Star Trek’s 60-Year Legacy: 6 Eras of TV & Movies Explained

Star Trek has endured for 60 years through a half-dozen distinct eras. When Gene Roddenberry pitched his sci-fi series to NBC as “Wagon Train the stars,” no one could have guessed the voyages of the Starship Enterprise would turn into a forever franchise consisting of a thousand episodes of television, fourteen movies, and countless forms of ancillary media, from books, comics, video games, and podcasts.

Star Trek has ‘died,’ or was believed to be dead, and came roaring back, bigger than ever. Initially canceled after three seasons by NBC, Star Trek went on to become even more popular and helped forge fandom as we know it today. The advent of Star Trek conventions in the 1970s birthed the cosplay and fan culture that has now become a multimillion-dollar industry.

Creator Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic vision of a hopeful and inclusive future is singular in science fiction and is the basis for Star Trek‘s eternal popularity. Star Trek has inevitably changed with the times, and its fandom spans generations who don’t always agree on what Star Trek ought to be. Yet Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets keep boldly warping into the future throughout the following eras.

Star Trek On NBC Network Years – 1966 to 1969

Star Trek aired on NBC for three seasons from 1966 to 1969. Gene Roddenberry ran Star Trek until ratings began to fall, and he resigned over creative differences with the network. Roddenberry was replaced by Fred Freiberger for Star Trek’s third and final season, though many crucial elements of Star Trek were created by producer Gene L. Coon.

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The Complete Star Trek Timeline Explained

Star Trek’s timeline spans a thousand years of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, with alternate realities and time travel galore.

Star Trek was nearly canceled earlier, but a fan letter-writing campaign organized by Bjo and John Trimble stayed the network’s axe. However, NBC relegated Star Trek season 3 to Friday nights at 10pm, a ‘death’ time slot that assured Star Trek would not return for a fourth season.

While Star Trek‘s original 79 episodes vary in quality, the best episodes were among the finest science fiction tales ever produced on television. The foundational aspects of Star Trek that would hold true for every incarnation to follow were established in the original series. At the time, no one guessed what brighter days were still to come for Star Trek.

Star Trek Syndication Years – The 1970s

Star Trek produced 79 episodes on NBC, which was enough for the series to air in syndication. Then, an unexpected thing happened: Star Trek became far more popular than it was on network television, as scores of new viewers began watching the voyages of the Starship Enterprise every day on their local channels.

In 1973, Gene Roddenberry approved a Saturday morning Star Trek animated series, which ran for two seasons and included most of Star Trek‘s original cast doing voices. When Paramount attempted to launch its own television network, a sequel series titled Star Trek: Phase II was planned as its flagship.

Star Trek‘s ‘death’ on network television allowed it to flourish and grow into a phenomenon, thanks to the devotion of legions of fans. The 1970s even included NASA’s Space Shuttle named Enterprise, proving the power of the ‘Trekkies.’ By the end of the decade, Star Trek was primed to come back and launch into a new and bigger era.

Star Trek Original Series Movie Years – 1979 to 1991

Produced by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Robert Wise, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a box office success, a fact easily forgotten by the movie’s (misunderstood) reputation as a ponderous bore. Star Trek became a bona fide movie franchise thanks to its first film, although it went wildly over budget, which ended Roddenberry’s control over Star Trek’s film franchise.

Star Trek’s continuing big screen voyages throughout the 1980s were because of the talents of three creative forces: producer Harve Bennett, writer-director Nicholas Meyer, and Leonard Nimoy, who played both Mr. Spock and succeeded in his new role as a director.

Together, Bennett, Meyer, and Nimoy took Star Trek movies to their creative heights, ushering in some of the franchise’s most legendary outings: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which stood as the highest-grossing Star Trek movie for 23 years.

The failure of the William Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier nearly ended the movie franchise, and did end Harve Bennett’s tenure, but the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series received a worthy finale with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, thanks to Leonard Nimoy and Nicholas Meyer.

Rick Berman’s Star Trek Era – 1987 to 2005

Star Trek: The Next Generation put Gene Roddenberry back in control of his creation’s television future in 1987. A troubled production in its first two seasons, TNG‘s starship was set on its proper course by the hiring of Michael Piller in season 3, whose focus on Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D turned Star Trek: The Next Generation into one of the greatest sci-fi shows ever.

Executive producer Rick Berman, who was part of Star Trek: The Next Generation from its beginning, took control of the Star Trek franchise after Gene Roddenberry’s death in 1991. Under Rick Berman, Star Trek grew in unprecedented ways, expanding on television and the big screen as the aging original cast exited.

As Star Trek: The Next Generation jumped to feature films, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in syndication, and Star Trek: Voyager as the flagship of UPN (United Paramount Network), delivered hundreds of hours of new Star Trek and introduced scores of new fan-favorite characters.

From 1994’s Star Trek Generations to 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation kept the movie franchise alive. Jonathan Frakes directed the high point of TNG‘s film series, 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact.

