Frequently asked questions

Star Trek is a science-fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It began on 8 September 1966 with a television series on the American network NBC and has since grown to 15 series, 14 films, hundreds of novels, comics and video games.

Its stories follow the crews of starships and space stations, mostly from Starfleet, as they explore the galaxy in a future where humanity has moved beyond war, poverty and prejudice. Its optimism, its moral dilemmas and its mix of adventure, science and social commentary set it apart from other space sagas. See all series and films.

Gene Roddenberry (1921–1991), a former US Army Air Forces bomber pilot and Los Angeles police officer who became a television writer. He pitched the show as a “Wagon Train to the stars”, after a popular western series of the time.

After his death, the franchise was led by other producers, notably Rick Berman for The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, then by Alex Kurtzman for the series launched from 2017 onwards.

The first episode aired on NBC on 8 September 1966. A first pilot, “The Cage”, had been turned down by the network, which nevertheless ordered a second pilot, a rare second chance at the time.

The original series was cancelled in 1969 after three seasons and 79 episodes because of modest ratings. Reruns throughout the 1970s turned it into a phenomenon, which led to an animated series and, in 1979, to the first feature film.

Star Trek offers a hopeful vision of the future, in which science, curiosity and cooperation win out over fear. From the 1960s it showed a diverse crew working as equals, and it regularly used alien worlds to talk about racism, war, intolerance or the limits of power.

It has inspired generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, cited Uhura as an inspiration and later appeared in an episode of The Next Generation.

No, they are two separate franchises. Star Trek (1966, Gene Roddenberry) is science fiction set in the future of our own galaxy and focuses on exploration, science and diplomacy. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas) is a space fantasy set “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, built around the Force and the struggle between Jedi and Sith.

The friendly rivalry between their fans is a classic of pop culture. J. J. Abrams is one of the few directors to have worked on both, with Star Trek (2009) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

Most often “Trekkies”. Some fans prefer “Trekkers”, which they consider more serious. Fan conventions began in the early 1970s, with a first large gathering in New York in January 1972, and they remain an important part of the franchise's culture today.

15 series to date: 9 live-action series, 3 animated series and 3 anthologies of short episodes.

In order: 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 (2017–2024), Star Trek: Short Treks (2018–2020), Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020–2024), Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023), Star Trek: Prodigy (2021–2024), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022–), Star Trek: Very Short Treks (2023), Star Trek: Scouts (2025–2026), and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2026–). Each has its own page in Series & films.

14 films to date. 13 were released in cinemas between 1979 and 2016: six with the original crew (1979–1991), four with the crew of The Next Generation (1994–2002) and three set in the Kelvin timeline (2009–2016). They were followed by 1 film made directly for streaming, Section 31 (2025).

In order: 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), and Star Trek: Section 31 (2025).

More than 900 episodes across all series, to which you can add the films. The longest series are The Next Generation (178 episodes), Deep Space Nine (176) and Voyager (172), each with seven seasons. Watching everything would take several hundred hours.

There is no single right answer, but a few entry points are often recommended:

The Next Generation: mostly self-contained episodes and a very endearing crew. If the first season feels dated, many fans suggest moving quickly on to the third, where the series hits its stride.

Strange New Worlds: a modern series with standalone episodes, aboard Captain Pike's Enterprise, which also leads naturally into the original series.

For a single film: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), often considered the best, or Star Trek (2009), more action-oriented and accessible without any prior knowledge. For comedy, try Lower Decks; for a family audience, Prodigy.

Release order is usually recommended for a first viewing: each series was written for an audience who knew the earlier ones, visual effects evolve naturally, and the surprises work as intended.

In-universe chronological order is a great option for a rewatch: Enterprise (22nd century), the first two seasons of Discovery, Strange New Worlds, the original and animated series, the first six films, then The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager with their films, Lower Decks, Prodigy, Picard, and finally Discovery from season 3 onwards and Starfleet Academy in the 32nd century. The Kelvin films form a separate branch. Our timeline places every season in its year.

No. Each series is designed to be watched on its own, and most series made before 2017 consist largely of standalone episodes. The more recent series are serialized, so it is better to watch them from the beginning.

Some works do reward prior knowledge: the third season of Picard is a reunion of the Next Generation crew, and Strange New Worlds is set just before the original series.

It depends on your country and changes over time. In many countries, Paramount+ offers most of the series and films; elsewhere they are available on other streaming services, on TV, on DVD and Blu-ray or for digital purchase.

The page of each series and film has a “Where to watch” section listing current offers for your country.

