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Star Trek: The Original Series episode guides - All TOS episodes rated, reviewed

In those days before the Federation had continuity, there was Star Trek: The Original Series. Watch the TOS stories in any other you wish; it rarely matters, as essentially every single episode in TOS is a bottle episode. Ultimately, however, many TOS episodes are retconned into prequel stories (e.g. “The Menagerie”, “Space Seed”, “City on the Edge of Forever”), sequels (e.g. “Mirror Mirror”) or even crossovers (“The Trouble with Tribbles”) for the other series and movies.

Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 2 episode guide

Star Trek: The Original Series – the seaons, the key episodes

Season 1 – In the 1960s, TV was a different beast. Serialization (and thus continuity) was essentially non-existent. Each story plays out over a single episode only (with one exception in three years of Star Trek), thereby not allowing for much character development each season of Star Trek’s original run is really barely indistinguishable from another – but at lest that means that season 1 isn’t filled with the “growing pains” every other ST series goes through. The biggest highlights in Star Trek’s first year has got to be “The Menagerie” (episode #s 11 and 12), an eerie story of Captain Kirk’s doomed mentor Captain Pike, and “City on the Edge of Forever” (#29), a neat twist on the traditional “preserve the past” time travel tale. Also of note: “Space Seed” (#22), the introduction of Star Trek II baddie Khan.

Season 2 – Ensign Chekov joins the bridge crew for season 2, which manages to have some fun in the explicitly comic “Trouble with Tribbles” (#15) and the absolutely bananas “Assignment: Earth” (#26). And Spock fans dig on “Amok Time” (#1) and Journey to Babel (#10) for the info doled on that wacky Vulcan culture.

Season 3 – As mentioned above, a fan campaign saved Star Trek for a third series, but NBC executives were not enthused about supporting the marginally successful series and cut the show’s operating budget in half. However, Star Trek Guide must say that tripling the budget could not save scripts like those for “Spock’s Brain” (Can all Vulcans live without a brain or just Spock?), “Specter of the Gun” (Scotty’s dead because he *thinks* he’s dead?) and “The Savage Curtain” (Kirk, Spock, Vulcan hero Surak and Abe Lincoln vs. Genghis Khan, Klingon Empire founder Kahless, 21st-century Earth dictator Mr. Green – who did it in the kitchen with a revolver – and fuzzy chick Zora?) Dude.

The 21 Best Star Trek Original Series Episodes, Ranked

"You know. 1966? 79 episodes, about 30 good ones," said Philip J. Fry of "Futurama" to the jarred, floating head of Leonard Nimoy. This is his animated opinion, of course, but a better question isn't how many are good, but how many of the original "Star Trek" episodes are great . Would you believe 21?

Determining greatness is subjective of course. Popularity isn't a fair indicator of quality, and some fan favorites are guilty pleasures, while others are fun but defective in ways that knock them down from great to merely good. Any episode's overall quality depends on multiple factors — the uniqueness of the premise, the quality of the writing, the story beats, the characterization, guest stars, action, music, production values, and even visual effects. 

Speaking of visual effects, we're not talking about the 15-year-old "remastered" CGI, which already look dated and cartoonish. We're going O.G. all the way. The criteria here is ranking these as the total package rather than the sum of their parts. With that in mind, here's a perhaps controversial list of the 21 greatest "Star Trek: The Original Series" episodes.

21. A Piece of the Action (Season 2, Episode 17)

Although humorous moments abound throughout the original "Star Trek," there aren't many outright comedy episodes. In fact, there are only three: "I Mudd," "A Piece of the Action," and "The Trouble with Tribbles." Most fans I know vote the straight "Tribbles" ticket, but that episode is merely cute-funny, whereas the over-the-top "A Piece of the Action" is actually genuinely funny. The script by Gene L. Coon is more absurd than "Tribbles" and features more comic business. The cherry on top was its helmer, James Komac, who was a gifted comedy writer and director of hundreds of episodes of shows including "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Chico and the Man" (which he created).

This episode   is almost a meta-commentary and spoof on the "Star Trek" schtick of "strange new worlds," which end up being monocultures thinly based on Earth's history. Here we see why the Prime Directive exists: An entire civilization has modeled itself on the popular mythos of Roaring '20s Chicago mobs. It's literally Planet Cosplay and an unintentional spoof of fandoms then and now. Two things keep it at this end of the list — it's shamelessly riffing on 1964's "Robin and the 7 Hoods," and it's almost irredeemably dumb. Fortunately, it's dumb fun, and fun enough to be among the best. "Right?" "Riiiiight."

20. Space Seed (Season 1, Episode 22)

You might be surprised that this comes in so low in a list of greats, but that it merits inclusion at all relies solely on the sheer screen presence and magnetism of its guest star. Khan Noonien Singh is an arrogant egotist and tyrant , but Ricardo Montalbán's confident performance makes him watchable. Minus him, the story defects would relegate this episode to merely "good." Many put this in their top 10, but I suspect that's because it basks in the reflected glow of its cinematic follow-up, "The Wrath of Khan."

The script is serviceable but unmemorable and commits the sin of making our heroes foolish instead of making Khan's intelligence and cunning the real danger. Kirk hands this unknown and suspicious character unfettered access to the ship's technical library on a silver platter, and historian Marla McGivers is a pushover who betrays all her shipmates because she's a fangirl of brutish dictators.

Weak story aside, the episode does have strengths. All the performances are good, and the story moves along at a brisk pace. There's memorable dialog, and McCoy really shines when he isn't cowed by Khan holding a scalpel to his neck. There's also some of the best miniature effects work on the show, going to the expense of a custom-made model of the Botany Bay. Montalbán is what makes it a best episode at all, but he alone can't elevate it.

19. The Conscience of the King (Season 1, Episode 13)

This least "Star Trek"-y of "Treks" scores points for being just that. The series premise allows it to be a semi-anthology, able to shift genres without breaking format, so one week it's a psychological drama about the duality of human nature, another time it's about cold war proxies or planet-killing doomsday machines by way of "Moby Dick" or — as in this case — a Shakespearean tragedy about mercy and revenge. Just as Hamlet must determine whether or not his uncle Claudius murdered his father, so must Captain Kirk determine if actor Anton Karidian is the man once known as Kodos the Executioner. 

Writer Barry Trivers cleverly frames his story within the play that informs it, a bit of dramaturgical license that permits a more theatrical approach. Take, for example, this bit of dialogue from Lenore Karidian: "There's a stain of cruelty on your shining armor, Captain. You could have spared him, and me. You talked of using tools. I was a tool, wasn't l? A tool to use against my father."

This episode exemplifies a shadowy aspect of Kirk's affairs rarely discussed in how he weaponizes romance to get what he wants. The ultimate irony is that he plays Karidian's daughter, Lenore, in order to get close to her father, only to learn that she's been playing him. That it's so different is a double-edged blade that simultaneously makes it a best episode, but nowhere near the top. It was a great stretch for the show.

18. The Immunity Syndrome (Season 2, Episode 18)

This one barely edges out the not-dissimilar and more popular "The Doomsday Machine." Both feature the crew of a sister ship annihilated by a huge alien thing endangering life throughout the galaxy. But where "Doomsday" is a straightforward adventure story driven by an Ahab-like guest star, "Immunity" is more personal, as it features some great and properly motivated Spock and McCoy conflict. 

Too often, Bones would goad Spock for no reason, but here, their back and forth is professional. We've got two scientists vying for an opportunity to study this alien organism, each feels himself the most qualified to take on what promises to be a suicide mission, and each, perhaps, is choosing to make the sacrifice rather than let the other die. But it's Kirk who has to make the final, heartbreaking choice of which of his friends to send. That's classic "Trek."

Given its budget and the visual effects tech of the time, "Star Trek" was rarely able to get across truly alien life forms, but this is a notable exception, and the conceit that the Enterprise must enter the alien entity as a virus infects a cell is a nice twist. The visual effects of the space amoeba thing are fabulous and weird, something the 2007 remastered CGI does not improve on.

17. Day of the Dove (Season 3, Episode 7)

The third season of "Star Trek" has no classic episodes, but a few come close. "Day of the Dove" is the best of the bunch. The simple premise of exploiting bigotry between our heroes and their Cold War counterparts, the Klingons, works better than it ought. If you want to look for a message, the alien entity that fuels the very hatred and violence it feeds upon can be read as a stand-in for the military-industrial complex, which fans the flames of conflict in order to sell weapons in a perpetual feedback loop. Alternatively, you can just take it for a MacGuffin.

The nefarious influence of the alien entity memorably amplifies the slightest biases of the Enterprise crew, and it's uncomfortable to hear blatant racism coming of out our noble heroes' mouths, especially Scotty's attack on Spock. Michael Ansara plays Kang as no mere mustache-twirling bad guy but as a shrewd enemy starship commander, an honorable warrior, and a fine opposite to Kirk. By turns personable, calculating, and violent, he's a model Original Series Klingon. Frankly, I'd rather watch him than Khan; your mileage may vary. It's got action. It's got character conflict for days. It's the best the third season has to offer, but it's not as great as the first- and second-season entries coming up. 

16. Tomorrow Is Yesterday (Season 1, Episode 19)

The original "Star Trek" didn't play with time travel much, and when it did, the results were either very good or they were horrid, with the backdoor pilot "Assignment: Earth" being the low point. On the flip side, you've got "Tomorrow Is Yesterday," which features the most offbeat teaser of the series, following an Air Force F-104 interceptor, with the visual punchline that the bogie it's after is the USS Enterprise. 

What follows is illogical as all get out, but the gimmick of the Enterprise being tracked as a UFO and having to undo the temporal damage it's done by being photographed and accidentally crushing that Air Force interceptor is great and the story milks it for all it's worth. No real depth here, but the fun is all in the plot events and reactions of the crew.

There's some great in-character stuff in the episode, including Spock's statement that he too doesn't believe in "little green men" and his one-star ranking of the Air Force film of the Enterprise as "bad photography." Kirk's playfully resigned responses to his Air Force interrogator are great too. And, hey, Sulu even gets to get off the bridge. The main weakness is the "how does that work?" ending gimmick of beaming people back into their own bodies. Great, but not a classic.

15. Balance of Terror (Season 1, Episode 14)

A fan favorite for good reason, "Balance of Terror" depicts the loneliness of command as Kirk tries to seek and destroy a marauding alien vessel without triggering an outright war. Seeing some of the "lower decks" types makes the Enterprise feel more real and lived-in and sells that Kirk's every decision has repercussions beyond the bridge. But it's Mark Lenard's perfectly pitched turn as the unnamed Romulan commander that's most memorable here. Torn over the ramifications of the performance of his duty, he's Kirk's equal in every way, and you can believe that he loses this battle not by dint of any personal failings but merely because his ship is outmatched by the much quicker and faster-firing Enterprise.

For 1966, the effects are great and largely still hold up. The Romulan ship is simple and distinctive, and the music is spot on. The main thing keeping it out of the top 10 is that it so baldly swipes elements of the films "Run Silent Run Deep" and "The Enemy Below," slapping pointed ears on the German Kriegsmarine story from the latter film, borrowing its war-weary commander and a subordinate fanatically loyal to their political leader. In "Arena," the show paid for the rights of the story it was cribbed from and credited the author. No such screen credit graces this obvious lift.

14. The Ultimate Computer (Season 2, Episode 24)

Kirk is infamous for offing overzealous computers (see: Landru in "Return of the Archons," Nomad in "The Changeling," and the androids of "I Mudd"), but his personal best computer kill is in "The Ultimate Computer." Here, he doesn't merely melt down the M5 Multitronic unit by confronting its flawed logic regarding its purpose; he aims a precise surgical strike at the chink he spots in its programming armor — appealing to the morality inherent in the memory engrams its all too human creator imprinted it with, causing it to reason it must die to pay for the sin of murder.

This episode is character-driven, with Kirk confronting his own redundancy and possible irrelevancy even as Spock and McCoy make their loyalty and friendship clear. Guest star William Marshall's turn as the deranged Dr. Daystrom is a standout, ranking among the best of the show.

All this drama is supported by some fine action, as M5 reduces a redshirt to a puff of smoke, photon torpedoes a robot ship, and then nearly destroys four sister ships of the Enterprise, actually killing the entire crew of one. Even the light ending — which often play as callous given the events which precede them in many episodes — is acceptable here because it's about Spock and McCoy, not Kirk. But it's still Kirk vs. the Computer, and those are never "Star Trek" at the very top of its game.

13. The Cage (Original Pilot)

Forget "The Menagerie" with its paper-thin envelope around the first pilot, repetitive courtroom scenes, and forced cliffhangers, all of which render it a solid but not great installment. On its own, "The Cage" is not just a great launchpad for what "Star Trek" is and would become but an imaginative and well-executed story in its own right. Gene Roddenberry's script is smart, with the atrophied Talosian aliens a satirical stand-in for TV audiences who might rather live other people's fantasies than experience adventures of their own. While it's a bit talky and static in places, when they're in action, it's great stuff — notably the laser cannon scene and Pike's illusory fight on Rigel VII.

Visually it's terrific. This was the most expensive episode of the series ever made, and it shows. The sets, costumes, makeups, and many special effects are top-notch for a show of the era particularly the matte shot of the Rigel VII fortress. The pacing's a bit loose, the characters don't pop due to the largely meh casting, and "THE WOMEN!" Number One and Yeoman Colt secretly wanting to bone the Captain is cringeworthy. However, guest star Susan Oliver's performance is the standout here, followed by Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Ultimately, it's just as well that the far more energetic William Shatner stepped in to replace Jeffrey Hunter's less-than-charismatic version of Captain Pike .

12. Arena (Season 1, Episode 18)

If any episode of "Star Trek" is truly iconic, this is it. The action set piece on Cestus III is the biggest of any in the series, with running and jumping and explosions galore, a redshirt vaporization, a detonating tricorder, and a photon torpedo-sque mortar. Once back on the Enterprise, Kirk's dogged determination to overtake and destroy the enemy ship demonstrates the obsessive nature of his character, but communication with his alien foe plants a seed of doubt which ultimately empowers him to practice what he preached in "A Taste of Armageddon: " We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today."

Kirk doesn't kill, and it saves the day. It lands here amongst the best because the story ends with the overused first-season gimmick of the godlike entity — the others being Gary Mitchell, Charlie-X Evans and his Thasian truant officers, Trelane the god-child, and the Organians — but the Metrons are more a plot device than anything. The Gorn is a great and worthy adversary, even as its slow-motion gestures are laughable. Spock hanging a lantern on Kirk's cannon-building is a bit much, but hey, he's the costar and has to do something. 

11. Where No Man Has Gone Before (Season 1, Episode 3)

It might be a surprise seeing "Where No Man Has Gone Before" on this list, but despite the second pilot weirdness of different uniforms, series crew regulars appearing not at all (McCoy, Uhura) or in different jobs (Sulu is an astrophysicist), and Spock's not-quite-there characterization and more severe makeup, the core "Star Trek"-ness is there in spades. Kirk makes a risky decision in the first act and must deal with the building consequences for the balance of the show, finally shouldering personal responsibility for his decision in the worst way possible: In order to save his ship and crew, he's forced to kill a subordinate shipmate and friend.

The episode looks great (being far more expensive than any regular production episode), repurposes the planet set built for the even more expensive first pilot, and features more optical effects than would be the norm for a production episode. Most importantly, William Shatner's Kirk projects leading-man charisma of the sort that's arguably what sold the show. It also delivers on Gene Roddenberry's original high-concept pitch of a "'Wagon Train' to the stars," where stories would focus on strong guest stars interacting with the recurring cast. The script is not without its flaws, and had Gary Mitchell been a tad more likable, the drama would have played even better. Still, two thumbs way up.

10. A Taste of Armageddon (Season 1, Episode 23)

"New civilization" planet stories rarely yielded great episodes, often setting up straw man civilizations for Kirk to knock down, but this one bucks the trend with a story smart enough to rank among the best. Kirk vs. the Computer legendarily has Kirk talk the machine to death, but now and again, he goes for the direct approach. Here, the computers coldly run simulations and select innocents to die, and Kirk has zero compunction about blasting them, finally forcing two civilizations to finally attempt to negotiate peace after 500 years of a "war" where death has been made so neat and tidy they see it as a necessary evil rather than something to stop.

Goodies include Scotty's head-butting with Ambassador Fox, Kirk's arguments about war with Anan 7, and Kirk threatening to have the Enterprise rain destruction down on a planet that's not faced a real attack in centuries. The moral? Any war held at arm's length is mere statistics, something the American people had grown accustomed to until television thrust the reality of Vietnam into their living rooms each evening. That's a lesson we must learn over and over again in conflicts where we increasingly use long-range and smart weapons to strike people we never even see. It's a message as relevant today as when it was first aired.

9. The Corbomite Maneuver (Season 1, Episode 10)

Effectively the "third pilot" of "Star Trek," this was the first regular production episode to go before the cameras, and it had the luxury of a rehearsal day, a solid director, and a fine script. It even ends with a quintessential "Trek" twist: Our implacable foe ends up being an erstwhile friend. By rights, this should've been the first episode to air as it sets up the whole show, but it was nowhere near ready at the premiere, in part due to the sheer number of optical effects in post-production. Dr. McCoy is wonderful from his first appearance, and his camaraderie and professional conflict with Kirk set the stage for their entire relationship.

