original star trek last episode

• Top '70s Hard Rock Albums
• Last Touring Original VH Member
• Continued After Singer Died
• Hagar Explains Drummer Change
• David Gilmour Album Review
• Win a Chris Jericho Cruise

50 Years Ago: The Final Episode of ‘Star Trek’ Airs

Summing up NBC’s bemusement at the success of Star Trek 's original series, the final new episode that aired on June 3, 1969, was shrouded in disappointment.

“Turnabout Intruder” had been intended for broadcast on March 28 of that year, as the 24th and last part of the show’s third season. However, the death of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had forced a change in schedule. As a result, the 79th episode was tagged on to the start of a series of reruns.

Ironically, it was more likely to have been seen by its target audience on its new date, being aired at 7.30PM on a Tuesday. Season 3 had been hampered by a move to 10PM on Fridays, a decision that helped speed the show to its grave. And that appears to have been how NBC wanted it – a famous letter campaign had saved Star Trek from cancellation after Season 2, with the network saying it received 116,000 letters while estimates suggest it may have been a million or more. Yet NBC had slashed the show’s production budget, screened it on fewer of its affiliates, and left creator Gene Roddenberry in a position where he seemed not to care anymore. That all paved the way for what many felt was a lackluster final season.

“While NBC paid lip service to expanding Star Trek 's audience, it slashed our production budget until it was actually ten percent lower than it had been in our first season,” Nichelle Nicholls, who played Comms Officer Uhura, said in 1994. “This is why in the third season you saw fewer outdoor location shots, for example. Top writers, top guest stars, top anything you needed was harder to come by. Thus, Star Trek 's demise became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I can assure you, that is exactly as it was meant to be.”

In his 2015 book These Are the Voyages: TOS Season 3 , Marc Cushman reported that NBC had in fact wanted to air the season at 7.30PM on Tuesdays, but that would have involved triggering a penalty clause in comedian Jerry Lewis’s contract since his show had the slot. Realizing the figured didn’t add up, and that Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In made more financial sense to take the Monday-night slot, the network chose comedy over science fiction; and once that decision was made, it was a case of minimizing the financial risk on Star Trek ’s final voyages.

Nevertheless, the Season 3 opener “Spock’s Brain” (the first to feature blue title credits instead of yellow) had been top in the Friday time slot and several further episodes came second. The next major problem was the significant decline in story quality; even though new producer Fred Frieburger’s attempts to pursue deeper and more thought-provoking issues, he found himself stuck between NBC’s conservative values and a series of decisions taken by Roddenberry that appeared to be a result of his bad feeling about the loss of a prime broadcast slot.

“I thought the worst experience of my life was when I was shot down over Nazi Germany,” Freiberger said in 1991. “A Jewish boy from the Bronx parachuted in to the middle of 80 million Nazis. Then I joined Star Trek . I was only in a prison camp for two years, but my travail with Star Trek has lasted 25 years ... and counting.”

In reaction to the increasingly negative feeling, leading members of the cast found themselves in increasing disagreement -- not for the first time. While Leonard Nimoy frequently engaged in arguments with the writers over how his character Spock was being developed, William Shatner , playing Captain James T. Kirk, appeared to want to redirect large portions of the plots.

“Leonard was more interested in [protecting] the character of Spock; I think Bill was more interested in the series,” James Doohan, who played Chief Engineer Scott said later. Cushman wrote that Doohan was the only person who genuinely thought Star Trek would get a fourth season, and couldn’t believe that “such a smart, well-done show would be pulled off the air.”

“Turnabout Intruder” doesn’t always appear in the list of worst episodes, but it doesn't appear in many lists of the best either. Plotted by Roddenberry and written by Arthur Singer (the new script editor who was described as being “bemused” by the series), it tells the story of a reunion between Kir and former lover Dr. Janice Lester (Sandra Smith), who appears to be suffering from radiation sickness after being rescued from an archaeological expedition to the planet Camus II. Using an ancient machine discovered there, Lester swaps bodies with Kirk and attempts to take over the USS Enterprise . While the swap becomes unstable, the crew become gradually more suspicious of their apparent captain’s behavior which Kirk, in the body of Lester, attempts to persuade his friends of his real identity and retake his command and his body.

Critics cite Shatner’s poor acting as he plays the role of a woman, overacting moments of doubt and insecurity. They also argue that Lester’s unhinged character appeared to suggest that women were incapable of commanding a starship and therefore carries a misogynistic message. Defenders, on the other hand, say that Lester’s behavior is down to what’s happened to her and is not simply a consequence of gender, and also say that the idea that men and women could exchange bodies is actually a strongly equalist concept. Regardless, the combination of weak writing, low budget and unhappy production team render “Turnabout Intruder” far less satisfying than it could have been, and it’s a watered-down way to end the original series run.

In 2018, Shatner looked back at the negative experience of the third season. “"We were being canceled every year. … They were canceling, and they weren't canceling,” he said. “The third year, we limped along Friday nights.”

Once it was over, he and most of his colleagues struggled to find work, and he wound up traveling the U.S. staging his own performances. “I had a truck," he recalled. "I put a cab on the back of the truck, took my dog and I drove across the country. I toured these 13 weeks, lived in the back of the thing. I did star in Star Trek , and I was living in the back of a truck!”

“There are a lot of people in the sciences who will tell you that it was Star Trek that got them interested in science,” Nimoy said in 2006. “I think that's one of the things that people sort of take for granted and don't take particular note of.” However, he admitted, “it was a struggle. I thought we were doing some good and interesting work, but it was a struggle. ... I don't like to point a finger, but I don't think the network really understood what they had.”

Of course, it wasn’t over. A total of 79 episodes was just about enough to make the series attractive for syndication; and within a year, as Star Trek  was aired in various time slots and attracted new audiences, NBC finally understood what it had. After many of those vocal fans began organizing conventions, the network responded with the animated series, followed by the development of the live-action show  Star Trek: Phase Two – which eventually became Star Trek: The Motion Picture and created its own problems for the future of the franchise.

The Best Rock Movie From Every Year: 1955-2018

More from ultimate classic rock.

• Show Spoilers
• Night Vision
• Sticky Header
• Highlight Links

Follow TV Tropes

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/StarTrekS3E24TurnaboutIntruder

Star Trek S3 E24 "Turnabout Intruder" » Recap

Original air date: June 3, 1969

The last episode of the original Star Trek series. It's known for being the most overtly sexist episode of the show and certainly not a worthy Series Finale , and many fans prefer to think of the previous episode, " All Our Yesterdays ", as the true finale. Of course at that time an episode intended as a series finale was quite rare. But hey, it's not the last we'll be hearing from these characters.

Alternatively, you may regard it as the Star Trek version of Freaky Friday .

The Enterprise goes to some planet to rescue the two survivors of a doomed archaeological expedition. Dr. Arthur Coleman seems to be fine, but Dr. Janice Lester is unconscious. (One wonders if the writers forgot there used to be another "Janice" on this show or if they averted One-Steve Limit on purpose.) Shock of shocks, Dr. Lester turns out to be an ex-girlfriend of Kirk. After Kirk is left alone with her, she comes to and they chat about olden times. It becomes apparent that they had some serious Belligerent Sexual Tension going on back in the day.

And then Lester says a line. Among Trekkies, the meaning of this line is as hotly contested as the meaning of the Second Amendment in the US.

Lester: Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women. It isn't fair. Kirk: No, it isn't.

• A popular alternative reading is that it refers to Kirk being unable to carry on his relationship with her after he became captain of the Enterprise . This does make sense within the context of this scene, but makes the rest of the episode somewhat nonsensical.
• This does raise the question of why Kirk agreed with her. Given that she's an old flame who went crazy when she didn't become a captain, the answer might be subtextual: he's not agreeing with her, but rather saying her mental illness and delusions are "not fair"; she did not deserve this fate. He chooses to be ambiguous in order to tactfully avoid arguing with her. Or Kirk thought she meant the first one, and was agreeing to that statement, when she was actually just talking crazy-talk .
• Leonard Nimoy stated flatly and unequivocally in interviews that Gene Roddenberry intended for this to mean women can't be captains. There's no reason not to believe this given Gene's attitude at the time. Nichelle Nichols revealed that a scene in which Uhura took the helm (as she'd done in a couple of first season episodes) was rewritten so that she didn't. Nichols furiously "pitched a bitch" at Gene and got told "You can't have females running a man's ship."

In any case, the idea that women can't be starship captains is never mentioned again , a female starship captain was seen in Star Trek IV , there was later an entire series about one , and both Enterprise and Discovery featured female captains predating this episode.

Janice Lester plugs Kirk into an ancient machine which causes a "Freaky Friday" Flip . Now in Kirk's body, Lester quickly reveals herself to be Ax-Crazy , supplying us with some of Shatner's trademark evil acting . Meanwhile, Lester's body is unconscious once more. Lester-in-Kirk prepares to kill Kirk-in-Lester, but the rest of the landing party walks in at the wrong moment. Lester, of course, pretends to be Kirk, beginning a Tyrant Takes the Helm plot. In Sickbay, Lester-in-Kirk meets with Dr. Coleman, with whom she is in cahoots. It's revealed that Lester murdered her expedition and Coleman was a willing accomplice. After McCoy and a suddenly brunette Nurse Chapel arrive, Lester-in-Kirk announces that Kirk-in-Lester is being placed under the care of Dr. Coleman. McCoy protests that this violates Starfleet protocol since he is Chief Medical Officer, but Lester-in-Kirk ignores this. By the way, Lester-in-Kirk frankly talks about her scheme in Captains Logs . Does no one ever actually read those things? Even weirder, later we hear Kirk-in-Lester do the log, which makes even less sense.

After an escape attempt, Kirk-in-Lester is placed in solitary confinement. Spock visits and Kirk-in-Lester explains what happened. Spock performs a Vulcan mind meld (or at least a mind touch), which convinces him, but he notes that it won't count for anything in the way of evidence. note  Evidence obtained by telepathy is inadmissible in court because it's considered hearsay. Apparently this is still true in the 23rd Century. And Vulcans can absolutely lie, given a logical reason to do so. . . though what a "logical reason" would be in this case is unclear. Spock tries to help Kirk-in-Lester escape, but they're caught and Lester-in-Kirk has Spock charged with mutiny. At a court martial, Spock states his case. Kirk-in-Lester is then questioned in a very condescending, chauvinistic manner by Lester-in-Kirk. When Spock refuses to drop his charges, Lester-in-Kirk has a Villainous Breakdown and goes into a yelling tirade. Her new favorite word is "mutiny".

During a recess, McCoy and Scotty discuss the fact that Kirk is Not Himself and agree they'll have to move against him. This becomes an Engineered Public Confession , as the corridor was bugged (rare surveillance competence from Starfleet). Lester-in-Kirk decides she has the authority to pronounce a sentence of death for Spock, McCoy , and Scotty. Sulu and Chekov point out the death penalty is reserved for General Order 4 note  They probably meant General Order 7 . , but the Red Shirts are totes okay with this. When Lester-in-Kirk is back on the bridge, she and Kirk's essences briefly switch places again. Realizing the transfer is weakening, Lester-in-Kirk goes to Coleman and tells him to kill Kirk-in-Lester to ensure she won't go back into her own body. They set off to collect Kirk-in-Lester from the brig, but a scuffle ensues. In the midst of it, Kirk and Lester's essences slid back into their own bodies permanently.

The episode wraps up with an Alas, Poor Villain ending, in which we learn Coleman was in love with Lester. (So he helped the woman he was in love with turn into a man? That could say a couple of things about him. ) Kirk delivers the last line of the series: "Her life could have been as rich as any woman's, if only... if only..." The meaning of this line is debated almost as much as the one from earlier. Does "if only" mean "if only she kept to her proper gender role" or "if only society hadn't forced her into a gender role she hated"? Or both, perhaps? Make up your own mind.

This episode's title is a play on the title of Turnabout , a Thorne Smith body swap comedy about a husband and wife. For many years, it was a popular bit of Star Trek trivia that Sandra Smith (Dr. Lester) was the only person other than William Shatner to officially portray Captain Kirk. This remained true until 2009 . In the world of fanfiction, Dr. Lester would find a niche in Slash Fic , her story providing a canon setup for Jumping the Gender Barrier . Slashers have also had a lot of fun imagining what Spock saw during that telepathic contact to convince him Kirk was in Lester's body.

Turnabout Tropes:

• Ambiguous Gender Identity : Lester vehemently hates being a woman, calling it an indignity and enjoying getting physically handy with Kirk when the tables are turned as it were. Whilst the case is pretty good for her secretly being trans, the argument is there for her also being gender fluid, as when she ended up in Kirk's body she continued to perform stereotypical female acts such as filing her nails. Needless to say, we weren't going to get the answers on a show made in the 1960s.
• Anti-Mutiny : Slowly the entire bridge staff turns against Lester-in-Kirk. First Spock believes Kirk when he telepathically discovers he's telling the truth. Then during Spock's mutiny court-martial McCoy and Scotty conspire (albeit reluctantly) to take over the ship as "Kirk" has clearly gone mad and is unfit to command the ship. Then Chekov and Sulu, both horrified at "Kirk"'s actions, just stop following Lester-in-Kirk's orders and ignore her.
• Ax-Crazy : Lester.
• Back-Alley Doctor : Coleman was drummed out of Starfleet Medical for dangerous incompetence.

• Continuity Nod : Kirk (while in Lester's body) recalls the events of "The Empath" and "The Tholian Web" to Spock. Additionally, Sulu outright cites General Order Four from "The Menagerie" after Lester-In-Kirk orders that Spock, McCoy , Scotty, and Kirk-in-Lester be executed. note  The Federation only has one crime for which the death penalty is legal: Unsanctioned visits to Talos IV .
• Damn You, Muscle Memory! : While in Kirk's body, Lester is obviously uncomfortable having a Shirtless Scene , holding up their command shirt over the chest area.
• Deadpan Snarker : Spock, mostly just to rile up Lester-in-Kirk. Spock : May I point out....'Captain'...
• Spock likely weakened it deliberately via another mind-meld.
• Diagnosis: Knowing Too Much : Lester-in-Kirk tries to do this to Kirk-in-Lester, as "Lester" (or at least what the crew thinks is Lester) already has had a history of mental instability, and "her" claims, that "she" is actually a body-swapped Captain Kirk, might fall on deaf ears as mad ravings. Unfortunately, Lester-in-Kirk takes the false act that her former body is dangerous too far (by knocking Kirk-in-Lester unconscious when "he" is already up and about, but is unarmed and has no intention to attack or harm anyone), alerting Spock and McCoy to a disparity.
• Didn't Think This Through : Lester pitches a huge fit when one of her orders is questioned... because it goes against Starfleet law . Did she really think that being a starship captain would make her some kind of untouchable dictator, or consider that even captains have to answer to someone?
• Early-Installment Weirdness : Despite being the last episode in the Original Series, the episode's apparent sexism regarding women not being captains is this for the rest of the franchise, given the numerous female captains which have turned up in both films and spin-offs - even those set before TOS .
• Female Misogynist : According to Kirk, Lester feels "intense hatred of her own womanhood." At the start of the episode, Lester herself speaks of "the indignity of being a woman," and declares that, "it’s better to be dead than to live alone in the body of a woman."
• "Freaky Friday" Flip : Kirk and Lester's bodies are swapped.
• Future Society, Present Values : It's revealed (maybe—see above) that women aren't allowed to be captains in Starfleet, in the 23rd century. A female character who tries to get around this rule by using alien technology to switch bodies with Kirk is portrayed as being a horribly misguided fanatic.
• Gender Bender : Kirk's mind is moved into a woman's body, and her mind is moved into his.
• Grand Theft Me : Lester steals Kirk's body.
• Insistent Terminology : Lester-in-Kirk: You claim that, that you are Captain James T. Kirk? Kirk-in-Lester: No. I am not Captain Kirk. That is very apparent. I claim that whatever it is that makes James Kirk a living being special to himself is being held here in this body. Lester-in-Kirk: Oh. However, as I understand it, I am Dr. Janice Lester. Kirk-in-Lester: That's very clever, but I didn't say it. I said, the body of James Kirk is being used by Dr. Janice Lester. Lester-in-Kirk: A subtlety that somehow escapes me.
• Just Following Orders : All of the security guards shown don't seem to have any objections to what Lester-in-Kirk tells them to do, even if it means executing the First Officer, Chief Engineer and Chief Medical Officer.
• Kangaroo Court : Lester-in-Kirk holds a show trial to shut Spock up for good. It backfires on her spectacularly.
• Karma Houdini : The episode ends with a crying Dr. Lester being escorted to Sickbay while everyone feels sorry for her. It's possible that she (and Coleman) were later punished for their actions, which include mass murder, but it's certainly not shown or even implied.
• Large Ham : This episode possibly has Shatner at his hammiest , which is really saying quite a bit. On the other hand, his performance as Lester-In-Kirk, and steady emotional collapse throughout the episode is quite convincing evidence that Shatner isn't given enough credit as an actor.
• Make It Look Like an Accident : Dr. Coleman sends his staff into a dangerously radioactive location, then feigns ignorance as to the cause of their illness and eventual death, thus getting away with multiple murders.
• Man, I Feel Like a Woman : Inverted, as while Lester might hate Kirk, she still gropes his abs and jawline.
• Out-of-Character Alert : For numerous things, actually. First, "Kirk" hits "Lester" hard enough to knock her down. Then he disintegrates into screaming hysterically at Spock and accusing him of mutiny. When he orders the "traitors" executed, it completely cements the suspicion in every officer's mind. Sulu and Chekov flat out refuse to follow his orders after that pronouncement. Scotty even tells McCoy while trying to convince him to side with Spock that he has seen Captain Kirk in all sorts of moods, but never "red-faced with hysteria".
• Not counting the ones listed in the summary, there's one that became famous due to being cited in the book Star Trek Lives - at one point, Kirk leaves the bridge going the wrong way . (The door is in the opposite direction.) When the episode was filmed, Shatner joked with the director about how, even if it's the last episode, there was no need to throw Kirk into the vacuum of space, and then tried to have the blocking changed (unsuccessfully, though he did accurately predict that the fans would notice).
• Also, during the hearing, the crew did not think to try the age old trick of asking Kirk/Lester and Lester/Kirk questions that only the real Kirk should know the answer to. It wasn't enough for Kirk in Lester's body to know about their episode with the Tholians and the Vians (Spock points out that both incidents were on record so Janice could have looked them up). But it was enough to convince Spock to make telepathic contact and discover the truth. What is never explained is how Lester in Kirk's body could have access to all of Kirk's personal authorization codes and passwords, things that are likely solely memorized and never kept anywhere written down and probably changed frequently. Without this sort of info, her plan couldn't have succeeded for long.
• Before taking over Kirk's body, Lester was the leader of an archaeological expedition. Was she incompetent in that leadership position as well, or is being a starship captain "different" for some reason? note  Probably. Would you take someone from an obscure archaeological dig and hand them the keys to a battleship? (Picard doesn't count because he's had extensive training in both fields.)
• Pronoun Trouble : When Lester-in-Kirk and Coleman are talking amongst themselves, they seem to have trouble settling on what pronoun to use in reference to Kirk-in-Lester.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend : Kirk usually has amicable exes, but he and Lester had a toxic relationship.
• Not that Lester was playing with a full deck to begin with, but she becomes increasingly unhinged as the episode goes on, due to Spock and McCoy foiling her attempts to get rid of Kirk.
• Contrasted by Kirk-in-Lester, who is justifiably anguished by Lester's actions, but nonetheless keeps calm and rational and discreetly tries to get Spock to realize what's going on.
• Sarcasm Mode : Spock referring to "Kirk" as "Captain" in the most scathing sarcasm a Vulcan can muster.
• Temporary Substitute : For this, the final episode, Uhura takes the day off and is replaced by a Lieutenant Lisa. ( Nichelle Nichols had a singing engagement that conflicted with the shooting schedule.)
• Tyrant Takes the Helm : Lester takes over Kirk's body and abuses the captain’s power. Things only get worse when “Kirk” tries to execute the real Kirk who’s trapped in Lester’s body, Kirk, Bones, Spock, and Scotty who start suspecting “Kirk”.
• Undying Loyalty : Sulu and Chekov accept Spock's statement that "Kirk" isn't Kirk after Lester attempts to have her detractors executed, and make up their minds that no matter what she threatens them with, they will not assist this person impersonating their captain with her plans.
• Villainous Breakdown : Lester gets these whenever someone contests her orders. Even people who "outrank" her.
• We Interrupt This Program : Was a Real Life victim of this trope. Dwight D. Eisenhower died the day "Turnabout Intruder" was originally supposed to air. It didn't air until two months later and, as you can imagine, died in the ratings (of course, the show was already canceled anyway).
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl : Lester-as-Kirk hitting Kirk-as-Lester to keep him quiet aroused Spock and McCoy's suspicions.
• Star Trek S3 E23 "All Our Yesterdays"
• Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Important Links

• Action Adventure
• Commercials
• Crime & Punishment
• Professional Wrestling
• Speculative Fiction
• Sports Story
• Animation (Western)
• Music And Sound Effects
• Print Media
• Sequential Art
• Tabletop Games
• Applied Phlebotinum
• Characterization
• Characters As Device
• Narrative Devices
• British Telly
• The Contributors
• Creator Speak
• Derivative Works
• Laws And Formulas
• Show Business
• Split Personality
• Truth And Lies
• Truth In Television
• Fate And Prophecy
• Image Fixer
• New Articles
• Edit Reasons
• Isolated Pages
• Images List
• Recent Videos
• Crowner Activity
• Un-typed Pages
• Recent Page Type Changes
• Trope Entry
• Character Sheet
• Playing With
• Creating New Redirects
• Cross Wicking
• Tips for Editing
• Text Formatting Rules
• Handling Spoilers
• Administrivia
• Trope Repair Shop
• Image Pickin'

Advertisement:

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series (referred to as Star Trek prior to any spin-offs) is the first Star Trek series. The first episode of the show aired on 6 September 1966 on CTV in Canada, followed by a 8 September 1966 airing on NBC in America. The show was created by Gene Roddenberry as a " Wagon Train to the Stars". Star Trek was set in the 23rd century and featured the first three years of the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk .

Star Trek was later informally dubbed The Original Series , or TOS, after several spin-offs aired. The show lasted three seasons until canceled in 1969 . When the show first aired on TV, and until lowering budget issues in its third season resulted in a noticeable drop in quality episodes and placed in a 10 pm Friday night death slot by the network, Star Trek regularly performed respectably in its time slot. After it was canceled and went into syndication , however, its popularity exploded. It featured themes such as a Utopian society and racial equality, and the first African-American officer in a recurring role.

Ten years later, Star Trek: The Motion Picture reunited the cast on the big screen aboard a refurbished USS Enterprise . They appeared in five subsequent films, ending with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991, during production of the spin-off series Star Trek: The Next Generation and shortly before Gene Roddenberry's death. Several original series characters also appeared in the seventh movie, Star Trek Generations , and in other Star Trek productions.

• 1 Opening credits
• 2.1 Starring
• 2.2 Also starring
• 2.3 Co-stars
• 3 Production crew
• 4.1 First pilot
• 4.2 Season 1
• 4.3 Season 2
• 4.4 Season 3
• 5.1 Concept
• 5.2 The first pilot
• 5.3 The second pilot
• 5.4 The series begins
• 5.5 The first season
• 5.6 Syndication
• 5.7 Reception
• 5.8 Remastered
• 6 Related topics
• 8 External links

Opening credits [ ]

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

Main cast [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Captain Kirk

Jeffrey Hunter , who portrayed Captain Pike , was the only star listed in the original pilot 's opening credits.

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

DeForest Kelley was listed as a co-star from 1966 through 1967 before appearing in the opening credits as "also starring" from 1967 through 1969 .

Co-stars [ ]

• James Doohan as Scotty
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• George Takei as Sulu
• Walter Koenig as Chekov ( 1967 - 1969 )
• Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Christine Chapel
• Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand

Production crew [ ]

• Gene Roddenberry – Creator, Writer, Producer, Executive Producer
• Gene L. Coon – Writer, Producer
• John Meredyth Lucas – Writer, Producer, Director
• Fred Freiberger – Producer (1968-69)
• Robert H. Justman – Associate Producer (Season 1-2), Co-Producer (Season 3), First Assistant Director (two pilots)
• D.C. Fontana – Writer, Script Consultant (1967-68)
• Steven W. Carabatsos – Writer, Story Consultant (1966)
• John D.F. Black – Associate Producer, Writer, Story Editor (1966)
• Arthur H. Singer – Story Consultant (1968-69)
• Byron Haskin – Associate Producer (first pilot)
• Walter "Matt" Jefferies – Production Designer, Art Director
• William E. Snyder – Director of Photography (first pilot)
• Ernest Haller – Director of Photography (second pilot)
• Jerry Finnerman – Director of Photography (61 episodes, 1966-1968)
• Keith Smith – Director of Photography (1 episode, 1967)
• Al Francis – Director of Photography (16 episodes, 1968-1969), Camera Operator (61 episodes, 1966-1968)
• Jim Rugg – Supervisor of Special Effects
• Rolland M. Brooks – Art Director (34 episodes, 1965-1967)
• Fred B. Phillips – Make-up Artist
• Robert Dawn – Make-up Artist (second pilot)
• William Ware Theiss – Costume Designer
• Gregg Peters – First Assistant Director (Season 1), Unit Production Manager (Season 2-3), Associate Producer (Season 3)
• Claude Binyon, Jr. – Assistant Director (third season)

Episode list [ ]

• List of TOS episodes by airdate
• List of TOS remastered episodes by airdate

First pilot [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

TOS Season 1 , 29 episodes:

Season 2 [ ]

TOS Season 2 , 26 episodes:

Season 3 [ ]

TOS Season 3 , 24 episodes:

Behind the scenes [ ]

Concept [ ].

Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry, whose interest in science fiction dated back to the 1940s when he came into contact with Astounding Stories . Roddenberry's first produced science fiction story was The Secret Weapon of 117 , which aired in 1956 on the Chevron Theatre anthology show. By 1963 Roddenberry was producing his first television series, The Lieutenant , at MGM .

In 1963, MGM was of the opinion that "true-to-life" television dramas were becoming less popular and an action-adventure show would be more profitable (this prediction turned out to be right, and led to series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E ). Roddenberry had already been working on a science fiction concept called Star Trek since 1960 , and when he told MGM about his ideas, they were willing to take a look at them. As the production of The Lieutenant came to an end, Roddenberry delivered his first Star Trek draft to MGM. The studio was, however, not enthusiastic about the concept, and a series was never produced.

Roddenberry tried to sell his " wagon train to the stars " format to several production studios afterward, but to no avail. In 1964 , it was rumored that Desilu was interested in buying a new television series. Desilu was a much smaller company than MGM, but Roddenberry took his chances, greatly aided with the help of Desilu Executive Herb Solow . This led to a three-year deal with Desilu in April 1964 .

The first attempt to sell the Star Trek format to broadcasting network CBS (Desilu had a first proposal deal with the network) failed. CBS chose another science fiction project, Irwin Allen 's more family-oriented Lost in Space instead of Roddenberry's more cerebral approach. But in May 1964 , NBC 's Vice-President of Programming Mort Werner agreed to give Roddenberry the chance to write three story outlines, one of which NBC would select to turn into a pilot.

One of the submitted story lines, dated 29 June 1964 , was an outline for " The Cage ", and this was the story picked up by NBC. Now, the daunting task that Roddenberry and his crew faced was to develop the Star Trek universe from scratch. Roddenberry recruited many people around him to help think up his version of the future. The RAND Corporation's Harvey P. Lynn acted as a scientific consultant, Pato Guzman was hired as art director, with Matt Jefferies as an assisting production designer. This phase of creativity and brainstorming lasted throughout the summer, until in the last week of September 1964 the final draft of the "The Cage" script was delivered to NBC, after which shooting of the pilot was approved.

The first pilot [ ]

In early October, preparations for shooting "The Cage" began. A few changes in the production crew were made: Roddenberry hired Morris Chapnick , who had worked with him on The Lieutenant , as his assistant. Pato Guzman left to return to Chile and was replaced by Franz Bachelin . Matt Jefferies finalized the design for the Enterprise and various props and interiors. By November 1964 , the sets were ready to be constructed on stages Culver Studios Stage 14 , 15 , and 16 . Roddenberry was not happy with the stages, since they had uneven floors and were not soundproof, as Culver Studios had been established in the silent movie era when soundproofing had not been an issue to consider. Eventually, in 1966 , the rest of the series was shot on Paramount stages 9 and 10 , which were in better shape.

Casting of the characters was not a problem, apart from the lead role of Captain Pike (still known as "Captain April " at this point, later renamed "Captain Winter" before finally choosing "Pike") who Roddenberry convinced Jeffrey Hunter to play. Leonard Nimoy ( Spock ) had worked with Roddenberry on The Lieutenant . Majel Barrett , also a familiar face from The Lieutenant , got the part of the ship's female first officer, Number One . Veteran character actor John Hoyt , who had worked on many science fiction and fantasy projects before, was chosen to play the role of Doctor Phil Boyce . Young Peter Duryea and Laurel Goodwin were hired as José Tyler and Yeoman J.M. Colt , respectively. The extras were cast from a diversity of ethnic groups, which was significant because integration was not a usual occurrence in 1960s television, and segregation was still a reality in the United States.

To produce the pilot episode, Robert H. Justman was hired as assistant director; he had worked on The Outer Limits shortly before. Makeup artist Fred Phillips was brought in as well, whose first job it was to create Spock's ears. Another veteran from The Outer Limits was producer-director Byron Haskin , who joined as associate producer. On 27 November 1964 , the first scenes of "The Cage" (or "The Menagerie," as it was briefly known), were shot. Filming was scheduled to be eleven days, however the production went highly over budget and over schedule, resulting in sixteen shooting days and US$164,248 plus expenses.

But there were still a lot of visual effects to be made. An eleven-foot filming model of the USS Enterprise , designed by Matt Jefferies, was built by Richard Datin , Mel Keys , and Vern Sion in Volmer Jensen 's model shop , and was delivered to the Howard Anderson Company on 29 December 1964 .

In February 1965 , the final version of "The Cage" was delivered at NBC and screened in New York City. NBC officials liked the first pilot. Desilu's Herb Solow says that NBC was surprised by how realistic it looked, and that it was "the most fantastic thing we've ever seen." The reason the pilot was rejected was because it was believed that it would attract only a small audience, and they wanted more action and adventure. They also had problems with the "satanic" Spock and the female first officer (Number One). However, NBC was convinced that Star Trek could be made into a television series, and that NBC itself had been at fault for choosing the "The Cage" script from the original three stories pitched. Also, after spending US$630,000 on "The Cage" (the most expensive TV pilot at the time), they didn't want to have their money wasted. NBC then made the unprecedented move to order a second pilot.

The second pilot [ ]

For the second pilot, NBC requested three story outlines again. These were " Where No Man Has Gone Before " by Samuel A. Peeples , and " Mudd's Women " and " The Omega Glory " by Roddenberry. Although it was the most expensive of the three, NBC chose " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", as it had the most action and most outer space spectacle. However, the other two premises were also made into episodes of the series later.

Filming the second pilot began in July 1965 , and took nine days to complete. The entire cast of " The Cage " was replaced except Spock. Jeffrey Hunter chose not to reprise his role as Captain Pike, mostly by the advice of his wife, who felt that "science fiction ruins her husband's career". Roddenberry wanted both Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord for the role of the new captain, however both declined. Finally William Shatner , who had previous science fiction experience acting in episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits , was chosen. The new captain was named James R. Kirk (later renamed James T. Kirk).

For the role of the chief medical officer, Roddenberry chose veteran actor Paul Fix . Canadian actor James Doohan got the role of chief engineer Scott , and young Japanese-American George Takei was featured as ship's physicist Sulu . The latter two reprised their roles in the upcoming series, though Sulu was a helmsman in the series. Other actors considered for being regulars were Lloyd Haynes as communications officer Alden and Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith , but neither of them were re-hired after the pilot.

Many of the production staff were replaced. Robert Dawn served as head make-up artist, however Fred Phillips returned to the position in the series itself. Academy Award winner cinematographer Ernest Haller came out of semi-retirement to work as the director of photography. Associate producer Byron Haskin was replaced by Robert H. Justman , who now shared double duties as producer and assistant director.

The Enterprise model was updated for the second pilot, and many new outer space effects shots were made, most of which were reused in the series itself. The sets were also updated a bit, most notably the main bridge and the transporter room. Most of the uniforms, props, and sets were reused from " The Cage ", however some new props (including the never-seen-again phaser rifle ) and a brand new matte painting (the planet Delta Vega ) were made specially for this episode.

" Where No Man Has Gone Before " was accepted by NBC and the first season of a regular series was ordered for broadcasting in the 1966-67 television season. History was made.

The series begins [ ]

Preparation for the first regular season began in early 1966 . All the Enterprise interior sets were updated, as well as the introduction of brand new uniforms. The look of the show became more colorful and more vivid. The Enterprise model was also updated once more. Also, the entire production was moved from Desilu's Culver City studios to the main Gower Street studio's Stage 9 and 10 ( Paramount Stage 31 and 32 from 1967 onward) in Hollywood.

Kirk (Shatner) and Spock (Nimoy) were kept as the series stars, with Grace Lee Whitney joining the two as Yeoman Janice Rand (replacing Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith). Whitney had worked with Roddenberry a year before on an unsold pilot titled Police Story . Publicity photos promoting the new series were made at this time, with the three of them, mostly using props left from the two pilots (most notably the aforementioned phaser rifle). Shatner and Nimoy wore their new uniforms on these photographs, while Whitney had to wear an old, pilot version.

Scott (Doohan) and Sulu (Takei) were also kept, the latter becoming the ship's helmsman instead of physicist. Two additions made the Enterprise main crew complete: DeForest Kelley was hired to play the new chief medical officer, Leonard McCoy , as Roddenberry had known him from previous projects, including the aforementioned Police Story . Actress Nichelle Nichols got the role of communications officer Uhura , who became a symbol of the racial and gender diversity of the show. Nichols was a last minute addition, weeks before filming began on the first regular episode.

Jerry Finnerman became the new director of photography, while Fred Phillips, Matt Jefferies, and Rolland M. Brooks returned to their former positions. Writer John D.F. Black was brought in as the second associate producer (next to Justman). While Roddenberry and Black handled the script and story issues, Justman was in charge of the physical aspects of production.

Filming of the first regular episode, " The Corbomite Maneuver " began on 24 May 1966 . Finally Star Trek debuted on NBC with a "Sneak Preview" episode at 8:30 pm (EST) on 8 September 1966 . NBC chose " The Man Trap " (the fifth episode in production order) to air first, mainly because they felt it was more of a "traditional monster story" and featured more action.

The first season [ ]

In August 1966 , several changes were made in the Star Trek production staff. Roddenberry stepped down as line producer and became the executive producer. His replacement was Gene L. Coon , who also regularly contributed to the series as a writer. While Black had also left the series, story editor Steven W. Carabatsos came in, sharing story duties with Roddenberry and Coon. To handle post-production, Edward K. Milkis was brought in by Justman. Carabatsos had left Star Trek near the end of the season, and was replaced by D.C. Fontana , formerly Roddenberry's secretary and a writer for the series.

Syndication [ ]

• See : Syndication

Due to the overall length of the episodes of The Original Series , several minutes of each episode are frequently cut during the show's reruns, notably on the Sci-Fi Channel . Starting in April 2006 , the G4 network began airing the full length episodes in "Uncut Marathons" on Saturdays. G4 stopped airing these full-length versions in November 2006, and has discontinued its run of Star Trek 2.0 , which was a trivia-oriented and interactive version of the show for the viewers.

For current airings see Where to watch .

Reception [ ]

The Original Series has been nominated for and won a number of awards over the years. Some of the awards include:

• The series was nominated for thirteen Emmy Awards during its run, but did not win any.
• It was nominated eight times for the "Best Dramatic Presentation" Hugo Award , sweeping the nominees in 1968. It won twice, and Roddenberry won a special award in 1968.
• The 2003 "Pop Culture Award" in the TV Land Awards .
• The 2005 Saturn Award for "Best DVD Retro Television Release."

Aaron Harberts and James Frain cited TOS as their favorite Star Trek series. ( AT : " O Discovery, Where Art Thou? ")

Remastered [ ]

On 31 August 2006 , CBS Paramount Television announced that, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek , the show would return to broadcast syndication for the first time in sixteen years. The series' 79 episodes were digitally remastered with all new visual effects and music. The refurbished episodes have been converted from the original film to high-definition video, making it on par with modern television formats.

Related topics [ ]

• TOS directors
• TOS performers
• TOS recurring characters
• TOS writers
• Character crossover appearances
• Undeveloped TOS episodes
• Desilu Stage 9
• Desilu Stage 10
• Star Trek Writers/Directors Guide
• Star Trek: The Original Series novels
• Star Trek: The Original Series comics (DC)
• Star Trek: The Original Series comics (IDW)
• Star Trek: The Original Series soundtracks
• Star Trek: The Original Series on VHS
• Star Trek: The Original Series on Betamax
• Star Trek: The Original Series on CED
• Star Trek: The Original Series on LaserDisc
• Star Trek: The Original Series on DVD
• Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray
• Star Trek: The Original Series on digital

External links [ ]

• Star Trek: The Original Series at Wikipedia
• Star Trek: The Original Series at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek: The Original Series at StarTrek.com
• Star Trek: The Original Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: The Original Series at the Movie and TV Wiki
• Public Radio Special: The Peace Message in Star Trek
• 1 Bell Riots
• 3 Daniels (Crewman)

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

The 10 standout episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series

Ready to explore (or revisit) strange new worlds and smart sci-fi adventure? Launch into the Final Frontier with our list of 10 essential episodes of the original Star Trek.

A five-year mission that's now headed into its seventh decade, the Star Trek franchise is still boldly going where no one has gone before. More installments of the franchise are on air then ever, with something to offer almost every Trekkie in its rapidly expanding universe. However, Star Trek: The Original Series is the big bang that started it all. Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future — produced by Lucille Ball , no less — debuted in September of 1966 and ran for three seasons on NBC before finding new life in syndication.

While the series' Prime Directive seemed to be shredding Capt. Kirk's shirt as often as possible, our mission is to represent a variety of agreed upon classics from the U.S.S. Enterprise's maiden voyage that would delight both the original and next generation of fans.

So fire up your favorite snacks in the replicator, silence your tricorder, and beam on down our list of the 10 must-watch episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series , all of which are available to stream in remastered form on Paramount + .

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (Season 1, episode 3)

After the Enterprise goes through an energy rift at the edge of the galaxy, Captain Kirk's ( William Shatner ) friend and shipmate, Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood), begins to develop terrifying ESP abilities that grow stronger by the minute. As he makes the transition from man to "god," he becomes increasingly more dangerous and detached from humanity. Ship psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner ( Sally Kellerman ) believes his mutation can help mankind evolve, but Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ) is adamant he must be killed before he destroys them all. Will Kirk choose his best friend over the best interests of his crew — and the universe?

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" is most famous for being the second pilot filmed for the series, and introducing viewers to Captain James T. Kirk, Chief Engineer Scotty (James Doohan), and Lieutenant Sulu ( George Takei ). It's also just a great hour of sci-fi storytelling. This superior first episode seamlessly mixes action, high stakes emotions, and tough ethical questions, setting the blueprint for the franchise.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" (Season 1, episode 28)

When a time disruption from a nearby planet rocks the Enterprise, Dr. McCoy ( DeForest Kelley ) — aka Bones — accidentally injects himself with an overdose of a dangerous drug. Driven mad, he flees to the planet below and goes through the time warp, changing history and erasing the Federation of Planets from existence. Kirk and Spock follow him to set things right, and find themselves in 1930s Depression-era New York.

As they search for Bones, Kirk meets and falls in love with a social worker named Edith Wheeler ( Joan Collins ) whose fate, it turns out, will determine the course of humanity. Once again, Kirk must choose between someone he loves and the greater good. One of Trek 's most emotionally charged hours, "The City on the Edge of Forever" — scripted by Harlan Ellison — is considered by many to be the greatest episode of all-time.

"Space Seed" (Season 1, episode 22)

The Enterprise team stumbles upon the marooned S.S. Botany Bay in deep space and awakens the crew from suspended animation. They soon discover these lost spacefarers were exiled from Earth during the infamous Eugenics Wars of the 1990s, and our heroes have unwittingly unleashed a genetically enhanced super-tyrant named Khan Noonien Singh ( Ricardo Montalban ) in the 23rd century.

Montalban's magnetic, calculating would-be-ruler serves as a perfect foil for Shatner's compassionate, tactical Kirk, leading to a great one-on-one showdown between the two for control of the ship. This season one episode is the introduction of the series' most infamous villain, who 15 years later will headline Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , widely regarded as the best film in the franchise.

"Amok Time" (Season 2, episode 1)

Kirk vs. Spock! Kirk's shirt ripped open (again)! Spock in heat! This episode has everything a fan of the duo that launched a thousand slash fics could want. Every seven years, a Vulcan must return home for an ancient mating ceremony called "pon farr." When Kirk and Bones accompany him, they find themselves dealing with (farr) more than they bargained for when the Captain is forced to battle Spock in a ritual fight to the death.

In addition to the showdown between the leads, "Amok Time" has several other firsts: the first use of the Vulcan Salute, the first appearance of Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), and the first glimpse of the planet Vulcan itself. This perennial favorite is also heavily referenced in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ' fifth episode — titled " Spock Amok " — on Paramount +.

"Mirror, Mirror" (Season 2, episode 4)

An away team consisting of Kirk, Bones, Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ), and Scotty are sent to an alternate dimension when they are caught in an ion storm mid-transport. This "mirror" dimension is populated by violent doppelgangers of the Enterprise crew who serve the Terran Empire instead of the Federation of Planets. The foursome must navigate the cutthroat nature of this universe and find a way back before their secret is exposed — all while surviving a mutiny to overthrow this reality's Kirk. Hip daggers, bare midriffs, and Spock's goatee are just a few of the signs that things in this universe are askew.

Although Evil Bearded Spock is certainly fun to see, George Takei gives the standout performance as a delightfully evil Sulu, complete with a badass facial scar. This episode is a highlight of the original series and forms the foundation for several stories in future Trek franchises like Deep Space Nine , Enterprise , and Discovery .

"The Trouble with Tribbles" (Season 2, episode 15)

A fan favorite episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles" is a comedic left turn that shouldn't work, but absolutely does. Starring adorable little furballs who are "born pregnant" and multiply at a rapid pace, this zany hour allows the heady sci-fi questions of morality to take a back seat in favor of punchlines and hijinks.

The actual plot of the episode revolves around Kirk protecting a supply of space grain essential to Starfleet's sovereignty over a contested planet. The fun begins, however, when Uhura picks up one of the tiny tribbles while on shore leave at Space Station K-7 and unleashes an infestation on every corner of the Enterprise — including Kirk's lunch. The Captain's exasperated responses to the growing tribble crisis are comedy gold, especially as he seems to be the only one immune to their cooing charms. "Tribbles" also features a fantastic slapstick bar fight between Scotty, Chekov, and a handful of Klingon officers for the honor of the Enterprise. This episode is a fun detour into the lighter side of the crew's five-year mission.

"Balance of Terror" (Season 1, episode 14)

Kirk and company find themselves in an action-packed showdown with the Romulans when they investigate a mysterious loss of communication with Federation outposts near the Neutral Zone. Despite a history of war with Earth, no one has ever laid eyes on an actual member of their species — until now.

As the Romulans are believed to be the violent cousins of the Vulcans, Spock becomes the subject of suspicion and xenophobia from some of the crew — particularly Lt. Stiles (guest star Paul Comi) — whose ancestors were killed in the Earth-Romulan War. The story's point-of-view shifts between the two vessels, allowing the viewer to see that the warring foes are more alike than they realize.

This season one classic features the first appearance of the Romulans — who will go on to be recurring antagonists for the heroes of the franchise. Also, keep an eye out for actor Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander. He'll return to the series in a recurring role as Spock's father.

"The Corbomite Maneuver" (Season 1, episode 10)

While exploring an uncharted area of space, the Enterprise is pursued by a mysterious cube emitting harmful radiation. To protect themselves, they lay waste to it, and incur the wrath of Balok, commander of a technologically superior alien race. He takes control of the Enterprise's systems and declares the ship, and everyone onboard, will be destroyed in 10 minutes. A tense hour with a really wild twist ending, this installment showcases Kirk's ingenuity and characteristic refusal to lose — one of the many times the Captain will boldy bluff where no man has bluffed before.

"The Corbomite Maneuver" is also the first time DeForest Kelley (McCoy) and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) played their iconic characters, although they appear earlier in the series due to NBC originally airing episodes out of production order.

"The Doomsday Machine" (Season 2, episode 6)

Our intrepid explorers receive a distress signal from fellow Starfleet ship the U.S.S. Constellation and rush to its aid. Upon arrival, they find Commodore Matthew Decker (William Windom) — the ship's commander and sole survivor — wracked with guilt and suffering from PTSD. Decker's entire crew was annihilated by a massive energy weapon of unknown origin that destroyed the entire star system.

Pulling rank, he takes command of his rescuer's ship, and puts the crew of the Enterprise in the crosshairs of the unstoppable world-killing device. Kirk, marooned on Decker's derelict starship, must figure out a way to rescue the Enterprise from both the machine and an out-of-control superior officer. Introducing a planet-ending energy weapon 10 years before Star Wars , this episode features a real nail-biter of an ending.

Fun fact for the continuity-conscious : Decker's son, Willard Decker ( Stephen Collins ), will play a prominent role in 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture .

"Arena" (Season 1, episode 18)

Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones, and an unfortunate " Redshirt " arrive at the Cestus III Outpost for a diplomatic mission and find it annihilated by an alien race called the Gorn. Seeking revenge, Kirk pushes the Enterprise to pursue the Gorn starship and destroy it. The chase leads into an unmapped sector of space ruled by a powerful force calling themselves the Metrons. Outraged by the brutality of both ships, the Metrons force the two captains to settle their dispute in a fight to the death on a desert planet. The winner will leave the sector unharmed, while the loser, and their crew, will die.

The bulk of this episode involves William Shatner being chased by an actor in a giant rubber lizard suit — and honestly, it rules. Yes, the suit looks goofy, but the showdown is fun as hell and the message of the story is classic Star Trek : sometimes there is more going on beneath the surface than we realize. Very few Star Trek villains are ever just one-dimensional bad guys, and the Gorn are no exception.

Fun fact : Ted Cassidy, who provides the voice for the Gorn captain, also provided the voice of Balok in "The Corbomite Maneuver."

Related content:

• Nichelle Nichols' life in photos
• Stars across the galaxy mourn 'trailblazing, incomparable' Nichelle Nichols: 'My heart is heavy'
• William Shatner, George Takei, and fans celebrate #StarTrekDay for sci-fi series anniversary

Related Articles

List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes

Created by Gene Roddenberry , the science fiction television series Star Trek (which eventually acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series ) starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk , Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock , and DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy aboard the fictional Federation starship USS Enterprise . The series originally aired from September 1966 through June 1969 on NBC . [1]

This is the first television series in the Star Trek franchise, and comprises 79 regular episodes over the series' three seasons, along with the series' original pilot episode , " The Cage ". The episodes are listed in order by original air date, [2] which match the episode order in each season's original, [3] [4] [5] remastered, [6] [7] [8] and Blu-ray DVD [9] box sets. The original, single-disc DVD releases placed the episodes by production order, with "The Cage" on the final disc. [10]

After the series' cancellation , Paramount Television released Star Trek to television stations as a syndication package, [11] where the series' popularity grew to become a "major phenomenon within popular culture". [12] This popularity would eventually lead to the expansion of the Star Trek catalog, which as of 2020 includes nine more television series and thirteen Trek motion pictures .

In 2006, CBS Paramount Domestic Television (now CBS Television Distribution ) announced that each Original Series episode would be re-syndicated in high definition after undergoing digital remastering , including both new and enhanced visual effects . [13] (To date, the remastered episodes have only been broadcast in standard definition , though all three seasons are now available on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format.) [14] [15] The remastered episodes began with " Balance of Terror " (along with, in some markets, " Miri ") during the weekend of September 16, 2006, [16] and ended with "The Cage", which aired during the weekend of May 2, 2009. [17] The remastered air dates listed below are based on the weekend each episode aired in syndication. [16]

• 1 Series overview
• 2.1 Pilots (1964–65)
• 2.2 Season 1 (1966–67)
• 2.3 Season 2 (1967–68)
• 2.4 Season 3 (1968–69)
• 3 Production order
• 4 British transmission
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Series overview

Pilots (1964–65).

Star Trek ' s pilot episode , "The Cage", was completed between November 1964 and January 1965, [18] and starred Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike , Majel Barrett as Number One , and Leonard Nimoy as Spock . The pilot was rejected by NBC as being "too cerebral" among other complaints. [19] Jeffrey Hunter chose to withdraw from the role of Pike [20] when creator Gene Roddenberry was asked to produce a second pilot episode " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". A slightly edited version with the same title aired in 1966 as the third episode of the new series. [21] [22]

"The Cage" never aired during Star Trek ' s original run. It was presented by Roddenberry as a black-and-white workprint at various science fiction conventions over the years after Star Trek ' s cancellation but was not released on home video until 1986 when Paramount Home Video produced a "restored" release of "The Cage" (a combination of the original black-and-white footage and color portions of the Season 1 episode " The Menagerie ") along with an introduction by Gene Roddenberry. [23]

On October 15, 1988, Paramount Pictures aired a two-hour television special, hosted by Patrick Stewart , called The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next , which featured, for the first time, a full-color television presentation of "The Cage". [23] In the United States, "The Cage" was released to DVD in December 2001. [24] It was later included on the final disc in both the original and "remastered" season 3 DVD box sets listed with its original air date of October 15, 1988. [5] [8] [25]

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" in its original form (production number 02a) had been forwarded to NBC, but only a re-edited version was aired, not as a pilot but as the third episode of the series (production number 02b). The original version was thought to be lost, but later appeared on bootleg VHS tapes at conventions, until a print of it was discovered in 2009 and subsequently released on home video under the title "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" - The Restored, Unaired Alternate Pilot Episode as part of the TOS season 3 box set on Blu-ray; [26] it has not been released on DVD. This version remains unaired.

Season 1 (1966–67)

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

After Roddenberry's second pilot episode, " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", received a more favorable response from NBC , [21] [22] Star Trek finally aired its first episode—" The Man Trap "—at 8:30PM on September 8, 1966. [28] "Where No Man...", which eventually aired in a re-edited format as the series' third episode, retained only Spock as a character from "The Cage" but introduced William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk , James Doohan as chief engineer Scotty , and George Takei as physicist (later helmsman) Sulu . Also joining the cast were DeForest Kelley as ship's surgeon Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Nichelle Nichols as the communications officer Uhura in "The Man Trap"; the first aired episode of the series.

Although her character of Number One was not retained from "The Cage", Majel Barrett returned to the series as a new character, nurse Christine Chapel , and made her first of many recurring appearances in " The Naked Time ". Grace Lee Whitney appeared in eight episodes as yeoman Janice Rand , beginning with "The Man Trap". Whitney left the series after " The Conscience of the King ", [21] [29] [30] but would later make minor appearances in the first , third , fourth , and sixth Star Trek films as well as one episode of the companion series Star Trek: Voyager .

Star Trek ' s first season comprised 29 episodes, including the two-part episode " The Menagerie ", which includes almost all of the footage from the original pilot, "The Cage". Other notable episodes include " Balance of Terror ", which introduces the Romulans ; " Space Seed ", which introduces Khan Noonien Singh and serves as the basis for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ; " Errand of Mercy ", in which the Klingons make their first appearance; and the critically acclaimed, [31] Hugo-Award-winning episode [32] " The City on the Edge of Forever ", which features Kirk, Spock, and McCoy traveling into the past through the Guardian of Forever .

• ↑ Nathan Butler is a pseudonym for Jerry Sohl .

Season 2 (1967–68)

The show's 26-episode second season began in September 1967 [2] with " Amok Time ", which introduced actor Walter Koenig as Russian navigator Pavel Chekov , and granted viewers the first glimpse of Spock's homeworld, Vulcan . The season also includes such notable episodes as " Mirror, Mirror ", which introduces the evil " mirror universe "; " Journey to Babel ", featuring the introduction of Spock's parents Sarek and Amanda ; and the light-hearted " The Trouble with Tribbles ", which would later be revisited in a 1973 episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series and a 1996 episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . The season ended with " Assignment: Earth ", an attempt to launch a spin-off television series set in the 1960s. [ citation needed ]

Season 3 (1968–69)

After Star Trek ' s second season, NBC was prepared to cancel the show due to low ratings. [36] [37] Led by fans Bjo and John Trimble , Trek viewers inundated NBC with letters protesting the show's demise and pleading with the network to renew the series for another year. [37] [38]

After NBC agreed to produce a third season, the network promised Gene Roddenberry that the show would air in a favorable timeslot (Mondays at 7:30 p.m.), [36] [37] but later changed the schedule so that Trek would air in the so-called " death slot "—Friday nights at 10:00 p.m. [36] [39] In addition to the "mismanaged" [37] schedule, the show's budget was "seriously slashed" [36] and Nichelle Nichols described the series' eventual cancellation as "a self-fulfilling prophecy ". [40]

Star Trek ' s final, 24-episode season began in September 1968 with " Spock's Brain ". [2] The third season also includes " The Tholian Web ", where Kirk becomes trapped between universes; this episode would later be revisited by two 2005 episodes of the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise . The last episode of the series, " Turnabout Intruder ", aired on June 3, 1969, [2] but Star Trek would eventually return to television in animated form when the animated Star Trek debuted in September 1973.

Production order

The list below details the series' episodes in production order, including the original series pilot , " The Cage ". While the "complete season" DVD releases (listed above) follow the original broadcast order, the original episodic DVD releases [10] are numbered by production order. [41]

British transmission

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Star Trek was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One starting on July 12, 1969, with the episode " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". The first episode broadcast in color was " Arena " on November 15, 1969. The episodes were broadcast in a different order than in the United States and were originally aired in four seasons between 1969 and 1971. The BBC edited the episodes for broadcast by showing the title sequence first, then the teaser segment that aired before the titles in the United States, then the rest of the episode. These edited episodes aired until the 1990s [ vague ] , after which the BBC was supplied with NTSC videotape transfers of the first season instead of new film prints, resulting in a substandard picture, and with edits originally made for syndication in the United States. Viewer complaints led to the BBC obtaining film prints for the subsequent two seasons.

" The Cage " was first broadcast on Sky One in July 1990. Three episodes, " Plato's Stepchildren ", " The Empath ", and " Whom Gods Destroy ", were not broadcast on the BBC until 1994, although "The Empath" was listed in the Radio Times as scheduled to broadcast on December 16, 1970, at 7:20 pm. [42] Sky One was the first network to air these three episodes in the UK in 1990, although with the title sequence and teaser shown in the order as they were aired in the United States, whereas the rest of the episodes were broadcast as edited by the BBC.

• Lists of Star Trek episodes
• ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ David Alexander, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry , p. 218.
• ↑ David Alexander, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry , p. 244.
• ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 25.0 25.1 Both the original Season 3 and "remastered" season 3 sets list the original air date for "The Cage" as October 15, 1988.
• ↑ DVD News Archived September 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
• ↑ 27.00 27.01 27.02 27.03 27.04 27.05 27.06 27.07 27.08 27.09 27.10 27.11 27.12 27.13 27.14 27.15 27.16 27.17 27.18 27.19 27.20 27.21 27.22 27.23 27.24 27.25 27.26 27.27 27.28 27.29 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "s1_episodes" defined multiple times with different content
• ↑ Entertainment Weekly Special Edition January 18, 1995
• ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
• ↑ David Gerrold, quoting Bjo Trimble, in The World of Star Trek , Ballantine Books, 1973, p. 166
• ↑ William Shatner, Star Trek Memories , Harper Torch, 1994 paperback, p. 257
• ↑ Nichols, Beyond Uhura , p. 189

External links

• Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Star Trek: The Original Series at IMDb
• The Original Series at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki )
• List of staff
• Gene Roddenberry
• Norway Corporation
• musical theme
• " Where no man has gone before "
• " Beam me up, Scotty "
• Accolades by (film franchise)
• The God Thing
• Planet of the Titans
• Star Trek 4
• Reference books
• A Klingon Christmas Carol
• Klingon opera
• The Ready Room
• How William Shatner Changed the World
• Beyond the Final Frontier
• The Captains
• Trek Nation
• For the Love of Spock
• What We Left Behind
• Kirk and Uhura's kiss
• Comparison to Star Wars
• productions
• expanded universe
• Memory Alpha
• Shakespeare and Star Trek
• The Exhibition
• The Experience
• " The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise " (1976 SNL sketch)
• Free Enterprise (1999 film)
• Galaxy Quest (1999 film)
• The Orville (2017 television series)
• Please Stand By (2017 film)

ca:Star Trek (sèrie original)#Capítols

• Pages with reference errors
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Use mdy dates from July 2013
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2019
• Wikipedia articles needing clarification from May 2018
• Articles with invalid date parameter in template
• Star Trek episode lists
• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes
• Lists of American science fiction television series episodes
• Pages with script errors
• All articles with unsourced statements
• All Wikipedia articles needing clarification

Navigation menu

Personal tools.

• Request account
• View source
• View history
• Recent changes
• Random page
• Infogalactic News
• Buy an account
• What links here
• Related changes
• Special pages
• Printable version
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page
• This page was last modified on 2 June 2022, at 12:32.
• Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License unless otherwise noted.
• This article's content derived from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia ( See original source ).
• Privacy policy
• About Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
• Disclaimers
• Mobile view

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!

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: The cast of 'Star Trek: The Original Series'

• " Star Trek " debuted 56 years ago on September 8, 1966.
• After the show, the cast of the original series remained sci-fi icons.
• Only three stars of " The Original Series " are alive today, after Nichelle Nichols' death in July.

William Shatner led the crew of the USS Enterprise as Captain James T. Kirk.

"Star Trek" was originally going to be focused on a different  captain, Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter. A pilot was even filmed, called "The Cage," but it didn't make it to airwaves until the '80s. Gene Roddenberry, the creator, eventually retooled the show and cast Shatner as a new captain, Kirk. Some footage from "The Cage" was then reused for a season one episode called "The Menagerie."

Before "Star Trek," Shatner was famous for his role in an iconic " Twilight Zone " episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," in which he played a man recently released from a mental hospital who becomes convinced he can see a creature on the wing of the plane he's flying on. It aired in 1963, three years before "Star Trek."

In addition to his "Star Trek" roles, Shatner acted in "T.J. Hooker" and "Boston Legal," hosted "Rescue 911," and he has written numerous books. He finally made it to the final frontier in October 2021.

Though he's 91 years old, Shatner has shown no signs of slowing down. After "Star Trek" was canceled in 1969, he briefly returned to voice Kirk for the "Star Trek" animated series. In 1979, he again reprised his role as Kirk in " Star Trek: The Motion Picture ." He'd continue to do so regularly until 1994's "Star Trek Generations." He even directed one of the "Star Trek" movies: " Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. "

Besides "Star Trek," Shatner starred as the titular police officer on the '80s procedural "T.J. Hooker" and narrated " Rescue 911 ," a show that consisted of dramatic reenactments of real crimes.

Other roles that you might recognize Shatner from: a pageant host in " Miss Congeniality ," attorney Dennis Crane in " The Practice " and its spin-off " Boston Legal " for which he won two Emmys , and in the 2016-2018 reality show " Better Late Than Never ," in which Shatner, Henry Winkler, George Foreman, and Terry Bradshaw traveled around the world and experienced different cultures.