As of October 2026: Strange New Worlds will end with its fifth season, after a fourth season broadcast in summer 2026. Starfleet Academy will end with its second season, expected in 2027. A live-action comedy series set in the 25th century has been announced, and new feature film projects have been mentioned without a release date.

Follow our news section to keep up to date.

Yes. The Animated Series (1973–1974) continued the adventures of the original crew, voiced by most of the original actors, and won an Emmy Award in 1975, a first for the franchise. Lower Decks (2020–2024) is a comedy about the junior officers of a minor starship, and Prodigy (2021–2024) follows young fugitives who discover a Starfleet ship, for families as well as adults. There is also the short-format anthology Very Short Treks (2023).

The canon is the set of works considered to be the official history of the universe. For Star Trek, it essentially means the television series and the films. Novels, comics and games are generally not canon, unless an element is later taken up on screen.

The animated series long had an uncertain status, but the recent series draw on it freely.

Mostly between the 22nd and the 25th centuries: from Enterprise, set in the 2150s, to Picard, which ends in 2402. Discovery (from its third season) and Starfleet Academy jump to the 32nd century.

Time travel is frequent: San Francisco in 1986 in The Voyage Home, 2063 in First Contact, Los Angeles in 2024 in the second season of Picard, among others. See our timeline.

It is an alternate reality created in the film Star Trek (2009). In 2387, the Romulan Nero is thrown back in time and, in 2233, destroys the USS Kelvin, killing George Kirk, the father of James T. Kirk. From that moment, history takes a different course: Vulcan is destroyed and a young Kirk takes command of the Enterprise much earlier.

This timeline is the setting of three films, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016), with new actors in the classic roles (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldaña…). The original timeline, sometimes called “Prime”, continues unaffected. The name, taken from the starship, was made official in 2016.

It is the interstellar union at the heart of Star Trek, founded in 2161 by humans, Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites. It brings together more than a hundred member worlds, governed by a council and a president, around shared values: peace, cooperation, equality and respect for other cultures. Its headquarters are on Earth.

Starfleet is the Federation's space service, responsible for exploration, scientific research, diplomacy and defence. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, where Starfleet Academy trains its officers. Although it uses naval-style ranks (ensign, lieutenant, commander, captain, admiral), its primary mission is exploration: “to boldly go where no one has gone before”.

Also known as General Order 1, it forbids Starfleet from interfering with the internal development of other civilizations, especially those that have not yet developed warp travel. It is one of the great sources of dilemmas in Star Trek: should a captain let a people disappear in the name of non-interference? Many captains end up bending it.

In the fiction, warp drive distorts space around the ship, enclosing it in a “warp bubble” that lets it travel faster than light. It is powered by a matter–antimatter reaction regulated by dilithium crystals. It was invented by Zefram Cochrane, whose first flight on 5 April 2063 attracted the attention of the Vulcans and led to first contact.

In 1994, the physicist Miguel Alcubierre described a theoretical model of space-time distortion inspired by the idea, now known as the Alcubierre drive.

The transporter converts a person or an object into an energy pattern, sends it to its destination and reassembles it there. On the production side, it also had a very practical purpose: in the 1960s, showing a shuttle landing on a new planet every week would have been far too expensive, and the “beam” was quicker and cheaper.

It is the dating system used in captain's logs. In the original series, stardates were chosen fairly freely. From The Next Generation onwards, they follow a five-digit system with about 1,000 units per year: stardate 41000 corresponds to 2364, the year of the first season. Our timeline gives the stardates of the 24th-century seasons.

It is a parallel universe introduced in the original series episode “Mirror, Mirror” (1967), where the familiar characters have brutal, ambitious counterparts serving the Terran Empire. Mirror Spock's goatee became the pop-culture symbol of the “evil twin”. Deep Space Nine, Enterprise and Discovery all returned to this universe.

The Borg are a collective of cybernetic beings who assimilate other species to add their knowledge to their own, with the famous warning “Resistance is futile”. They first appeared in The Next Generation in 1989; in 1990, Captain Picard is assimilated and becomes Locutus. They are central to the film First Contact, to Voyager and to Picard.

The Klingons are a warrior people driven by honour, at the head of a powerful empire. Enemies of the Federation in the original series, they become allies by the time of The Next Generation, where the Klingon Worf serves aboard the Enterprise-D.

In the 1960s, a limited budget meant they had smooth foreheads; from the 1979 film onwards, they have ridged foreheads. Deep Space Nine joked about it (“We do not discuss it with outsiders”), and Enterprise later gave an in-universe explanation: a virus linked to genetic experiments in the 22nd century.

The Vulcans are a humanoid people with pointed ears who chose to master their very intense emotions through logic. They are capable of telepathic contact (the mind meld) and were the first species to make official contact with humanity, in 2063. Their best-known representative is Spock, born to a Vulcan father and a human mother.

Many! In Starfleet history: the Enterprise NX-01 (Enterprise), the NCC-1701 (original series, Discovery, Strange New Worlds), then the 1701-A (films IV to VI), -B (Generations), -C (The Next Generation), -D (The Next Generation, Generations), -E (films VIII to X), -F and finally -G, which appears at the end of Picard.

In the real world, NASA named its first space shuttle prototype Enterprise in 1976, after a letter-writing campaign by fans. See the ships.

It is a room that creates interactive holographic environments and characters, used for leisure, training or investigation. Introduced in The Next Generation, it inspired many episodes, from Sherlock Holmes adventures to detective stories. Voyager goes further with its Emergency Medical Hologram, the Doctor, a holographic character who becomes a full member of the crew.

Not in the Federation, at least in principle. Replicators can produce food and most everyday objects from energy, which has done away with scarcity. Humans work to better themselves, as Picard explains in First Contact. Other peoples still trade, starting with the Ferengi, for whom profit is a way of life, and the currency often mentioned is gold-pressed latinum.

A catastrophe of the year 3069 during which almost all dilithium in the galaxy suddenly went inert, causing the ships whose warp cores were active at that moment to explode. Deprived of fast travel, the Federation broke apart. When Discovery arrives in the 32nd century, its crew sets out to understand the cause of the Burn and to help rebuild the Federation, the backdrop for Starfleet Academy.

A secret Starfleet intelligence organization that acts outside the law to protect the Federation by any means. Introduced in Deep Space Nine in 1998, it reappears in Enterprise and Discovery, and gives its name to the 2025 film Section 31, centred on Philippa Georgiou.

Supervisors are humans raised and trained by an advanced alien civilisation and sent to Earth in secret to keep humanity from destroying itself. The best known is Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), introduced in "Assignment: Earth", the last episode of season 2 of The Original Series, first aired on 29 March 1968. Arriving in 1968 with his cat Isis, Seven intercepts the Enterprise's time travel and works to stop the launch of an orbital nuclear weapons platform. He is helped by Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr) and the Beta 5 computer, and carries a pen-shaped device, the servo.

The episode was a backdoor pilot for a Gary Seven series that was never made. The idea returned in season 2 of Star Trek: Picard (2022) with Tallinn (Orla Brady), a Supervisor watching over Picard's ancestor Renée in 2024, whom Picard compares to Gary Seven. Novels and comics develop the organisation behind them, called Aegis, but those stories are not part of the TV canon.

A Starfleet Academy training simulation that cannot be won: it tests how future officers face certain defeat. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, we learn that James T. Kirk is the only cadet to have beaten it, by reprogramming the simulation. The expression has come to mean a no-win situation.

In the original series, security and engineering personnel wore red uniforms, and the anonymous crew members who died during away missions very often wore red. The term “redshirt” has since come to describe, far beyond Star Trek, a secondary character introduced only to die.

Each series has its own crew. The best known are James T. Kirk, Spock and Leonard McCoy in the original series; Jean-Luc Picard, Data, William Riker and Worf in The Next Generation; Benjamin Sisko, Kira Nerys, Odo and Quark in Deep Space Nine; Kathryn Janeway, Seven of Nine and the Doctor in Voyager; Jonathan Archer and T'Pol in Enterprise; Michael Burnham and Saru in Discovery; and Christopher Pike in Strange New Worlds. Browse all the characters.

James T. Kirk (original and animated series), Jean-Luc Picard (The Next Generation), Benjamin Sisko (Deep Space Nine), Kathryn Janeway (Voyager), Jonathan Archer (Enterprise), Michael Burnham (Discovery, after Lorca, Pike and Saru), Carol Freeman (Lower Decks), Dal R'El (Prodigy), Christopher Pike (Strange New Worlds) and Nahla Ake, chancellor and captain in Starfleet Academy. Picard, for its part, follows a retired admiral. The question “Kirk or Picard?” remains one of the great debates among fans.

Spock is a half-Vulcan, half-human Starfleet officer, science officer and then first officer of the Enterprise, torn between logic and emotion. He is the only character from the first pilot to remain in the series. He was played by Leonard Nimoy (from the 1960s to 2013, including in The Next Generation and the Kelvin films), by Zachary Quinto in the Kelvin timeline and by Ethan Peck in Discovery and Strange New Worlds.

