series are based on this timeline, and it follows the work of Kirk, Spock, and Picard through the years. The Kelvin timeline is not part of this article, and will only focus on the Prime timeline.

The Kelvin Timeline

In 2009, J.J. Abrams created a Star Trek reboot that explored the idea of an alternate timeline, otherwise known as the Kelvin timeline . The movies, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), and Star Trek: Beyond (2016), explore the world where the Romulan Nero went back in time to destroy the first Starfleet ship he met, which was the USS Kelvin. 

In 2387, the Romulan sun was about to go supernova, which would destroy an entire quadrant. Spock took this on and promised the Romulans that he could stop it from happening. 

Spock tried halting the supernova with red matter but failed, leaving Romulus destroyed. Nero was so angry that he attacked Spock’s ship, the Narada. During the attack, both ships were pulled into the black hole left by the supernova and were sent back in time. 

Nero was not aware that the Narada went back in time, but he attacked the first Starfleet vessel, which happened to be the ship that James Kirk’s father served on and killed him.

Before this event happened, the timeline traveled the same path as the Prime timeline. That one event skewed the original timeline to create an alternate reality. Many things were altered, including the technology, but the events stayed mostly similar, including Khan. 

Star Trek: First Contact (2063) (2373)

The Next Generation crew are on the new Enterprise-E. A distress signal from the Federation alerts the crew that the Borg made it to the Alpha quadrant to assimilate Earth.

Picard tells his crew that they cannot help fight because of his prior involvement with the Borg. The crew argues that this is why they should be at the forefront of the battle. 

Later, Counselor Troi tells Picard that the battle with the Borg started. Picard and Riker come out to the bridge and listen to the ships’ various transmissions trying to take down the cube. Once he heard enough, he asked the crew what they should do–go against their orders and fight, or stay where they are. 

Commander Data says, “If I were human, I believe I would say ‘to hell with our orders.’” Then they make their way to the Alpha quadrant. 

Since Picard has experience with Borg ships, he orders all other ships to fire on a non-critical system, which destroys the cube. As the cube explodes, they notice a sphere leave and open up a time anomaly. Picard orders the Enterprise to follow the sphere after they realize the Borg assimilated Earth of the past. 

They are pulled in the stream with the sphere and end up in the 21st century–April 4, 2063, to be exact–one day before Zephram Cochrane was to fly his warp ship. 

The Enterprise crew assists Cochrane in his original mission to keep the timeline preserved. 

Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2161)

Star Trek Enterprise continues where First Contact left off–humans meeting Vulcans for the first time. The series shows how the Vulcans became consultants to humans in constructing warp-capable ships and interacting with other species.

While the Vulcans thought they were doing a decent service, humans often resented this and felt that they could have been further along in their development had it not been for the Vulcans holding them back.

The series explored the Earth-Romulan war, the tensions with the Klingons, how the United Federation of Planets came to be, and the Vulcan-Andorian alliance’s development. The series ran four seasons before it was canceled, but it did clear up things that the Original Series alluded to.

Star Trek: Discovery (2255-?)

Discovery first debuted in 2017, making it the next to the last series developed in the Prime timeline. This series’s events take place ten years before the Original Series and explain why the war between the Klingons and the Federation ignited after over 100 years of tense peace between the two sides.

It also highlights the life of Spock’s foster sister, Micheal Burnham. Spock grew up with a foster sister that his parents took in after the Klingons killed her parents on a Federation outpost. Micheal grew up with Amanda and Sarek, learning the Vulcan ways while suppressing her human emotions. 

Discovery attempts to explain why Spock never spoke of this sister in other series. Micheal said horrible things to Spock when they were children about his heritage and how he would never fit in on Vulcan or Earth because of it. But she only said that to keep him safe from Vulcan extremists while she ran away.

At the end of the second season, the Discovery crew jumps 900 years into the future, leaving Captain Pike to command the Enterprise until Captain Kirk takes over. 

Star Trek: The Original Series (2265-2269)

The series that started it all, The Original Series (TOS), explores the world of James Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest of the crew in the “five-year mission to explore the universe, seek out new life and new civilizations, and to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Since this was the first series of a new fictional world, no one knew what to expect.

The series introduced Vulcans, Andorians, Tellerites, and Klingons. It also showed how alien influences could disrupt a primitive culture’s development and create problems that they would not otherwise have, demonstrating the need for their Prime Directive that prohibited their interference in pre-warp societies. 

Star Trek Continues (Fan Fiction)

Most fan fiction is best left to a franchise’s sidelines due to their non-canonical events and stories. Star Trek Continues , however, is a cut above the rest of Star Trek fan fiction and was even approved as canon by Gene Roddenberry’s son. 

The series was conceived and produced by Vic Mignogna, who also plays James Kirk in the series. They made use of the same studio and set that TOS was filmed on, and care was put into every single detail to make it appear the same as TOS in every way. 

It attempted to explain why starships in later series had a counselor and a chief of security, and what happened in the last year of their five-year mission. The series tied up loose ends that TOS left, and explains how Kirk became an Admiral, and why Spock left Starfleet for several years. 

