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Star Trek films en series in volgorde

Star Trek films en series in volgorde

Sinds de première in 1966 van de eerste aflevering van Star Trek: The Original Series is de entertainmentwereld nooit meer hetzelfde geweest. Deze franchise heeft de harten van miljoenen mensen over de hele wereld veroverd en is uitgegroeid tot een soort ruimtevarend imperium gevuld met meerdere films, series, comics, merchandise en zoveel meer. Dat gezegd hebbende, kan de hoeveelheid Star Trek die er in de wereld is het moeilijk maken om precies te weten hoe je alles in chronologische volgorde of in releasevolgorde kunt bekijken. Om het je gemakkelijker te maken, hebben we deze lijsten gemaakt.

Star Trek films in volgorde

De releasevolgorde van alle Star Trek films is identiek aan de chronologische volgorde.

  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
  • The Best of Both Worlds (1990) (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
  • Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
  • Star Trek: Generations (1994)
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
  • Star Trek: The Future Begins (2009)
  • Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
  • Star Trek: Beyond (2016)

De volledige Star Trek saga in chronologische volgorde

Hier is een lijst met alle films en series uit de Star Trek saga in chronologische volgorde.

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

De volledige Star Trek saga in releasevolgorde

Hier is een lijst met alle films en series uit de Star Trek saga in releasevolgorde.

  • Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)
  • Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1984)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)
  • Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
  • Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
  • Star Trek (2009)
  • Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
  • Star Trek Beyond (2016)
  • Star Trek: Discovery (2017-heden)
  • Star Trek: Picard (2020-2023)
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-heden)
  • Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-heden)
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-heden)

Mis jij nog Star Trek films en/of series in deze lijst? Laat het ons weten in de reacties!

3 gedachten over “Star Trek films en series in volgorde”

Bedankt voor je reactie Marcel! The Best Of Both Worlds is origineel naar buiten gebracht als een serie van 2 afleveringen en uiteindelijk samengevoegd tot een film. Het is nu toegevoegd aan de lijst met films.

In de lijst van de films mis ik de film uit 1990 nl: 1990 Star Trek The Next Generation The Best Of Both Worlds

op welke plaats zijn de films Star Trek Enterprise, Star Trek into darkness en Star Trek Beyond volgens de Kelvin tijdlijn, want als star Trek Enterprise de eerste serie is, moet de film toch daarvoor zijn?

Plaats een reactie

volgorde van star trek films

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Dit is de beste volgorde om alle Star Trek films en series te bekijken

De Star Trek-franchise is uitgebreid met meerdere series en films die over verschillende tijdperken zijn verspreid. Laten we beginnen met een overzicht van alle Star Trek films en Star Trek series! Hierin vertellen we ook kort waar de film of serie over gaat. Het toffe van Star Trek is dat iedere film of serie heeft zijn eigen unieke thema’s heeft en zijn steentje bijdraagt aan het bredere Star Trek universum.

Alle Star Trek series op een rij

star trek discovery

  • Deze serie volgt de avonturen van het sterrenschip USS Enterprise, onder het bevel van Kapitein James T. Kirk, Spock en Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. De bemanning verkent onbekende werelden en ontmoet vreemde nieuwe levensvormen, waarbij ze zich houden aan de Prime Directive van niet-inmenging in andere culturen.
  • Dit is een geanimeerde voortzetting van TOS, waarin de bemanning van de Enterprise verdergaat met hun ontdekkingsreizen in de ruimte. De serie biedt dezelfde avonturen, maar nu met de mogelijkheid om fantasierijke werelden en wezens te verkennen die met live-action moeilijk te realiseren waren.
  • TNG speelt zich bijna een eeuw na de originele serie af en volgt de bemanning van een nieuwe USS Enterprise onder leiding van Kapitein Jean-Luc Picard. Ze ontdekken nieuwe planeten, lossen intergalactische conflicten op en behandelen filosofische en ethische vraagstukken.
  • In tegenstelling tot andere Star Trek-series speelt DS9 zich af op een ruimtestation in plaats van een sterrenschip. Het station, Deep Space Nine, bevindt zich bij een strategisch wormgat en speelt een sleutelrol in de interstellaire politiek, vooral in de conflictueuze relatie tussen de Federatie en het Cardassian Empire.
  • Het sterrenschip USS Voyager wordt ver weg van de Aarde naar de Delta Quadrant geslingerd, een onbekend deel van de ruimte. Onder leiding van Kapitein Kathryn Janeway probeert de bemanning een weg terug naar huis te vinden, een reis die 75 jaar kan duren.
  • Een prequel van TOS, deze serie volgt de bemanning van de eerste USS Enterprise (NX-01) onder bevel van Kapitein Jonathan Archer. De serie speelt zich af in de vroege dagen van de interstellaire verkenning door de mensheid en toont de ontwikkeling van veel van de concepten die later belangrijk worden in het Star Trek-universum.
  • Discovery volgt de avonturen van de USS Discovery en haar bemanning, met in het bijzonder de focus op Michael Burnham, een menselijke vrouw opgevoed door Vulcans. De serie speelt zich aanvankelijk af vóór TOS, maar vanaf seizoen 3 gaat het verhaal verder in de verre toekomst, ver buiten het tijdperk van eerdere Star Trek-series.
  • Deze serie volgt Jean-Luc Picard, vele jaren na de gebeurtenissen van TNG en de films, als hij uit zijn pensioen komt om een nieuwe dreiging aan te pakken die verband houdt met kunstmatige intelligentie en zijn verleden.
  • Een geanimeerde komedie die de avonturen volgt van de “Lower Decks”-bemanningsleden van de USS Cerritos, een minder belangrijk sterrenschip in de vloot. De serie biedt een humoristische kijk op het Star Trek-universum vanuit het perspectief van de bemanningsleden die doorgaans buiten de schijnwerpers staan.
  • Een geanimeerde serie gericht op een jonger publiek. Het volgt een groep jonge buitenaardse wezens die een verlaten Starfleet-schip vinden en het gebruiken om te ontsnappen aan hun onderdrukkers, terwijl ze gaandeweg meer leren over Starfleet en zijn idealen.
  • Deze serie speelt zich af vóór de gebeurtenissen van TOS en volgt de bemanning van de USS Enterprise onder leiding van Kapitein Christopher Pike, Spock, en Nummer Eén, terwijl ze nieuwe werelden en levensvormen verkennen.

Ga direct naar Star Trek op BOL.com .

Alle Star Trek films op een rij

star trek beyond

  • De bemanning van de Enterprise wordt herenigd om een mysterieus, gigantisch ruimtewezen te onderzoeken dat koers zet naar de aarde en alles op zijn pad vernietigt.
  • Khan Noonien Singh, een genetisch verbeterde tiran uit het verleden van de Aarde, keert terug om wraak te nemen op Admiraal Kirk, wat leidt tot een confrontatie die een zware tol eist van de bemanning van de Enterprise.
  • Na de gebeurtenissen in “The Wrath of Khan” keert Kirk terug naar de Genesis-planeet om het lichaam van Spock te vinden, wat leidt tot conflicten met het Klingon-rijk.
  • De bemanning van de Enterprise reist terug in de tijd naar de 20e eeuw om bultruggen te redden, die de sleutel zijn tot het redden van de aarde in hun eigen tijd.
  • Spock’s halfbroer Sybok kaapt de Enterprise en leidt de bemanning op een zoektocht naar God, diep in het centrum van de Melkweg.
  • Terwijl het Klingon-rijk op het punt staat in te storten, werken de bemanning van de Enterprise en hun voormalige vijanden samen om een complot te verijdelen dat de vrede in gevaar brengt.
  • Kapitein Picard ontmoet Kapitein Kirk in een mysterieus energieveld genaamd de Nexus, en samen proberen ze een gestoorde wetenschapper te stoppen die de vernietiging van een zon veroorzaakt.
  • De bemanning van de Enterprise reist terug in de tijd om te voorkomen dat de Borg de eerste ontmoeting van de mensheid met buitenaardse wezens in de 21e eeuw verstoort.
  • Wanneer de Federatie betrokken raakt bij een complot om de inwoners van een paradijselijke planeet te verplaatsen, neemt de bemanning van de Enterprise het op tegen hun eigen leiders.
  • Kapitein Picard en zijn bemanning nemen het op tegen een kloon van Picard zelf, die van plan is de Federatie omver te werpen.
  • In een alternatieve tijdlijn begint een jonge James T. Kirk aan zijn reis als kapitein van de USS Enterprise, terwijl hij het opneemt tegen de Romulan Nero, die wraak wil nemen op de Vulcans.
  • Kapitein Kirk en zijn bemanning moeten een mysterieuze vijand stoppen die chaos zaait binnen Starfleet. De film introduceert een nieuwe versie van Khan.
  • De bemanning van de Enterprise strandt op een afgelegen planeet na een aanval van een vijandige alien genaamd Krall. Samen moeten ze een manier vinden om te ontsnappen en de vijand te stoppen.

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De beste volgorde om alle Star Trek films en series te bekijken

Er zijn twee manieren om de series en films te bekijken: in volgorde van uitgave of in chronologische volgorde van het verhaal. Hieronder geef ik je een overzicht van beide benaderingen:

1. Volgorde van uitgave

Dit is de volgorde waarin de series en films oorspronkelijk zijn uitgebracht.

star trek strange new worlds

  • Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) (1966-1969)
  • Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS) (1973-1974)
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) (1987-1994)
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) (1993-1999)
  • Star Trek: Generations (1994)
  • Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
  • Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
  • Star Trek (2009) (J.J. Abrams reboot)
  • Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
  • Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
  • Star Trek: Discovery (2017-heden)
  • Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-2020)
  • Star Trek: Picard (2020-heden)
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-heden)
  • Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-heden)
  • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-heden)

2. Star trek films en series op c hronologische volgorde

Als je de verhaallijn in de tijd wilt volgen, is dit de volgorde:

star trek prodigy

  • Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2161)
  • Star Trek: Discovery (seizoen 1 en 2, 2255-2257)
  • Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) (2265-2269)
  • Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS) (2270)
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2273)
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (2285)
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (2285)
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (2286)
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (2287)
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2293)
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) (2364-2370)
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) (2369-2375)
  • Star Trek: Generations (2371)
  • Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378)
  • Star Trek: First Contact (2373)
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (2375)
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2379)
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380-heden)
  • Star Trek: Picard (2399-2401)
  • Star Trek: Prodigy (2383-2384)
  • Star Trek: Discovery (seizoen 3 en verder, 3188-heden)

Stream alle films en series van Star Trek op SkyShowtime!

De J.J. Abrams-reboot-films (“Star Trek (2009)”, “Into Darkness”, en “Beyond”) spelen zich af in een alternatieve tijdlijn, ook wel de “Kelvin-tijdlijn” genoemd, en kunnen worden bekeken na de rest van de series en films, of apart.

Hopelijk helpt dit overzicht je om je Star Trek-marathon te plannen!

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Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

Number One, show me a list of all the Star Trek movies in order — both chronological and release — engage!

Star Trek movies in order (Image shows The Original Series James T Kirk, The Next Generation's Jean Luc Picard, and the Kelvin era's James T Kirk & Spock

  • Chronological order
  • Prime Timeline

The Original Series movies

The next generation movies.

  • Kelvin Timeline
  • Release order

Upcoming Star Trek movies

Raise shields, red alert — we’re going to try and put all the Star Trek movies in order. And we do mean try.

When they were focused on the Original Series era, the Star Trek movies were so easy to watch in order — the movies were numbered, everything was nice and simple. Then Picard comes in with his Next Generation buddies and suddenly numbers are out, subtitles are in. And that’s before we get all the time travel shenanigans that gave birth to the Kelvin timeline , an alternative timeline that splits off from the main canon.

It's been a long while since we've had a new Star Trek movie, with the last release — Star Trek Beyond — coming out back in 2016. Over eight years! Voyager got home from the Delta Quadrant in less time than that! Mercifully the drought is nearly over, with the Discovery spin-off movie Star Trek: Section 31 due to launch in early 2025.

So while we wait for Trek's silver screen return, we’re going to break down the various timelines and help you watch the Star Trek movies in either chronological or release order —- the Temporal Prime Directive be damned. Oh and we’re not making any judgements on the quality of the movies here, so head over to our Star Trek movies ranked list if you want to fight about whether the Kirk or Picard era movies are better.

All of the Star Trek movies are available to watch on Paramount+, along with almost all the shows — check our Star Trek streaming guide to find which nebulas the exceptions are hiding in. 

Star Trek movies: Chronological order

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

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

Star Trek: Prime Timeline

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

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

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Crew in Star Trek: The Motion Picture_Paramount Pictures

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

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

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan (1982)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Walter Koenig, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, and George Takei in Star Trek III The Search for Spock (1984)_Paramount Pictures

  • Release date: June 1, 1984

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

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek IV The Voyage Home (1986)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, and Laurence Luckinbill in Star Trek V The Final Frontier (1989)

  • Release date: June 9, 1989

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

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and Christopher Plummer in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country (1991)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

7. Star Trek: Generations

Malcolm McDowell, Brian Thompson, and Gwynyth Walsh in Star Trek Generations (1994)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

8. Star Trek: First Contact

U.S.S. Enterprise battling the Borg in Star Trek First Contact (1996)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek Insurrection (1998)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

Patrick Stewart and Tom Hardy in Star Trek Nemesis (2002)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

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

11. Star Trek

John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, and Chris Pine in Star Trek (2009)_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and Chris Pine in Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)_© Zade Rosenthal_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

13. Star Trek Beyond

Idris Elba and Chris Pine in Star Trek Beyond (2016)_© Kimberley French_Paramount Pictures

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

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

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

Star Trek movies: Release order

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

Star Trek 4

The crew of the Enterprise in Star Trek Beyond

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

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

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

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

Still, recent comments from Paramount CEO Brian Robbins have us cautiously optimistic: “We’re deep into [Star Trek 4] with J.J. Abrams, and it feels like we’re getting close to the starting line and excited about where we’re going creatively,” he told Variety.