James Tiberius Kirk, born in Iowa, is the captain of the Enterprise during its famous five-year mission. Bold, charismatic and inclined to break the rules, he forms an inseparable trio with Spock and McCoy. He was played by William Shatner in the original series and the first seven films, by Chris Pine in the Kelvin films and by Paul Wesley in Strange New Worlds.

Jean-Luc Picard, born in La Barre, France, commands the Enterprise-D and then the Enterprise-E. A diplomat and lover of archaeology and Shakespeare, he is known for his catchphrases “Make it so” and “Engage”, and for his “Tea, Earl Grey, hot”. Patrick Stewart played him for seven seasons of The Next Generation, four films and the three seasons of Picard.

Data is an android created by Dr. Noonien Soong and the first of his kind to serve in Starfleet, as second officer of the Enterprise-D. Endowed with extraordinary abilities but unable to feel emotions, he constantly tries to understand what it means to be human, much like a Pinocchio of the future. He is played by Brent Spiner.

It is her Borg designation. The Borg do not give drones individual names: they number them according to their place in a unit. Her full designation is "Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01", the seventh in a group of nine.

Her human name is Annika Hansen. She was assimilated as a child with her parents, scientists who were studying the Borg aboard the USS Raven. Freed from the Collective by Voyager's crew in 1997 ("Scorpion, Part II"), she chose to keep the name and goes by "Seven". In Star Trek: Picard, Captain Shaw insists on calling her Annika. Read her full profile: Seven of Nine.

Q is an all-powerful, mischievous being from the Q Continuum, played by John de Lancie. From the very first episode of The Next Generation, he puts humanity on trial and keeps testing Captain Picard. He also appears in Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Lower Decks and Picard.

Quite a few! Brent Spiner played Data, but also his brother Lore, their creator Noonien Soong and several of his ancestors and descendants. Jeffrey Combs is famous for playing numerous characters, including Weyoun and Brunt in Deep Space Nine and Shran in Enterprise. Majel Barrett, Gene Roddenberry's wife, was Number One, Christine Chapel, Lwaxana Troi and, for decades, the voice of Starfleet computers. Browse the people pages.

It first appears in the episode “Amok Time” (1967). Leonard Nimoy created the gesture, a raised hand with the fingers parted between the middle and ring fingers, inspired by a priestly blessing he had seen as a child in synagogue. It has become one of the most recognizable gestures in popular culture.

Not in that exact form in the original series. Kirk uses variants such as “Beam us up, Mr. Scott” or “Scotty, beam us up”. The short version nevertheless became one of the best-known catchphrases associated with Star Trek.

Yes. Klingon is a constructed language developed by the linguist Marc Okrand for Star Trek III (1984), building on a few words devised for the 1979 film. It has its own grammar and vocabulary, a dictionary published in 1985, and a community of speakers. Works such as Hamlet have even been translated into Klingon.

In 1968, the kiss between Kirk and Uhura in “Plato's Stepchildren” is often cited as one of the first interracial kisses on American television. Nichelle Nichols recounted that Martin Luther King Jr. had personally encouraged her to stay in her role, which he considered important.

Later, Deep Space Nine was led by a Black captain, Voyager by a woman captain, and Discovery featured a Black woman in the lead role, a gay couple among its main characters, and non-binary and transgender characters.

It has often been cited as a source of inspiration. The flip-open communicator is frequently compared to the folding mobile phones of the 1990s, and the PADDs of The Next Generation prefigure tablets. A medical competition, the Tricorder XPRIZE (2012–2017), challenged teams to build a real-life tricorder. Voice assistants also evoke the ship's computer that answers questions.

Yes, 8 September, the anniversary of the first broadcast of the original series in 1966. Fans celebrate it and it is often the occasion for official announcements. Some fans also celebrate First Contact Day on 5 April, the date of Zefram Cochrane's first warp flight in 2063.

The theme of the original series was composed by Alexander Courage. Jerry Goldsmith wrote the theme of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which was reused as the opening theme of The Next Generation. Each series then received its own theme. Find out more on the music page.

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The factual data (dates, casts, episodes) mainly comes from Wikidata, a free database, and the images from Wikimedia Commons, with their authors and licences. Some summaries come from Wikipedia, with a link to the source. The other texts, such as character biographies and this FAQ, are written for the site from verified facts. News items link to the original articles.

Through the contact form. Corrections, suggested questions for this FAQ and links to interesting fan sites are all welcome.