The Original Series (1966–1969) played James T. Kirk in
The Original Series,
The Animated Series, and seven films
Star Trek, also known as
Star Trek: The Original Series, often abbreviated as
TOS, debuted in the United States on NBC on September 8, 1966. The series tells the tale of the crew of the
starship Enterprise and its five-year mission "to boldly go
where no man has gone before." The original 1966–69 television series featured
William Shatner as Captain
James T. Kirk,
Leonard Nimoy as
Spock,
DeForest Kelley as
Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy,
James Doohan as
Montgomery "Scotty" Scott,
Nichelle Nichols as
Uhura,
George Takei as
Hikaru Sulu, and
Walter Koenig as
Pavel Chekov. During the series' original run, it earned several nominations for the
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and won twice: for the two-part episode "
The Menagerie", and the
Harlan Ellison-written episode "
The City on the Edge of Forever". Cast included: NBC canceled the series after three seasons; the last original episode aired on June 3, 1969. A petition near the end of the second season to save the series signed by many
Caltech students and its multiple Hugo nominations would indicate that despite low
Nielsen ratings, it was highly popular with science fiction fans and engineering students. The series later became popular in reruns and found a
cult following.
The Animated Series (1973–1974) Star Trek, later marketed as
Star Trek: The Animated Series (
TAS) to differentiate it from the live-action series, was produced by
Filmation, and ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974. Most of the original cast performed the voices of their characters from
The Original Series, and some of the writers who worked on
The Original Series returned, including
D. C. Fontana,
David Gerrold and
Paul Schneider. While the animated format allowed the producers to create more exotic alien landscapes and life forms, animation errors and liberal reuse of shots and musical cues have tarnished the series' reputation. Although it was originally sanctioned by Paramount, which owned the
Star Trek franchise following its acquisition of
Desilu in 1967, Gene Roddenberry often spoke of
TAS as
non-canon. , it has references in the “series and movies” section of the official
Star Trek website. The cast included:
The Animated Series won
Star Treks first
Emmy Award on May 15, 1975.
The Animated Series briefly returned to television in the mid-1980s on the children's cable network
Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon parent
Viacom would purchase Paramount in 1994; in the early 1990s, the
Sci-Fi Channel also began rerunning
TAS. The complete series was also released on
Laserdisc format during the 1980s. The complete series was first released in the United States on eleven volumes of VHS tapes in 1989. All 22 episodes were released on DVD in 2006.
The Next Generation (1987–1994) played Jean-Luc Picard in
The Next Generation, subsequent films and later in the series
Picard Star Trek: The Next Generation, frequently abbreviated as
TNG, takes place about a century after
The Original Series (2364–2370). It features a new starship,
Enterprise-D, and a new crew led by Captain
Jean-Luc Picard (
Patrick Stewart) and Commander
William Riker (
Jonathan Frakes). Some crew members represent new alien races, including
Deanna Troi, a half-
Betazoid counselor played by
Marina Sirtis.
Michael Dorn plays
Worf, the first
Klingon officer in Starfleet, alongside
Gates McFadden as Dr.
Beverly Crusher,
LeVar Burton as chief engineer
Geordi La Forge, the android
Data portrayed by
Brent Spiner, and Dr. Crusher's son
Wesley Crusher played by
Wil Wheaton. The series premiered on September 28, 1987, and ran for seven seasons, ending on May 23, 1994. It had the highest ratings of any of the
Star Trek series and became the #1 syndicated show during the last few years of its original run, allowing it to act as a springboard for ideas in other series. Many relationships and races introduced in
TNG became the basis of episodes in
Deep Space Nine and
Voyager. During its run, it earned several
Emmy Awards and nominations—including a nomination for Best Dramatic Series during its final season—two
Hugo Awards and a
Peabody Award for Outstanding Television Programming for the episode "
The Big Goodbye". The series was released in
high definition on Blu-Ray and
Netflix with some special effect changes in the 2010s.
Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) played Benjamin Sisko in
Deep Space Nine, commander of the titular space station
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, frequently abbreviated as
DS9, takes place during the last years and the immediate post-years of
The Next Generation (2369–2375) and aired for seven seasons, from January 3, 1993, to June 2, 1999. Like
The Next Generation,
Deep Space Nine aired in syndication in the United States and Canada. Unlike the other
Star Trek series,
DS9 takes place primarily on a
space station rather than aboard a starship. The cast included: The series begins in the aftermath of the brutal occupation of the planet
Bajor by the imperialistic
Cardassians. The liberated Bajoran people ask the United Federation of Planets to help run a Cardassian-built space station,
Deep Space Nine, near Bajor. After the Federation takes control of the station, the protagonists of the series discover a uniquely stable
wormhole that provides immediate access to the distant
Gamma Quadrant making Bajor and the station one of the most strategically important locations in the galaxy. The series chronicles the adventures of the station's crew, led by Commander (later Captain)
Benjamin Sisko, played by
Avery Brooks, and Major (later Colonel)
Kira Nerys, played by
Nana Visitor. Recurring plot elements include the repercussions of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor, Sisko's role as a figure in Bajoran religious prophecy, and in later seasons a war with an empire from the Gamma Quadrant known as the
Dominion.
Deep Space Nine stands apart from earlier
Trek series for its lengthy serialized storytelling, conflict within the crew, and religious themes—all elements that critics and audiences praised but Roddenberry forbade in the original series and
The Next Generation.
Voyager (1995–2001) played Kathryn Janeway, the lead character in
Voyager, and the first female commanding officer in a leading role of a
Star Trek series
Star Trek: Voyager ran for seven seasons, airing from January 16, 1995, to May 23, 2001, launching a new Paramount-owned television network,
UPN. It features
Kate Mulgrew as Captain
Kathryn Janeway, the first female commanding officer in a leading role of a
Star Trek series, and Commander
Chakotay, played by
Robert Beltran. The cast included:
Voyager takes place at about the same time period as
Deep Space Nine and the years following that series' end (2371–2378). The premiere episode has the
USS Voyager and its crew pursue a
Maquis (Federation rebels) ship. Both ships become stranded in the
Delta Quadrant about 70,000
light-years from Earth. Faced with a 75-year voyage to Earth, the crew must learn to work together to overcome challenges on their long and perilous journey home while also seeking ways to shorten the voyage. Like
Deep Space Nine, early seasons of
Voyager feature more conflict between its crew members than seen in later episodes. Such conflict often arises from friction between "by-the-book" Starfleet crew and rebellious Maquis fugitives forced by circumstance to work together on Voyager. Eventually, though, they settle their differences, after which the overall tone becomes more reminiscent of
The Original Series. Isolated from its home, the starship
Voyager faces new cultures and dilemmas not possible in other series based in the Alpha Quadrant. Later seasons brought in an influx of characters and cultures from prior series, such as the
Borg,
Q, the
Ferengi,
Romulans,
Klingons,
Cardassians and cast members of
The Next Generation.
Enterprise (2001–2005) played Jonathan Archer, the lead character in
Enterprise Star Trek: Enterprise, originally titled
Enterprise, is a prequel to the original
Star Trek series. It aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005.
Enterprise takes place in the 2150s, some 90 years after the events of
Zefram Cochrane's first warp flight and about a decade before the founding of the Federation. The series centers on the voyages of Earth's first warp 5 capable starship,
Enterprise, commanded by Captain
Jonathan Archer (played by
Scott Bakula), and the Vulcan Sub-Commander
T'Pol (played by
Jolene Blalock). The series originally did not include "
Star Trek" in its name and logo, adding it later on in the series' run. During the series' first two seasons,
Enterprise featured self-contained episodes, like
The Original Series,
The Next Generation and
Voyager. The entire
third season consisted of one arc related to the
Xindi, and had a darker tone and serialized nature similar to that of
Deep Space Nine. The fourth and final season consisted of several mini-arcs composed of two to three episodes. The final season showed the origins of some elements of previous series, and resolved some of their continuity problems. Ratings for
Enterprise started strong but declined rapidly. Although critics received the fourth season well, both fans and the cast criticized the
series finale, partly because of the episode's focus on the guest appearance of cast members of
The Next Generation. The cancellation of
Enterprise ended an 18-year run of back-to-back new
Star Trek television series, which began with
The Next Generation in 1987. ==Streaming series==