Since then, there hasn’t been much in the way of updates, which leaves us with the worrying prospect of Star Trek 4 being stuck in development hell. During a 2023 appearance at the 57-Year Mission convention in Las Vegas (reported by TrekMovie ), Zachary Quinto explained that creative differences were the cause of the numerous delays. 

“I think there’s a lot of other stuff, creative things. It’s complicated. The fact that anything good gets made is kind of a miracle. I think it’s about different people having different agendas and ideas about what it will be.“

Star Trek: Section 31

Image showing Michelle Yeoh starring in the Section 31 movie. Here we see the actress next to large white text which reads 'Section 31.'

In the meantime, we are getting the Star Trek: Section 31 movie staring Academy Award-winning actress MichelIe Yeoh. She is reprising her role as Emperor Philip Georgiou, her character from Star Trek Discovery (well one of them anyway, mirror universes and all that). This spin-off from the TV series is coming out of warp in early 2025.

Check out our guide to Everything we know about Star trek Section 31 for more info on the upcoming movie.

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

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How to watch the Star Trek movies in order

Set phasers to "fun" and watch the Star Trek movies in order

star trek movies in order

It’s a good time to be a Star Trek fan and watch all the Star Trek movies in order. With three active TV series ( Discovery , Picard , Lower Decks ) and three more in the works (Section 31, Prodigy, Strange New Worlds ), there are more Star Trek adventures airing now than at any point since the mid-90s. 

While Star Trek TV shows have come and gone since the ‘60s, Star Trek movies maintained a pretty consistent release schedule between 1979 and 2016. On average, we got a new film once every three years. But with the fourth move of the Star Trek reboot franchise allegedly canceled , we may be in for a long wait until we see the U.S.S. Enterprise on the big screen again.

Still, there’s one missing piece of the puzzle: Where are all the Star Trek movies? Unlike watching the Star Wars movies in order , you can't see every Trek film on the same service.

  • What is Paramount Plus ?
  • Play the best Star Trek games
  • Find what to watch after Star Trek: Discovery

In the meantime, there are thirteen Star Trek movies to watch (or rewatch), either on DVD or your favorite streaming services. I personally bought the Blu-ray collections so that I wouldn’t be at the mercy of shifting streaming schedules, but if you prefer an all-digital experience, these movies are almost always available somewhere online.

Star Trek movies in order: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek movies in order of release date

Watching the Star Trek movies in release order is, for the most part, exactly the same as watching the Star Trek movies in chronological order. (There’s some time travel here and there, but the later films still follow “after” the earlier ones.) There are 13 films. The first came out in 1979; the last came out in 2016. 

The only issue is that they're spread out across a number of different subscription services. 10 of the 13 can be found on Amazon Prime Video, and seven of those are also on Hulu. FX Now and Fubo each have one Star Trek movie a piece, each film being a streaming exclusive (you'd need to buy or rent to watch otherwise). And then CBS All Access (soon to be Paramount Plus) and Pluto also have one film. 

  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) : On Prime Video
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Star Trek: Generations (1994) : On Prime Video
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996) : On Prime Video
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) : On CBS All Access/Paramount Plus and Pluto
  • Star Trek (2009): On Fubo
  • Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) : On FX Now
  • Star Trek Beyond (2016) : On Hulu and Prime Video

Hulu.

Star Trek is just one of many great things you can watch on Hulu . In addition to its acclaimed originals like High Fidelity and Shrill, Hulu streams next-day airings of current TV shows and library content from FX.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video has a huge library beyond Star Trek movies. Not only do they have a ton of top movies and TV shows, they've got a lineup of acclaimed originals. They've got everything from Fleabag to Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to The Expanse to Jack Ryan. 

Fubo.TV:a 7-day free trial

Fubo.TV : One of the streaming services you'll need to complete the Star Trek movies in order, Fubo has all of the right network channels too. Who needs cable? Not Fubo subscribers. It's got a 7-day free trial so you don't need to pay up front.

One year of Paramount Plus: was $99 or $59, now $49 or $29

One year of Paramount Plus: was $99 or $59, now $49 or $29 If you sign up a little under one month before Paramount Plus launches, you'll save $30 to $50 on its annual price. The higher rate is for the ad-free version. Paramount Plus will pack everything from Yellowstone to SpongeBob SquarePants, The Real Criminal MInds and more.

On top of there not being one home for all the movies, there are a few small wrinkles in this plan, however. First: The Star Trek movies aren’t completely standalone. They require some knowledge of what happened in the Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation TV shows to fully grok. 

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Furthermore, the 13 movies don’t tell one continuous story. Rather, they’re based on three separate iterations of the long-running franchise.

star trek movies in order: Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek movies in order of series

Just like the Star Trek TV shows, the Star Trek movies don’t all focus on the same characters and settings. While there’s a little bit of crossover (which we’ll cover below), the films generally fall into three categories.

The first category is based on Star Trek: The Original Series. This is your daddy’s Star Trek, complete with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the original U.S.S. Enterprise and Scotty beaming people up. If you’ve ever heard about “KHAAAAN!” or “the one with the whales,” or “Shakespeare in the original Klingon,” this is where they come from.

They're all available on Prime Video, and almost all (The Voyage Home is missing) are on Hulu as well. 

Star Trek: The Original Series movies

Next up, there are the Next Generation movies. This is Gen X/Elder Millennial Star Trek, starring Picard, Data, Worf and the crew. The movies start off with the Enterprise-D, but transition to the sleeker Enterprise-E in First Contact. Generations features a crossover with some original series crewmembers, but the rest put the TNG cast front and center, with occasional Deep Space Nine and Voyager cameos.

You'll need at least two streaming services to see all of them.

Star Trek: The Next Generation movies

  • Star Trek: Generations (1994): On Prime Video

Finally, there are the “reboot” Star Trek films, also known as the “Kelvin timeline” films. Kirk, Spock and McCoy take center stage again, but this time in an alternate reality, where events play out differently. This is Star Trek for the cool kids, complete with fast starships, pulse-pounding action and soundtracks populated by the Beastie Boys. (It’s not quite as mindless as it sounds — except for Into Darkness, maybe.) For the most part, these films don’t require previous Star Trek knowledge. But they do pick up where Nemesis left off, more or less, before winding the clock back.

This set is the splintered across services more than any of the others.

Star Trek reboot movies

  • Star Trek (2009) : On Fubo

star trek movies in order — Star Trek: The Original Series: Space Seed

Star Trek episodes to watch first

TOS: The Original Series TNG: The Next Generation ENT: Enterprise

Watching the Star Trek movies is an extremely straightforward process, but they may be a little incomprehensible unless you’ve seen at least some of the TV series . (I watched the entire franchise , but that may not be practical for you.) The Motion Picture picks up after The Original Series ends; likewise with Generations and The Next Generation.

As such, here are some episodes you should watch if you’re going to dive into the movies. Generally, the movies stand on their own, but it might help to know about some of the supporting characters and subplots:

Episodes for Star Trek: The Original Series movies

  • Space Seed (TOS, S1, E22) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Errand of Mercy (TOS: S1, E26) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Journey to Babel (TOS: S2, E10) : On Hulu and Prime Video

Episodes for Star Trek: The Next Generation movies

  • Q Who (TNG: S2, E16) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I and II (TNG: S3, E26 / S4, E1) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • Family (TNG: S4, E2) : On Hulu and Prime Video

Episodes for Star Trek reboot movies

  • Unification, Parts I and II (TNG: S5, E7 & E8) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • First Flight (ENT: S2, E24) : On Hulu and Prime Video
  • The Xindi (ENT: S3, E1) : On Hulu and Prime Video

star trek movies in order — star trek

Which Star Trek movies are good?

If you watch all 13 Star Trek movies, you’re signing yourself up for about 26 hours of screen time. That’s more than a casual fan may want to invest. Luckily (or unluckily?), not ever Star Trek film is created equal. For a long time, fans held that the even-numbered movies were good, while the odd-numbered ones were bad. That trend seems to have reversed with the recent reboot films, though: The odd ones are good, while the even one is, well, not.

In any case, if you want to start with the movies that are really worth your time, here they are:

I personally like some of the other ones quite a bit (Nemesis is better than you remember, and Generations has quite a few moving moments), but those should at least represent a good starting point.

And once you’re done with those, you can move onto Galaxy Quest: the best Star Trek movie that’s not actually a Star Trek movie.

  • Next: How to watch Harry Potter movies in order

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi. 

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How to watch the star trek movies and tv shows in order.

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Key Takeaways

  • Explore the Star Trek universe by watching the franchise in chronological order, based on stardates.
  • The original Star Trek timeline includes the TV show Enterprise and the first two seasons of Discovery.
  • The original series, The Animated Series, and the first Star Trek movie are important parts of the franchise's origins.

With the Star Trek franchise rapidly expanding on Paramount+ , now is the perfect time to boldly go explore the Star Trek Universe.

The universe is composed of 13 films and nine TV shows. Now, it'd be easy enough to watch them all in the order they premiered, but if you prefer to watch everything chronologically (when the events take place), we've compiled an ultimate viewing guide for you. Below, you'll find the entire franchise organized by stardates. It starts with the oldest event in the original Star Trek timeline.

Speaking of timelines, there are two in Star Trek: The original, which includes nearly all the films and TV shows; and Kelvin, an alternative timeline that kicked off with the latest three reboot films. To better understand what we're talking about, please read the guide below. Those of you who want to proceed spoiler-free, however, can scroll all the way to the bottom for the list version of this guide.

Also at the bottom, we've included another spoiler-free list. It's structured by order of release - or when each film and TV show premiered.

How to watch all the Marvel movies and TV shows in chronological order

The Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2008 and is still going strong. Here's the entire MCU timeline, shows and movies included.

The original Star Trek timeline

The thing to remember about this order is that it is chronological - based entirely on the stardate time system in the Star Trek franchise. Think of stardates as years. In that case, the order below starts with the oldest events in the Star Trek Universe - but it excludes the Kelvin timeline films.

There are spoilers below.

1 Star Trek: E nterprise

The first to boldly go where no man has gone before, star trek: enterprise.

Stardate: 2151 to 2156

Enterprise follows the adventures of one of the first starships to explore deep space in the Star Trek Universe.

Set right before the founding of the Federation of Planets (and about 100 years before the original Star Trek series), Star Trek: Enterprise is a TV show that follows the adventures of Captain Jack Archer, played by Scott Bakula, and the Starship Enterprise crew. This ship is the first Federation vessel to have Warp 5 capabilities, allowing its crew to be among the first deep-space explorers.

The series introduces many of the different alien species important to the Star Trek Universe, such as the Vulcans and Klingons. It also begins to lay the groundwork for the Federation of Planets, in the fourth and final season.

2 Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 and 2

Discover a new type of starship, set ten years before the original series, star trek: discovery.

Stardate: 2256

The first two seasons of Discovery is set ten years before the original series as the crew of the titular ship tests an impressive new warp drive.

Star Trek: Discovery follows Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, the first officer aboard the USS Shenzhou before she is found guilty of mutineering. However, with the Federation at war with the Klingons, the captain of the new Discovery ship, Gabriel Lorca, played by Jason Isaacs, enlists Burnham to help get the ship’s experimental warp drive properly working.

Discovery's early setting in the Star Trek universe was changed with a leap through time at the end of season two, which is why we're placing the recently released third season elsewhere on our list.

3 Star Trek: Strange New World

A direct prequel to the original series., star trek: strange new worlds.

Stardate: 2258

Strange New Worlds follows the early adventures of the Starship Enterprise, before Kirk became its captain.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike.

Pike will be a familiar name to Star Trek fans, as Pike is the man who commanded the starship Enterprise before Captain Kirk. The series follows Pike doing just that, in his final five-year mission as captain of the Enterprise before he becomes Fleet Captain and hands the reigns to Captain Kirk.

This being a prequel to the original Star Trek series, there are also other recognizable names, with Ethan Peck playing Spock and Celia Rose-Gooding as Uhara. A third season is currently in production.

4 Star Trek: The Original Series

Where it all began, star trek: the original series.

Stardate: 2266 to 2269

The original Star Trek series follows Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew as they boldly go where no man has gone before.

This is the original Star Trek TV show. It began airing in 1966 and primarily follows the crew of the USS Enterprise, starting with them embarking on a five-year mission “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before”.

The series introduces William Shatner’s Captain James T Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, too.

It also gives us the basis for the universe that makes Star Trek so successful, from introducing numerous alien species like the Vulcans and Klingons to showing us the inner workings of the Federation of Planets. The origins of the Star Trek Universe wouldn’t exist without it.

5 *Optional* Star Trek: The Animated Series

Continue the journey with the original crew, star trek: animated.

Stardate: 2269 to 2270

Continue the adventures of the original series in this animated version that sees most of the cast return to voice their characters.

After The Original Series ended, it quickly became a cult classic. Creator Gene Roddenberry then began work on an animated series that saw most of the original cast provide voice work for the animated versions of their characters. The show essentially functions as the fourth season of the original series, with the original characters navigating unexplored sections of space.

However, it was eliminated from canon by Roddenberry himself, when the rights were renegotiated following the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. So, if you want to consume every drop of Star Trek content, add this to your list.

6 Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The first star trek movie, star trek: the motion picture.

Stardate: 2273

Captain Kirk, his crew, and a newly remodeled Enterprise head out to investigate an alien entity known as V'ger.

This is the first feature film in the Star Trek Universe. It sees Captain James T Kirk retake the helm of a renovated USS Enterprise to investigate a mysterious cloud of energy that is moving toward Earth. The energy cloud destroys a Federation monitoring station, as well as three Klingon ships, but before Kirk is able to engage it, he must learn to operate an unfamiliar USS Enterprise.

7 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star trek: the wrath of khan.

Stardate: 2285

The crew of the Enterprise faces off against it's most fearsome adversary, Khan.

The second Star Trek movie is perhaps the most successful entry in the franchise. It sees Captain James T Kirk taking command of a USS Enterprise staffed with untested trainees in order to track down the adversary Khan Noonien Singh and his genetically engineered super soldiers.

In the process of escaping a planet that Kirk trapped him on, Khan learns of a secret device known as Genesis, capable of re-organizing matter to terraform (make them habitable) planets. Khan tries to steal the device, but, of course, Kirk will do all he can to stop him.

8 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

The crew of the enterprise try to resurrect spock, star trek iii: the search for spock.

Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise set out on a mission to recover Spock's body and bring him back to life.

Following their battle with Khan, the crew of the USS Enterprise returns home to Earth in this third feature film.

Once there, Leonard H “Bones” McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, begins to act strangely, leading to him being detained. Captain James T Kirk, with the help of Spock’s father, Sarek, played by Mark Lenard, then learns that Spock transferred his Katra into McCoy before dying.

If nothing is done, McCoy will die from carrying Spock’s Katra. So, the crew of the USS Enterprise go back to the site of their battle with Khan - in the hopes of retrieving Spock’s body. To top it all off, they must battle with the Klingon Kruge, played by Christopher Lloyd, over control of the Genesis Device. The Search for Spock is also directed by Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy.

9 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Earth is in danger and the only hope is humpback whales, star trek iv: the voyage home.

Stardate: 2286

The Enterprise travels back in time to 1986 and has to untangle a mystery involving humpback whales and an alien probe.

In this film, a mysterious ship begins orbiting Earth and destroys the planet's power grid. It emits strange noises, too, and the newly resurrected Spock realizes the sound is similar to the now-extinct humpback whale. Believing the strange ship is expecting to hear back the song of humpback whales, the crew goes around the Sun and travels back in time to 1986 to get a humpback whale.

Nimoy returned to direct this film, as well.

10 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

The enterprise crew must face off with spock's brother, sybok, star trek v: the final frontier.

Stardate: 2287

The Enterprise heads out on a mission to rescue hostages from the planet Nimbus 3.

After finishing a mission, Kirk, Spock, and Bones are enjoying a camping trip in Yosemite in this film when they are ordered to rescue hostages on the planet Nimbus III. But, once arriving on the planet, the crew realizes Spock’s half-brother, Sybok, is responsible for taking the hostages in order to lure a starship, with the hopes of reaching the mythical planet Sha Ka Ree and meeting a God.

Sybok realizes he’ll need Kirk’s expertise to navigate through the barrier at the centre of the Milky Way that leads to this mythical planet. Along the way, the Klingon Kraa decides to hunt Kirk. The Final Frontier is also the only Star Trek film directed by William Shatner.

11 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

The final film starring the original series cast, star trek vi: the undiscovered country.

Stardate: 2293

After being framed for a political assassination, Kirk and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise must unravel the conspiracy to avoid war with the Klingon Empire.

In the final film of this series, we see the Klingon homeworld nearly destroyed, leading the hostile empire to engage in peace talks with the Federation. Captain James T Kirk is assigned to escort the Klingon ambassador, but is instead blamed when assassins beam aboard the Ambassador’s ship and kill him. The Klingons then sentence Kirk and McCoy to life imprisonment on a frozen asteroid.

At that point, Spock and the rest of the crew must find the true culprits behind the attack of the Klingon ship and rescue Kirk and Bones.

12 Star Trek: The Next Generation

The next generation takes over the uss enterprise, star trek: the next generation.

Stardate: 2364 to 2370

A new crew takes over the Enterprise and heads out on a five-year mission to explore the unknown.

Set 71 years after the USS Enterprise’s last mission with Captain James T Kirk at the helm, The Next Generation introduces us to a new USS Enterprise staffed with the next generation of Starfleet officers, led by Captain Jean Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart).

This TV series also shows us new species of aliens, the Cardassians and the Borgs, which replace the now-friendlier Klingons as the Federation’s primary adversaries.

The Next Generation ran for seven seasons and featured a couple of cameos from The Original Series, like Spock and Bones, among others.

13 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Everyday life in the deepest reaches of space, star trek: deep space nine.

Stardate: 2369 to 2375

Set on a stationary space station instead of an exploring starship, Deep Space Nine explores what life in space is like after the exploring part is done.

This TV show overlaps with the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It focuses on the former Cardassian space station, a backwood outpost that the Federation now controls and has ordered a Starfleet crew to run, with Avery Brook’s Benjamin Sisko as the commanding officer.

It's not about a starship exploring the unknown, but rather the trade disputes and political manoeuvring surrounding a crucial military hub.

14 Star Trek Generations

The two enterprise crews unite to take on a force with the power to destroy stars, star trek: generations.

Stardate: 2371

The first Star Trek film to feature the Next Generation crew also brought back the Enterprise crew from the original series.

Star Trek Generations is the first film to feature the crew of The Next Generation while also starring some of The Original Series cast.

The plot primarily centres around an El-Aurian, named Dr Tolian Soran (played by Malcolm McDowell), as well as an energy ribbon known as the Nexus.

You see, in 2293, Soran is rescued from the Energy Ribbon by a retired Captain James T Kirk, who is attending a maiden voyage of a new USS Enterprise. Then, in 2371, while answering a distress call, Captain Jean Luc Picard finds Soran - and he has a weapon capable of destroying stars.

15 Star Trek: Voyager

A federation starship stranded in uncharted space, star trek voyager.

Stardate: 2371 to 2378

Follow a Captain Janeway and her crew of the USS Voyager as they attempt to find their way home after being stranded in space.

After leaving Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in search of a group of Maquis rebels, the Starship Voyager, led by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), is captured by an energy wave that sends it - and a ship of Maquis rebels - into the middle of the unexplored Delta Quadrant. With both ships damaged and far from home, the crews agree to join forces and begin a 75-year journey back to Earth.

16 Star Trek: First Contact

The crew of the enterprise travels back before the first warp drive was used, star trek: first contact.

Stardate: 2373

The Enterprise must travel back in time to prevent a Borg ship from assimilating all of Earth.

In this film, the USS Enterprise tries to help defeat a Borg Cube attacking Earth, with Captain Jean Luc Picard assuming command of a fleet of starships. However, just before the Cube is destroyed, it releases a smaller ship that enters a temporal vortex. The USS Enterprise gives chase through the vortex, but in the process, realizes the Borg traveled back in time and assimilated the entire planet.

And once through the Vortex, the crew arrives in 2063. More specifically, they arrive one day before Zefram Cochrane (played by James Cromwell) uses the first warp drive system, which draws the attention of the Vulcans, leading to humanity's first contact with an alien race.

17 Star Trek: Insurrection

The enterprise must uncover the mystery around a nearly immortal group of people, star trek: insurrection.

Stardate: 2375

The crew of the USS Enterprise uncovers a conspiracy involving the forced relocation of a peaceful alien race.

The action now centres around a planet with a type of unique radiation that rejuvenates its people, known as the Ba’ku. The effects of the radiation make the Ba’ku nearly immortal.

In this film, Brent Spinner’s Data is sent undercover to monitor the Ba’ku people and soon begins to malfunction, which causes Captain Jean Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise to investigate.

They uncover a conspiracy between a species, which is hostile to the Ba’ku, and Admiral Mathew Doherty, a Starfleet officer played by Anthony Zerbe. The crew of the Enterprise must stop them both in order to save the Ba’ku from being forcibly removed from their home planet.

18 Star Trek: Nemesis

Picard vs picard, star trek: nemesis.

Stardate: 2379

Captain Picard and the crew face a new, dangerous enemy in the form of a clone of Picard himself.

Captain Jean Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise crew are sent on a mission to meet with the leader of the Romulans, Shinzon, played by a super young Tom Hardy. Once there, they learn that Shinzon is actually a clone of Picard, created in the hopes that he would one day be able to infiltrate the Federation. The Romulans had abandoned the plan and sent Shinzon into slavery.

He led a rebellion, however, and created his own starship, the Scimitar. Soon, the Enterprise learns Shinzon’s true plan is to use a form of radiation poisonous to all life in order to attack the Federation and destroy Earth.

19 Star Trek: Picard

Picard's forced out of retirement one more time

Star Trek: Picard

Stardate: 2399

Captain Picard's retirement is about as full of adventure as his career on the Enterprise.

One of the most popular starship captains in the Star Trek Universe, Jean Luc Picard had retired to a life of wine-making, but a new mission set 20 years after the events of Nemesis sees Captain Jean Luc Picard return to space along with many of his old friends. The first season sees Picard struggling with the events that led to his retirement from Starfleet -- when he's forced into a conflict that sees him thrust into a captain's chair again.

The second season sees Picard transported to an alternate timeline by the interdimensional being known as Q (John De Lancie), who originally appeared in The Next Generation. The third and final season of Picard recently got a teaser and is slated to premiere in spring 2023.

20 Star Trek: Discovery seasons 3 and beyond

The discovery's journey picks up later than any other star trek content.

Stardate: 3188

Catch up with the rest of Discovery after a timejump shifts the story to the end of the Star Trek timeline.

Burnham and the crew of the Discovery make a jump through time that lands them further in the future than we've ever seen in the Star Trek Universe.

There, Burnham is separated from the rest of the crew of Discovery.

While trying to locate the ship, she learns that the United Federation of Planets has fallen following the event known as The Burn, which saw ships simultaneously explode throughout the entire galaxy. The fuel for Star Trek's ships, Dilithium, has also become extremely rare, which makes travel across wide distances of space much harder. In the fourth season, Burnham and the crew of the Discovery begin the process of rebuilding the Federation of Planets. A fifth season of Star Trek Discovery is slated to premiere in 2024.

Kelvin timeline: The alternate Star Trek timeline

These films kick off JJ Abrams' alternate Star Trek timeline. Officially called the Kelvin timeline, it's named after the USS Kelvin. If you want to watch them, you can do so either before or after Star Trek: The Original Series. We prefer you watch it after - in fact, watch it after you've finished the original Star Trek timeline, because it literally takes place in a different timeline.

  • Movies and TV

Screen Rant

How to watch every star trek series & movie in the right order.

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I’m Glad Voyager’s Tom And B’Elanna Are No Longer Star Trek's Only Successful Romance

Star trek gets its own "infinity snap," turning a classic villain into a deadlier version of thanos, star trek's new warp drive breaks the prime directive in a way no-one expected.

In a choice between whether to watch the Star Trek TV series and movies in the order of release or watching the saga unfold throughout its in-universe continuity, here's how a Trekker can do either. When  Star Trek: The Original Series premiered in 1966, no one dreamed it would launch a franchise that would last 55 years, and Star Trek  is still going strong . Star Trek now encompasses 9 TV series, with two more, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the animated Star Trek: Prodigy in development for 2022, as well as 13 feature films, with the 14th Star Trek movie earmarked for June 2023.

Star Trek has also grown into a massive canon that spans a thousand years of the future. Much of the franchise is focused on the Captain and crews of the various starships named Enterprise and most of the saga is divided between the optimistic future of the 23rd century's The Original Series ( TOS ) era and Star Trek: The Next Generation 's ( TNG ) 24th-century era, which also spans the spinoffs Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Picard . But in the last 20 years, Star Trek has also relied heavily on prequels, with Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 and 2, and J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie trilogy all set before TOS . Complicating matters, Abrams' films are also set in their own alternate canon, the Kelvin timeline. Star Trek: Discovery season 3 (and all future seasons) take place in the 32nd century, which is the farthest in the future the franchise has explored.

Related: Star Trek: Every Captain of The Enterprise

Star Trek  utilizes Stardates in-universe but it's easier to track the timeline based on the Greco-Roman calendar years each TV series and movie is set in. Of course, as a sci-fi franchise renowned for its innovative storytelling, Star Trek has told plenty of time travel tales . Nearly every TV series and several of the films have time travel adventures set that have sent the Starfleet heroes into the present day or even let them cross over and meet crews from different eras. There is really no wrong way to watch Star Trek but if a new fan is making the choice between release date order or the order of continuity, here is a handy guide to both options.

Star Trek TV Shows & Movies In Order Of Release

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock ( 1984)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Star Trek Generations (1994)

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Star Trek Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Star Trek: Discovery (2017-present)

Star Trek: Picard (2020-present)

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020-present)

Related: Star Trek: When The Kelvin Timeline Takes Place

Star Trek TV Shows & Movies In Chronological Order

Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2155)

Star Trek (2009) (2255 in the Kelvin timeline) Star Trek also contains flashbacks to 2233, the 2240s, and 2252 and a flashforward to 2387 in the Prime timeline.