It is recommended that you include this fanfiction series in your watchlist because it will answer certain questions that The Next Generation fails to answer. The episodes are also free to watch, as the project was a labor of love for Vic, as he was a fan of TOS and was honored to create the series for other fans.

Star Trek: The Animated Series (2269-2270)

Soon after TOS went off the air, the Star Trek writers worked with professional science fiction writers and Filmation to create Star Trek: The Animated Series . The Animated Series was an attempt to answer some of the questions that TOS left open and appeal to younger viewers. 

Some of the episodes were continuations of TOS episodes, such as “The Trouble with Tribbles,” and the Mudd episodes. Other episodes outlined new technologies such as a recreation room that utilized a holographic suite, or an “aqua-shuttle.” 

Many of the episodes kept the original actors to voice the characters, except Chekov’s character, due to budgetary constraints. However, the actor that played Chekov wrote one episode of the series.

Because the ratings were low, it only lasted one and a half seasons.

Original Star Trek Movies (2273-2293)

Though The Original Series had low ratings when it first aired, it gained enough popularity to produce movies for the big screen. Studio executives wanted nothing to do with Star Trek movies initially, but after a bit of convincing, they decided to move ahead with the Motion Picture. 

Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the very first cinematic project of the Star Trek universe, and it bombed. While they tried to play with the special effects and show the space stations for the first time, it wasn’t enough to save the film from bad ratings. 

The story begins with a large entity traveling across the galaxy, killing or vaporizing everything in its path. Admiral Kirk boards the redesigned Enterprise to give it an inspection before it goes out on another mission. Captain Decker is in command and thinks Kirk is there as a “top brass sendoff,” not realizing that the Admiral is there to command the ship. 

Once they get going, Kirk briefs the crew about this entity that they will intercept, and hopefully, stop before it kills anyone else. Captain Decker is temporarily demoted to Science Officer in Spock’s absence, much to his disappointment and irritation. 

Meanwhile, Spock realizes that something is calling to him in space and refuses to complete the Kolinahr ritual. He gets a lift to the Enterprise to figure out what the entity is.

In the end, they find out that this entity is V’Ger, or Voyager, a probe sent from Earth in the late 20th century. It had amassed so much knowledge, and it was ready to transmit its information to the creator. 

The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan continues the story started in TOS episode, “Space Seed,” left off. It starts with Commander Chekov on the starship “Reliant” looking for a suitable planet that Dr. Carol Marcus could use to test their new Genesis device. The device allows a dead planet to be terra-formed into a new planet for whatever life “we see fit to deposit on it.” 

As the Reliant crew goes to what they think is Ceti Alpha VI, Chekov notices the “Botany Bay” on one of the walls of a shelter on the planet. He suddenly remembers who that is and tries getting the captain to leave. When they go out the door, they are met by several people who push them back inside the shelter. It turns out to be Khan and his people that were left on Ceti Alpha V.

It is determined that Ceti Alpha VI exploded six months after they were left on Ceti Alpha V, and Khan was angry and wanted revenge on Kirk. He hijacked the Reliant and went in search of Kirk.

Khan took revenge on everyone except Kirk, because “like a poor marksman, you keep missing the mark!” Eventually, after several battles between the Reliant and the Enterprise, Khan has one last trick up his sleeve before he dies. He sets the Genesis device to explode, and in 4 minutes, everything in the system will be dead or dying. 

Spock saves the Enterprise in the most extreme sacrifice. At his funeral, they jettison his body into space, which lands on the Genesis planet. 

The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock picks up where the last movie left off, as Sarek tasks Kirk to bring both Spock and McCoy to Vulcan to release them both of Spocks’ Katra, or the essence of who he was in life. But in the Enterprise’s absence, the Mutara sector became off-limits, and only certain science vessels were allowed in that region of space. 

Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura work together to bring Bones and Spock back to Vulcan. However, on the way, the Klingon commander Kruge bought the secrets of the Genesis device and wanted to exploit the technology for the glory of the Empire. He got to the planet first and destroyed the science vessel Grissom that Kirk’s son David, and Lieutenant Saavik served on. 

By the time Kirk got to the area, he had realized that there was trouble. When the Klingons wanted to board the Enterprise, Kirk and crew escaped to the planet and blew up the ship, along with the Klingons. 

They found Spock alive, and once they got rid of most of the Klingons, including Kruge, they made their way to Vulcan in a Klingon ship.

The Voyage Home

The third movie in a series of movies, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , finds the Enterprise crew still on Vulcan after saving Spock. They decided they must go back to Earth to face the consequences of their actions. Once the Klingon ship was ready to go, Spock boarded the ship to testify at the crews’ trial.

But once they get close to Earth, a planetary distress call from Earth reaches their ship. An alien probe is cutting off all life support and power to Earth and her space docks and is disrupting the planet itself. 

The Enterprise crew realizes that the sound the probe makes is the same sung by humpback whales, extinct in the 22nd century but still alive in the 20th century. They go back in time, snatch a couple of whales and water, and go back to their time to help repopulate the species and, hopefully, save Earth.

The Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier introduces the audience to Spock’s half-brother, Sybok. Sybok believes that he found the Vulcan equivalent to the Garden of Eden on the other side of the Great Barrier and steals the Enterprise-A to get there. Along the way, he helps people release their pain from past trauma, which enables him to get people to do what he wants them to do.

But, when they cross the great barrier and get to the planet, Sybok realizes his mistake. “God” isn’t the “real God” and takes it upon himself to wrestle and kill the alien that deceived him. 

The movie was not as popular as the previous three movies due to the storyline. 

The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country explains how the cold war between the Klingons and the Federation ended. Praxis, the Klingon moon responsible for Kronos’ energy output, blew up, leaving Kronos with about 50 Earth years of life left. If left to their own devices, they would be dead soon.

So Chancellor Gorkon brought up his idea to reconcile with the Federation and appealed to Ambassador Spock to create peace. But many in the Federation, and the Klingon Empire, didn’t believe that the Klingons should be admitted to the Federation. The idea was so repulsive to some people that they were willing to frame Captain Kirk for sabotage to keep the cold war alive.

The Klingons arrested Bones and Kirk for Chancellor Gorkon’s murder and were sentenced to life on Rura Penthe, the Klingon penal asteroid.

But this was not to be, and the peace conference was held on Khitomer as planned, which was the start of the Klingon-Federation alliance. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation (2364-2370)

The Next Generation continued where the movies left off with the Enterprise-D. Instead of being given a five-year mission, the crew has an “ongoing mission to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before.” 

The series showed several new advances in technology, such as a new holodeck, food replicators, and other things that TOS never had. The new crew was under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. 

They met the Q entity who loved torturing the Enterprise crew and introduced them to the Borg. The series lasted for seven seasons.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2369-2375)

Deep Space Nine was a spinoff series from The Next Generation. It centered around an outlier Bajoran space station previously occupied by the Cardassians. Commander Benjamin Sisko commanded the station that was located near the only stable wormhole in the galaxy. The wormhole was a gateway from the Alpha quadrant to the Beta quadrant and was the site of the war with the Dominion.

It lasted seven seasons and overlapped with The Next Generation and Voyager in the timeline. 

Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378)

Star Trek: Voyager tells the story of a starship that gets pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker to search for a “suitable replacement” to care for the Ocampa. But because Captain Janeway didn’t want to let the array fall into the hands of Ocampan enemies, she destroyed the array.

They spend the next seven years working on ways to get home, coming across many different species and anomalies. Eventually, they get home using the Borg conduit leading to the Alpha quadrant. 

The Next Generation Movies

The Next Generation crew appeared in four movies, one of which showed how Earth’s space exploration started. 

Generations (2371)

Star Trek: Generations connects Captain Kirk and Captain Picard in a way that has them working against a common enemy–Soran. Soran was intent on destroying a star so that he could enter into the Nexus, which is a place of pure joy. However, in destroying the star, Soran would destroy entire civilizations. Captain Picard could not allow that, and while in the Nexus, he persuades Captain Kirk to come with him and help make a difference.

The Enterprise-D was destroyed by a Klingon ship.

Insurrection (2375)

Star Trek: Insurrection tells the story of the Federation working with the Son’a to get the benefits of the Ba’ku homeworld amidst the Briar patch. But as the Enterprise-E investigates further, they realize that the Son’a planned to transport the Ba’ku to another planet without their knowledge to take the metaphasic particles of the outer rings to create a “fountain of youth” that would provide medical benefits for people of the Federation.

But Picard and crew found out that the Son’a were children of the Ba’ku over a century ago who were expelled because of wanting to go off-world. They came back to kill their elders.

Nemesis (2379)

In Star Trek: Nemesis , the clone of Picard shows up to tell him about how he came to be. He grew up on Remus, which was a mining planet. He grew up with the same issues that Picard has, but because of the temporal RNA he was sequenced with, his body was breaking down that much quicker.

In the end, Data sacrifices himself to save the captain and the Enterprise crew.

Picard (2399-?)

The latest series within the franchise, Picard picks up 20 years after Nemesis and tries to explain the Kelvin timeline a bit more. He helped evacuate the Romulan homeworld before the sun went supernova, but was not completely successful. After that happened, he left Starfleet due to how they didn’t approve of his plans. 

Synthetic life forms were banned after they attacked the Mars colony, but one found Picard right before being killed. That synthetic life form was a descendant from Data’s matrix. The rest of the season focuses on finding the twin synth before she was killed as well. 

Well, there you have it–all the Star Trek series , movies, and even a fanfiction series to watch. Once you’ve watched all of these programs, feel free to go back and watch the Kelvin timeline movies to see how it is different from the Prime timeline shows. 