The weird flagship Fesarius is pure alien goodness, and the Balok puppet is iconic. Memorable business includes Sulu's countdown, Spock's logic and resulting lack of imagination, Scotty's comment about Spock's parents, and McCoy and Kirk's conflict over Bailey. A highlight is the briefing room scene, with its lived-in atmosphere with piles of tapes and empty cups of coffee showing instead of telling us how hard the crew has been working on their predicament. Likewise, the Enterprise feels like a real lived-in ship, with corridors bustling with the crew, something the show would lose as fixed costs increased and studio budgets didn't grow to match. It's one of the 10 best, held back only because it drags in some spots.

8. The Galileo Seven (Season 1, Episode 16)

Albeit loosely inspired by the 1939 survivor drama "Five Came Back," this episode charts its own course as Spock tries and fails to resolve a potentially lethal situation with logic alone. It's rare that adventure shows of the time would depict a lead character failing, but that's just what "The Galileo Seven" does. 

As in "The Corbomite Maneuver," we are again shown that Spock's logic can serve as blinders that prevent him from seeing all the possibilities, even as he tells Scott, "There are always alternatives." As such, when they become stuck on a mysterious planet, he expects the giant natives to react rationally to a show of force and brings them right down on the party. He's likewise ill-equipped to deal with the emotional frailties of the crew under his command, especially the insolent and insubordinate Lt. Boma, memorably played by Don Marshall, later of "Land of the Giants."

The B-story with Kirk desperately trying to locate the lost shuttle against a ticking clock demonstrates the sorts of no-win scenarios a ship captain must face. The production scores visually for the full-size shuttlecraft, as well as the visual effects depicting it and its sister crafts' departure and return to the Enterprise hangar deck.

7. The Naked Time (Season 1, Episode 4)

The fourth episode aired, "The Naked Time" is the foundational character-building segment of the series, peeling away the surface of Kirk and Spock and revealing a bit of what makes them tick. It's also entertaining as hell, with a slow burn as the crew is at first blissfully ignorant of the inhibition-inhibiting compound brought aboard and then having to deal with the resulting chaos. Sulu's descent into madness is charming, and George Takei was always at his most charismatic when he got to play unhinged. Sadly, neither Uhura nor Rand's secret selves get explored, and poor Chapel is reduced to pining for Spock as her primary character trait for most of the series.

The only weak spot here is that the "science" part of science fiction went out of the airlock. A collapsing planet is as preposterous an idea as the notion that the Enterprise is forced to constantly alter its orbit to study it. But guest crewman Kevin Riley is fun, and Scotty gets two great lines here, the first being, "I can't change the laws of physics," and the second an example of technobabble that's simple and audience-friendly: "You can't mix matter and antimatter cold!"

6. The Devil in the Dark (Season 1, Episode 25)

"The Devil in the Dark" is unique for being the only one to open with no sign of the Enterprise or her crew. Effectively a redo of series opener "The Man Trap," this episode succeeds where its predecessor fails not merely because the crew act more rationally but because a narrative twist turns the titular "Devil" into a sympathetic character. The Kirk-Spock dynamic is on fine display here as Spock first wishes to capture the creature alive and Kirk wants it dead, but Spock's feelings for his captain override his desire for scientific knowledge the instant he believes Kirk is in danger. 

Spock urges his captain to "kill it!" even as Kirk susses out that the creature may be more than a monster. This is the first instance of Spock mind-melding with a wholly alien life form, a gimmick that would be taken to preposterous extremes in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Leonard Nimoy's "pain!" emoting is a bit over the top even for the time and keeps the episode out of the top five. Otherwise, he and William Shatner display the chemistry that made the show work even when the scripts let them down. This script does not let them down.

5. Journey to Babel (Season 2, Episode 10)

This world-building episode fires on all cylinders and never misses a beat. If writers then or now needed a model for how to write "Star Trek," this is it, and it's hands down the best episode penned by Dorothy "D.C." Fontana. There's a story conflict as the Enterprise ferries quarrelsome ambassadors and their aides to the titular "Babel" conference over a matter of Federation business. There's an interpersonal conflict between not just Spock and his parents but also between Spock and Kirk and Bones over relinquishing command. 

There's physical conflict as ambassadors brawl, one is murdered, and Kirk is ambushed and wounded. We meet lots of aliens, see a bit of galactic politics, and get a nail-biter of a finish as McCoy tries to perform delicate surgery while Kirk struggles to keep it together amidst attacks by a seemingly unstoppable, unknown ship.

Mark Lenard returns not as a Romulan but as Spock's Vulcan father, Ambassador Sarek, who picks up on Leonard Nimoy's Vulcan portrayal and crafts one uniquely his own. Memorable too is Reggie Nalder, whose burn-scarred face and Austrian accent accentuate his alienness in the role of the blue-skinned Andorian delegate Thelev and established Andorians as Federation members , who would not be explored on TV for decades. Spock's family drama is a bit conventional for an alien culture, and just a dash more of the Vulcan alienness we got in Ted Sturgeon's "Amok Time" would have made this perfect.

4. The Enemy Within (Season 1, episode 5)

With a script that takes a pinch of "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and adds a dash of "All About Eve," "The Enemy Within" really delivers on the "Star Trek" promise to be an "adult" show by exploring the uncomfortable idea that even the noblest have a dark side and that our shadow selves are necessary parts of being human. The scenes with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy crackle with intellectual and emotional tension, and Spock finding Kirk's condition so "fascinating" neatly propels the drama while hinting at his own duality. William Shatner's twin performances as the understated compassionate Kirk and the scenery-chewing "imposter" demonstrate his range.

A few missteps are the weird editing — where events happen out of order, such as when Spock states they have an intruder aboard long after they've established the transporter duplicated the dog-thing — Rand being expected to stand up for herself in front of her alleged attacker, Kirk, and the silliness of Spock reporting that the malfunctioning transporter duplicated the thermal heaters beamed down and not thinking to beam down blankets or other insulation to help keep the stranded Sulu and company from becoming human popsicles. Additionally, Spock's closing crack at Rand about the imposter's qualities was and remains cringeworthy.

3. Mirror Mirror (Season 2, Episode 4)

This is the poster child for episodes that manage to become classics despite the premise being as dumb as a box of rocks. Absolutely nothing about the scenario makes a lick of sense. There's a parallel universe where all the same people end up on the same ship despite having vastly different histories and a culture of assassination. The starships in both universes happen to be on the same planet and beaming the same four people at the exact same time, and our parallel-universe leaping characters and their barbaric counterparts somehow switch wardrobes — and presumably underwear — mid-transporter beam.

What saves it is the sheer entertainment value of this gaudier imperial Starfleet and the skewed versions of familiar regulars inhabiting it. Evil Sulu's a sweaty seducer, mirror Chekov is a back-stabbing opportunist, and bearded Spock was a meme before we knew we had memes. The best Uhura performance can be found here, and Nichelle Nichols should be remembered for this over that overrated and involuntary interracial kiss. The only thing that could have made it better was had Yeoman Rand been brought back as "the Captain's Woman." The big speech to mirror Spock about the illogic of waste is Kirk at his Kirkiest, and that's the perfect capper on a perfectly entertaining classic that ranks right near the top.

2. Amok Time (Season 2, Episode 1)

The Vulcan episode to rule them all is one of those rare world-building episodes of the original series, except here the strange new world is Spock's home planet. Vulcan civilization is memorably introduced in a most unexpected way — by demonstrating that the coolly logical Spock is anything but when it's time to swim upstream and spawn. However, Spock's mate-to-be, T'Pring , employs the logic our Vulcan hero adores in order to escape her obligations to him and make her own choices. 

Everything about the scenes on Vulcan works splendidly, from matriarch T'Pau's officiating and T'Pring's challenge to the big Kirk-Spock battle. Okay, and the wonderful and memorable OTT music is the icing on the cake. The first half on the Enterprise has some nice comic moments, as well as some solid Kirk-Spock-McCoy interaction, but as with many episodes where a mystery is involved, the tension of the first half doesn't play quite as well on repeat viewings. 

Fortunately, the drama and conflict on Vulcan are top-notch and hold up. The punchline in sickbay is a classic because the bigger the dramatic tension, the bigger the comic release, and given all the action on the planet, the funny tag feels totally earned for a change.

1. The City on the Edge of Forever (Season 1, Episode 28)

No surprise here, as it tops a great many lists, but "The City on the Edge of Forever" excels not only because the core drama is compelling but because of the care with which it was put together. The most expensive regular production episode of the series, all the money is up there on the screen, from the period costumes to the backlot shooting, new sets, stock footage, and the flashing Guardian time donut. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley are all in fine form here. Guest star Joan Collins isn't great, but she's fine.

Story-wise, the fish-out-of-water situation, the incredibly high stakes, and the crushing inevitable tragedy make this the exemplary segment. Even gutted by ham-fisted staff rewrites by the "Trek" staff (in my opinion), Harlan Ellison's core story premise remains moving in spite of the on-the-nose sermon by Edith, the racist joke at Spock's expense, and the complete absence of the tragic Trooper character on whom the irony of who amongst us "matters" hinged. Kirk's episode-closing "let's get the hell out of here" was not any kind of TV first, but it was the perfect minimalist button that the story needed. What more was there to say?

The 20 Best Episodes of ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’

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What We Know About Captain Pike’s Next Voyage in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3

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In the more than 50 years since Star Trek made its debut on NBC, the franchise has seen more than a dozen feature films and successfully launched its sixth spinoff series last year with CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery . For all the many amazing stories told in the decades to come, it’s hard to beat the original Star Trek . Running for just three seasons, the series has become synonymous with the science fiction genre and emerged a cultural touchstone that has entertained, educated and inspired dreamers all over the world.

Like any series, Star Trek has its ups and downs. The best episodes, though, rank among television’s very finest. We’ve assembled a list of Star Trek ’s 20 best original series episodes, each of which has withstood the test of time in delivering stories that, despite their spectacle and imagination, are ultimately about exploring the human condition. As such, many of the themes explored on Gene Roddenberry ’s show have only become more relevant and the show’s 23 rd century setting all the more important a future to which we might aspire.

20) The Menagerie - Parts One and Two

The only two-part episode of the original Star Trek , “The Menagerie” is, in a weird way, a kind of clip show. Before William Shatner was cast as Captain James T. Kirk, Star Trek had shot a pilot, “The Cage,” starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike. In fact, the only character to carry over from the unaired pilot was Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. Naturally, he’s front and center of “The Menagerie,” a Starfleet courtroom drama in which Enterprise logs are used as evidence, allowing the entirety of “The Cage” to be incorporated into a larger story set some years later.

Hunter did not reprise the Pike role, the episode finding the character having just suffered an accident that has left him a scarred shell of his former self. With a mysterious motivation that is revealed through the course of his trial, Spock abducts Pike and commandeers the Enterprise. With a course locked to a forbidden planet, Spock calmly turns himself over for his court martial, giving the narrative a fantastic ticking clock.

“The Menagerie” arrived midway through Star Trek’s first season and its expansion of Star Trek lore is, in part, why the franchise continues to this day. Bringing “The Cage” (released some years later on its own) into Star Trek continuity paved the way for future Captains of the Enterprise and reminded us that Star Trek’s timeline doesn’t necessarily need to proceed linearly.

Anyone familiar with Star Trek from the J.J. Abrams films also got to meet Captain Pike. Bruce Greenwood played the part in both 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness .

19) The Corbomite Maneuver

Although it aired out of sequence, “The Corbomite Maneuever” followed Star Trek ’s first two pilots with a story that sees the Enterprise coming into contact with a mysterious and powerful alien sphere in an unexplored area of space. Diplomacy soon fails and a strange looking creature, Balok, tells Kirk that his ship will be destroyed. That’s when Kirk comes up with an epic bluff, aiming to convince the alien that the Enterprise contains a made up element, corbomite, that promises mutually assured destruction.

The notion of bluffing is huge in Star Trek and “The Corbomite Manuever” is the most classic example. A bluff, after all, means applying fiction to create a better reality. In a nutshell, that’s exactly what Star Trek is all about. Over the course of the series, the crew of the Enterprise will use their unique perspective to defy the laws of alien civilizations, Starfleet’s own bureaucracy and even of physics themselves. It’s usually about knowing the right time to do the wrong thing and, of that, Captain Kirk is a proven master. He knows exactly when to bend the rules to achieve the greater good.

“The Corbomite Maneuver” also introduces a common theme that alien races aren’t necessarily as alien as they might appear with a final act that features a young Clint Howard .

18) A Piece of the Action

It may sound a bit silly, but the Enterprise’s visit to a planet ruled by 1920’s Chicago gangsters is a whole lot of fun. It even makes a bit more sense than it sounds: a hundred years before this episode takes place, another ship, the Horizon, wound up bringing a book about Chicago mobsters to the planet’s highly suggestible inhabitants, the Iotians. Treating it like a bible, the entire culture adapted to suit the book.

There’s a lot of costume play throughout Star Trek history and seeing Kirk and Spock in gangster outfits is a whole lot more fun than say, the time they have to dress up the Nazis in the second season episode “Patterns of Force”. “A Piece of the Action” would serve as a prototype for Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s holodeck episodes and open the idea that any planet anywhere in the universe could theoretically have a culture identical to any period on Earth.

An abandoned plotline for a 30 th anniversary episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (later told in alternate form in a Star Trek comic) would have seen a return to the Iotian planet and the reveal that, following the events of “A Piece of the Action,” the planet wound up being so heavily influenced by the Enterprise’s visit that it had evolved to become, essentially, a planet of classic Star Trek fans.

17) The Squire of Gothos

Several episodes of the original Star Trek find the crew coming face to face with seemingly omnipotent foes, but few are as quite as memorable as William Campbell ’s performance as the ebullient mischief maker Trelane, self-professed “Squire of Gothos”. When the Enterprise discovers a planet in an area of space that should be abandoned, the crew is drawn to the world’s sole inhabitant, a godlike individual fascinated with 18 th century Earth history who views the crew as nothing more than his playthings.

From Loki of Greek mythology to DC Comics’ Mr. Mxyzptlk, the trickster god is a classic foe. Part of what makes it work so well in the world of Star Trek is because the crew of the Enterprise, to us, appears so advanced technologically. As was the case with foes like Thor or Superman, having an even more powerful foes forces the heroes to rely on their wits alone, ultimately proving that omnipotence is nothing without intelligence and compassion.

Trelane also helped pave the way for John DeLancie ’s Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation . Appearing in more than a dozen episodes of subsequent Star Trek series, Q shares Trelane’s paradoxical blend affability and obnoxiousness. While it’s never specified in the canon, stories told in Star Trek books and comics have connected the characters.

16) Day of the Dove

The Enterprise responds to a distress call only to find a deserted planet and Klingon forces nearby. When both ships somehow become disabled, tensions begin to mount to an unusual degree. Walter Koenig ’s Chekov is threatening to avenge the death of his brother at the Klingons’ hands. But then it’s revealed that he doesn’t even have a brother. Things get weirder and weirder as the planet itself seems to encourage conflict, supplying weapons and easy reasons to give into hatred.

It’s never revealed exactly what the force is that both crews encounter on planet Beta XII-A, but it seems to be a destructive energy that is, perhaps, a manifestation of destructive energy itself, depicted as a crackling red force. When Kirk realizes that he and Michael Ansara ’s Klingon commander Kang are being manipulated, “Day of the Dove” gives us one of William Shatner ’s great mini-monologues.

“All right. All right,” Kirk shouts at Kang. “In the heart. In the head. I won't stay dead. Next time I'll do the same to you. I'll kill you. And it goes on, the good old game of war, pawn against pawn! Stopping the bad guys. While somewhere, something sits back and laughs and starts it all over again.”

That’s a message that, sadly, is every bit as timely today as it was half a century ago.

15) The Galileo Seven

Things go bad during a routine science mission, forcing a shuttlecraft, the Galileo, to make an emergency landing on a dangerous planet, home to enormous apelike beasts. What’s more, a coming ion storm and trouble in another part of the galaxy mean that the Enterprise may need to give up the search.

While there’s some great Kirk moments as he squeezes every possible opportunity from the chain of command to keep looking for the Galileo, this episode is Spock’s show. We get to see him take command over a six-person crew and deal with having to give orders that put officers in mortal danger. Fear amongst the crew makes things all the more dangerous as Spock has to face officers who question his Vulcan logic and, ultimately, his own uncertainty in command to save the crew.

The plot for “The Galileo Seven” originated with Oliver Crawford , who co-wrote the episode’s script with S. Bar-David . He has said that “The Galileo Seven” was directly inspired by the 1939 big screen thriller Five Came Back , about a small airplane that crashed in a South American jungle.

14) A Private Little War

Star Trek was offering a direct allegorical take on the Vietnam War in 1968 with a story that finds Captain Kirk in a moral dilemma. A planet of immense natural resources, Neural, is home to a primitive race. Although Starfleet’s Prime Directive would normally preclude any interference, the Enterprise learns that conflict has broken out among the natives with one side being given advanced weaponry by the Klingon Empire.

While the Enterprise quite often finds itself in the position of having to balance moral imperatives, “A Private Little War” is the best example of the show taking on a contemporary political issue, even if the conclusion doesn’t offer any easy answers.

“A Private Little War” also introduces a memorable Star Trek alien that only appears in this one episode. The Mugato is a ferocious white ape with a spiked back and a poisonous bite. Ben Stiller , a big Star Trek fan, borrowed the name for Will Ferrell ’s character in his 2001 comedy Zoolander .

13) Journey to Babel

The Enterprise is journeying to the planet Babel for a diplomatic conference when one of the visiting ambassadors is murdered. The lineup of suspects includes a wide range of alien dignitaries and one chief suspect: Mark Lenard ’s Vulcan ambassador Sarek. Adding to the drama, Sarek just happens to be Spock’s estranged father.

Not only is “Journey to Babel” an interesting mystery with a grand assembly of interesting alien species, it reveals so much about Spock and his history with his father. It’s a relationship that continues to develop for decades after “Journey to Babel”. Lenard returns as Sarek throughout the franchise’s big screen run and beyond. He’s even set to be a featured character in Star Trek: Discovery with James Frain filling in for the late Lenard.

Before he played Sarek, Mark Lenard famously took on the role of another prominent Star Trek character. Look for details on that performance a bit further down this list.

12) Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

The Enterprise intercepts a stolen shuttlecraft containing Lou Antonio’s Lokai, a fugitive from a planet called Charon. Although he looks like a human being, Lokai is split down the middle, one side black and the other white. It’s not long before Frank Gorshin shows up as Bele, a fellow being from Charon who utterly despises Lokai. Although they may initially appear identical, it is revealed that Bele and Lokai are alternately colored. Bele is black on the left side and white on the right while Lokai is the reverse. Hence, in their culture, their hatred for one another.

With “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” Star Trek finds a way to tell a story that isn’t just about racism, but that makes racism itself the focal point for its sci-fi lens, imagining a brand new way to hate and making a powerful reminder that any reason for doing so based on any other physical attribute is just as unnatural.

11) The Doomsday Machine

The crew of the Enterprise faces one of its most awesome cosmic challenges when it comes up against a massive, world-eating device of extreme alien origin. In fact, the device is so alien that we never really learn what it is, although Kirk theorizes it to be an ancient doomsday device. The Enterprise isn’t the first Starfleet ship on the scene this time, either. By the time the Enterprise discovers the danger to the galaxy, the USS Constellation has already risked everything in an attempt to stop the planet killer. The Constellation is recovered by the Enterprise with only one crewmember still left alive, William Windom ’s Commodore Matt Decker.

Not only does “The Doomsday Machine” feature such a memorable monster, it features some great drama between Kirk and Decker. Having just lost his crew to the cosmic goliath, the Commodore is suffering from severe posttraumatic stress and not necessarily thinking with a clear head. Because he technically outranks Kirk, that poses a serious problem in dealing with the matter at hand.

“The Doomsday Machine” also sets up a nice bit of continuity with Star Trek: The Motion Picture . One of the main characters in the 1979 Robert Wise film is Stephen Collins ’ Captain Willard Decker, the son of Commodore Matt Decker.

10) The Devil in the Dark

Something is killing workers on distant a mining colony visited by the Enterprise. Deep in the caves of Janus VI, a rocklike creature is melting people alive with its molten abilities. Despite the attacks, though, there’s no trace of the creature and no understanding for how a carbon based life form could exist in such an environment.

“The Devil in the Dark” functions as both a sci-fi slasher and a moral tale. The end of the episode reveals that life sometimes manifests itself in forms that we may not have ever considered, brought to life visually when Spock performs a Vulcan mind-meld with the alien creature, a horta, and learns that its motivations are not malicious and that, instead, it is the miners who have unwittingly done a great wrong to it.

Although the horta marks another iconic Star Trek alien, “The Devil in the Dark” is their sole appearance of the species the franchise outside of very minor nods in later spinoffs.

9) By Any Other Name

The Enterprise encounters a pair of scouts from the Kelvan Empire, mighty beings from the Andromeda Galaxy who want to use the Starfleet vessel on a generational voyage to their homeworld. Armed with powerful belts that can, among other things, transform people into easily destroyed little polyhedrons of their basic genetic makeup, they easily take the ship. Only a few officers are left in their human form and it’s humanity that, as it often does, gives the Enterprise crew their edge. Because the Kelvans have taken human form for their journey, they’re not used to some of the finer points of being human.

“By Any Other Name” has James Doohan ’s Scotty teaching the male Kelvan about alcohol while Kirk teaches the female one about love. There’s a major degree to which Star Trek celebrates the clash of human and alien cultures and here we get to see the whole crew doing so to the best of their specific abilities.

The work of William Shakespeare is something referenced quite a bit throughout the Star Trek franchise. This episode references a line in Romeo and Juliet wherein Juliet argues that a rose is a rose because of the form it takes and not what it’s called.  Star Trek expands that idea with the suggestion that anything in the form of mankind will, in doing so, become mankind.

8) A Taste of Armageddon

“A Taste of Armageddon” offers a brilliantly high concept sci-fi plot: the Enterprise visits a world that has evolved beyond destructive combat, but not beyond war itself. Instead of destroying one another with weapons that would threaten to also destroy their culture, the conflicting sides of Eminiar VII’s population have agreed to wage war through a highly accurate simulation. If a resident is in an area that the simulation has deemed destroyed, he or she is expected to immediately turn themselves in for disintegration. Unfortunately, a few Enterprise crewmembers are unwittingly present when a building is marked destroyed and their refusal to surrender their lives could mean that a more destructive form of war returns to the planet.

Most of the time, the crew of the Enterprise comes across planets whose values aren’t quite up to date with those held by the enlightened Starfleet. Here, though, the crew is forced to deal with a planet that actually makes a pretty good point and achieved what seems to be far less destructive form of combat. Kirk makes an interesting argument, however, suggesting that the people of Eminiar VII have, in attempting to mute the destructive effects of war, helped mute the horror of it as well. By the time the credits roll on “A Taste of Armageddon,” you won’t be wrong if you’re not exactly thinking of Starfleet as the good guys this time.

7) Space Seed

“Space Seed” introduced Star Tre k’s most famous antagonist, Ricardo Montalban ’s genetically enhanced 20 th century superman Khan Noonien Singh. The Enterprise comes across a long-lost vessel, the Botany Bay, that contains Khan and 84 of his crew. Soon, Khan is using his enhanced cunning to take control of the Enterprise.

One of the reasons Khan works so well as a foil for Kirk is because he’s both physically and mentally superior to the Starfleet Captain, but also shares Kirk’s charisma. He’s an easy bad guy to root for and his backstory raises some interesting questions about what Earth’s Eugenics Wars were like in the 1990s.

While “Space Seed” is Khan’s sole appearance in the series, Montalban would famously reprise the role for Nicholas Meyer ’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982. Benedict Cumberbatch would then play an alternate reality version of the character in Star Trek Into Darkness .

The Enterprise comes into territorial conflict with the Gorn, a race of reptilian creatures with whom Starfleet has never dealt. When conflict threatens to breaks out with the Gorn ship, both vessels are disabled an incredibly powerful race called the Metrons. To settle the issue, the Metrons will have Captain Kirk face off against the Gorn captain on a rocky desert planet. Even though the Gorn easily outmatches the Starfleet Captain physically, Kirk has a few tricks up his sleeve.

As with “A Taste of Armageddon,” “Arena” focuses on a transference of a larger conflict into a smaller one. While the former dealt a bit more with the ethics in doing so, “Arena” places more like a sporting event. On the bridge of the Enterprise, the crew is helpless to do anything but watch as Kirk and the Gorn captain battle to the death.

“Arena” has become one Star Trek’s most famous episodes primarily due to its incredible Gorn costume. While it has a degree of 60s sci-fi cheese, it still looks quite a bit better than attempts to later bring back the Gorn species with CGI on Star Trek: Enterprise .

5) The Trouble with Tribbles

One of Star Trek’s most famous episodes brings the Enterprise to Space Station K-7 where there is some fear that visiting Klingons might disrupt the delivery of much a needed grain to an Earth colony. Meanwhile, Nichelle Nichols ’ Uhura goes shopping and purchases a Tribble, a small purring creature that looks like a ball of hair. Unfortunately, it turns out that Tribbles are born pregnant and they begin to multiply exponentially.

“The Trouble with Tribbles” is a fairly light-hearted adventure that also feels like a day in the life for the crew of the Enterprise. Kirk’s attempts to deal with Federation politics wind up taking a back seat to the tribble problem as a memorable Star Trek species is born.

For the franchise’s 30 th anniversary, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would return to “The Trouble with Tribbles” with an episode called “Trials and Tribble-ations”. In it, the crew travels back in time to prevent a plot to assassinate Captain Kirk during the events of “The Trouble with Tribbles,” digitally inserting actors into the background of the original episode with an adventure that makes use of impressive visual effects to tell a concurrent narrative.

4) Mirror, Mirror

Quite arguably the definitive pop culture example of parallel realities, “Mirror, Mirror” finds Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura in a transporter accident that swaps them with their counterparts from an alternate timeline. While the Enterprise is negotiating for dilithium on behalf of the United Federation of Planets in the regular timeline, the alternate history sees an aggressive Enterprise take the valuable resources by force in the name of the Terran Empire.

“Mirror, Mirror” is particularly famous for having a goateed Spock in the mirror universe. The “evil” goatee has become iconic in pop culture to represent all kinds of evil twins and alternate reality doppelgangers.

Although there were several novels and comic books that made use of the Mirror Universe, it would be nearly three decades before the timeline would return in the official Star Trek canon. The second season Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Crossover” would make visits to the parallel timeline a nearly annual event for the spinoff series.

3) Balance of Terror

When the Enterprise encounters a Romulan vessel, the two ships come into combat and soon leave one another disabled and floating in space. Each races to make repairs before the other to claim victory in an encounter that reveals surprising new details about an old Starfleet foe.

In the Star Trek timeline, Earth experienced a brief but intense war with the Romulan Star Empire about a century earlier. Because the combat occurred in space, Earth never learned what Romulans look like. Here, it’s revealed that they’re a warlike offshoot of the Vulcan species, leading to some immediate tension between Spock and one of his crewmates.

A throwback to submarine thrillers like The Enemy Below and Run Silent, Run Deep , “Balance of Terror” is elevated by Mark Lenard’s pre-Sarek appearance as the commander of the Romulan vessel. As the viewpoint shifts from the Enterprise to the Romulan vessel, we find that he and Kirk are not so different in their adherence to their duty.

2) Amok Time

The first episode of Star Trek ’s second season reveals a Vulcan secret. Every seven years, the species goes through a mating cycle in which they must return to Vulcan and take a mate. Unfortunately, Spock’s would be mate demands the koon-ut-kal-if-fee, a battle to death between her suitor and a champion of her choosing. When she chooses Captain Kirk, both officers must fight in a Vulcan ceremony that will not end until one of them is dead.

Not only does “Amok Time” deliver on its promise of an epic Kirk vs. Spock fight to the death, but it’s a great example of Spock growing to trust and appreciate his crewmates. It’s an intensely personal story for Spock and it culminates with a fantastic line from the character.

“After a time,” Spock tells a Vulcan woman who has rejected him in favor of another suitor, “You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.”

For that line alone, “Amok Time” deserves its honored place in Star Trek history.

1) The City on the Edge of Forever

It’s pretty much universally understood that the penultimate episode of Star Trek ’s first season is the franchise’s very finest story. Having accidentally injected himself with a drug that drives him crazy, DeForest Kelley ’s Dr. McCoy beams down to an alien planet where an ancient gateway, the Guardian of Forever, allows passage through time and space itself. A crazed McCoy travels back to Earth in the 1930s and does something that stops Starfleet from having ever existed. With no other choice, Kirk and Spock travel back themselves in the hopes of restoring the timeline.

It’s in the 1930s that Kirk and Spock meet Joan Collins ’ Edith Keeler a thoroughly lovely young woman who has dedicated herself to helping the less fortunate in a New York Mission. As they search for McCoy, Kirk begins to develop a relationship with Edith. And then the bad news hits: in order to fix the timeline, Edith Keeler must die.

The need for Edith Keeler to die is made all the more tragic by the fact that she’s not in any way a bad person. Spock explains that her success at organizing a pacifist movement in the United States will lead to the United States delaying its entrance into World War II. It is peace that she’s fighting for and in the name of peace that she must be sacrificed.

“The City on the Edge of Forever” is, simply, the epitome of what science fiction has to offer, bolstered by an original script by legendary author Harlan Ellison and a perfect romance between William Shatner and Joan Collins.

“Let me help,” smiles Kirk to Keeler as they a New York street together, he comments on her choice of words. “A hundred years or so from now, a famous novelist will write a classic using that theme. He'll recommend those three words, even over 'I love you’.”

For all the franchise’s many adventure across space and time, none come quite close to the simple, tragic elegance of “The City on the Edge of Forever”.

• Star Trek: The Original Series

Den of Geek

Star Trek Streaming Guide: Where to Watch All the TV Shows and Movies

Find out where you can stream all the voyages of sci-fi’s longest-running franchise.

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Launched on September 8, 1966 — nearly 54 years ago — the NBC-TV series Star Trek was the beginning of a new age of science fiction on television and, eventually, the big screen. The first show to echo the sophistication and vision of sci-fi literature , Star Trek was only a cult hit at the time of its initial run but refused to die even after its cancellation, with the original 79 episodes running for years in syndication.

More than five decades later, Star Trek encompasses eight TV series (a total of 764 episodes and counting) and 13 films, plus countless books, comics, games and more. It’s had its ups and downs, its high points and its misfires, but it remains one of the most beloved and durable franchises in all of pop culture.

Now, thanks to streaming, all those episodes and movies are available to watch any time (we know you diehard Trekkers have the Blu-rays and DVDs, but you don’t have to break those out anymore). Below is a handy guide to where you can stream every iteration of Trek , from The Original Series to the movies to the new Star Trek: Picard . Grab your remote and boldly go…

Star Trek TV

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

The one that started it all, the original Star Trek came along at a time when most screen sci-fi (movies and TV) was still just monster movies or kiddie fare ( Lost in Space , anyone?). Gene Roddenberry ’s vision of an intelligent, allegorical sci-fi series, which used actual genre writers for much of its first two seasons, was groundbreaking in ways that reverberate to this day. And its cast, led by William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy, became iconic.

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Available in the US on Amazon , Hulu , Netflix , CBS All Access

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Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)

Using the voices of many of the original cast members and even employing writers from the original series, TAS had a genuine chance to extend the original show with the visual freedom animation offered. But the format turned out to be its enemy, as clunky, cheap animation and frequent reuse of shots gave the show a shoddy, amateurish reputation. Some of the stories are quite good, however.

Available in the US on Amazon , CBS All Access

Available in the UK on Netflix UK

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Set nearly a century after the original series, with Gene Roddenberry mandating that conflict between the crew members be diminished by that point, ST: TNG proved to be enormously popular even with a brand new, unfamiliar crew. It took most of three seasons for the show to find its footing, but Captain Picard (a magnificent Patrick Stewart ) and company went on many captivating and genuinely outstanding adventures of their own.

Available in the US on Amazon , Netflix , CBS All Access , Hulu

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Many fans consider DS9 the best Trek series ever , and they certainly can make a good argument for it: the first Trek show not set on a starship, but instead on a remote space station, DS9 addressed cultural divides, character conflict, religion and war in a bolder fashion that any Trek entry before it — while also utilizing the kind of serialized storytelling that is now the standard across the medium.

Available in the UK on Netflix UK , Amazon UK* (*purchase only)

Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)

Voyager found members of a Federation starship and the rebel Maquis stranded together 70,000 years from Earth in the Delta Quadrant, facing a 75-year journey home. Headed by Trek ’s first female captain , Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Voyager encountered all kinds of interesting new races as well as old enemies the Borg during the long and often compelling journey home.

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

The first series to act as a prequel, set a decade before the creation of what would become the United Federation of Planets, Enterprise followed the crew of the first ship to bear that name. Uneven in quality and struggling to find resonant stories, Enterprise was canceled after four seasons and ended an 18-year run for Trek on TV. 

Available in the US on Amazon , Netflix , Hulu , CBS All Access

Star Trek: Discovery (2017- )

Set 10 years prior to TOS , Discovery ’s troubled birth (it went through numerous delays and several showrunners) led to the most polarizing show in the franchise to date. Focusing for once on a central character other than the captain — mutinous anthropologist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), who turns out to be the adopted sister of one Mr. Spock — it has often ignored or played fast and loose with Trek continuity while painting Starfleet in a more conspiratorial light. Season 3 will debut in 2020.

Star Trek: Picard (2020- )

Like Discovery before it, Picard has divided Star Trek fans with its depiction of a Federation in decline, marked by bigotry, deception and treachery. But there is no questioning the powerful presence of Patrick Stewart, playing an older, flawed Picard for the first time in 18 years, and the thrill of seeing old friends like Seven of Nine, Will Riker and Deanna Troi. The show has certainly had its moments ; we’ll see if more are to come in the already-announced season 2 .

Available in the UK on Amazon UK

Star Trek: 50 Best Episodes

The 15 best worst episodes of star trek: the original series, star trek movies.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

After an aborted attempt at a second TV series ( Star Trek: Phase II ), Paramount Pictures brought Trek to the big screen in a lavish, $40 million epic (the most expensive movie of its time) that reunited the original crew in a 2001 -like encounter with a massive, mysterious space probe. Slow-moving, alternately impressive and shaky visually, ST: TMP nevertheless proved that the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise could hold their own on the big screen — and strangely, the film has actually aged better than most.

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Available in the US on Amazon , Hulu

Available in the UK on NOW TV , YouTube *, Amazon UK *, Sky Store * (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Still considered the finest Trek movie of all , and rightfully so, The Wrath of Khan focused — like the original show — on character and story instead of visual effects and esoteric concepts. Bringing back a deadly enemy from the first season, the generic superman Khan (Ricardo Montalban), the movie was thrilling, dramatic and, with the death of Spock at the finale, incredibly moving.

Available in the UK on NOW TV , *YouTube , *Amazon UK , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

Even though the end of Star Trek II strongly hinted at Spock’s return, it wasn’t a given. But Leonard Nimoy did come back for Star Trek III — as director (and yes, as Spock too in the film’s closing minutes) of this somber and often underrated entry . Captain Kirk loses almost everything — his beloved ship, his commission and his newly reconciled son — to save his friend’s life in a poignant story about friendship and loyalty. And there’s a bad-ass villain too, a Klingon captain played to the hilt by Christopher Lloyd.

Available in the UK on NOW TV , * YouTube , * Amazon UK , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Leonard Nimoy’s second outing as director is both a comedy and an environmentally themed adventure — and it turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the franchise. This light-hearted romp sent Kirk and the gang back to 20 th century San Francisco to rescue a pair of humpback whales, and the fish-out-of-water (pun intended) antics of the crew provide plenty of laughs and a ton of heart.

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Available in the UK on NOW TV , * Amazon UK , * YouTube , * Sky Store (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Shatner got behind the camera for this turgid, unfunny mess , which regularly rates near the bottom of any Trekker’s list. The old “alien pretending to be God” trope, a long-lost brother we never knew Spock had and the other cast members acting by and large like buffoons make this perhaps the most embarrassing of the Enterprise ’s big screen voyages. There are a few nice moments — there always are — but this nowhere near first on our revisit list.

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Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

The classic Trek cast bounced back from Star Trek V with a final adventure that was also one of their best . A suspenseful, urgent meditation on aging, grievance and the end of the Cold War, Star Trek IV was a remarkable example of how Trek could show us at our finest even while facing down our lingering demons. Plus it ends with both a great space battle and one of the greatest cast send-offs ever (which was emulated by none other than Avengers Endgame ).

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

What could have been a magnificent passing of the torch from the classic Trek cast to the TNG crew ends up looking and feeling more like a tepid extended TNG episode with weak cameos from Kirk, Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig). Patrick Stewart and his team are all solid, as is villain Malcolm McDowell, and the crashing of the Enterprise is a genuinely gripping setpiece. But the story and motivations are undercooked — as is most of the movie.

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Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Easily the best of the TNG quartet, First Contact travels back in time to the very start of Earth’s push into space, where the Borg intends to cripple humanity once and for all. The crew of the Enterprise follow them to make sure history isn’t changed, even as Picard confronts his fear and hatred of the Borg . Jonathan Frakes does a nice first-time directing job, balancing the action and character work ably, while Alice Krige steals the show as the sensual Borg Queen.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Like Generations , the third TNG theatrical outing feels like a mediocre TV segment stretched to feature length; even Frakes’ direction seems uninspired. One difference: with Picard fighting a secret plan (engineered by F. Murray Abraham, above) to uproot the natives of a “fountain of youth” planet, the seeds were planted for later Trek entries that portrayed an increasingly corrupt Federation. Otherwise, this is a forgettable, often cheesy film.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

The final big-screen outing for the TNG cast is better than its reputation suggests , as Picard squares off against a renegade Romulan who happens to be his clone. Tom Hardy chews the scenery fabulously as the latter, and the climactic battle between his massive ship and the Enterprise is well handled by director Stuart Baird. There’s also a surprising emotional payoff for Data (Brent Spiner) that ends up being the hook for Star Trek: Picard 18 years later.

Star Trek (2009)

J.J. Abrams does what many thought couldn’t be done — he reboots Star Trek with a fresh, young cast inhabiting the original roles made iconic by Shatner, Nimoy and their crew. The new cast, led by Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, is the best thing about the film, which also uses a clever plot device to position this timeline just slightly to the side of the original one. The reliance on action over ideas is a bit of a letdown, and unfortunately would carry over to the next two movies.

Available in the UK on Netflix , NOW TV , * Amazon UK , * Sky Store , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

One of the worst Trek films ever , right down there with The Final Frontier . STID insults both fans and casual viewers with a brain-dead script, frantic action and massive contrivances (such as the sudden ability for someone to beam across the galaxy or the screenwriters’ well-worn “magic blood” gimmick). But its most egregious offense is turning into a half-assed remake of The Wrath of Khan that’s as dumb as it is pointless. This is what happens when people tackle Trek with no understanding of it.

Available in the UK on * Amazon UK , * Sky Store , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Still too reliant on action over depth, and featuring the third revenge-driven storyline in a row, Star Trek Beyond is nevertheless better than its predecessor . It mostly works as a standalone adventure, and once again the Pine/Quinto cast delivers with heart. But even though Beyond does occasionally capture the vibe of classic Trek , there’s a vague sense of desperation at work — like the franchise knows it’s run out of gas (and crashing the Enterprise for the third time in 13 films doesn’t help).

Available in the UK on * Sky Store , * Amazon UK , * YouTube (*purchase/rent only)

Don Kaye | @donkaye

Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

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Star trek: the original series' 2 highest-rated episodes both copy the same story trope.

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7 Biggest Changes To Picard's Enterprise In Star Trek: TNG's Time Travel Classic

Star trek: picard's borg queen is still confusing over 1 year after season 3, star trek: discovery’s captain burnham opening starfleet academy is ironic.

Star Trek: The Original Series dealt with everything from rogue scientists to godlike entities, so it's curious that the show's two highest-rated episodes both derive from the same core concept. The adventures of Captain Kirk's Enterprise crew are the stuff of legend almost 60 years later, as Star Trek: The Original Series is packed with stone-cold classics that still resonate strongly among the ever-expanding multimedia behemoth Star Trek has become.

Two of the most popular Star Trek: The Original Series episodes , and the two highest-ranked on IMDb , are "The City on the Edge of Forever" from season 1 and "Mirror, Mirror" from season 2. Both remain hugely enjoyable from a modern perspective, and both have carved out a legacy in subsequent projects, with the latter spawning an entire subsection of the franchise: Star Trek 's Mirror Universe episodes . While both efforts share iconic status, they actually share far more, and these similarities highlight a deeper truth about Star Trek 's capacity for storytelling.

Star Trek's "The City On The Edge Of Forever" & "Mirror, Mirror" Are Both "What If...?" Stories

The same basic idea applied very differently.

At their core, Star Trek 's "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "Mirror, Mirror" are both rooted in alternate histories - the notion that by altering a small part of the timeline, an entirely new reality can follow. "The City on the Edge of Forever" explores the past, as a wild Dr. McCoy inadvertently reverses a vital moment in Earth's development, creating a ripple effect that culminates with the disappearance of the Enterprise itself.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" and "Mirror, Mirror" both, in essence, represent a step away from the norm for Star Trek: The Original Series .

"Mirror, Mirror" debuted Star Trek 's Mirror Universe , revealing a parallel universe in which the Federation took the form of an evil empire rather than a (mostly) benevolent coalition. From Spock's beard to Kirk's malice, almost every aspect of Star Trek 's world was rewritten.

While the twin concepts of time travel and alternate realities are integral parts of Star Trek canon, they were never the bread and butter of The Original Series . The standard weekly format saw the Enterprise land on a planet, resolve whatever issue was occurring, then move onto the next adventure. "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "Mirror, Mirror" both, in essence, represent a step away from the norm for Star Trek: The Original Series . That deviation from the standard formula may partially explain why both episodes became so popular, although the excellent narratives and imaginative concepts certainly helped.

Why Star Trek's Format Is Perfect For What If...? Stories & Alternate Histories

It's star trek, jim, but not as we know it.

Since The Original Series , even more " what if...? " tales have been told across the various Star Trek TV shows and movies , from 2009's big screen reboot altering history to create the Kelvin timeline to Star Trek: Discovery taking an extended dip into the Mirror Universe. Following the standard set by The Original Series , these episodes have generally enjoyed positive reactions. Star Trek: Discovery season 1's two-part Mirror Universe adventure and Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "Yesterday's Enterprise," for example, are both considered among the best Star Trek episodes.

Episodes like "A City on the Edge of Forever" and "Mirror, Mirror" break Star Trek 's one final frontier by blurring the lines of reality.

Perhaps the biggest reason Star Trek thrives when telling " what if...? " stories is because they break the only real rule the franchise has. Star Trek 's space-faring premise allows for near-endless possibilities. Any planet or alien species the viewer can imagine might appear. Even so, Star Trek remains bound by both its own in-universe history and the real-world history that is supposed to have taken place beforehand. Episodes like "A City on the Edge of Forever" and "Mirror, Mirror" break this one final frontier by blurring the lines of reality, tossing history to the wind, and truly allowing anything to be possible within the Star Trek universe.

The USS Enterprise-D underwent significant changes in the war-ravaged alternate universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Yesterday's Enterprise."

Another key reason behind the success of Star Trek 's " what if... " episodes is the moral ambiguity invited by such stories. Star Trek is at its best when it tests the audience's ethical values , and stories that feature evil versions of good characters or alternate timelines are perfect for generating those conversations. The dilemmas over whether Edith Keeler should die or whether one twist of fate could turn Captain Kirk evil are among the most tantalizing questions in Star Trek history.

Sources: IMDb

Star Trek: The Original Series

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Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

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Set Phasers to Stream: Here’s Every ‘Star Trek’ Show and Movie You Can Watch on Paramount+

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

From low-budget romps to high-energy blockbuster films,  Star Trek  has become one of the most influential sci-fi franchises of all time. While  Trek  has decades worth of TV, film, and animated iterations that might rival  Star Wars , it also has its own unique legacy and long-time, passionate cult following (and merch ).

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In the past few years, the Trek television universe has become one of the highlights of original programming on Paramount+ . Helmed by Alex Kurtzman, series like  Star Trek: Lower Decks  and  Picard  have pushed the boundaries of what can be done with the universe’s canon in their first seasons so far.

This year for Star Trek Day, with the premiere episodes of several Trek series and “Short Treks” will be available to view for free from Sept. 7-13. The episodes can be watched from Paramount+’s partner platforms Amazon, Apple and Roku, their official YouTube page, Pluto TV and the Paramount+ free content hub (U.S. only).

From the new releases like the second season of Strange New Worlds , to the old adventures of the Enterprise ,  Deep Space 9 ,  Voyager , and more, here’s how to watch Star Trek in order online.

How Can I Watch Paramount+ Free Online?

When you sign up for a Paramount+ subscription , you can actually choose between two plans to watch Paramount+ online. Pricing for Paramount+ plans include Essential (with limited commercials) for $7.99/month, or ad-free with Showtime for $12.99/month. But if you’re still not sure about committing to a full subscription, you can always stream Paramount+ for free with a 7-day free trial .

For a limited time, the streamer is also slashing the price on its annual plan by 50%, bringing the cost down to just $29.99 a year . Normally $59.99, the new Paramount+ deal gets you access to its full library of content  for just $2.50 a month . Check out the latest Paramount+ deals here .

Paramount+ Free Trial

Paramount+ is the home for ViacomCBS’s massive existing library of content, as well as continuing to host critically-acclaimed original Trek series like  Star Trek: Picard ,  Star Trek: Discovery and the upcoming Star Trek: Section 31. New exclusive shows and movies are sure to appear on the service over the next few months, all of which you can stream on your TV, laptop, phone, or gaming console.

What  Star Trek TV Shows Are Available on Paramount+?

Premiering on September 8, 1966 on NBC-TV,  Star Trek  brought in a new era of programming for the science fiction genre. Though it wasn’t a critical success at the time it aired, with all 79 episodes of the original series running in syndication, a devoted fan base grew. Decades later, there are eight TV series with hundreds of episodes, all currently streaming now on Paramount+ .

Here’s an updated list of all the  Star Trek shows on Paramount+. Note that this isn’t the official timeline for when these shows take place in canon — Enterprise  is actually the “earliest” Trek series—but we’ll cover that below.

Star Trek: The Original Series  (1966-1969)

Star Trek: The Animated Series  (1973-1974)

Star Trek: The Next Generation  (1987-1994)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine  (1993-1999)

Star Trek: Voyager  (1995-2001)

Star Trek: Enterprise  (2001-2005)

Star Trek: Discovery  (2017-Present)

Star Trek:  Short Treks  (2018-Present)

Star Trek: Picard  (2020-Present)

Star Trek: Lower Decks  (2020-Present)

Star Trek: Prodigy  (2021-Present)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022-Present)

Star Trek: Section 31  (TBA)

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy  (TBA)

What  Star Trek Movies Are Streaming on Paramount+?

Paramount+ is the home to all the films featuring the cast of the Original Series, while many other Trek films are also hosted on other streaming services. Here are the  Star Trek movies streaming on Paramount+ right now.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture  (1979)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  (1982)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock  (1984)

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home  (1986)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier  (1989)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  (1991)

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

Star Trek: First Contact  (1996)

Star Trek: Insurrection  (1998)

Star Trek: Nemesis  (2002)

Star Trek  (2009)

Star Trek Into Darkness  (2013)

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Building Star Trek  (2016)  —  Documentary

Woman In Motion  (2021) — Documentary

Trekkies 2  (2004) — Documentary

For Star Trek Day, here’s the complete lineup of free episodes available from Sept. 7-13:

Star Trek: The Original Series: “The Cage”

Star Trek: The Next Generation: “Encounter at Farpoint, Part I & II”

Star Trek: Voyager: “Caretaker, Part I & II”

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: “The Emissary, Part I & II”

Star Trek: Enterprise: “Broken Bow Part I & II”

Star Trek: The Animated Series: “Beyond the Farthest Star”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: “Strange New Worlds”

Star Trek: Lower Decks: “Second Contact”

Star Trek: Discovery: “The Vulcan Hello”

Star Trek: Picard: “Remembrance”

Star Trek: Short Treks: “The Girl Who Made the Stars,” “The Trouble with Edward,” “Ask Not,” “Runaway,” and “Ephraim and Dot”

How to Watch Every Star Trek Movie and Show In Timeline Order

Figuring out chronological timeline of  Star Trek  over can be overwhelming for even the most seasoned of Trekkies. With over 50 years of mirrorverses, time traveling back and forth, alternate timelines and spin-offs, we’ve created a guide for how to watch every  Star Trek  series and film in order. We’ve organized it by Stardate instead of year of release for optimal accuracy, but note that some series like  TNG  and  DS9  run concurrently.

Star Trek: Enterprise  (2151-2161)

Star Trek: Discovery Seasons 1 and 2  (2255-)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2255-)

Star Trek: The Original Series  (2265-2269)

Star Trek: The Animated Series  (2269-2270)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture  (2273)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  (2285)

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock  (2285)

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

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)

Star Trek: Voyager  (2371-2378)

Star Trek: First Contact  (2373/2063)

Star Trek: Insurrection  (2375)

Star Trek: Nemesis  (2379)

Star Trek: Lower Decks  (2380)

Star Trek: Picard  (2399-)

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3  (3155?)

Star Trek: Short Treks  (2239-3300 Prime Timeline)

The “Kelvin Timeline” refers to the newest Trek movies directed by  J.J. Abrams  and Justin Lin. The timeline of these films exist in a parallel universe created in 2233, so we’ve included them separately.

Star Trek  (2258 Kelvin Timeline)

Star Trek Into Darkness  (2259 Kelvin Timeline)

Star Trek Beyond  (2263 Kelvin Timeline)

Every Star Trek Series Coming To Paramount+ This Year (And Beyond)

We rounded up Paramount+’s whole new slate of Trek seasons and shows beaming up soon to the platform. Set your phasers to stream—here’s all the new Star Tre k content coming your way.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 (2024)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 (2024)

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 (2024)

Star Trek: Lower Decks  Season 5 (October 2024)

Star Trek: Section 31  (TBA)

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

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

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

Red Dwarf Feels Like the Ultimate Buddy Comedy

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Show Also Knows How to Keep Things Fresh

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

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

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

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

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

Red Dwarf Was a Fan Favorite for Over 30 Years

Top 5 most popular episodes of red dwarf.

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

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

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

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