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 & 2 (2256-2258) The USS Discovery permanently time travels to the 32nd century at the end of season 2.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2259 in the Kelvin timeline)

Star Trek Beyond (2263 in the Kelvin timeline)

Star Trek: The Original Series (2266-2269)

Star Trek: The Animated Series (2269-2270)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2270s)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (2285)

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

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (2287)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (2293)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (2364-2370)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (2369-2375)

Star Trek Generations (2371) Generations takes place before DS9 season 4 when Worf (Michael Dorn) joins the space station crew.

Star Trek: Voyager (2371-2378) Voyager 's first four seasons take place concurrently with DS9 seasons 4-7.

Star Trek: First Contact (2373 and 2063) First Contact takes place during DS9 season 5 and Voyager season 3. Most of the film takes place in 2063, 90 years before the events of Star Trek: Enterprise .

Star Trek Insurrection (2375) Insurrection takes place during DS9 season 7 and Voyager season 5.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2379)

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2380 onward)

Star Trek: Picard (2389 onward) Picard also has flashbacks set in 2385.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 (3188-3189)

Next: Why Every Star Trek Series Ended

  • SR Originals
  • Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek Movies in Order: How to Watch Chronologically and by Release Date

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Star Trek is back in a big way. The franchise is going strong on Paramount+ through new original TV shows , with the recent Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiering to positive reviews while Star Trek: Picard finished season two. Paramount also announced the long-awaited fourth Star Trek film in the recent series, which will see Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Karl Urban return to the franchise following a seven-year hiatus from Star Trek Beyond . The franchise is now arguably the most popular and readily available that it's been in its entire history, gaining new fans every day.

The Star Trek film series currently includes 13 films and spans multiple generations of different crews that weave in and out of the different series. They form one giant massive timeline that builds off one another to show humanity's future among the stars and the constantly changing relationship between various alien species. If the 13 films seem daunting, and you're not sure how everything relates, take a look at this list that details the Star Trek film series in chronological and release order.

Update November 23, 2023: This article has been updated with where each entry in the Star Trek film is currently streaming and more details on each film in the franchise.

Star Trek Movies In Chronological Order

Star trek: the motion picture.

  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star trek iv: the voyage home, star trek v: the final frontier, star trek vi: the undiscovered country, star trek: generations, star trek: first contact, star trek: insurrection, star trek: nemesis, star trek into darkness, star trek beyond, star trek: the motion picture (1979).

Star Trek: The Motion Picture takes place in 2273, five years after the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, and finds Kirk and his crew retaking control of the renovated Enterprise to investigate a mysterious cloud of energy that has destroyed Federation and Klingon ships. The movie was a massive hit, yet the critical reaction was more on the mixed side than Paramount expected. Even with how much money the studio put into it, bringing in Academy Award-winner Robert Wise to direct, the film was seen as a disappointment, yet has found a cult status and recently got the director's cut released in 4K .

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is available for streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star trek 2: the wrath of khan.

A massive time jump, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan takes place in 2285, 13 years after the events of the previous film and 18 years since the original series ended. This film is less a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and more to season one, episode 22, or 'Space Seed,' from the original series, which now finds that episode's villain, Khan, seeking revenge on Kirk for marooning him on Ceti Alpha V. The movie sees an older Kirk wrestling with his age, and in the ultimate sign of time moving forward, Kirk loses his old friend Spock when the Vulcan-human hybrid sacrifices his life to save the crew of the Enterprise.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan also serves as the first part in a three-movie story arc, often referred to by fans as The Genesis Trilogy (named after the Genesis device which becomes a key factor in the life/death cycle the three films explore), one that continues in the following two sequels. While not making as much money as the previous film, Wrath of Khan had a smaller budget, so the profits of the film were greater and the film helped relaunch the popularity of the franchise. It still remains arguably the most acclaimed film of the franchise.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Picking up shortly after the previous film, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock takes place in 2285 and focuses on Kirk and the Enterprise Crew's attempt to resurrect Spock when they find out his spirit has been left inside Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, which involves stealing the Enterprise from the Federation. Meanwhile, the crew must contend with a Klingon crew led by Kurge (Christopher Lloyd) who seeks to steal information on the genesis device.

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The movie resurrects Spock but also sees another beloved member of the crew perish: this time in the form of the Enterprise. While the ship will be rebuilt, this marks the final appearance of the ship that Kirk and his crew piloted since the original series. Another major plot point is the death of Kirk's son (who was established in the previous film), killed at the hands of Klingons, which will go on to inform Kirk's bias a few films later.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home picks up shortly after the previous film, with the Enterprise crew returning to Earth to face trial for stealing the Enterprise to resurrect Spock; however, they find the planet is in grave danger when a mysterious alien probe cannot communicate with any humpback whales. To save the Earth, the crew travels back in time to 1986 (the release date of the film) to try to find a group of whales to bring back to the future. The movie concludes the Genesis Trilogy, and due to its fish out of water aspect was a massive success even outside the Star Trek fanbase, grossing more than both previous entries.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Set in 2287, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier focuses on the exploits of the Enterprise-A (the new ship that replaces the destroyed Enterprise) as they confront a renegade Vulcan who is attempting to search for God at the center of the universe. While opening big, the film had massive drop-offs in the following weeks due to poor word of mouth and competition from other summer movies like Ghostbusters II and Batman. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier almost killed the franchise for many, but the studio wanted to give the classic crew of the original series one final and proper goodbye.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Released in 1991, 35 years after the premiere of Star Trek: The Original Series , Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was to give the original cast their proper goodbyes. The movie is set in 2293, which makes it 24 years after the events of the original series. The Undiscovered Country acts as the end of the Cold War, but in space, the destruction of the Klingon moon, Praxis, leads the Klingon Empire to pursue peace with their longtime adversary, the Federation. However, a military conspiracy threatens to destroy the potential peace as Kirk is framed for a crime based on his prejudice towards Klingons for killing his son in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .

Every Star Trek TV Series, Ranked

Ahead of the release of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, take a look at how all the series in the franchise rank against one another.

The movie ends as a proper conclusion to the original Star Trek series, as the two iconic foes of the Klingons and Federation have now found peace. With the Enterprise set to be decommissioned, Kirk and his crew take one final trip on the ship with the final mission log so that new crews, new ships and more will carry on their legacy, commenting on the future laid out in Star Trek series like The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , and Voyager .

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

A passing of the torch film between the crew of the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Generations is the iconic meeting between the two captains, Kirk and Picard . The movie's prologue is set in 2293, shortly after the events of Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home, while the main action of the film is 2371, 78 years later and one year after Star Trek: The Next Generation .

The movie marks the final adventure for William Shatner's incarnation of James Kirk, and while it will not be the last time the character appears thanks to the reboot, it serves as a true end for the original series and full acknowledgment of Star Trek: The Next Generation being the face of the franchise for the 1990s.

Star Trek: Generations is available for streaming on Paramount+

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Set two years after the previous film in 2273, Star Trek: First Contact sees The Borg as the film's primary villain and follows the crew of the Enterprise-D as they pursue the villainous species back in time, with the Borg's primary objective to take over in the past. The film borrows the time travel element of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and primarily is set on April 4, 2023, which is the day before Earth makes contact with alien life and begins the steps for the Federation of Planets to form, thanks to the work of Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), whose first successful warp drive creation draws the attention of the Vulcans.

Thanks to a heavy marketing push, Star Trek: First Contact was a major box office hit and also received positive reviews from critics, and until the release of 2009's Star Trek, was the best-performing film of the franchise internationally. Fans all over the world now celebrate April 5th as First Contact Day .

Star Trek: First Contact is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

In 2375, Star Trek: Insurrection sees the crew of the Enterprise-D rebel against Starfleet when they discover a conspiracy involving two alien species. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with many claiming it lacked the scope of a movie and felt more like an extended episode of television.

The events of Star Trek: Insurrection are taking place around the time of both Star Trek: Voyager and at the end of the story for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and while there are no major references to the events of the series or vice versa, it does show how big the franchise was at this point in time but also how the overexposure and years of continuity were starting to hamper it.

Star Trek: Insurrection is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek: Nemesis takes place in 2379, meaning it is nine years after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation and 110 years since the end of the original series. Star Trek: Nemesis sees a clone of Picard (Tom Hardy, in his first movie), created by Romulans, take control of the Romulan Empire and seek war with the Federation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Characters, Ranked in Order of Awesomeness

Engage! Star Trek: The Next Generation has long been arguably the favorite series for Trekkies, and these are the TV show's best characters.

The film received poor reviews from critics and was a box office bomb , becoming the lowest-grossing Star Trek film ever and was beaten out in its opening weekend box office by Maid in Manhattan . Combine that with competition from huge movies like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Die Another Day, and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers during the holiday season, and Star Trek: Nemesis was dead on arrival, marking the final adventure for the crew of The Next Generation until the release of Star Trek: Picard . The film's box office disappointment, combined with the cancelation of Star Trek: Enterprise three years, later marked a quiet point in the franchise , where it would take a big swing to bring the series back.

Star Trek: Nemesis is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek (2009)

Marketed as a prequel, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek is much more. It does show the origins of the original series cast but does so by taking place in an alternate reality that is kicked into motion by Spock from the original series traveling through a wormhole from 2387 (ten years after Star Trek: Nemesis ) that causes the timeline to split. So Star Trek is both a reboot, a prequel, and a sequel, as the events in Star Trek: The Original Series and all the following films need to happen to get Spock into a place to go back and time and create a new timeline, which will be called the Kelvin Timeline after the USS Kelvin, which is the ship at the center of the timeline divergence in 2233.

The great J.J. Abrams movie tells the story of how the crew of the Enterprise comes together, primarily taking place from 2258 to 2259, meaning that by the end of the film, when Kirk takes control of the Enterprise, it is earlier than the original timeline. The film was a surprisingly big success, grossing $386 million and becoming the highest-scoring Star Trek film on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition to the polished production and great effects, the excellent work of the cast was largely responsible for this; as Ty Burr writes in The Boston Globe :

What lifts the Abrams film into the ether is the rightness of its casting and playing, from Saldana's Uhura, finally a major character after all these years, to Urban's loyal, dyspeptic McCoy, to Simon Pegg's grandly comic Scotty, the movie's most radical reimagining of a Star Trek regular.

Star Trek is available for streaming on Hulu and Paramount+.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

With a new timeline in place, Star Trek Into Darkness sees the crew of the Enterprise encounter Khan years earlier, as the destruction of Vulcan causes the Federation to explore space and find Khan and his crew about eight years earlier than the original timeline. Star Trek Into Darkness takes place one year after the 2009 Star Trek , meaning it is 2259. With Khan awakened earlier, and the butterfly effect nature of the timeline is rewritten, Kirk meets Carol Marcus (the mother of his child in the original timeline) earlier, and instead of Spock dying, it is Kirk. Yet Kirk is able to be resurrected much quicker than Spock.

The film ends with Kirk, Spock, and the crew on a rebuilt Enterprise ready to begin their five-year mission, and it is revealed they were waiting a year, meaning, that the five-year mission begins in 2260, six years before the original series. The modern-day cast of these Star Trek movies continues to excel, and the inclusion of a great Benedict Cumberbatch performance as Khan is a highlight.

Star Trek Into Darkness is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The final film released so far in the Star Trek film series, Star Trek Beyond, is set three years into the Enterprise's five-year mission (a meta-joke about how the original series lasted three seasons). The movie finds Kirk and his Enterprise crew on an unexplored planet, encountering a hostile alien who has ties to the Federation.

Released to tie in with the 50th anniversary of the franchise, Star Trek Beyond serves as the perfect conclusion to the film series so far. When the Spock from the original timeline dies, he leaves the current Spock some of his belongings, which includes a photo of the crew from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Seeing the life his alternate timeline version had, inspires this version to stay with his crew on a rebuilt Enterprise (this universe's version of Enterprise-A) to continue the adventure in a recently announced fourth film , whose production seems to be encountering several setbacks .

Star Trek Beyond is available for streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek Films In Release Order

Unlike Star Wars , The MCU, or the X-Men movie series , the release order of Star Trek is the same as the chronological viewing order, making it a straightforward viewing experience. Historically, Star Trek has been a winter franchise, finding great success during the holiday weekends around Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, in recent years, all three Kelvin timeline films were summer releases.

  • Movie Lists

Star Trek

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Wees goed geïnformeerd over de tijdlijn van de Star Trek-serie

Star Trek is een Amerikaanse sciencefictionserie gemaakt door Gene Roddenberry. De film heeft veel films en series die je kunt bekijken. Als u echter de volgorde van de films niet kent, zal het verwarrend zijn om ze te bekijken. Bekijk in dat geval de onderstaande inhoud en bekijk de juiste volgorde van elke film in de Star Trek-tijdlijn. Hiermee kunt u de achterstand inhalen en weten hoe u elke film in goede volgorde kunt bekijken. Dus, zonder verdere discussie, kom hier en leer meer over de tijdlijn van Star Trek .

Star Trek-tijdlijn

Deel 1. Star Trek-serie in bestelling

Deel 2. star trek-tijdlijn, deel 3. uitzonderlijk hulpmiddel voor het maken van een tijdlijn, deel 4. veelgestelde vragen over de star trek-tijdlijn.

In dit deel zullen we alle Star Trek-series in chronologische volgorde vermelden. Op deze manier heb je je gids om ze te bekijken zonder in de war te raken.

1. Trek: de originele serie (1966-1969)

2. Star Trek: de animatieserie (1973-1974)

3. Star Trek: de film (1979)

4. Star Trek II: De toorn van Khan (1982)

5. Star Trek III: De zoektocht naar Spock (1984)

6. Star Trek IV: De reis naar huis (1986)

7. Star Trek V: De laatste grens (1989)

8. Star Trek VI: het onontdekte land (1991)

9. Star Trek: de volgende generatie (1987-1994)

10. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

11. Star Trek: eerste contact (1996)

12. Star Trek: Opstand (1998)

13. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

14. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

15. StarTrek (2009)

16. Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

17. Star Trek: Discovery seizoenen 1 en 2 (2017-2019)

18. Star Trek: Discovery seizoen 3 (2017)

Star Trek-tijdlijnafbeelding

Ontvang een gedetailleerde tijdlijn van Star Trek .

Star Trek: de originele serie (1966-1969)

De show neemt enkele reisomwegen. Het bevat de steenkoude klassieker ‘City On The Edge of Forever’, waarin Spock en Kirk voor een onmogelijke optie stonden. Het wordt ook getoond wanneer het tijdperk decennialang over Star Trek gaat, met veelkleurige Starfleet-bemanningen en felle kleuren.

Star Trek: de animatieserie (1973-1974)

De show gaat door, ook al is het derde seizoen van Star Trek: The Originals geannuleerd. De serie is een Emmy-winnende tekenfilm die zorgt voor een gezinsvriendelijke sfeer. Het is perfect, zelfs als het werk in Star Trek: The Originals wordt opgeofferd.

Star Trek: de film (1979)

De eerste Star Trek-film in de serie is een big deal en brengt de crew terug naar Star Trek: The Originals. Het is nadat de show in 1969 werd geannuleerd. In deze serie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, wordt Kirk de admiraal in Starfleet.

Star Trek II: De toorn van Khan (1982)

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan wordt beschouwd als de gouden standaard in Star Trek-films. Admiraal Kirk kampt met een soort midlifeprobleem op aarde. Het gebeurt wanneer een vijand uit zijn leven terugkeert. Khan Noonien Singh is de Superman die de Enterprise bedreigde in 'Space Seed', een klassieke aflevering.

Star Trek III: De zoektocht naar Spock (1984)

Na de vorige film ziet The Search for Spock dat admiraal Kirk en zijn vrienden de Enterprise stelen om Spocks katra (zijn ziel) te behouden en te redden. Het is nadat Vulcan het vóór zijn dood aan Dr. McCoy had overgedragen.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Thuis (1986)

Vulcan is van plan terug te keren naar de aarde om verantwoording af te leggen voor hun verkeerde daden. Maar het enorme buitenaardse schip verschijnt boven de aarde. Het veroorzaakt een enorme verstoring van het klimaat, vooral op het aardoppervlak. Door het gebruik van het Klingon-schip weten Spock en Klingon dat de buitenaardse wezens contact proberen te maken met bultruggen.

Star Trek V: De laatste grens (1989)

Kirk en anderen worden nog steeds in actie gebracht als een mysterieuze Vulcan genaamd Skybok een diplomaat gijzelt. Hij eist een ruimteschip in ruil voor de vrijlating van de gijzelaars. In de serie werd ook de identiteit van Skybok onthuld.

Star Trek VI: Het onontdekte land (1991)

Het Klingon-rijk verkeert in generatiegevaar. Het is een kans voor de Federatie om vredesonderhandelingen te openen met het krijgersras. In de show geeft Kirk de Klingons nog steeds de schuld van de dood van David en heeft hij moeite om zijn emoties te scheiden van zijn missie.

Star Trek: de volgende generatie (1987-1994)

De show was de goede sprong voorwaarts van de franchise. Star Trek: The Next Generation was een grotere en consistentere show dan The Original Series. Het versterkte Star Trek ook als een klasse A-franchise vergeleken met de show in de jaren negentig.

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Star Trek gaat over het verhaal van overleven. De show gaat over elkaar behandelen als familie. Ze blijven jaren verwijderd van de bescherming van de Federatie. Ook in het Deltakwadrant kwamen ze oude en nieuwe obstakels tegen. Het omvat de Borg, een nachtmerrieachtige cybernetische dreiging.

Star Trek: eerste contact (1996)

Kapitein Picard en de bemanning moeten ruim 300 jaar reizen vanaf de 24e eeuw. Het is om te voorkomen dat Borg de tijdlijn verandert. Hiermee zal de mensheid de warpsnelheid niet benutten. In die tijd was de wereld nog steeds aan het herstellen van de nucleaire gevolgen van de Tweede Wereldoorlog en de Eugenics Wars een generatie eerder.

Star Trek: Opstand (1998)

Starfleet is van plan zijn inwoners over de hele wereld te verplaatsen. Op deze manier kunnen ze de inherente macht van de wereld onthullen aan het luide protest van Picard. Het is omdat hij gelooft dat Starfleet zijn principes verraadt. Ook ontdekte Picard dat de Federatie betrokken is bij een bloedwraak tussen de Ba'ku en Son'a.

Na Zeframs snelle doorbraak met buitenaardse bezoekers, de Vulcans, zet de mensheid langzame stappen in de richting van de wederopbouw van zichzelf. Het is na de gevolgen van de Derde Wereldoorlog en wordt een verdienstelijke burger in een grotere galactische gemeenschap. Star Trek: Enterprise beschrijft het goede avontuur van kapitein Jonathan en de bemanning van de Enterprise NX-01.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Nemesis zag enkele veranderingen in de bemanning van de Enterprise. William Riker en Deanna trouwden. Dan wordt Riker de kapitein van de USS Titan. Ook offert Data zijn leven op in de show, waarbij hij het schip van Shinzon op de brug beschadigt. Het is om de Enterprise en Picard te redden.

Star Trek (2009)

De ster explodeert en dreigt miljarden mensen te elimineren. Het omvat de planeet Romulus. Spock belooft zoveel mogelijk mensen te redden door een zwart gat in het hart van een supernova te maken. Maar hij is te laat om de planeet te redden, Romulus. Ondertussen bevalt Kirk's moeder van de toekomstige kapitein.

Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

Into Darkness ziet de bemanning van de Enterprise een andere versie van Khan nemen. In de Wrath of Khan wisselen Spock en Kirk van rol. Kirk offert zichzelf op om de Enterprise te behouden en te redden. Kirk wordt nieuw leven ingeblazen met het superbloed van de Khan en verslaat een van zijn vijanden.

Star Trek: Discovery Seizoenen 1 en 2 (2017-2019)

Het begint met een chaotische ontmoeting tussen het Klingon-rijk en Starfleet. Het leidt tot een bloedige oorlog die de Federatie haar ziel kost. Discovery houdt zich bezig met verschillende oorlogsprijzen. Het omvat ook de thema's empathie en verlossing. Het eerste seizoen gaat over de Klingon-oorlog. Het tweede seizoen gaat over een doordachte aanpak. Het gaat over het lenen van de toekomstige kapitein van Enterprise, Christopher Pike.

Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

Star Trek

As a media phenomenon, "Star Trek" began on September 8, 1966 with the airing of "The Man Trap" (the sixth episode in production order, but the first aired). Originally, the show's writers, including creator Gene Roddenberry, used the concept of "stardates" to ensure the show's actual timeline was left vague; for several episodes, all audiences knew was that "Trek" was set in the future and that the future was a pretty keen place. It wouldn't be until the episode "The Naked Time" (seventh episode produced, fourth aired, first aired on September 29, 1966) that the Gregorian year would be mentioned out loud, and an actual timeline could begin to be constructed. 

Since then, "Star Trek" has extrapolated an extensive, centuries long timeline of events, often skipping merrily back and forth through the centuries, adding more and more to the franchises complex chronology. The chronology of "Star Trek" is so complicated that entire books have been published tracking the various shows' and films' events. Because of the constant production of new "Star Trek," these books became dated immediately. 

" Star Trek: Strange New Worlds " is set to debut on Paramount+ on May 5, and it is set immediately before the events of the original "Star Trek," making it the third "prequel" series to the original. To keep matters as clear as possible, here is a (very brief, by the standards of "Trek") rundown of "Star Trek" chronology from within its own canon. 

NOTE : This list will not necessarily include single episodes wherein characters go back in time, but give an overall timeframe for each individual film and TV show.

1986: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Although beginning and ending within the proper chronology of the "Star Trek" future, Leonard Nimoy's 1986 feature film " Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home " is set largely in the earliest point in the franchise's timeline (again, excluding single time travel episodes of any given TV series, wherein Mark Twain, the 1950s, and other eras are regularly visited). In the film, the crew of the Enterprise must go back in time to rescue a pair of humpback whales from extinction in order to appease an enormous, inscrutable space monolith that has been draining future Earth of its oceans, looking for its own kind. 

The bulk of "Voyage Home" takes place in 1986, and the film gained a lot of critical and audience attention for its fish-out-of-water humor and light tone; the previous three films had been comparatively dour, downbeat, or cerebral.

2024: Star Trek: Picard (Season 2)

Star Trek: Picard

As of this writing, the second season of "Star Trek: Picard" is still being released weekly on Paramount+, so the ultimate conclusion of the story is as yet unknown. 

What is known is that the trickster god Q (John De Lancie), a playful villain from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," visited an elderly Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to warn him of a parallel universe. In this parallel universe, Earth is a genocidal conqueror race that has wiped out most life in the galaxy. Picard must travel back in time, paralleling the story of "Voyage Home" in order to stop the fascist timeline from starting. Thanks to the limited information they have, they travel to the year 2024, and the bulk of the season's action takes place there. 

A bit of a continuity error already: In previously mentioned "Trek" canon, the Eugenics Wars — the conflagration that wrought Khan from "Star Trek II" — should have already happened by 2024 (I believe the original date for the Eugenics Wars was 1997), but, in "Picard," they had clearly been delayed. One of the subplots of the second season of "Picard,' however, involves a malevolent genetic engineer, so it looks like the Eugenics Wars may finally be nigh.

2063: Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact

Although never directly filmed, there are constant references throughout "Star Trek" to World War III, an event that left the entire planet devastated. Despite destitution and technological ruin, an inventor named Zefram Cochran managed to invent an engine that allowed humanity to travel faster than light. This technology, when being tested for the first time in the solar system, attracted the attention of some Vulcans who just happened to be passing by. This was the First Contact mentioned in the title of the 1996 film " Star Trek: First Contact ." 

In that film, the characters from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" travel back in time to foil a plot by a malevolent species of cyborgs called The Borg, and find themselves in the year A.D. 2063 where they could witness First Contact themselves. This was the event that essentially kicked off creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of a peaceful future. In meeting intelligent space aliens, a hobbled humanity learned that war was churlish, and that unity as a species was preferable in the face of a suddenly occupied cosmos. 

"First Contact" is essentially the "Star Trek" origin story.

2151 - 2155: Star Trek: Enterprise

Enterprise

After first talking to Vulcans, humans were eager to take to the stars and join the galactic community. The conceit of the 2001 TV series " Star Trek: Enterpris e" (originally just called "Enterprise") was that the Vulcans, seeing how illogical and roughhewn humanity still was, encouraged them to stay on Earth for nearly a century before actually taking to the stars. In that century, humanity rebuilt, formed a Starfleet, and constructed its very first long-mission starship, the U.S.S. Enterprise NX-01. The show is about the adventures of the very first humans in space, circa A.D. 2151.

"Enterprise" took place before a lot of established "Trek" tech had been invented. There were transporters, but they weren't entirely safe for use on humans. There were no shields around the ship. There were no food replicators, and the Enterprise required a galley. Most notably, there wasn't a Prime Directive yet, so a lot of mistakes are bound to be made. It wouldn't be until 2161 — according to ancillary revelations — that the Federation would be formed. 

2254: The Cage

The Cage

The unused "Star Trek" pilot has probably gained more canonical traction than any other unused footage from any other work of filmed fiction. "The Cage" didn't air in its complete form until 1986, 20 years after its making. Previously, footage from "The Cage" was incorporated into a two-part "Star Trek" episode called "The Menagerie" (November of 1966). 

In the pilot, we first meet Capt. Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his ship the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. We were first introduced to Spock as well, although Spock would be the only character carried over into the second pilot that was eventually used. Majel Barrett played the Enterprise's first officer in "The Cage," and she would go on to play multiple other roles throughout "Star Trek," including Nurse Chapel, M'Ress, Lwaxana Troi, and the voice of the ship's computer. 

The events of "The Cage" would also be revisited in the second season of "Star Trek: Discovery."

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

Star Trek: Discovery

Another cataclysm that had been mentioned multiple times throughout "Star Trek" was a war between the Klingons and the Federation. The first season of "Star Trek: Discovery," which debuted on CBS All Access (now Paramount+) in November of 2017, dramatized those events explicitly, as seen through the eyes of the U.S.S. Discovery. This new ship was a science vessel that had figured out a way to tap into a galaxy-wide network of near-undetectable, microscopic spores into order to teleport anywhere in the galaxy instantaneously. 

After surviving the Klingon war, the Discovery teamed up with the U.S.S. Enterprise while it was still being captained by Christopher Pike (now played by Anson Mount), putting the events of "Discovery" immediately after the original pilot. There were a lot — and I mean a LOT — of narrative excuses as to why the high-tech Discovery (realized with late-2010s special effects) didn't match the boxier, monochromatic world of "The Cage." 