Star Trek shows often were a vague commentary on real-life issues, such as racism, homophobia, misogyny, and economic disparities. The franchise shows how humans overcame these issues, but then encountered several species on other planets that were still in the process of overcoming the issues and their strong dislike of any new thoughts.  If you liked this post then you should check out our Star Wars Watch Order post

• Looper: The Star Trek Kelvin Timeline Explained
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: First Contact
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Picard
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Voyager
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Enterprise
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Discovery
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: The Original Series
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek Generations
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: Insurrection
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek Nemesis
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Memory Alpha: Star Trek: The Animated Series
• Star Trek Continues: About Us

Brad Burnie is the founder of Starships.com. He loves all video game genres. In his spare time, he loves reading, watching movies, and gaming

Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

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

• Chronological order
• Prime Timeline

The Original Series movies

The next generation movies.

• Kelvin Timeline
• Release order

Upcoming Star Trek movies

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

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

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

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

Star Trek movies: Chronological order

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

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

Star Trek: Prime Timeline

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

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

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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

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

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

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

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

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

• Release date: June 1, 1984

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

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

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

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

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

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

• Release date: June 9, 1989

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

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

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

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

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

7. Star Trek: Generations

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

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

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

8. Star Trek: First Contact

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

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

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

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

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

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

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

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

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

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

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

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

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

11. Star Trek

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

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

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

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

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

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

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

13. Star Trek Beyond

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

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

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

Star Trek movies: Release order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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How to Watch Star Trek in Order: The Complete Series Timeline

The full star trek timeline, explained..

Ever since 1966’s premiere of the first episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, the entertainment world has never been the same. This franchise that has boldly gone where no property has gone before has captured the hearts and minds of millions around the world and has grown into a space-faring empire of sorts filled with multiple shows, feature length films, comics, merchandise, and so much more. That being said, the amount of Star Trek out in the world can make it tough to know exactly how to watch everything it offers in either chronological or release order so you don’t miss a thing. To help make things easier for you, we’ve created this guide to break down everything you need to know about engaging with this Star Trek journey.

It used to be a bit trickier to track down all the Star Trek shows and movies you’d need to watch to catch up, but Paramount+ has made it a whole lot easier as it has become the home of nearly all the past, present and future Star Trek entries.

So, without further ado, come with us into the final frontier and learn how you can become all caught up with the adventures of Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko, Spock, Pike, Archer, Burnham, and all the others that have made Star Trek so special over the past 56 years.

And, in case you're worried, everything below is a mostly spoiler-free chronological timeline that will not ruin any of any major plot points of anything further on in the timeline. So, you can use this guide as a handy way to catch up without ruining much of the surprise of what’s to come on your adventure! If you’d prefer to watch everything Star Trek as it was released, you’ll find that list below as well!

How to Watch Star Trek in Chronological Order

• How to Watch Star Trek by Release Order

1. Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2155)

Star Trek: Enterprise is the earliest entry on our list as it takes place a hundred years before the adventures of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew of Star Trek: The Original Series. The show aired from 2001 to 2005 and starred Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer, the captain of the Enterprise NX-01. This version of the Enterprise was actually Earth’s first starship that was able to reach warp five. 

While the show had its ups and downs, it included a fascinating look at a crew without some of the advanced tech we see in other Star Trek shows, the first contact with various alien species we know and love from the Star Trek universe, and more.

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

This is where things get a little bit tricky, as the first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery take place before Star Trek: The Original Series but Seasons 3 and 4 take us boldly to a place we’ve not gone before. We won’t spoil why that’s the case here, but it’s important to note if you want to watch Star Trek in order, you’ll have to do a bit of jumping around from series to movie to series. 

As for what Star Trek: Discovery is, it's set the decade before the original and stars Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham, a Starfleet Commander who accidentally helps start a war between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. She gets court-martialed and stripped of her rank following these events and is reassigned to the U.S.S Discovery.

3. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2259-TBD)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds also begins before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series and is set up by Star Trek: Discovery as its captain, Anson Mount’s Christopher Pike, makes an appearance in its second season. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Pike first appeared in the original failed pilot episode “The Cage” of Star Trek: The Original Series and would later become James T. Kirk’s predecessor after the original actor, Jefferey Hunter, backed out of the show.

Fast forward all these years later and now we get to learn more about the story of Christopher Pike and many other familiar faces from The Original Series alongside new characters. It’s made even more special as the ship the crew uses is the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, the very same that would soon call Kirk its captain.

4. Star Trek: The Original Series (2265-2269)

The fourth Star Trek series or movie you should watch in the order is the one that started it all - Star Trek: The Original Series . Created by Gene Roddenberry, this first Star Trek entry would kick off a chain reaction that would end up creating one of the most beloved IPs of all time. However, it almost never made it to that legendary status as its low ratings led to a cancellation order after just three seasons that aired from 1966 to 1969. Luckily, it found great popularity after that and built the foundation for all the Star Trek stories we have today.

Star Trek: The Original Series starred William Shatner as James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock, but the rest of the crew would go on to become nearly as iconic as they were. As for what the show was about? Well, we think Kirk said it best during each episode’s opening credits;

“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.”

5. Star Trek: The Animated Series (2269-2270)

While Star Trek: The Original Series may have been canceled after just three seasons, its popularity only grew, especially with the help of syndication. Following this welcome development, Gene Roddenberry decided he wanted to continue the adventures of the crew of the Enterprise NCC-1701 in animated form, and he brought back many of the original characters and the actors behind them for another go.

Star Trek: The Animated Series lasted for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 and told even more stories of the Enterprise and its adventures throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2270s)

The first Star Trek film was a very big deal as it brought back the crew of Star Trek: The Original Series after the show was canceled in 1969 after just three seasons. However, even it had a rough road to theaters as Roddenberry initially failed to convince Paramount Pictures it was worth it in 1975. Luckily, the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other factors helped finally convince those in power to make the movie and abandon the plans for a new television series called Star Trek: Phase II, which also would have continued the original story.

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, James T. Kirk was now an Admiral in Starfleet, and certain events involving a mysterious alien cloud of energy called V’Ger cause him to retake control of a refitted version of the U.S.S. Enterprise with many familiar faces in tow.

7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (2285)

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture written, but Paramount turned it down after the reception to that first film was not what the studio had hoped for. In turn, Paramount removed him from the production and brought in Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards to write the script and Nicholas Meyer to direct the film.

The studio’s decision proved to be a successful one as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is considered by many, including IGN, to be the best Star Trek film. As for the story, it followed the battle between Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise vs. Ricardo Montalban’ Khan Noonien Singh. Khan is a genetically engineered superhuman and he and his people were exiled by Kirk on a remote planet in the episode ‘Space Seed’ from the original series. In this second film, after being stranded for 15 years, Khan wants revenge.

8. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (2285)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock continues the story that began in Wrath of Khan and deals with the aftermath of Spock’s death. While many on the U.S.S. Enterprise thought that was the end for their science officer, Kirk learns that Spock’s spirit/katra is actually living inside the mind of DeForest Kelley’s Dr. McCoy, who has been acting strange ever since the death of his friend. What follows is an adventure that includes a stolen U.S.S. Enterprise, a visit from Spock’s father Sarek, a run-in with Klingons, and so much more.

9. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (2286 and 1986)

While it is undoubtedly great that Kirk and his crew saved Spock, it apparently wasn’t great enough to avoid the consequences that follow stealing and then losing the Enterprise. On their way to answer for their charges, the former crew of the Enterprise discover a threat to Earth that, without spoiling anything, causes them to go back in time to save everything they love. The Voyage Home is a big departure from the previous films as, instead of space, we spend most of our time in 1986’s San Francisco.

10. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (2287)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier once again brings back our favorite heroes from Star Trek: The Original Series, but it’s often regarded as one of the weakest films starring Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc. In this adventure, our crew’s shore leave gets interrupted as they are tasked with going up against the Vulcan Sybok, who himself is on the hunt for God in the middle of the galaxy. 

11. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2293)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the final movie starring the entire cast of Star Trek: The Original Series, and it puts the Klingons front and center. After a mining catastrophe destroys the Klingon moon of Praxis and threatens the Klingon’s homeworld, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon is forced to abandon his species' love of war in an effort to seek peace with the Federation. What follows is an adventure that calls back to the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall and serves as a wonderful send-off to characters we’ve come to know and love since 1966, even though some will thankfully appear in future installments.

12. Star Trek: The Next Generation (2364-2370)

After you make it through all six of the Star Trek: The Original Series movies, it’s time to start what many consider the best Star Trek series of all time - Star Trek: The Next Generation . The series, which starred Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, ran from 1987 through 1994 with 178 episodes over seven seasons. 

There are so many iconic characters and moments in The Next Generation, including William Riker, Data, Worf, Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi, and Dr. Beverly Crusher, and many of these beloved faces would return for Star Trek: Picard, which served as a continuation of this story.

While we are once again on the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, this story takes place a century after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series. However, there may just be a few familiar faces that pop up from time to time.

13. Star Trek Generations (2293)

While Star Trek Generations is the first film featuring the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, it also features a team-up that many had dreamed of for years and years between Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain James T. Kirk.

Our heroes are facing off against an El-Aurian named Dr. Tolian Soran, who will do whatever is necessary to return to an extra-dimensional realm known as the Nexus. Without spoiling anything, these events lead to a meeting with these two legendary captains and a heartfelt-at-times send-off to The Original Series, even though not every character returned that we wished could have. 

14. Star Trek: First Contact (2373)

Star Trek: First Contact was not only the second film featuring the crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it also served as the motion picture directorial debut for William Riker actor Jonathan Frakes. In this film, the terrifying Borg take center stage and force our heroes to travel back in time to stop them from conquering Earth and assimilating the entire human race. 

This movie picks up on the continuing trauma caused by Jean-Luc Picard getting assimilated in the series and becoming Locutus of Borg, and we are also treated to the first warp flight in Star Trek’s history, a shout-out to Deep Space Nine, and more.