The deluge of Star Trek created ‘franchise fatigue,’ and mass audiences began losing interest by the time Rick Berman and Brannon Braga’s third spinoff, the prequel Star Trek: Enterprise, premiered on UPN in 2001. Canceled in 2005, Enterprise lasted only 4 seasons compared to the 7 seasons enjoyed by Berman’s other Star Trek series.

Rick Berman’s 18-year run as executive producer is fondly remembered as Star Trek‘s ‘golden era,’ made brighter by older fans’ discomfort with how different the Star Trek that followed became. While Berman’s tenure had its controversies, the 1990s and early 2000s are the most popular era of Star Trek, and its various series keep finding new fans today.

J.J. Abrams’ Kelvin Timeline Star Trek Movie Era – 2009 to 2016

Star Trek movies were dormant since the failure of Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002. 7 years later, J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek: The Original Series with a new movie that visually upgraded the aging franchise, injecting a newfound youth and dynamism to the Starship Enterprise.

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Star Trek Movies Are Too Important For Paramount To Keep Failing

Star Trek theatrical movies have been dormant for a decade, robbing fans of more iconic moments from beloved characters that stand the test of time.

In 2006, ViacomCBS’ split divided the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek movies became the purview of Paramount Pictures while Star Trek‘s TV series fell under the auspices of CBS Corporation. When it came time to make J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie, they didn’t have the rights to use the existing TV characters.

Star Trek (2009)’s solution was a reboot set in an alternate reality that was dubbed (offscreen) the Kelvin Timeline. J.J. Abrams’ recast Captain Kirk, Spock, and the USS Enterprise’s crew with younger actors like Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, proving the belief that only the original actors could play these characters was false.

J.J. Abrams ultimately produced a trilogy of propulsive, wildly entertaining, visually delightful Star Trek movies, but the bloom quickly fell off the rose with Abrams’ 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness. The Justin Lin-directed Star Trek Beyond in 2016 was a softer performer than its predecessors. Creative and budgetary difficulties have prevented Paramount from making any more of Abrams’ Star Trek films.

From 2009 to 2016, J.J. Abrams’ trilogy was the only new Star Trek made, and they kept the franchise alive — at least on the big screen. While a decade has passed since there has been a new theatrical Star Trek movie, Star Trek‘s TV comeback would warp the franchise into its latest era.

Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek On Paramount+ Era – 2017 to 2027

Star Trek’s most diverse and maligned era is the current one under executive producer Alex Kurtzman and Secret Hideout, his production company. Kurtzman co-created Star Trek: Discovery with Bryan Fuller, who left the series due to creative differences. Kurtzman then signed a deal to create more Star Trek TV series for the Paramount+ streaming app.

Star Trek: Discovery‘s premiere in 2017 ended 12 years of no new Star Trek television made after Star Trek: Enterprise was canceled in 2005. Star Trek: Discovery brought J.J. Abrams’ style visuals and heavy serialization to Star Trek, and its reception from longtime Trekkers was not warm. Yet Discovery was a success and opened the door to a new Star Trek renaissance.

Under Alex Kurtzman, Star Trek on Paramount+’s series embraced multiple styles to welcome different audiences. Star Trek: Picard was serialized and steeped in Star Trek: The Next Generation nostalgia. Star Trek: Lower Decks was a pioneering half-hour comedy. Star Trek: Prodigy was inviting to younger viewers. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brought back 1960s-style episodic adventures with a colorful, experimental edge.

Star Trek‘s heyday under Alex Kurtzman was 2022 to 2023, when there was a new episode of five Star Trek series premiering nearly every Thursday on Paramount+, followed by the wildly popular successes of Star Trek: Picard season 3 and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2.

However, Paramount Global’s sale to Skydance Media resulted in budgetary cuts that saw every Star Trek series on Paramount+ rapidly canceled. By the time Kurtzman’s sixth Star Trek series premiered in 2026, the young adult-focused Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Paramount Skydance’s new management reflected the changing socio-political culture. Starfleet Academy was quickly canceled.

Alex Kurtzman’s Star Trek era is expected to end in 2027. Kurtzman’s deal with Paramount+ is reportedly up at year’s end, all of his shows are now canceled, and the final seasons of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are earmarked to premiere on Paramount+ in 2027.

What will come next will be the seventh era for Star Trek, and it is a final frontier of many questions and concerns for the future of Gene Roddenberry’s beloved creation.

Created by

Gene Roddenberry

First Episode Air Date

September 8, 1966

Cast

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Wil Wheaton, Avery Brooks, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig, Cirroc Lofton, Armin Shimerman, Colm Meaney, Terry Farrell, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Jeri Ryan, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Garrett Wang, Jolene Blalock, Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Scott Bakula, Linda Park, John Billingsley, Anthony Montgomery, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sonequa Martin-Green, Mary Wiseman, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Oyin Oladejo, Emily Coutts, Jess Bush, Christina Chong, Anson Mount, Ethan Peck, Rebecca Romijn, Michelle Yeoh

TV Show(s)

Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Short Treks, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy