Copyright © 2023 Rick and Ruth Coy

I can still remember seeing in TV guide the ad for Star Trek. It was going to be like Wagon Train to the Stars. (Wagon Train was a very popular Western - an hour long and with a core cast, but guest stars every week that the story would be about) Up till this time SF on TV wasn’t very good except for a couple of anthology programs like Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, most were either kids shows or poorly done. Things like sparklers being used as the exhaust of a Rocket ship. The big day came and we are all gathered around our large 19” black and white TV to watch it. It blew us away. I was lucky, both my parents like SF and liked Star Trek (although my Mother preferred Twilight Zone to it.) Most SF fans today don’t know what it was like before Star Trek. Lets look at the many shows and movies the came from this 2 ½ season show that the network dropped because it cost so much to make.

STAR TREK

1966 - 1969

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett,

Created by Gene Roddenberry

79 episodes plus 1 with Capt. Pike (Sean Kenney)

TV PG

The stories were good and the people were real. The Star Ship was so large it was built in Space. The Enterprise was one of several craft that were on five year mission to go and discover new people and new things. It was not a vessel of war, yet it was fully armed. The stories were of all kinds, something that SF books had been doing for years, yet movies and TV seemed to want to be about the SF not about the people.

They tried to take the show off after the first two season - it was costing a lot of money to make. But there was a fan upraising, so the brought it back for a third season, changed it to Friday Nights (at that time a death for any show) and after half a season axed for poor rating. (High School sports were on Friday night and in the 60’s family would go to watch there local teams) Poor rating is something a show couldn’t recover from.

STAR TREK THE ANIMATED SERIES

1773 - 1975

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan

Creator: Gene Roddenberry

22 episodes

TV - Y7

This was a bone that was tossed to the fans. It was a Saturday morning cartoon. Today animated is usually used on more adult animated shows, this may have had animated in the title, but it was aimed at kids (Y7 rating says it all) It sort of showed what the network though of the fans. It was only ½ hour long, so you really couldn’t get a good story. And being a cartoon the cost was a lot less. The fans were still not happy.  This was not Star Trek - it was Kitty Trek, watered down shows.

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE

1979

Starring : William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barret, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Persis Khambatta, Stephen Collins

Directed By Robert Wise

Created by Gene Rodenberry Story by Alan Dean Foster, Screenplay Harold Livingston

G

In 1977 a film named Star Wars came out and changed the way SF movies were made. It has the same effect of SF movies and Star Trek did on SF television.  Fans had been crying for more Star Trek and paramount decided to give it to them.

As fans we had been settling for reruns for ten years and now they gave us a feature film. A watered down version of the one of the episodes called Changeling. Were the TV show was PG, this was G. The effects were no where as good as the the ones by ILM for Star Wars. A lot of things just didn’t look right. (Now they have redid the film - correcting some of the really bad effects and glaring mistakes - now it still one of the worse Trek films made - but it is a lot better than it was originally)  The fans had mixed emotions about the film - the film itself sucked, but it was Star Trek. The fans were between a rock and hard space…complain too much and we will never see Trek again. So the fans said they would really like to see more and it would be nice if they were going to base it on an old episode - they would at least make it a sequel to that episode. After ten years of letter writing demanding the return of TREK - the letter writing changed to what we would like to see in future films.

STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan

1982

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Waler Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichold, Ricardo Montalban

Directed by Nicholas Meyer

Story by Harve Bennett and Jack Swards Screen by Jack Sowards

PG

Fans finally have the film they wanted. Wrath of Khan is the sequel to The Space Seed. It done right. 13 years letter writing has paid off. Ricardo Montaban replays his role as Khan and is he ticked with Kirk over what happened at the end of Space Seed.

This film is followed by 1984 The Search for Spock, 1986 The Voyage Home 1989 The Final Frontier, and 1991 The Undiscovered Country.  And 1994 cross over Trek Generations.

STAR TREK: The Next Generation

1987 -1994

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LaVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Majel Barrett, Wil Wheaton, Colm Meaney, Denise Crosby, Whoopi Goldberg, Diana Muldaur, John de Lancie, Dwight Schultz

176 Episodes

PG

Finally a NEW Trek TV show!!!! The New Enterprise D was much larger than the original - it carried complete families on it. Its mission was one of both exploration and diplomacy. This changed they type of Captain it would have. (And to the people that try to compare Kirk to Picard - you can’t they are Apple and Orange) The first officer is a man who could be captain of a smaller ship. ST:TNG had a much larger cast and many returning people like John de Lancie and Whoopi Goldberg. The show was great and it wasn’t on NBC. It was syndicated, this made many fans very happy as they blame NBC for the failure of the Original.
After it’s run on TV ended it took over the movies from the original Cast starting with 1994 Generations followed by: 1996 First Contact, 1998 Insurrection and 2002 Nemesis. The sad part is that the last film did go over, because of a bad script - so instead of saying lets get a better script next time, they go, oh the fans are tired of Star Trek movies.

STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine

1993 - 1999

Starring: Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Cirroc Lofton< Alexander Siddig, Colm Neaney, Nana Visitor, Armin Shimerman, Terry Farrell, Michael Dorn

Created by Rich Berman and Michael Piller

173 episodes

TV-PG

With a small overlap with ST:TNG DS9 does get a few crew members from the Enterprise. Once again we have a Captain that can not be compared to the other two. Sisko is not a ships captain, but the UFP Commander of a Space Station. This is a completely different Trek. There is no exploring Strange New Worlds. Most of it takes place DS9. Sisko is more of a manager or even mayor of the Space Station.

STAR TREK: Voyager

1995 - 2001

Starring: kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert McNeill, Ehtan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ,Garret Wang, Majel Barrett, Jeri Ryan, Jennifer Lien

Created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller

168 episodes

PG

This is again, a different type of Trek.  The Voyager is not in the same class as the Enterprise, it is a much smaller craft, the type that is used as a Science vessel. It starts with the Voyager chasing a band of Maquis rebels when both ships are transported by a probe to the Delta Quadrant, 75000 from Federation space. The Maquis ship is destroyed and the remains of the two crews are placed together. Chakotay who was the Captain the Maquis vessel become Capt. Janeway’s First officer and given the Federation rank of commander. Chakotay had been in Star Fleet Had been on a Star Ship and latter an instructor at the Academy.  

Once again we have a different type of Captain. Janeway is Captain of a small ship, one that wasn’t built for five year missions. It’s sick bay is run by a holo-doctor, where an Enterprise size ship had a medical ward with doctors and nurses. She is faced with what could be a seventy five year voyage if something isn’t found to get home earlier. Half her crew are not Star Fleet, but Maquis.  She finding strange new worlds in the Delta Quadrant with a ship that was not meant for First Contact. And no way to call home. Technically Chakotay was more experienced that she was, but instead of trying to take over, he became a very good First Officer, who once the Voyger returned home became Captain and Janeway became an Admiral.  

STAR TREK

2009

Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho

Directed by J.J. Abrams Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman Based on Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek

PG - 13

STAR TREK: Enterprise

2001 - 2005

Starring: Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery,Linda Park, Connor Trinneer

Created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga

97 episodes

TV-PG

This takes place on the very first Star Ship, which just happens to be named Enterprise. The Federation and Star Fleet are not yet here. Capt. Jonathan Archer is our captain and again he’s different from the others. A little more of a Kirk mold, but not quite. He realizes the spotlight is on him - if he fails, so does Earth and there really isn’t any rule books yet, except for what the Vulcans tell them and the Vulcans look down on Earthmen. The only way they are allowed to take the Enterprise on it’s first mission that they have a Vulcan, Sub Commander T’Pol as their Science Officer to keep them out of trouble. She latter become part of Earth’s “Star Fleet and stays on as Science Officer. The fans were told that the whole idea of Enterprise was give us the origins of things that were just considered normal in the Star Trek universe and things like why did the Kligon look different in the original series and the rest of the series. The first two seasons were great, then because of UPN wanting changes - we go to the Time War soap opera and viewership drops and UPN drops Enterprise saying looks like there is no longer an interest in Star Trek - Fans write, trying to get them to keep it, but go back to it original  objective that the fans loved. That looked like the nail in the coffin for TREK.

2009 Paramount, which had split into two companies Paramount Films - Movies and CBS -Television, which meant Star Trek Movies were owned by a different company than the TV shows. Maybe they were wrong about there no longer being any interest in Trek. J.J.wants to reboot the original series with new actors playing Kirk, McCoy, Spock and all. But instead of rebooting like some many show have been done, he realizes that there is a HUGE fan base that has to agree with how they do it. So we get Leonard Nimoy once again playing Spock, but a much older Spock - who is chased back into time via a novaing star by a Romulan. The Romulan arriave in the past before Spock and get into a fight with the Star Ship James Kirk father is on destroying it - as Kirk is being born. The Star Ship is the Kelvin and this new time line is called the Kelvin Time line. So we use a SF device to create a reboot.

The new cast isn’t bad.  It was fun adventure.  Being a new timeline we don’t know what is going to happen.

We have so far three films in the Kelvin time line. 2009 Star Trek  2013 Star Trek: Into Darkness and 2016 Star Trek: Beyond. And there is talk at this time, July 2022, for a fourth film.

STAR TREK: Discovery

2017 - Present

Starring: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Emily Coutts, Mary Wiseman, Michelle Yeoh, David Ajala, Oded Fehr

Created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman

TV-14

Since Paramount had a success with the Movie Star Trek, CBS, who has the TV rights to Star Trek feel that adding a New Trek to their new CBS All Access streaming service. So they launch Star Trek: Discovery who main cast member is Michael Burnham, who is not a Captain.  The first episode is shown on CBS with rest coming on the streaming service.  That first episode didn’t feel like TREK. Fans were not happy with it. This takes place over ten years before Kirk takes out the Enterprise for it five year mission. There were too many thing that didn’t work with cannon. Burnham is Spocks foster sister, who we have never heard of. The Discovery had a drive than made a wrap craft look like a turtle - that we never heard of and who are these people they are calling Klingons. The first season is not very Trek at all. Season 2 brings in Capt. Pike and the Enterprise - He takes over the Discovery until they can get a new captain and the Enterprise is being upgraded. The Enterprise being the “Shining Star “ of the fleet, crew already have the new uniforms, which Discovery does not. We also meet the younger Spock, who is Pikes Science Officer. (And thrid actor playing Spock). The show starts feeling more Trek. By the end of the season Discovery goes back in time and FP has all information on it and it’s crew sealed - explaining why nothing is known about Discovery or Spock foster sister in future Star Treks. And as for the Klingons - several different things - 1) they could be going through the mutation that made them look more human in the Original Series, or 2) The Klingon empire covers more than one planet, so it must also cover more than one species. By season four Bumham is finally captain of the Discovery. She is a Kirk type of captain, one who tries to follow rules, but know when you can’t.

STAR TREK: Short Treks

2018 - 2020

Starring: Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck,  and other

Created by: Alex Kurtzman, Bryan Fuller, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer

10 episodes

TV -PG

These are short films some taking place on the Enterprise, some on Discovery, some elsewhere including animation. They can be found on Paramount Plus - which is now the home of all the new Star Trek series.

STAR TREK: Picard

2020 -

Starring: Partick Steward, Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Jeri Ryan, Brent Spiner, John de Lancie

Created by Kirsten Beyer and Michael Chabon

TV -MA

14 after he retires from Star Fleet - Jean-Luc Picard starts a new adventure looking for Data.  He is joined by Raffi Musiker, Dr. Agnes Jurati, Cristobal Rios, Seven of Nine - with others like Riker , Troi, Q, Guinan and others. The series is set to run three season (of which all are filmed, only 1 and 2 are out) Each has it’s own story. It is a little darker than other Star Treks.  And Brent Spiner will be all three seasons, playing different people. It is a fun watch for Trek fans because of the guest stars. It slated that by the end of 3 we will have seen most of the bridge crew form TNG.  

STAR TREK: Lower Decks

2020 -

Starring: Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid, Noel Wells, Eugene Cordero

Created by Mike McMahan

TV - 14

This is an animated Trek done right. Takes place after Star Trek Nemesis. Takes place on the Starship Cerritos and is about Ensign Beckett Mariner and Ensign Brad Boimier.  Mariner Mother is captain Carol Freeman of the Cerritos, and no one know it until season 2. It even had a few episodes with Riker in them. Unlike Star Trek the animated series this is really good. Has a lot of humor in it. A great addition to the Star Trek Universe.   

STAR TREK: Prodigy

2021 -

Starring: Rylee Alazraqui, Dee Baker, Brett Gray, Angus Imrie, Ella Purnell, Jason Mantzoukas, John Noble,Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Jimmi Simpson, Bonnie Gordon

Created by: Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman

TV -Y7

STAR TREK: Strange New Worlds

2022 -

Starring: Anson Mount, Ehtan Peck, Rebecca Romijn, Melissa Navia, Jess Bush, Christina Chon, Celia Gooding, Babs Olusanmokun

Created by: Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet

TV-PG

These are the voyages of the Star Ship Enterprise….Ten years before James T. Kirk ! The stories of Captian Chris Pike with first officer Una Chin-Riley (Number One) and Science officer Spock.  So far this is REAL GOOD TREK the way it should be. They updated the bridge only enough so that it didn’t look like technology had gone backwards. Look forward to it every week!! This is what the fans have been wanting for a long time now.

This was created for young people, but seem aimed at an older audience than Star Trek the Animated series. So far it has been a fun series. It revolves around the Starship Protostar  which was under the command of Captain Chakotay when it disappeared. It found by a group of teens who are slaves on a slave planet and they find it has a hologram of Janeway on it for cadet training. Again it is aimed at the younger viewer, but it is good trek.