15. Star Trek: Insurrection (2375)

Star Trek: Insurrection, which unfortunately ranked last on our list of the best Star Trek movies, is the third film starring the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew and followed a story involving an alien race that lives on a planet with more-or-less makes them invincible due to its rejuvenating properties. This alien race, known as the Ba’Ku, are being threatened by not only another alien race called the Son’a, but also the Federation. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew disobey Federation orders in hopes to save the peaceful Ba’Ku, and while it sounds like an interesting premise, many said it felt too much like an extended episode of the series instead of a big blockbuster film.

16. Star Trek: Nemesis (2379)

The final Star Trek: The Next Generation movie is Star Trek: Nemesis , and it also isn’t looked at as one of the best. There are bright parts in the film, including Tom Hardy’s Shinzon who is first thought to be a Romulan praetor before it’s revealed he is a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but it also features a lot of retreaded ground. There are some great moments between our favorite TNG characters, but it’s not quite the goodbye many had hoped for. Luckily, this won’t be the last we’ll see of them. 

17. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2369-2375)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the fourth Star Trek series and it ran from 1993 to 1999 with 176 episodes over seven seasons. Deep Space Nine was also the first Star Trek series to be created without the direct involvement of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, but instead with Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Furthermore, it was the first series to begin when another Star Trek Series - The Next Generation - was still on the air. 

The connections between The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine don’t end there, as there were a ton of callbacks to TNG in Deep Space Nine, and characters like Worf and Miles O’Brien played a big part in the series. Other TNG characters popped up from time to time, including Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and certain Deep Space Nine characters also showed their faces in TNG.

Deep Space Nine was a big departure from the Star Trek series that came before, as it not only took place mostly on a space station - the titular Deep Space Nine - but it was the first to star an African American as its central character in Avery Brooks’ Captain Benjamin Sisko. 

Deep Space Nine was located in a very interesting part of the Milky Way Galaxy as it was right next to a wormhole, and the series was also filled with conflict between the Cardassians and Bajorans, the war between the Federation and the Dominion, and much more.

18. Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378)

Star Trek: Voyager is the fifth Star Trek series and it ran from 1995 to 2001 with 172 episodes over seven seasons. Star Trek: Voyager begins its journey at Deep Space Nine, and then it follows the tale of Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Kathryn Janeway (the first female leading character in Star Trek history!) and her crew getting lost and stranded in the faraway Delta Quadrant. 

The episodes and adventures that follow all see the team fighting for one goal: getting home. Being so far away from the Alpha Quadrant we were so used to letting Star Trek be very creative in its storytelling and give us situations and alien races we’d never encountered before. 

That doesn’t mean it was all unfamiliar, however, as the Borg became a huge threat in the later seasons. It’s a good thing too, as that led to the introduction of Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine, a character who would continue on to appear in Star Trek: Picard and become a fan favorite.

19. Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380-TBD)

Star Trek: Lower Decks debuted in 2020 and was the first animated series to make it to air since 1973’s Star Trek: The Animated Series. Alongside having that feather in its cap, it also sets itself apart by choosing to focus more on the lower lever crew instead of the captain and senior staff. 

This leads to many fun adventures that may not be as high stakes as the other stories, but are no less entertaining. There have already been three seasons of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the fourth season is set to arrive later this summer. 

The series is also worth a watch as it is having a crossover with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds that will mix the worlds of live-action and animation.

20. Star Trek: Prodigy (2383-TBD)

Star Trek: Prodigy was the first fully 3D animated Star Trek series ever and told a story that began five years after the U.S.S. Voyager found its way back home to Earth. In this series, which was aimed for kids, a group of young aliens find an abandoned Starfleet ship called the U.S.S. Protostar and attempt to make it to Starfleet and the Alpha Quadrant from the Delta Quadrant.

Voyager fans will be delighted to know that Kate Mulgrew returns as Kathryn Janeway in this animated series, but not only as herself. She is also an Emergency Training Holographic Advisor that was based on the likeness of the former captain of the U.S.S. Voyager. 

The second season of Star Trek: Prodigy was set to arrive later this year, but it was not only canceled in June, but also removed from Paramount+. There is still hope this show may find a second life on another streaming service or network.

21. Star Trek: Picard (2399-2402)

Star  Trek: Picard is the… well… next generation of Star Trek: The Next Generation as it brings back not only Partick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard, but also many of his former crew members from the beloved series. The story is set 20 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis and we find Picard retired from Starfleet and living at his family’s vineyard in France.

Without spoiling anything, certain events get one of our favorite captains back to work and take him on an adventure through space and time over three seasons and 30 episodes.

The show had its ups and downs, but the third season, in our opinion, stuck the landing and gave us an “emotional, exciting, and ultimately fun journey for Jean-Luc and his family - both old and new - that gives the character the send-off that he has long deserved.”

22. Star Trek: Discovery: Seasons 3 and 4 (3188-TBD)

While Star Trek: Discovery begins around 10 years before Star Trek: The Original Series, the show jumps more than 900 years into the future into the 32nd Century following the events of the second season. The Federation is not in great shape and Captain Michael Burnham and her crew work to bring it back to what it once was.