The show's writers also needed to come up with an organic reason why a ship that can teleport — a technology that would have fundamentally changed the world of "Star Trek" — was never mentioned in any of the "Trek" shows made from 1966 until 2017. As such, at the end of the second season of "Discovery," the ship was thrown almost 1,000 years into the future in order to outrun an insidious computer intelligence that would spread throughout the galaxy if knowledge of it was passed around. As such, the Discovery more or less deleted itself from existence. As panicked, narrative ass-saving measures go, it's a 7.

2258: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The appearance of Capt. Pike on "Discovery" was so well-received that Paramount+ elected to go back to the Enterprise, bring back the characters from "The Cage," lump in a few familiar faces from the 1966 "Star Trek," and make " Strange New Worlds ," a series that takes place only eight years prior to the events of the original TV series. 

"Strange New Worlds" brings back Anson Mount as Pike, as well as a young Spock, a very young Uhura, a young Nurse Chapel, one of Khan's ancestors, and Dr. M'Benga, who showed up in a few episodes if the 1966 show. It also, notably, will not have season-long story arcs, but a single-hour episodic structure, standing in contrast with most of the other Paramount+-era "Star Treks," with "Lower Decks" being the proud exception.

2258 (KELVIN): Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek

Thanks to "Star Trek," the notion of parallel universes is quite well-known to the public. Incidentally, it's been quite odd watching the films and TV shows in the Marvel universe slow-walk the notion of a multiverse over the course of multiple installments when we've already seen Spock with a goatee. 

Thanks to complicated studio politics, there was a split in Paramount in the mid-2000s, and the Paramount side of the schism — when wanting to make a new "Star Trek" feature film — was legally required to make something distinguishable from the TV shows. Enter J.J. Abrams and his 2009 feature film " Star Trek " which takes place at the same time as "Strange New Worlds," but in a parallel universe where the characters from the 1966 show now look like a new cast, the Enterprise looks brighter and sleeker, and everything is more intense and action-packed. 

This new timeline would be created when a villain went back in time interfered with James T. Kirk right when he was born.

2259 (KELVIN): Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness

Although taking place far before the events of 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," J.J. Abrams' " Star Trek Into Darkness " (2013) drew a lot of story parallels to the Nicholas Meyer film. Taking place almost immediately after the 2009 film, "Into Darkness" involved the character of Khan who, in the timeline of the 1966 series, wouldn't be resurrected from cryogenic sleep for a few years hence. In "Into Darkness," he was awakened early, became involved in a plot to smuggle other cryogenically frozen compatriots. 

Originally, the Eugenics Wars were meant to have started in the 1990s, but — as "Star Trek" persisted, and the '90s came and went in the real world — that timeline had to be altered several times. The timeline of the Eugenics Wars in "Into Darkness" are a little unclear. As we saw above in "Star Trek: Picard," we know that they'll now take place sometime after 2024.

2263 (KELVIN): Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond

In Justin Lin's " Star Trek Beyond " (2016), Kirk (Chris Pine) laments that his adventures have already become episodic. It's unusual that the 2009 film and the 2013 sequel are essentially origin stories about the young Kirk coming into his own, and "Beyond" skips ahead to the point where he's already tired of being on "Star Trek." We missed the actual "five year mission" part!

Another interesting wrinkle in "Beyond" is that it alludes to a time somewhere after "Star Trek: Enterprise": The evil Kroll (Idris Elba) was, in fact, a human captain named Edison who led his own starship in the "Enterprise" era. Before the film, he was mutated into an evil alien. "Beyond," in explicitly mentioning the Xindi wars and other events from "Enterprise," anchors the Kelvin films a little more solidly into the "Trek" timeline.

2265 - 2269: Star Trek

Star Trek

After "The Cage" was abandoned by Paramount, the studio and Gene Roddenberry reworked the show into the 1966 program we all know and love. As mentioned, Spock was the only character carried over from the original pilot, and "Star Trek" now featured William Shatner as Captain Kirk and a host of new characters besides. "Star Trek" began as a horror show — there are many monsters and scare moments in the first season — eventually tackling ethical issues in a sci-fi fantasy context. 

"Star Trek" ran for three seasons, ending its initial run on June 3, 1969. Thanks to the gods of syndication, "Star Trek" would remain in reruns for the following decade, building up interest, spawning Trek conventions, and allowing the show to grow into a full-blown cultural phenomenon.

2269 - 2270: Star Trek: The Animated Series

Star Trek

In the opening credits of " Star Trek ," Shatner brazenly informed the audiences that the U.S.S. Enterprise was on a five-year mission. Given that the show was canned after only three years, there was more mission left to witness. In 1973, Roddenberry teamed up with Filmation to make an animated "Star Trek" series that would, by dint of its two seasons, ostensibly complete the five-year mission. Chekov (Walter Koenig) was absent from this show, but other unusual aliens took his place, including a cat woman named M'Ress and Mr. Aryx, a being with three arms. The animated format allowed for wilder ideas, aliens, and ships to be employed, and there are stories featuring flying serpents, aliens made of plants, an undersea episode, and a story with a 50-foot Spock. 

This 1973 version of "Star Trek," in only running 30 minutes per episode, cut out a lot of extraneous character moments from the traditional "Trek" structure, and got straight to the story. It's a far more efficient show than the 1966 program, and it has a passionate following of fans. 

2273: Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The decade of syndication, "Trek" conventions, and the financial success of George Lucas' sci-fi serial epic " Star Wars " in 1977 led Paramount to start thinking about restarting "Star Trek" on TV. A project was put into production that was to be called "Star Trek Phase II," and would have reunited several familiar "Trek" characters as well as introduce some new ones. For various reasons, "Phase II" was abandoned and elements of it were transformed into what would become the 1979 theatrical release " Star Trek: The Motion Picture ."

If all you had prior to "The Motion Picture" was a failed, low-budget TV show and a little-regarded animated series, this movie would feel grand in ways that you couldn't previously imagine. A lot of time was devoted to the size of the Enterprise, the importance of the characters, and mind-bending notions about the unending vastness of the cosmos. Here was a "Star Trek" film that is often compared to 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Good gracious was it enormous. 

"The Motion Picture" was successful enough to warrant a sequel, but not so successful that Roddenberry was welcomed back. Remember that detail when we get to "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

2285: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

2285 was a significant year. In the events of Nicholas Meyer's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982), a thawed out Khan — the version played by Ricardo Montalbán from the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Space Seed," not the version played by Benedict Cumberbatch in "Star Trek Into Darkness" — hijacked a starship called the U.S.S. Reliant and set out on a mission of revenge against Admiral Kirk. The good admiral, we find, had forgotten about a lot of irresponsible actions taken in his past and had to face them head on just as he was looking down the barrel of old age. "Star Trek II" didn't end well for Kirk or for Spock. In that film, Spock famously dies. 

Not wasting any time, however, Kirk and co. sprang back into action in Leonard Nimoy's " Star Trek III: The Search for Spock " (1984), which picks up immediately after "Khan" ended. Thanks to the fineries of Vulcan psychic powers, and a high tech radiation wave that can generate life out of nothing, Spock could potentially be resurrected, and Kirk hijacks the Enterprise in order to help a friend. In so doing, Kirk destroys the ship, rouses the ire of some Klingons, loses his son (killed by said Klingons), and possibly destroys his career in Starfleet. Oops. 

Perhaps one of the reasons "Star Trek IV" (which began in 2286) was so popular was that it was the first "Trek" film to end on a wholly positive note. 

2287: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Often cited as the worst of the "Trek" movies, William Shatner's "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989) starts with a promising concept, but was undone by a bad script hastily written during a strike, and a repeatedly cut FX budget. The film ultimately feels flimsy and ill-considered, not able to truly confront the interesting ideas it brings up. Shatner has apologized for the poor quality of his film, which was fraught with production troubles.

In "Frontier," a newly-built Enterprise is hijacked by Spock's half-brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), who is leading a cult of brainwashed followers, freed from pain by their leader's psychic powers. He seeks a mysterious planet at the center of the galaxy where he believes God physically lives. The final frontier of the title is not space, but the soul, religion, or spirituality. Many "Trek" purists will point out that seeking the center of the galaxy, and finding a deity there, is similar to an Animated Series episode called "The Magicks of Megas-Tu," wherein Kirk found the planet at the center of the galaxy is actually home to Satan. 

Note : "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" is far better than "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."

2293: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Made after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nicholas Meyer's " Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country " (1991) was very clearly a metaphor for the end of the Cold War. In it, the Klingon Empire is crippled by the accidental explosion of one of their moons, leaving the entire government requiring Federation help. "Country" is about how difficult it is to give up being enemies, especially when so much of one's identity is tied in with hate. There's an assassination, a investigation, a trial, a prison break ... It's one of the best "Trek" movies. 

One might glean from the title of the previous film in the series that the entire Kirk era was meant to end with "The Final Frontier." One might also glean that the poor reception and bad box office of "Final Frontier" led to one last go 'round. Fans may be relieved that the final feature film in the Kirk era was actually, y'know, a good one.

2364 - 2370: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Throughout the 1970s, Gene Roddenberry made tours on the convention circuit, talking about his vision for "Star Trek," and interacting with fans who were inspired by the peace, diplomacy, and calm that "Star Trek" has written into its DNA. Looking back over the 1966 show, notions of optimism and diplomacy are present, but they are mixed in with a lot of violence, sexism, and other now-backward ideas. After Roddenberry was essentially barred from involvement on the "Star Trek" feature films, he decided to make a purer, better version of his old show, set another 80 years in the future, and even more devoted to intelligence and diplomacy than ever before. Hence, 1987's " Star Trek: The Next Generation ." 

Taking place on a new ship, the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and featuring an all new cast, the update of "Star Trek" started a little clumsily, but eventually found its stride to become the best "Star Trek" has offered to date. The tech was more convincing than it ever was, and it featured professional, adult characters who deal with crises with stiff upper lips. More so, it more frequently addressed questions about the meaning of life that humanity will always, it seems, wrestle with.

"Next Generation" last for seven full seasons, and its characters ended up occupying just as large a place in the pop consciousness as the characters from the 1966 TV series. 

Yes, "Next Generation" went back in time several times.

In terms of chronology, "Next Generation" overlapped with...

2369 - 2375: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

" Deep Space Nine " (1993 – 1999) was an unusual animal in many ways. It was the first time two "Star Trek" shows would run concurrently, and would take place over the same time frame (Picard from "Next Generation" appeared in the show's pilot). It was not about trekking at all, as it took place aboard a space station. It was also not set in the world of the Federation, often revolving alien species who were not offered protection from the organization. It was a show of healing and animosity. Of war and death. It started with an ensemble of seven or eight people, and eventually expanded to include about 30 main characters. "Deep Space Nine" is "Star Trek" via a Russian historical novel. 

When taken as a unit, "Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," both excellent in their own rights, become a complementary mass that is greater than their sum. The strength of diplomacy vs. its breakdown. The avoidance of war vs. the involvement in it. The absence of fascism vs. its inevitable regrowth. 

Yes, "Deep Space Nine" went back in time several times. 

"Deep Space Nine's" chronology would overlap with "Star Trek: Voyager," as well as with...

2371: Star Trek: Generations

Star Trek: Generations

The 1994 feature film " Star Trek: Generations " was a strange excursion. Although "Next Generation" had already run for seven years, "Generations" was still insistent on "passing the torch" from Kirk to Picard, and it bent over backwards to create the means by which Kirk and Picard, separated by 87 years of history, could meet face-to-face. It was the fan crossover no Trekkie wanted. As such, "Generations" is a flimsy affair, speeding through a ridiculous plot about a mobile temporal nexus that serves as Heaven for the people it scoops up along its path. 

Trekkies were even-headed enough to realize that Kirk and Picard weren't meant to meet, and that "Next Generation" was its own entity. The decision to aggressively tie the two shows even more closely together was just baffling. 

Notable too: The Enterprise-D was destroyed in "Generations," and would be replaced by a big ol' ugly thing for three additional feature films.

2371 - 2378: Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager

" Star Trek: Voyager " debuted in 1995 and ran concurrently with "Deep Space Nine" both on television and within the chronology of "Star Trek." To cleverly avoid any interference between the two shows, however — "Deep Space Nine" would eventually become embroiled in a galaxy-spanning war — "Voyager" was given a "Lost in Space"-style premise wherein the title ship was thrown all the way across the galaxy to a portion of space that has never been explored by Starfleet, and could otherwise only be reached by 70 years of space travel. 

While the premise would perhaps lead a viewer to believe that "Voyager" was going to be about resource allocation and survival, it quickly became more about the Borg, a character played by actress Jeri Ryan, and Captain Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) steady slide into autocracy. 

"Voyager" struggled with ratings for years, but still managed to last seven seasons like "Next Gen" and "Deep Space" before it. The final episode of "Voyager," a time travel story called " Endgame ," would air in March of 2001.

2375: Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection

While "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine" were running concurrently on television, the "Next Generation" crew were yukking it up in the overwhelmingly mediocre 1998 Jonathan Frakes film " Star Trek: Insurrection ." Like "The Final Frontier," "Insurrection" can be seen straining against the limits of its budget, with bad CGI, bland costumes, and locations clearly found in the California mountains. The cheapness of "Star Trek" has often served as a boon for its story, forcing writers to insert interesting and challenging ideas into their plywood sets. "Insurrection" has no such ideas, asking the ethical question of forced relocation, but never feeling threatening, and offering a magical curative radiation that would require study and collection. 