The actor is set to appear in the upcoming "Masters of the Universe: Revolution" series on Netflix. He also finally made it to space himself during a Blue Origin flight in October 2021, making him the oldest person to go into space at 90.

Shatner has written multiple books, both fiction and non-fiction over the course of his career. His 2016 book, " Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man ," was about his friendship with "Star Trek" co-star Leonard Nimoy, who played his on-screen better half, Commander Spock.

Walter Koenig was cast as Ensign Pavel Chekov because of his resemblance to the Monkees' Davy Jones.

While Chekov was Russian, Koenig was born in America and based his accent on his parents' accents — they were Russian immigrants. Koenig was cast because, according to legend, he was supposed to help attract young girls as viewers due to his resemblance to teen idol Davy Jones. He even wore a Davy Jones-esque women's wig for the first seven or eight episodes, he told TV Insider in 2016.

Koenig's mainly recognized for his on-screen role as Chekov, though he became a pretty prolific screenwriter in the '70s. He wrote episodes for the "Star Trek" animated series, anthology series "What Really Happened to the Class of '65?" and children's series "Land of the Lost."

Koenig appeared in the 2018 film "Diminuendo."

Koenig, 85, (he's turning 86 on September 14) still makes frequent appearances on the "Star Trek" convention circuit, as well as acting in the occasional film. He appeared in 12 episodes of " Babylon 5 " in the '90s, voiced himself in an episode of "Futurama," and also voiced Mr. Savic on the Netflix animated series " Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters. "

While not all of the "Star Trek" cast were on great terms, Koenig and his co-star George Takei remain close. Koenig was even the best man in Takei's wedding in 2008.

George Takei played Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, a helmsman on the Enterprise.

Over the course of the show, Sulu was revealed to have many interests outside of Star Fleet, most famously fencing. At the time, Sulu was one of the first Asian characters on TV who wasn't explicitly a villain, and instead was a fully formed hero.

"Up until the time I was cast in 'Star Trek,' the roles were pretty shallow — thin, stereotyped, one-dimensional roles. I knew this character was a breakthrough role, certainly for me as an individual actor but also for the image of an Asian character: no accent, a member of the elite leadership team," Takei told Mother Jones in 2012.

Takei originally was supposed to play Sulu as an astrophysicist, but the role was changed to helmsman. Before "Star Trek," Takei also appeared in " The Twilight Zone " like his co-star William Shatner, among other '50s and '60s procedurals.

Takei is still acting to this day, though many people know him now for his social media presence.

Who says an 85-year-old doesn't know how to use social media? Takei's Facebook page has 9.5 million likes to date, and he has 3.4 million followers on Twitter .

In addition to his continued acting in films like "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank," " Kubo and the Two Strings ," "Blazing Samurai," and "Mulan," and TV shows like "Heroes," "Supah Ninjas," and " Star Wars: Visions ," Takei is an activist. He came out as gay in 2005  and began working as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign.

Takei also starred in the 2012 musical "Allegiance," which was based on his and his family's experiences during Japanese internment in World War II.

Nichelle Nichols played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, a translator, communications officer, and linguistics expert.

Uhura was one of the first Black television characters that didn't have a menial job — instead, she was in a position of power. She and Shatner were also involved in what is thought to be the first interracial kiss on American TV.

Nichols stayed with the show for all three seasons, but it wasn't without drama. She was tempted to leave during the first year, but none other than Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her to stay. She told the New York Post in 2011 that when she told him that she wanted to leave, he told her, "You can't do that. You have the first non-stereotypical, non-menial role on television. You have created strength and beauty and intelligence. For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen. It's what we're marching for. You're a role model and whether you like it or not, you belong to history now."

She also released an album in 1967, "Down to Earth." In between "Star Trek's" cancellation and its return on the big screen, Nichols starred in the 1974 blaxploitation film " Truck Turner ," as Dorinda, a madam.

Nichols died in 2022 at the age of 89. She had retired from public appearances in 2018.

From 1977 until 2015, Nichols was involved with Women in Motion, a recruiting program for NASA to help get more women involved in the space program. In July 2020, a documentary about the program finally secured distribution and will be released in 2021, Deadline reported. 

"Nichelle Nichols not only was a trailblazer in Hollywood, she was a trailblazer for the future of our society. She took the fight for Civil Rights, diversity and inclusion and gender equality to new frontiers with NASA which continue to serve America's space program today. She was ahead of her time," said executive producer Ben Crump.

Nichols also appeared in " The Young and the Restless, " "Heroes," and " Futurama ." She was diagnosed with dementia in 2018 and subsequently retired from public appearances.

In July 2022, Nichols' son announced on social media that Nichols had died at the age of 89 .

Leonard Nimoy played Captain Kirk's first officer and close friend Commander Spock.

Spock was the only alien member of the original crew, as he was half-human, half-Vulcan — an alien race from the planet Vulcan whose residents operate solely from a point of logic, not feelings. Much of the show's comedy came from Spock and Kirk's differences and their amusement at each other. His frequent farewell, " Live Long and Prosper ," accompanied by the Vulcan Salute, are among the most recognizable pieces of the "Star Trek" canon.

Nimoy had multiple small parts in B movies and TV shows before booking "Star Trek," including an episode of " The Man from U.N.C.L.E. " alongside future co-star William Shatner, as well as an episode of " The Twilight Zone ."

But once "Star Trek" premiered, Nimoy would be forever linked with his Vulcan counterpart, and he mainly did voice work after the show ended. He also reunited with Shatner for an episode of his show, "T.J. Hooker."

Nimoy died in 2015 at the age of 83. He played Spock for the final time in 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness," meaning he played the role for almost 50 years.

Nimoy is the only actor from the original series to appear in JJ Abrams' rebooted films, as he appeared in 2009's "Star Trek" and its 2013 sequel " Star Trek Into Darkness " as an older version of Spock who was trapped in an alternate universe.

In addition to acting, Nimoy was a photographer, recording artist, author, and director. He directed two "Star Trek" movies (" The Search for Spock " and "The Journey Home"), and "Three Men and a Baby," which became the highest-grossing film of 1987 .

Nimoy died in 2015 at the age of 83 due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

DeForest Kelley played the ship's curmudgeonly chief medical officer, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

Bones, as he was affectionately called, was one of the oldest members of the crew, and thus got to be a bit more obnoxious than the rest of them. His frequent catchphrase, " I'm a doctor, not a ___, " is one of the most parodied lines of dialogue from the show.

Like his character, Kelley was older and a more established actor than the rest of the cast. Before the show, he had appeared in Westerns and historical films like " Gunfight at the O.K. Corral ," "Warlock," and " Raintree County " in the '50s.

Kelley died in 1999 at the age of 79, nine years after playing McCoy for the last time.

Kelley essentially retired from acting, besides playing McCoy, after the success of "Star Trek." He appeared in all six films starring the original cast, and appeared in an episode of " Star Trek: The Next Generation " as McCoy, as well.

While he wasn't much of a sci-fi fan, Kelley was proud of his "Star Trek" legacy. When asked what he thought his legacy would be, he explained that his character inspired people to enter the medical field. He told the New York Times , "These people [fans] are doctors now, all kinds of doctors who save lives. That's something that very few people can say they've done. I'm proud to say that I have.''

He died in 1999 at the age of 79 due to stomach cancer .

Majel Barrett had a recurring role as Nurse Christine Chapel.

Barrett was originally cast in the first version of "Star Trek" as Pike's first officer, but when that episode was scratched, so was her character. However, due to her romantic relationship with "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry (who she later married), she was brought back as Nurse Chapel (a divisive character).

Before the show, Barrett was in various bit parts in '50s and '60s shows, but her big break was " Star Trek ," which she stayed involved in for the rest of her life.

Barrett died in 2008 when she was 76 years old. Up until her death, she had been involved with every "Star Trek" series in some way, leading fans to call her the First Lady of "Star Trek."

Barrett reprised her role as Chapel in " Star Trek: The Motion Picture " and " Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ." She also appeared in " Star Trek: The Next Generation " and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" as Lwaxana Troi, the mother of Deanna Troi, a main character in "Next Generation." Her other involvement in the series was the voice of the computer in many of the other " Star Trek" films: "Generations ," " First Contact ," "Nemesis," and 2009's reboot.

She died in 2008 at the age of 76 due to leukemia . 

James Doohan played chief engineering officer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott.

Contrary to popular belief, the phrase " Beam me up, Scotty " is never actually uttered in the original series. The man on the other end of that command, Scotty, was played by Doohan, who was Canadian in real life, not Scottish.

Before "Star Trek," Doohan served in the Canadian military and was even on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day, and was a pilot as well. After the war, he began acting and became a successful radio actor. Like his co-stars, he also appeared in an episode of " The Twilight Zone ," and other popular procedurals. 

In the animated series, Doohan proved to be indispensable, with his talent for voice acting and accents. He voiced over 50 characters during the show's run.

James Doohan died at the age of 85 in 2005.

Doohan didn't find much success outside of the world of "Star Trek," and thus embraced his role as Scotty. He appeared in "Generations," as well as an episode of " The Next Generation ." 

However, his impact on the field of engineering cannot be overstated. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Milwaukee School of Engineering "after half the students there said that Scotty had inspired them to take up the subject," according to the BBC .

Towards the end of his life, Doohan suffered from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and retired from public life in 2004. He died the following year, at 85, due to complications from pneumonia .

Grace Lee Whitney appeared in the first season of the show as Yeoman Janice Rand.

Rand appeared in eight episodes of the show's first 15-episode season as a clerical and administrative worker aboard the ship, before Whitney was released from her contract. At the time, the story was that the show didn't have enough money to keep everyone, but years later in her autobiography, Rand accused an unnamed executive producer , whom she called "The Executive," of sexually assaulting her.

"I tried to do what he wanted me to, so I could get it over with. I knew, deep down inside, that I was finished on 'Star Trek.' At that moment, however, I didn't care about that. Nothing else mattered — not my tarnished virtue, not my career, not my role on 'Star Trek.' The only thing that mattered was getting out of that room alive," she wrote.

Whitney died in 2015 at the age of 85.

After getting written off the show, Whitney struggled with her career, and alcoholism. She credited co-star Leonard Nimoy with helping her get back on her feet and involved with "Star Trek" once again. She reprised her role in four of the original "Star Trek" films, and in an episode of " Star Trek: Voyager " alongside George Takei.

She died in 2015 due to natural causes at the age of 85.

When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more .

• Main content

• Follow us on Twitter
• Follow us on Facebook

The TOP 13 STAR TREK EPISODES — RANKED

Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 8, 2024 | 12 comments

It’s the anniversary of the show — and here are our picks for the very best!

UPDATED 9/8/24: Star Trek premiered 58 years ago! We first ran this Top 13 Episode Countdown across 13 days in 2016, but the list obviously hasn’t changed. So check out each link for what we had to say about these classic eps. Oh, and click here for a special SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN laff riot! Live long and prosper. — Dan

Over the last several months, we’ve celebrated the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with Trek Tuesdays , a weekly look at some of the more interesting and offbeat aspects of the Original Series . ( Click here for all that cosmic coolness.)

Now, we’re at the heart of it: The STAR TREK Top 13 Episode Countdown.

Over 13 days, we’ve counted down from 13 to 1, with that top choice publishing on 9/8/16 — the 50th anniversary of the show’s debut. I’m sure a lot of you will agree with my choices, just as I’m sure even more of you will disagree. So bring on those comments!

Click the links below!

13. The Cage

12.   The Gamesters of Triskelion

11. What Are Little Girls Made Of?

9. A Piece of the Action

8. The Trouble With Tribbles

7. The Devil in the Dark

6. Journey to Babel

5. The City on the Edge of Forever

4. Balance of Terror

3. Space Seed

2. Mirror, Mirror

1. Amok Time

— 13 COVERS: The Marvel-ous World of STAR TREK. Click here .

— 13 Bizarre Differences Between STAR TREK and Its Wacky UK Comics. Click here .

Share this:

• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)

Author: Dan Greenfield

12 Comments

August 23, 2016

I know it won’t make it with some people, and frankly there 10 I like better, but of course I have a soft spot for Assignment: Earth.

September 11, 2016

Anything with Teri Garr is Top 10 with me!

September 8, 2024

“Wolf in the Fold” scared me to death when I was little.

September 5, 2016

Gamesters does not belong in the top 13. Loved the blonde in wink of an eye. Her body and outfit alone should be in the top 13. Balance of terror should be 1 or maybe Gary Lockwood episode

September 9, 2016

I don’t agree or disagree with this list. I think all Star Trek is worth watching. My top 13 would probably have included “where no man has gone before”. It’s such a wonderful introduction of the characters and the other would have been “requiem for methuselah” it really did a good job depicting the concern Spock had for Kirk.

“The Doomsday Machine” and “The Enterprise Incident” would be on my list before “Gamesters” or “Little Girls.” “Doomsday” would probably be in my top 5 – In my opinion, it is TOS’s best action episode.

September 9, 2019

Agreed 100%

September 8, 2019

I think “The Doomsday Machine” should be high on the list. From the danger of an automated planet killer tearing through the galaxy, William Windom’s performance was tremendous as Decker – going from a broken officer who inadvertently killed his entire crew to a new Ahab and the face off between Spock & Decker on the Bridge. Even the cheesy use of one of the AMF kits to make the Constellation with all the damage was fun. This is one of my Top 5 TOS episodes with Tribbles, Balance, the 2nd, successful pilot & Khan’s introduction.

For Doomsday, I would not put Gamesters on the list – its not even in my top 25. It’s enjoyable but not that memorable. “A Piece of the Action” is fun & points out the dangers of breaking the Prime Directive so that’s okay. Gotta admit Spock playing a gangster was tremendous!

I would also reconsider Action or “Amok Time” for “The Corbomite Maneuver” – great gamesmanship by Kirk with Balok. And Ted Cassidy’s awesome voice for the facsimile Balok gave the character some great menacing depth.

I also agree with the other post that “Where No Man Has Gone Before” should definitely be on this list.

What happened to “Spock’s Brain,” “Turnabout Intruder” and “The Mark of Gideon”? (He laughs uncontrollably, resulting in several snorts)

September 9, 2022

My number one fave will always be Errand of Mercy. It introduced the Klingons, predicted their eventual alliance with the Federation and it features one of my favorite character actors of all time: The great John Colicos as the brilliant tactician Kor, devious yet fascinating to watch and Kirk’s opposite match in so many ways. The only thing it needed was McCoy.

That’s a great episode. I loved Kor! John Colicos was great, not only on TOS but also in his appearances on DS9 as Kor. “Blood Oath” and “Once More Into the Breach” are great DS9 episodes that feature Kor.

September 17, 2022

Some of the best were written by excellent scifi writers. Of course Harlan Ellison wrote the script for City of the Edge of Forever, although his original script was far more gritty and modified for the show, and it is my personal favorite. Theodore Sturgeon wrote Amok Time which is my second favorite and Shore Leave which was fun but not great. Of course they both had years of experience writing great scifi. DC Fontana wrote a number of episodes and while not a real scifi writer did keep the stories in a more serious vein and helped the show immensely. Robert Bloch wrote some scifi for pulp magazines but mainly in other genres and wrote Cats Paw which is not one to remember so maybe he should have shied from ST.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

• The TOP 13 Q Moments From STAR TREK | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture - […] — The STAR TREK TOP 13 Episode Countdown. Click here. […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Departments.

• ACTION FIGURES & MERCH
• BATMAN'S HOT-LINE
• BRONZE AGE BONANZA!
• BURIED TREASURE
• COMIC BOOK DEATH MATCH!
• COMICS HISTORY
• CONVENTIONS AND EVENTS
• KERRY CALLEN
• MORRISON MONDAYS
• MOVIES & TV
• NEAL ADAMS CHRONICLES
• PAUL KUPPERBERG
• RANDOM STUFF
• REEL RETRO CINEMA
• RETRO HOT PICKS!
• SCOTT TIPTON'S COMICS 101
• TOP 13 LISTS

Copyright 2015 13thDimension.com

Crucial Episodes of Star Trek Are Streaming For Free — For a Good Cause

Where to begin?

Fifty-eight years ago, on September 8, 1966, Star Trek changed the game. Never before had there been a mature science fiction TV series with a cast of continuing characters aimed specifically at adults. Before Trek, sprawling world-building combined with self-contained sci-fi storytelling simply wasn’t a part of mainstream TV, at all. While anthology shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits paved the way, Star Trek picked up the torch and ran with it. Nearly every aspect of mainstream science fiction in TV — even if it’s a response against Trek — owes a debt to this utterly groundbreaking show.

And now, from September 7 through the 13th, in celebration of “Star Trek Day,” several “first episodes” of nearly every single iteration of the Star Trek TV franchise will be streaming for free. And, in keeping with Star Trek’s generally enlightened view of the future, these free streaming episodes will come with the push for fans to donate or support various charitable causes, including, Code.org , Outright International, and DoSomething.Org . This push, called “Take the Chair,” follows previous charitable drives from the Star Trek franchise in recent years, most notably, the #StarTrekUnitedGives campaign that began in 2020 .

But, which Star Trek episodes are actually streaming for free? Here are the details.

Star Trek Day 2024 free streaming episodes

Captain Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) in “The Cage.”

For the most part, the Trek franchise has selected “first episodes” from different series to be available to stream for free, which includes:

• “The Cage” the 1964 original unaired pilot from Star Trek: The Original Series
• “Beyond the Farthest Star,” the 1973 debut of The Animated Series
• “Encounter at Farpoint,” the 1987 debut of The Next Generation
• “Emissary,” the 1993 debut of Deep Space Nine
• “Caretaker,” the 1995 debut of Voyager
• “Broken Bow,” the 2001 debut of Enterprise
• “The Vulcan Hello,” the 2017 debut of Discovery
• “Remembrance,” the 2020 debut of Picard
• “Second Contact,” the 2020 debut of Lower Decks
• “Strange New Worlds,” the 2023 debut of Strange New Worlds

Additionally, several episodes of the micro-series Short Treks will be streaming for free too, including: “The Girl Who Made the Stars,” “The Trouble with Edward,” “Ask Not,” “Runaway” and “Ephraim and Dot,” the last of which was directed by Michael Giacchino! (Really!)

Notably absent here is the debut of Prodigy , the episode “Lost and Found,” which is probably because that series currently streams on Netflix and not Paramount+.

For purists, it should also be noted that although “The Cage” was the first Star Trek episode filmed, it was not actually ever aired in its entirety nor is it really considered the true pilot of The Original Series . The second pilot, which sold Star Trek, was “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” which was filmed in 1965 and aired third overall. For various reasons, the fifth regular episode filmed, “The Man Trap,” was actually the one that launched the show on September 8th. Meanwhile, various scenes from “The Cage” were later recontextualized as a flashback in the episode “The Menagerie,” making the canonicity of the original full-length episode somewhat debatable.

And yet, today “The Cage” is in many ways a rough draft not just for The Original Series , but for Strange New Worlds , too, which further explores that very specific time period on the USS Enterprise . And, if it’s been a while since you’ve seen that kooky, grainy version of Star Trek , there’s never been a better time to go back to the retrofuture of the 23rd century.

The free Star Trek Day 2024 debut episodes stream on Paramount+ affiliates like Apple TV+ and Prime Video, as well as on YouTube and Pluto.

• Science Fiction

Screen Rant

Star trek’s future requires more patience than ever.

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

Every Upcoming Star Trek Movie & TV Show

I'm doubtful star trek: legacy will actually happen (while 1 other show is still airing), star trek isn’t supposed to have money: what is latinum.

Star Trek may appear as if it has peaked, but I believe more patience than what has been required in the last few years could reveal a brighter future. Star Trek Day 2024 marks 58 years since Star Trek: The Original Series premiered. No one could have guessed Star Trek would still be going strong in 2024, with 13 movies, a dozen TV series, and more still on the way. Yet there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over Star Trek 's future as the franchise downsizes through what looks to be an uncertain time.

In 2022, Star Trek achieved heights it hadn't seen since the 1990s. Star Trek on Paramount+ had five series that were bona fide hits with fans. 2022 even saw a new episode of Star Trek premiere almost every Thursday of the calendar year. 2023 saw the final season of Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, which ranked on Nielsen's streaming top 10. But as the streaming business model changed, and actors and writers went on strike, Star Trek on Paramount+ canceled Star Trek: Prodigy (which went to Netflix), and announced the end of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Lower Decks in 2024. Where does Star Trek go from here?

Star Trek is ending series like Discovery and Lower Decks but renewed Strange New Worlds while setting up new streaming and theatrical movies.

What Star Trek’s Immediate Future Looks Like

Fewer shows, but movies are coming back.

Star Trek on Paramount+ has scaled back significantly. 2024 will end with Star Trek: Lower Decks ' final season , closing out the first-ever Star Trek animated comedy. With Star Trek: Prodigy possibly not being renewed by Netflix, it marks the end of a brief, 4-year golden age of Star Trek animation . This is a huge shame as Lower Decks and Prodigy have proven to be some of the most innovative and genuine Star Trek produced since Star Trek: Discovery reignited the franchise in 2017.

Production on Star Trek: Prodigy season 3 could take 2 years if Netflix renews it.

In 2025, Star Trek: Section 31 premieres, as does Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 . Both projects are all Star Trek on Paramount+ has on tap next year. Star Trek: Section 31 is the first made-for-streaming Star Trek movie. Sequels and more Star Trek streaming films on Paramount+ hinge on Section 31 's success. Meanwhile, the popular Strange New Worlds has become Star Trek on Paramount's flagship series now that Star Trek: Discovery is over.

2026 Could Be When Star Trek’s Future Gets Brighter

Just in time for star trek's 60th anniversary.

2026 will likely see two Star Trek on Paramount+ series: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4, which goes into production next year, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academ y, which just started filming. However, Paramount Pictures, which controls the Star Trek theatrical movies, is targeting an Untitled Star Trek Origin prequel movie from director Toby Haynes to hit movie screens. All of this would mark Star Tre k's 60th anniversary.

Tawny Newsome and Justin Simien are developing Star Trek 's first live-action comedy, although there is no known release date.

However, 2026 could also be when all of the dust settles from Paramount's sale to Skydance . Star Trek is being understandably cautious with so much uncertainty surrounding its parent company's sale. But Star Trek is also acknowledged as a crown jewel I.P. that is extremely valuable to Paramount. While 2025 may reveal what direction Star Trek will take going forward, a new course taking the franchise into the next decade could be set by 2026.

What I Want For Star Trek's Future

Star trek movies, tv, and animation need to be equal.

Patience and a clear understanding of the choppy waters of the next couple of years ought to lead to the clouds parting and a bright new day for Star Trek . I hope that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gets renewed for season 5; but, ideally, I want Strange New Worlds to run for as long as executive producers Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers plan for the show to run. I also hope Section 31 is a hit, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy continues the bold innovation and pushing of boundaries that the best of Star Trek: Discovery did for the franchise.

What I really want is for Star Trek 4 to finally break out of development hell.

I would love for Star Trek movies to become a powerhouse again, in theatrical and in streaming, making Star Trek a force in both mediums. The jury is out on the Star Trek prequel movie, but I obviously hope it's good. What I really want is for Star Trek 4 to finally break out of development hell and bring back Chris Pine's Star Trek cast. As for streaming movies, if that is how we can finally get Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) headlining Star Trek: Legacy, then count me in for a made-for-streaming movie about the USS Enterprise-G. Of course, a full-blown Star Trek: Legacy series would be even better.

What a shame it would be if Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy 's last gasps happened in 2024. I dearly hope Star Trek: Lower Decks moves to another streaming service like Star Trek: Prodigy did. I also hope Netflix renews Star Trek: Prodigy, if not for season 3, then for an animated feature. I would also like Star Trek animation to be given equal treatment to live-action Star Trek , and for every aspect of the franchise to keep delivering the high quality we've seen in the last few years. Another golden age for Star Trek could be right around the corner, and we can get there, but we just need to be patient as Star Trek decides its future.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Your rating.

Your comment has not been saved

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

After being closed for over a hundred years, Starfleet Academy is reopening its doors to those who wish to pursue a career as Starfleet Officers. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will follow a new group of cadets as they come of age, and build friendships, rivalries, and romantic relationships while being threatened by a new adversary that could destroy the Academy and the Federation itself.

Leonard Nimoy Appeared In A Twilight Zone Episode With Ties To Rod Serling's Military History

Leonard Nimoy wrote his first autobiography in 1975, titling it "I Am Not Spock." It wasn't born out of hatred for his beloved "Star Trek" role, it was simply inspired by people conflating him with his character. Notably, Nimoy wrote a follow-up titled "I Am Spock" 20 years later. (Keep in mind, the first book was also written before Nimoy returned as Spock in 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and kept playing the part until his passing in 2015.)

Spock was Nimoy's breakout part and his most remembered role, but lest we forget that aforementioned memoir, he'd been acting for more than a decade before "Star Trek" came along. One of his more minor parts was in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" season 3 — "A Quality of Mercy." The episode is set in the Philippines on August 6, 1945 ( the day the U.S. bombed Hiroshima ). Nimoy plays Hansen, one of the American G.I.'s fighting the last days of an already-won war.

The idea of the episode came from writer Sam Rolfe, but the actual teleplay was written by "Twilight Zone" creator/narrator Rod Serling. The subject matter would've been personal for Serling since he fought in the Pacific theater during World War II. (If you want this story, check out the graphic Serling biography "The Twilight Man" by Koren Shadmi.)

Serling's script for "A Quality of Mercy" brings to mind Dwight Eisenhower's famous quote: "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can." It wasn't even his first episode where he used the site of his war service to talk about the horror of killing people you don't even know ( see also: "The Purple Testament" ).

The anti-war message is where the episode's true star, another science-fiction legend like Nimoy, comes in.

Dean Stockwell's role on The Twilight Zone explained

Nimoy has barely three lines and a handful of close-ups as Hansen. If "A Quality of Mercy" had come  after "Star Trek," he probably would've been the episode's lead, but in 1961, he was still a day player.

The lead of the episode is a young Dean Stockwell. Science-fiction fans will know him from "Quantum Leap," where he co-starred with future "Star Trek: Enterprise" lead Scott Bakula, and his role as John Cavill (aka Cylon Number One) on the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica." (Stockwell was also a "Star Trek" alum, reuniting with Bakula as the heavy for one episode of "Enterprise.")

In "A Quality of Mercy," Stockwell plays Lieutenant Katell, a gung-ho officer given new command of the squad that includes Hansen. Katell tries to rally the grunts to take out Japanese soldiers hiding in a nearby cave, but the men are tired of killing. Just as Katell is about to lead them in a charge, he enters the Twilight Zone; his mind travels back to 1942 and into the body of a Japanese lieutenant named Yamuri. The positions are flipped; Yamuri's CO is planning to massacre a holed up squad of Americans, no matter that they're too injured and run down to pose a threat. Katell returns to his proper place and time just when news of the Hiroshima bomb hits and he's left shaken with just how unnecessary his planned attack would've been.

A noble message about recognizing common humanity in the enemy, but one with quaint execution. While playing Yamuri, Stockwell wears yellowface make-up and performs a labored Japanese accent. "A Quality of Mercy" has been compared to Stockwell's later role on "Quantum Leap" (where Bakula's character would "leap" into people's bodies throughout time). It reminds me of "Get Out," showing how other-ed people are only seen as fully human when there's a white soul stealing their body.

"A Quality of Mercy" is an episode that wouldn't be made today, and I don't mean that as resounding praise.

Every Classic Star Trek The Original Series Episode Ranked (1966-1969)

1. Star Trek

The city on the edge of forever.

2. Star Trek

Mirror, mirror.

3. Star Trek

The trouble with tribbles.

4. Star Trek

5. Star Trek

The doomsday machine.

6. Star Trek

7. Star Trek

Balance of terror.

8. Star Trek

The devil in the dark.

9. Star Trek

Journey to babel.

10. Star Trek

The menagerie: part i.

11. Star Trek

The menagerie: part ii.

12. Star Trek

The enterprise incident.

13. Star Trek

Errand of mercy.

14. Star Trek

A taste of armageddon.

15. Star Trek

The tholian web.

16. Star Trek

The ultimate computer.

17. Star Trek

The corbomite maneuver.

18. Star Trek

19. Star Trek

All our yesterdays.

20. Star Trek

Tomorrow is yesterday.

21. Star Trek

The naked time.

22. Star Trek

This side of paradise.

23. Star Trek

Day of the dove.

24. Star Trek

A piece of the action.

25. Star Trek

The galileo seven, more to explore, recently viewed.

This 36-Year-Old Sci-Fi Sitcom Is Perfect for Star Trek Fans

Your changes have been saved

Email is sent

Email has already been sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

When it comes to profound comedy, very few sitcoms can match up with the success of Red Dwarf . After becoming one of the best sitcoms in the late 1980s, the show has gone on to release multiple movies, books, and a spectacular reboot. Admittedly, the show is not to everybody's taste and tends to mix high-end sci-fi terms with a good dosing of toilet humor. Yet, it's hard to ignore the show's cult following.

Though Red Dwarf has collected a wealth of success in its own right, many fans were initially drawn to the show because it reminded them so much of Star Trek . The sitcom may not have the same American charm as the long-running sci-fi show, but it still explores what life is like in space. So, what's Red Dwarf about, and why is it so enticing to Star Trek fans?

Red Dwarf Feels Like the Ultimate Buddy Comedy

• When filming the first season, the producers were forced to go into the local pubs and convince the patrons to fill the seats in the live studio audience.
• Alan Rickman was considered for the role of Rimmer before Chris Barrie secured the part.
• Despite being born in Northampton, England, Robert Llewellyn decided to use a Canadian accent for Kryten.
• A lot of the cast didn't have a lot of acting experience, so many of the characters are based on their actual personalities.
• Season 1 was filmed in 1986 but wasn't aired until 1988.

24 Years Ago, This Dark British Sitcom Completely Deconstructed the Genre

Black Books was a breakout piece for a number of British comedy stars, allowing the show to completely overwrite the typical nature of sitcoms.

First airing in February 1988, Red Dwarf follows Dave Lister, a mechanic who is stuck on the Red Dwarf after a radiation leak wipes out the rest of his teammates. Thus, he's forced to spend the rest of his days floating around space with his new crew, Rimmer, Cat, Holly, and Kryten. Not only must Lister confront that the world as he knew it is completely gone, but he must also realize that mutant diseases, aliens, and time distortions are all part of his new reality.

Many sitcoms are centered around friendships, as they are regarded as a very central and formative part of life. But Red Dwarf takes this common theme and gives it a striking sci-fi overlay. For example, in Season 2, Episode 1, "Kryten," the crew receives an SOS call from a nearby American ship. From here, they take Kryten, an ever-awkward and aloof mechanoid, under their wing. Immediately, Lister shows a great interest in this odd character and is determined to break his polite exterior and tempt him to do something naughty. Thus, even as a brand-new addition to the ship, he fits in perfectly and quickly becomes one of the lads. This is a great example of how Red Dwarf imitates everyday bonds in an unusual setting, making sure it's careful to make the show relatable to mass audiences.

Another great example of how friendship is used in Red Dwarf is showcased in Season 3, Episode 4, "Bodyswap." Here, Rimmer swaps bodies with Lister and refuses to give it up, creating a lot of hilarious disputes between the two men. The conflict between Rimmer and Lister is an integral part of the show's lore and highlights that even in complete isolation, friends will always find something to squabble about. On the surface, Red Dwarf seems very bizarre, but it holds on to a lot of the same values as Star Trek . Both shows display the theme of loyalty, and even in times of complete turmoil, the crew on the Enterprise are forced to stick together because they're more useful as a team than as individuals. So, it could be argued that Red Dwarf follows a similar motif but decided to turn it up a notch purely for comedic effect.

The Show Also Knows How to Keep Things Fresh

• In the title sequence for the first two seasons, Craig Charles is the same man who is painting the letters in the space suit.
• According to Sophie Aldred, the budget for one episode of Red Dwarf was the same for a whole season of Doctor Who back in 1988.
• In the failed US version of the show, Jane Leeves from Frasier was set to play Holly.
• Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules are the two characters to appear in every single episode.
• Lister announced that he was left in a box as a baby in The Aigburth Arms, which is a real pub that the writers used to visit while at university.

This 15-Year-Old Sitcom Took One of Its Biggest Risks in Its Third-Ever Episode

Community is known for its inventive and bizarre stories, but it took one of its biggest risk in a more mundane but emotional early episode.

Although Red Dwarf doesn't have the same extensive history as Star Trek , there's a lot of evidence to suggest that the sitcom knows how to keep things new and exciting so that audiences do not get bored. In Season 7, Episode 3, "Ouroboros," the crew finally found a new home. After many years on the Red Dwarf, the crew gets stranded on a new ship called Starbug. The latter is just as depressing and places the men in a deeper state of poverty and isolation than before. Although many fans saw this change as a bit confusing, it is a prime example of how the sitcom mirrors the conventions of Star Trek . Just as the Federation has a ton of starships, each with its own purpose and design, it seems that the Red Dwarf isn't the only hunk of junk floating around the galaxy. Although it would be incorrect to suggest that Red Dwarf is a direct parody of Star Trek , it's fair to say that the '80s sitcom took a lot of inspiration from vintage sci-fi shows and was determined to make a pastiche of them.

After losing comedy legend Chris Barrie halfway through Season 7 due to work commitments, the writers had to think fast about how to replace the show's main character. As such, the show welcomed Kristine Kochanski in Season 7, Episode 5, "Blue." Many fans like Kochanski's presence, especially how she slowly became a key love interest for Lister. But, over time, many fans got tired of the same old sexist gags and believed that the sitcom didn't really feel the same anymore. On the show, the crew initially pushed Kochanski out of the group, believing that she was just a female version of the overbearing Rimmer. Therefore, it could be said that Kochanski mirrors the lack of female representation in shows like Star Trek . Moreover, Kochanski's personality is quite persnickety and could be seen as a replica of the women found on Angel One in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Again, this suggests that Red Dwarf was always looking toward Star Trek for its next nugget of inspiration.

Red Dwarf Was a Fan Favorite for Over 30 Years

Top 5 most popular episodes of red dwarf.

• Season 3, Episode 2, "Marooned"
• Season 10, Episode 1, "Trojan"
• Season 6, Episode 2, "Legion"
• Season 2, Episode 5, "Queeg"
• Season 2, Episode 6, "Parallel Universe"

10 Modern Sitcom Characters Who Have Gotten Better With Age

Sitcoms have had many beloved characters over the years, but only a handful of modern icons have aged like fine wine.

Star Trek will always be one of the world's most prominent sci-fi franchises and will be subject to parodying and mimicking for years to come. Although shows like The Orville and The Muppet Show have pleased fans with their blatant comparisons, Red Dwarf isn't afraid to do its own thing. Complete with its own slang terms, music videos, and spin-off content, Red Dwarf may be a parody of its hit sci-fi counterpart, but it still manages to create an avid fandom of its own. Although the original series concluded in 1999, Dave, a British broadcaster, aired three exclusive episodes to celebrate the show's 21st birthday. From there, the broadcaster helped to reboot the show, which ran for a further three seasons. Red Dwarf also released two feature-length films, in 2009 and 2020, respectively , allowing fans to appreciate more of what this odd-ball crew has to offer.

Even some of Star Trek's biggest names struggle to ignore the similarities between Red Dwarf and the iconic sci-fi franchise. Allegedly, Patrick Stewart stumbled across an episode of Red Dwarf while staying in a hotel room and was convinced that another network had simply ripped off an episode of Star Trek . Just as he was about to notify his legal team, he realized that it was a satirical representation of the original show. Although the show struggled to break into America and was tarnished by its failed US pilot, Red Dwarf still holds up all these years later. It's quick-witted humor and unusual character arcs make it a perfect binge-watch for those who enjoy a touch of British comedy to their sci-fi shows.

The adventures of the last human alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.