Star Trek: Discovery is set to end after the upcoming fifth season, which will debut on Paramount+ in 2024.

How to Watch Star Trek by Order of Release

• Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 - 1969)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 - 1974)
• 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 (1984)
• 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)
• 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 (2009)
• Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
• Star Trek Beyond (2016)
• Star Trek: Discovery (2017 - Present)
• Star Trek: Picard (2020 - 2023)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020 - Present)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (2021 - TBA)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022 - Present)

For more, check out our look at the hidden meaning behind Star Trek’s great captains, why Star Trek doesn’t get credit as the first shared universe, if this may be the end of Star Trek’s golden age of streaming, and our favorite classic Star Trek episodes and movies.  

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Screen Rant

Shocking bad batch theory reveals a palpatine experiment that would've made him invincible.

An exciting Bad Batch season 3 theory suggests a sabotaged Palpatine experiment could have made him invincible in the established Star Wars canon.

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, episode 14, "Flash Strike"

• Empire's Project Necromancer may involve the cloned Zillo Beast revealed to still be on Tantiss.
• One surprising theory is that Hemlock's strand-casting could have involved a theory regarding a Palpatine/Zillo hybrid, explaining its presence and continued study.
• The Zillo Beast will likely be set free to help Clone Force 99 sabotage Hemlock's operations.

An exciting new Star Wars theory for The Bad Batch season 3 suggests the true purpose of the Empire's Zillo Beast . Kept within the bowels of the Empire's secret cloning facility on Mount Tantiss, it's been confirmed that the Empire is still holding the massive kaiju-like creature captive. To that end, one has to wonder what the Empire might be planning for the impressive and powerful creature going forward.

The conflict of the Clone Wars awoke one of the last surviving Zillo Beasts on Malastare where it was captured and taken to Coruscant to be studied by the Republic. However, the semi-sentient Zillo Beast ultimately escaped before it was later killed. However, Chancellor Palpatine ordered the creature's body to be taken and studied, and The Bad Batch season 2 confirmed that the newly formed Empire had successfully cloned the Zillo Beast. Now, The Bad Batch season 3 is teasing big things for the creature, and an exciting theory suggests the Zillo Beast may be tied to an off-shoot of Palpatine's Project Necromancer .

Star Wars Movies In Order: How To Watch Release Order, Chronologically & With The TV Shows

The bad batch season 3's zillo beast plot makes no sense, why is the zillo beast on tantiss.

Having returned in The Bad Batch season 2 as a juvenile, it was logical that the Zillo Beast was being held at the Mount Tantiss cloning facility run by Doctor Hemlock. However, the purpose for why it was cloned and what Palpatine wants with the Zillo Beast has never been fully confirmed beyond an implied interest in replicating its durable armor for the Republic's ships (now the Empire's) and that its genetic material could be weaponized in general. Following its breakout and recapture, the cloned Zillo Beast was returned to the planet Weyland and held in Mount Tantiss.

That said, future reveals about Mount Tantiss have made the Zillo Beast's return in The Bad Batch season 3 somewhat odd. It's been revealed that Hemlock is in charge of Project Necromancer , meant to produce a viable Force-sensitive clone for Palpatine to transfer his consciousness into in the event of his original body's death. With this new context, it's hard to see why Hemlock still has an interest in the Zillo Beast and why his science division is still in charge of containing the creature as seen when Omega briefly escapes her cell and sneaks through the facility's walls.

Hemlock's Cloning Experiments Involve The Creation Of Strandcasts

Cloning beyond the original template.

Narratively, it's not hard to see why the Zillo Beast has returned in The Bad Batch season 3. It will likely be used to aid in Omega and Clone Force 99's break-out attempt, dismantling Hemlock's operations and freeing the many clones who became imprisoned test subjects following the rise of the Empire. While its purpose to the Empire remains to be seen, it's worth noting that much of Hemlock's work involves stand-casting, a variation of the cloning process where an original host's genetic template is spliced with other genetic materials to create artificial clones with traits beyond those of the original .

In the case of Project Necromancer, strand-casting was seen as the solution to circumvent the problem of clones lacking force sensitivity. By testing hundreds of different blood samples from clones and searching for the right genetic materials, it was determined that Omega's blood had the traits to ensure that a Palpatine clone could retain its power in the Force without degradation. It's why she's so valuable to Doctor Hemlock and the Empire. In the same vein, this concept also connects to Grogu, Supreme Leader Snoke , and Rey's father Dathan.

As seen in The Mandalorian , Grogu is like Omega in that his blood has a high enough M-count and the right genetic makeup to make him a viable test subject for Project Necromancer. Likewise, both Snoke and Dathan have been identified as strandcasts, albeit ones that were not seen as viable options for Palpatine, Snoke due to his physical deformities and Dathan due to his lack of Force sensitivity. However, perhaps Force sensitivity wasn't the only thing Hemlock was looking for with his strandcast experiments on Tantiss .

Is Hemlock Trying To Create A Clone Body For Palpatine... From the Zillo Beast?

A palpatine/zillo beast hybrid would be insane.