Although one can admit this: "Insurrection" captures the tone of the "Next Generation" TV series far better than any of the other movies in this part of the series. It's a pity, though, that after the grand finale of "Next Generation," we find ourselves with suck lackluster films. 

Speaking of lackluster films ...

2379: Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek: Nemesis

Released in 2002, Stuart Baird's " Star Trek: Nemesis " was poised to be the final gasp for "Star Trek." "Enterprise" was already taking the franchise in a new direction, and the "NextGen" cast was clearly too tired to handle a continued barrage of poorly planned action movies, and thrillers that didn't resemble the show they were inspired by. "Nemesis" is dark and action-packed and violent and takes a lot of structural cues from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." 

In it, Tom Hardy plays a character named Shinzon who is, in fact, a clone of Captain Picard, grown in a Romulan lab, and eventually discarded into a Romulan mine. Shinzon escaped the mine, built an army, and is poised to take a giant death ship into Federation space to revenge all over people. "Nemesis" is also the film in which Data (Brent Spiner) dies, and Captain Picard drives a dune buggy. 

The sentiment of the time was reminiscent of T.S. Eliot's " The Hollow Men ." This is the way "Next Gen" ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Worry not. There will be further whimpers for the NextGen crew.

2380 - ?: Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Named after a seventh season episode of "Next Generation," and taking place in line with the end of "Nemesis" and "Voyager," " Star Trek: Lower Decks " debuted on Paramount+ in 2020 as part of a slew of "Star Trek"-related indicia that the company was desperate to exploit. And while the all-your-eggs-in-one basket approach to TV production affected by Paramount led to stinkers like "Discovery" and "Picard," it did lead to this surprisingly good animated program. 

One of the more appealing aspects of "Star Trek" is that it's essentially a series of workplace shows. The characters are typically vocation-forward, and take their duty to their ship very seriously. Where a "Star Trek" character works speaks powerfully to who they are. "Lower Decks" follows the people who have the worst possible jobs on a Starfleet vessel, often tasked with cleaning holodecks, sanitizing floors, and arranging widgets for the senior staff. It's rough going for ensigns. They sleep in the hallway and are typically not deemed important enough to include on more exciting missions. What's more, the central ship on "Lower Decks" is a tiny, crappy ship with substandard tech. Surely such jobs would exist in "Star Trek." 

"Lower Decks" is eager to make "Trek" references, and is clearly made by people who understand "Trek's" ethos, but who still have a raunchy sense of humor. The future is here. And it's still crappy for those on the bottom. 

2383: Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy

Produced under the auspices of Nickelodeon, " Star Trek: Prodigy " (2021) was the first Trek series to be made explicitly with a younger audience in mind. The series follows a ragtag group of alien youths as they flee a prison mine and discover an abandoned Starfleet vessel called the U.S.S. Protostar. On board is an instructional hologram of Captain Janeway from "Voyager," and she teaches the kids how to behave like Starfleet officers, the importance of duty and compassion, and how their trauma does not define them. The design and the creatures are more reminiscent of "Star Wars" than "Star Trek" (the series features an evil emperor and his powerful masked servant, invoking the Emperor and Darth Vader), but it certainly functions as a generic space adventure. The "Star Trek" stuff is mere window dressing. 

It's almost disappointing to include "Prodigy" on this timeline, as one of the show's central mysteries — at least for the first part of its first season, the only part to have aired as of this writing — is when and where it takes place. It was possible that "Prodigy" took place centuries or even millennia beyond the known Trek universe. The last we saw, however, the real Captain Janeway is still alive, giving "Prodigy" a known place in Trek chronology. 

2399: Star Trek: Picard (Season 1)

Star Trek: Picard

After nearly 20 years of a world without Picard, Paramount+ convinced Patrick Stewart to reprise his role in a new show named for him. " Star Trek: Picard " debuted on Paramount+ in 2020, taking place further in the future than any other Trek show to date. In the timeline of "Picard," the Federation had become soured by xenophobia and openly discouraged the evacuation of Romulus, historically an enemy world, but now in dire straits after their sun went supernova (something something J.J. Abrams). Picard had left Starfleet in disgust, and had now retired to his winery. 

The story of the first season is too convoluted to get into here, needless to say it involved a Romulan secret society, a planet of androids, a reclaimed Borg cube, and a robot Cthulhu. I'm not kidding. 

It's a pity that "Picard" did not roll with its future setting more, establishing new tech or positive sea changes in the "Trek" universe. Instead, everything is devoted to a chewy, awful story about androids. Indeed, by the end, Picard himself would have his consciousness shunted into an android body. What a snore.

3188 - 3190: Star Trek: Discovery (Seasons 3 and 4)

Star Trek: Discovery

When last we saw the U.S.S. Discovery, it was being pulled through a time hole into the distant future. In the third and fourth seasons , Discovery's crew learns that they are stranded 930 years from home, and now must rediscover their function as Starfleet officers after the Federation went into hiding. A galaxy-wide disaster — The Burn — spontaneously destroyed millions of starships, and a fierce new criminal enterprise, The Emerald Syndicate, now rules the galaxy.

The 23rd-century ship now has to learn how to use 32nd-century technology. The Discovery was redesigned, and the new mission became to spread diplomacy in a galaxy unready for it. This is the premise, it seems, that Discovery should have started with two years prior. The writing is still rather weak, and the characters are callow and weepy, but "Discovery" does excel in one notable way: Queer representation. Seven of the main cast members are openly queer. After 55 years of a dodgy relationship with queerness, "Discovery" finally nailed it.

I just wish it were a better show.

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How to Watch Every Star Trek Series (and Movie) in the Right Order

Ready for a rewatch but not sure where to start? We’ve got you covered.

Have you ever wondered what the best way is to stream Star Trek from start to finish? Look no further.

Approaching the chronological watch of a franchise that’s been on over fifty years can be daunting. Especially with a science-fiction universe that has time travel, multiple universes, concurrent shows and entirely new timelines.

Fear not, as we have created a handy binge-watch guide using the Stardate of each series and film. Here is our guide on how to watch every Star Trek series and movie in the right order.

Star Trek - Series and films

The Star Trek Saga in Chronological Order

Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Connor Trinneer, and Linda Park in Star Trek: Enterprise (2001)

1. Star Trek: Enterprise

Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek (1966)

2. Star Trek

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, and DeForest Kelley in Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973)

3. Star Trek: The Animated Series

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and Persis Khambatta in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Kirstie Alley, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Merritt Butrick, and Robin Curtis in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

6. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Walter Koenig, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

7. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

8. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, and DeForest Kelley in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

9. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

10. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell, Colm Meaney, Nana Visitor, Avery Brooks, Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonois, and Alexander Siddig in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

11. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

12. star trek: the next generation, 13. star trek: deep space nine.

Robert Beltran, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan, Roxann Dawson, Ethan Phillips, Tim Russ, and Garrett Wang in Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

14. Star Trek: Voyager

William Shatner and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Generations (1994)

15. Star Trek: Generations

16. star trek: deep space nine, 17. star trek: voyager, 18. star trek: deep space nine, 19. star trek: voyager.

Alice Krige, Brent Spiner, and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

20. Star Trek: First Contact

21. star trek: deep space nine, 22. star trek: voyager, 23. star trek: deep space nine, 24. star trek: voyager.

F. Murray Abraham in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

25. Star Trek: Insurrection

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How to Watch the 'Star Trek' Movies in Order

Paramount+ includes all 13 movies

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What to Know

  • All 13 movies were released chronologically.
  • Search various streaming platforms to stream the movies by release date.
  • Organized by three eras: The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Kelvin Timeline.

Like Star Wars , which is housed on Disney+, you can watch all 13  Star Trek  movies on a single streaming service.

This article only covers Star Trek movies that were released theatrically. It doesn’t include TV series like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine , or canonical adaptations across other media. Although having knowledge of The Original Star Trek Series and other Star Trek TV series is helpful, it's not essential for enjoying the movies.

Brendan Hunter/Getty

How to Watch the Star Trek Movies in Chronological Order

The Star Trek movies can be separated into three distinct eras. The first era covers the “Prime” timeline started by Gene Roddenberry’s original series from the 1960s and features James T. Kirk and Spock. This era spans six films, beginning with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and ending with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

The second era is spun off from Star Trek: The Next Generation and features characters from that TV series. Fittingly, these are known as The Next Generation films. Finally, the Kelvin timeline kicked off with the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek in 2009. This era is an alternate timeline featuring a significantly different history from the “Prime” universe.

If you watch all 13 Star Trek movies in one sitting, it takes you just over 25 hours. But if you add in the seven TV shows, that time climbs to nearly 25 days .

How to Watch the Star Trek Movies in Order of Release

The great thing about Star Trek is that the movies were released chronologically, so you’ll be following the exact same order as above if you want to watch them based on the release date.

All of these movies are available to stream on Paramount+ , but you might be able to dip into other services for a few of them as available.

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

Hannah Cowton-Barnes

Star Trek has one of the most sprawling universes out there, with numerous TV shows, animated series and blockbuster films dating back by nearly eighty years, and dotted across numerous timelines within the narrative. Therefore, easing yourself into the Trekkie fandom is no easy feat.

There’s numerous ways to catch up on everything within the Star Trek universe – but which is the best method? We’ve collated the most popular orders for you to check out. Keep in mind that if you watch everything on this list, you’ll have nearly 600 hours worth of screen time, which means it will take you around a year to get through all of these, even if you’re watching on a regular basis. You’ve been warned.

If Star Trek isn’t quite your bag but you’re looking for something else to binge, then we also have articles on how to watch the MCU and Star Wars in order.

Chronological order

The Star Trek universe makes it very easy to put each of the shows and movies into narrative order, as everything has a Stardate, which is essentially a fictional date that tells you where a story is placed in the overall universe timeline.

Some of these shows are still ongoing ( Discovery will have its third season this year, and Picard has only just launched on Amazon Prime), but at the moment these Stardates still fit in with this order.

How to watch Star Trek in order

Important things to keep in mind while watching the films and TV shows chronologically is that special effects and CGI will obviously jump around a lot, something first-time viewers may find jarring. In addition, starting with Enterprise may not explain the world as thoroughly for first-time viewers as The Original Series does.

There’s also two timelines. JJ Abrams’ film trilogy deviates from the canon timeline of the original series entirely, meaning that it’s a separate entity to the rest of the franchise. We recommend watching all of the original timeline first, before moving onto the ‘Kelvin’ timeline (named after a pivotal plot point, no spoilers here though).

Here’s the chronological order:

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 to 2005) Star Trek: Discovery (2017-) Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-) Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 to 1969) Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 to 1974) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 to 1994) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993 to 1999) Star Trek Generations (1994) Star Trek: Voyager (1995 to 2001) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) Star Trek: Picard (2020-)

Kelvin timeline:

Star Trek (2009) Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Release date order

If you’d prefer to see how the world of Star Trek has evolved over time, then release date order may be the better order. However, a word of caution. This is pretty complicated – considering that numerous series and films overlap with each other. To compensate for this, we’ve split up some of the TV programmes into seasons.

how to watch star trek in order

As we stated earlier, starting with The Original Series is quite a good place to go as it sets up the world and introduces the viewers to some of the biggest characters and recurring plot points. From a technical perspective, it’s also interesting to see how the animation and effects evolve over time.

Here’s the release date order:

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 to 1969) Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 to 1974) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) Star Trek: The Next Generation – Seasons 1 to 4 (1987 to 1991) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Star Trek: The Next Generation – Seasons 5 to 7 (1991 to 1994) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Seasons 1 to 3 (1993 to 1994) Star Trek Generations (1994) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Seasons 4 to 7 (1994 to 1999) Star Trek: Voyager (1995 to 2001) Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Star Trek: Enterprise – Seasons 1 to 2 (2001 to 2002) Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) Star Trek: Enterprise – Seasons 3 to 4 (2002 to 2005) Star Trek (2009) Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) Star Trek Beyond (2016) Star Trek: Discovery (2017-) Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-) Star Trek Picard (2020-)

Where to watch the Star Trek TV series and films in the UK

As these lists are so extensive, various subscriptions may be required if you wish to stream them all. Now TV has the biggest film offering, with all the movies excluding Into Darkness and Beyond. For the series, Netflix would be the best choice, with every live-action series bar Picard, which is an Amazon Prime exclusive .

The only four things that aren’t available to stream anywhere at the moment in the UK are Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: Short Treks, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. If you want to get hold of them, you’ll have to purchase them separately on the likes of Amazon Prime . Of course, not many people rate The Animated Series – so if that sounds like too much work, feel free to skip it. Short Treks is also a spin-off, and not integral to the main plot. 

Future Star Trek shows in the works

We already know that there’s more to come from Discovery, Picard and Short Treks, but these aren’t the only Star Trek shows in the works. Section 31 is a spinoff that’s actively in development, starring Michelle Yeoh as Federation Captain Philippa Georgiou, who appeared in Discover.

Overseer of the Star Trek universe Alex Kurtzman revealed in an interview with TrekCore that two other unnamed live action shows are in the works, but more details are yet to come about these.

On the animated side, we’ll also be seeing a lot more. Lower Decks is a web series that will air on CBS All Access this month ( find out how to watch it in the UK here ), and will be the second ever animated show in the Star Trek universe. Nickelodeon is also producing another animated series for younger audiences, which will likely air after 2021.

Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes , Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor

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As Tech Advisor's Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She's also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she's written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.