Keeping all this in mind, there is a surprising Bad Batch theory that might just fit regarding the Zillo Beast: perhaps Hemlock was looking to create a strandcast of Emperor Palpatine and the Zillo Beast's genetic DNA . After all, having a body resistant to lightsabers and the ability to absorb energy like a Zillo Beast would likely be seen as beneficial traits in the eyes of the Palpatine, assuming those traits could be isolated and applied to a human Force-sensitive body. In theory, a Zillo Beast/human hybrid body could have made Palpatine even more powerful (and very hard to kill again).

Another factor that may play a role was a brief image of Hemlock's tablet in The Bad Batch season 3, episode 10, just before his conversation with Governor Tarkin . Featuring never-before-seen designs for new trooper armor, perhaps Hemlock was looking to create unique forces of his own using the Zillo Beast's unique durability. This would mirror the future Moff Gideon who was revealed in The Mandalorian season 3 to be creating his own clones on the side while working on Project Necromancer for the Imperial Shadow Council .

The possible destruction of the Tantiss facility could help explain why the Empire's study of the Zillo Beast's genetic material seemingly never goes anywhere in the future of the Star Wars canon.

At any rate, there will hopefully be a greater purpose and reasoning revealed as to why the Zillo Beast has remained on Tantiss, beyond being a convenient way for Clone Force 99 and Omega to take down Hemlock's operations. That said, the possible destruction of the Tantiss facility could help explain why the Empire's study of the Zillo Beast's genetic material seemingly never goes anywhere in the future of the Star Wars canon. Regardless, it will be very exciting to see what happens to the Zillo Beast in The Bad Batch season 3's imminent finale.

The Bad Batch season 3 finale airs May 1st on Disney+

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is an action-adventure animated series set after the events of The Clone Wars, following Clone Force 99 (a.k.a. the Bad Batch.) Finding themselves immune to the brainwashing effects of Order 66, the Bad Batch become mercenaries for hire while outrunning the empire, now seeing them as fugitives of the law.

Star Trek: Discovery Just Brought A Legendary Original Series Episode Back Into The Mix

Let's fly ... away from spoilers . Read no further if you haven't watched the latest episode of "Star Trek: Discovery."

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the strangest of them all? In "Star Trek," that title goes to one of the zaniest concepts ever introduced into the canon: The Mirror Universe. The idea of our alternate selves living completely different lives somewhere out there is no longer the sole domain of perhaps the nerdiest franchise in all of sci-fi (although shows like "For All Mankind," "Foundation," and "3 Body Problem" are creating some stiff competition), the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the best episode of "Community" ever made . Fans might be surprised to find out that many in the scientific community believe the theory is worth discussion these days . But "Trek" put its own unmistakable fingerprints on the multiverse by emphasizing one in particular that stands at odds with the usual Prime Universe -- one that poses a fundamentally moral dilemma between the paragons of Starfleet we know and love, and the absolute worst versions of themselves.

It doesn't come as a huge surprise that "Star Trek: Discovery" would use its final season to travel full circle and return to the Mirror Universe that played such a significant role back in season 1 (even if, ironically, there might be a parallel universe out there where we were able to see  former showrunner Bryan Fuller's more complex and nuanced take on it ). But what's sure to shock and delight longtime fans in episode 5, aptly titled "Mirrors," is a deep-cut reference to arguably one of the most influential hours of "Trek" ever made, and the one that introduced the Mirror Universe in the first place.

Read more: Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

A Different Kind Of Black Mirror

There might not be any sinister goatees or chest-baring V-necks in sight throughout this episode of "Discovery," but the lasting effects of "The Original Series" episode "Mirror, Mirror" are plain to see. Upon entering the wormhole that took scavengers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) into multidimensional space, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) discover the wrecked remains of their ship ... alongside the still-functioning husk of a familiar-looking Starfleet vessel, emblazoned with the name, "ISS Enterprise." For those who haven't brushed up on their 1967 "Trek" lore (and, quite frankly, shame on you if that's the case), Burnham helpfully points out that this isn't exactly the same starship captained by the fabled James T. Kirk thousands of years ago. It's one that has somehow found its way from the depths of the Mirror Universe (the exact specifics are oddly brushed aside) and remained stranded ever since.

But then "Discovery" goes a step further and hearkens back to "Mirror, Mirror" more thematically. While exploring the derelict ship, Burnham and Book stumble upon information about the previous occupants of the ISS Enterprise and specifically that of a certain Kelpian who rose from a slave to a leader in his own right. That, of course, refers to none other than the Mirror version of Saru (Doug Jones) seen in season 3, whom Emperor Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) saved from certain death and pointed towards his proper path. Where the ending of "Mirror, Mirror" suggests that Mirror Spock is still "a man of integrity" despite the ruthlessness of the Empire he serves, "Discovery" reconfirms that even the comically rampant evil of the Mirror Universe is no match for the stubborn idealism of "Trek."

New episodes of "Star Trek: Discovery" stream on Paramount+ every Thursday.

Read the original article on SlashFilm