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This Is The Correct Order In Which To Watch The Star Trek Franchise

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in Picard

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

William Shatner as Captain Kirk in 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

1970s animated versions of Kirk and Spock

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

Ricardo Montalban as Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

"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.

Doug Jones as Saru in Discovery

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)

Picard and Riker in Next Generation

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)

Avery Brooks as Commander Sisko in Deep Space Nine

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)

The final shot of Next Generation

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

Captain Kirk meets Captain Picard in 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)

Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway in Voyager

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)

Michael Dorn as Worf in Deep Space Nine

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

Actor and director Jonathan Frakes alongside James Cromwell in 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)

Robert Picardo as Lewis Zimmerman in Deep Space Nine

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)

Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in Voyager

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

Patrick Stewart alongside Donna Murphy in 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)

Avery Brooks alongside Penny Johnson Jerald in the Deep Space Nine finale

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)

An older version of Janeway in Endgame, the Voyager finale

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.

Tom Hardy as a villainous Picard clone in Nemesis

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.

Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer in Enterprise

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

The animated characters of Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler in 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

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock in the rebooted Star Trek

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

Aldis Hodge as Craft in the Short Treks episode

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."

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard in 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!

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Star Trek movies in order: chronological and release dates

Star Trek movies in order

For fans of the iconic Star Trek franchise, understanding the proper order to watch the movies can be a bit challenging. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the different ways to enjoy the Star Trek movies, whether by chronological order or by their release dates. By following this guide, you will be able to fully appreciate the rich history and evolution of the Star Trek universe.

From the original series movies to the reboot films set in the Kelvin Timeline, this article will provide you with a complete overview of how to watch the Star Trek movies in order to maximize your viewing experience.

What is the chronological order of Star Trek movies?

The chronological order of Star Trek movies aligns with the timeline of events within the Star Trek universe. This approach allows fans to follow the story as it unfolds over the centuries, starting from the early days of Starfleet to the adventures in the distant future.

Begin your journey with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which sets the stage for the original series movies. This is followed by the subsequent films featuring the original crew, such as “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.”

Next, move on to “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” These films continue the adventures of Captain Kirk and his crew.

After completing the original series movies, transition to “Star Trek: Generations,” which bridges the gap between The Original Series and The Next Generation cast. Then, follow the Next Generation films, such as “Star Trek: First Contact,” “Star Trek: Insurrection,” and “Star Trek: Nemesis.”

How to watch Star Trek movies by release date?

Watching the Star Trek movies by release date allows fans to experience the franchise as it evolved over time. Start with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” released in 1979, and continue through the years to see how the storytelling, special effects, and character development have changed.

The release order begins with the original series movies and progresses to The Next Generation films. Here is the release order for your convenience:

  • “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979)
  • “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982)
  • “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984)
  • “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986)
  • “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” (1989)
  • “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991)
  • “Star Trek: Generations” (1994)
  • “Star Trek: First Contact” (1996)
  • “Star Trek: Insurrection” (1998)
  • “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002)

Star Trek original series movies timeline

The Star Trek original series movies feature the beloved characters from The Original Series, such as Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy. These films are a continuation of the adventures from the television series and delve deeper into the relationships and challenges faced by the crew of the USS Enterprise.

Start with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979), where the crew reunites to save Earth from a massive alien entity. This film sets the stage for the subsequent original series movies.

The second film, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982), introduces one of the franchise’s most iconic villains, Khan Noonien Singh. The story continues with “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984), which deals with the aftermath of the previous film’s events.

Following these, “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986) offers a lighter tone as the crew travels back in time to save Earth’s whales. The original series movies conclude with “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” (1989) and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991), which provide thrilling and thought-provoking finales to the saga.

The Next Generation movies in order

The Next Generation movies feature the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. These films build on the success of the television series, taking the characters on new adventures and exploring deeper themes within the Star Trek universe.

Start with “Star Trek: Generations” (1994), which serves as a bridge between The Original Series and The Next Generation. In this film, Captain Picard teams up with Captain Kirk to stop a deadly threat.

Next, watch “Star Trek: First Contact” (1996), where the crew travels back in time to stop the Borg from assimilating Earth. This film is a fan favorite for its action-packed storyline and character development.

Follow this with “Star Trek: Insurrection” (1998), which explores moral dilemmas and the consequences of defying Starfleet orders. The Next Generation movies conclude with “Star Trek: Nemesis” (2002), where the crew faces a formidable enemy with a personal connection to Captain Picard.

What are the three new Star Trek movies?

The three new Star Trek movies, also known as the Kelvin Timeline or reboot films, offer a fresh take on the franchise while maintaining core elements that fans love. Directed by J.J. Abrams, these films introduce an alternate timeline, allowing for new stories and character dynamics.

The first film, “Star Trek” (2009), reimagines the origin story of the original series characters. This movie sets the stage for the rebooted universe and features a young Captain Kirk and Spock.

Next, watch “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013), which continues the adventures of the rebooted crew. This film delves deeper into the conflicts and relationships within the team, featuring a formidable antagonist and high-stakes action.

The third film, “Star Trek Beyond” (2016), explores new challenges and adventures as the crew continues their mission in deep space. This movie offers a mix of action, humor, and heart, making it a fitting conclusion to the Kelvin Timeline trilogy.

For an engaging visual experience, check out the following video that delves into the intricacies of the Star Trek movie timelines:

Frequently asked questions about Star Trek movies order

What is the order of the star trek films.

The order of the Star Trek films can be divided into two main categories: chronological and release order. Watching the films chronologically involves starting with the prequels and following the timeline as events unfold within the Star Trek universe. This order includes “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” followed by movies like “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” and continues through the various sequels and reboots.

Watching Star Trek films in release order follows the actual release dates of the movies. This method starts with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” released in 1979, and continues sequentially through the years. This approach allows viewers to experience the franchise as it evolved over time, appreciating the changes in storytelling, special effects, and character development.

What is the chronological order of the Star Trek series?

The chronological order of the Star Trek series begins with “Star Trek: Enterprise,” which is set before the events of the original series. This series explores the early years of Starfleet and its initial forays into deep space exploration. Following “Enterprise,” the next in chronological order is “Star Trek: The Original Series,” which introduces iconic characters such as Captain Kirk and Spock.

After “The Original Series,” the timeline continues with “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which takes place about a century later. Following this, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star Trek: Voyager” expand the universe further. More recent additions include “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard,” which continue to build on the established timeline and characters.

How to watch Star Trek in order of release?

To watch Star Trek in order of release, begin with the original television series, “Star Trek: The Original Series,” which aired from 1966 to 1969. This series set the foundation for the entire franchise, introducing key characters and concepts. Following this, move on to “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” which aired in the early 1970s and continued the adventures of the original crew.

Next, proceed to the Star Trek movies, starting with “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979). Watch the movies in their release order, up to the latest releases. After the original series and movies, watch “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” followed by “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” and then the more recent series like “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard.”

What are the three new Star Trek movies in order to watch?

The three new Star Trek movies, also known as the Kelvin Timeline or reboot films, begin with “Star Trek” (2009). Directed by J.J. Abrams, this movie reimagines the origin story of the original series characters in an alternate timeline, providing a fresh take on the franchise while maintaining core elements that fans love.

Following “Star Trek” (2009) is “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013), which continues the adventures of the rebooted crew. This film delves deeper into the conflicts and relationships within the team, featuring a formidable antagonist and high-stakes action. The third film in this series is “Star Trek Beyond” (2016), which explores new challenges and adventures as the crew continues their mission in deep space.

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COMMENTS

  1. Star Trek films en series in volgorde

    Hier is een lijst met alle films en series uit de Star Trek saga in chronologische volgorde. Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2161) Short Trek: The Girl Who Made the Stars (2230s) Short Trek: The Brightest Star (2239) Star Trek: The Cage - The Original Series one-off pilot episode (2254) Short Trek: The Escape Artist (2250s)

  2. Dit is de beste volgorde om alle Star Trek films en series te bekijken

    Laten we beginnen met een overzicht van alle Star Trek films en Star Trek series! Hierin vertellen we ook kort waar de film of serie over gaat. ... Als je de verhaallijn in de tijd wilt volgen, is dit de volgorde: Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2161) Star Trek: Discovery (seizoen 1 en 2, 2255-2257) Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) (2265-2269)

  3. List of Star Trek films

    Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first suggested the idea of a Star Trek feature in 1969. [1] When the original television series was cancelled, he lobbied to continue the franchise through a film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on a feature film in 1975. [2] A series of writers attempted to craft a suitably epic screenplay, but the attempts did ...

  4. Star Trek

    Star Trek: Into Darkness is de twaalfde film uit de Star Trek-franchise. Het is een sequel op de film Star Trek uit 2009. De film werd geregisseerd door J. J. Abrams naar een scenario van Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci en Damon Lindelof. De film werd in de Verenigde Staten uitgebracht op 17 mei 2013.

  5. Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

    2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures) Release date: June 4, 1982. Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban. Ask a Star Trek fan what the best Star ...

  6. Every Star Trek Movie In Chronological Order

    Here's how to watch the 13 Star Trek movies in chronological order in a couple of ways. Starring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, Star Trek: The Original Series' 3 seasons aired on NBC from 1966-1969, but the show exploded in popularity in syndication.After the blockbuster success of Star Wars in 1977, Paramount refashioned a planned TV series revival ...

  7. How to watch the Star Trek movies in order

    In any case, if you want to start with the movies that are really worth your time, here they are: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): On Hulu and Prime Video. Star Trek III: The Search for ...

  8. Star Trek movies in order

    Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. Where to watch: Paramount Plus One of the best movies ever made, The Wrath of Khan is set over a decade after The Motion Picture with Spock now the captain of the Enterprise. How times change. The movie is remarkably straightforward. Kirk is tricked into coming face to face with his old enemy Khan Noonien-Singh, before the USS Enterprise and USS Reliant engage ...

  9. Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and Kelvin orders

    TV-PG. Stardate: 2151 to 2156. Enterprise follows the adventures of one of the first starships to explore deep space in the Star Trek Universe. Creator. Rick Berman, Brannon Braga. Starring. Scott ...

  10. How To Watch Every Star Trek Series & Movie In The Right Order

    Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969). Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974). Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994). Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

  11. Star Trek Movies in Order: How to Watch Chronologically and by Release Date

    A massive time jump, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan takes place in 2285, 13 years after the events of the previous film and 18 years since the original series ended. This film is less a sequel to ...

  12. The Chronological Star Trek Saga

    Every series of Star Trek and all of the movies in rough Stardate order. This is the order I would recommend watching them in if you want to work your way through the entire saga. Be sure to only watch the specific seasons mentioned in my notes. For maximum enjoyment, I would recommend saving Enterprise series 1-4 and Discovery until last.

  13. Een goed georganiseerde Star Trek-tijdlijn: ordelijk kijken

    Star Trek is een Amerikaanse sciencefictionserie gemaakt door Gene Roddenberry. De film heeft veel films en series die je kunt bekijken. Als u echter de volgorde van de films niet kent, zal het verwarrend zijn om ze te bekijken. Bekijk in dat geval de onderstaande inhoud en bekijk de juiste volgorde van elke film in de Star Trek-tijdlijn.

  14. Star Trek

    Star Trek release order (*=films) 1) Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) 2) Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS) 3a) *Star Trek: The Motion Picture 3b) *Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn 3c) *Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock 3d) *Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home 3e) *Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier 3f) *Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country 4) Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) 5) *Star Trek ...

  15. Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

    Although beginning and ending within the proper chronology of the "Star Trek" future, Leonard Nimoy's 1986 feature film "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" is set largely in the earliest point in the ...

  16. How to Watch Every Star Trek Series (and Movie) in the Right Order

    Especially with a science-fiction universe that has time travel, multiple universes, concurrent shows and entirely new timelines. Fear not, as we have created a handy binge-watch guide using the Stardate of each series and film. Here is our guide on how to watch every Star Trek series and movie in the right order.

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

    1. Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2155) Star Trek: Enterprise is the earliest entry on our list as it takes place a hundred years before the adventures of Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew of ...

  18. 'Star Trek' Movies in Order: Watch in Chronological Order

    How to watch the Star Trek movies in order. 1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Several years after the Enterprise's original five-year mission has concluded, the ship is in the final stages ...

  19. The Star Trek Saga in Chronological Order

    Star Trek: Generations. 1994 1h 58m PG. 6.6 (87K) Rate. 55 Metascore. With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix. Director David Carson Stars Patrick Stewart William Shatner Malcolm McDowell.

  20. How to Watch the 'Star Trek' Movies in Order

    Search various streaming platforms to stream the movies by release date. Organized by three eras: The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Kelvin Timeline. Like Star Wars, which is housed on Disney+, you can watch all 13 Star Trek movies on a single streaming service. This article only covers Star Trek movies that were released theatrically.

  21. How to watch the Star Trek movies & TV shows in order

    Here's the chronological order: Star Trek: Enterprise (2001 to 2005) Star Trek: Discovery (2017-) Star Trek: Short Treks (2018-) Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 to 1969) Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 to 1974) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) Star ...

  22. This Is The Correct Order In Which To Watch The Star Trek ...

    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 ...

  23. Star Trek movies in order: chronological and release dates

    The three new Star Trek movies, also known as the Kelvin Timeline or reboot films, begin with "Star Trek" (2009). Directed by J.J. Abrams, this movie reimagines the origin story of the original series characters in an alternate timeline, providing a fresh take on the franchise while maintaining core elements that fans love. ...