 |
| Photo by FANDOM |
“To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before”
“Set Phasers to Stun”
“Resistance is Futile”
“Khaaaaannnnnnnn!”
“Beam Me Up, Scotty”
“Live Long and Prosper”
“Engage!”
“Space: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It’s continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!”
(engage warp drive and play opening credits)
Few, and by few I mean very, very few series have ever achieved the level of popularity, the number of fans, and the influence in pop culture that Star Trek has. There have been many references to Star Trek in books and TV shows, including The Martian, NBC’s Heroes, Stargate, The Big Band Theory, and even The Backyardigans.
Overview
Star Trek is a sci-fi franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966. Through its multiple series, movies, and more, it follows the adventures of many of Starfleet’s most important starships and space stations from the 22nd to 24th centuries.
Starfleet is the United Federation of Planets’ organization for space exploration, research, diplomacy, peacekeeping, and defense. The United Federation of Planets, or simply the Federation, is a federal republic consisting of many (150+) planets across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants in the Milky Way Galaxy. One of these planets is Earth. The core principal of the Federation is that member worlds should coexist and pool their knowledge and resources together, as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Starfleet’s fleet consists of (in my best estimate) thousands of ships by the 24th century. Although, the one which is probably the most well known is the flagship, the Enterprise.
Well, more correctly, Enterprises. There have been six (technically 7) Enterprises during the course of Starfleet history (up until the 24th century), yet each has had the same mission: To explore, to discover, To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
In the Star Trek Universe, the Federation is but one faction in an ever complicated galaxy. Klingons, Cardsssians, Romulans, the Breen, the Dominion, and the Borg are just some of their rivals.
These groups are all very different from each other and the Federation. The Klingons are an honor-driven militaristic society, while the Borg are individuals linked by technology into a hive, with the goal to forcibly “assimilate” other species into their collective and to “achieve perfection”.
 |
| The Enterprise NCC-1701 Photo by FANDOM |
Series and Movies
The Star Trek franchise mainly consists of TV and animated series, and movies. They include:
Series (in order of occurrence in the Star Trek Universe):
- Enterprise: Enterprise follows the adventures of United Earth’s first deep space spacecraft, the Enterprise NX-01, and its crew. They were the first to represent humanity in deep space and developed relations with many species who would later found and become part of the Federation.
- Discovery: Discovery follows the adventures of Michael Burnham on the USS Discovery. Unlike other Star Trek series, it focuses on her and all of the episodes are interconnected.
- The Original Series: The original series covers many of the missions, undertakings, and achievements of the Enterprise NCC-1701. Arguably the most famous Federation starship, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk it engaged in a historic 5 year mission of exploration (although there are only three seasons).
- The Animated Series: The animated series continues the voyages of the Enterprise NCC-1701 (however unlike the live-action original series, it is animated).
- The Next Generation: The Next Generation covers the journeys of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D. Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, it made first contact with new species, aided in scientific and historical discoveries, and took part in many battles against powerful foes.
- Deep Space Nine: Deep Space Nine follows the undertakings of the crew of the space station Deep Space Nine, which is located near the planet Bajor. Upon the discovery of the Bajoran Wormhole, which led to a distant part of the Galaxy (the Gamma Quadrant), Deep Space Nine quickly became an important tactical position and one of the Federation's most important space stations.
- Voyager: Voyager covers the voyages of the starship Voyager and its crew. Being stranded in the Delta Quadrant and faced with a 75-year journey home, the crew faced many threats while trying to get back to the Federation. Along the way, the crew made first contact with more species than any other ship since the Enterprise NCC-1701 and using new technologies and spatial anomalies, was able to cut its journey down to just 7 years.
Movies (in order of occurrence in the Star Trek Universe):
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Generations
- First Contact
- Insurrection
- Nemesis
Kelvin Timeline Movies (in order of occurrence in the Star Trek Universe):
- Star Trek 2009
- Into Darkness
- Beyond
The Kelvin Timeline movies contain the crew of the Enterprise NCC-1701, but in an alternate timeline.
My Opinion
Star Trek is without a doubt my favorite TV Series. Its core ideas, philosophy, story lines, and uniqueness just can't be beat. In addition, even though some of the series are decades old, they don't seem dated at all.
What set Star Trek apart from many other sci-fi TV series when it was first created and even now today, is its core concept. The Enterprise didn't have any destination. It didn't just go from point A to point B. Its mission was to simply explore the endless frontier of space. No one (in the Star Trek Universe) knew where it would take them or what lied beyond the next star, but they did it anyway.
Unlike many other TV shows and even literature in general, Star Trek promotes a "there are multiple groups each with their own views and values" world view, compared to the typical "good vs evil" world view. In the Star Trek Universe (as previously mentioned) there are multiple factions. None of them, including the Federation, are just "good or evil". Each one has their own positive and negative aspects, each has done both good and bad things, and the people of each each have their own set of values and beliefs which they act in accordance with.
Furthermore, the story lines of Star Trek (Deep Space Nine and Voyager especially) are excellent. They are well thought-out, captivating, exciting, suspenseful, even humorous at times, yet they aren't overly complicated.
Besides being ahead of its time figuratively, Star Trek is also ahead of its time literally. In it, there is a "New World Economy" (in the Federation) where money doesn't exist, poverty had been eradicated on Earth, and Earth is a near-utopian society. Star Trek also tackles racism, bigotry, gender equality, religion, individuality, war and peace, the environment, and more.
For example, in the original series, the Enterprise had a racially diverse crew: a Japanese helmsman, a Russian navigator, an African communications officer, and a Vulcan (one of the races in Star Trek) first officer, a startling idea for the 1960s.
Star Trek also has a huge cult following with fans of the show being called Trekkies. There are many fan-created movies, series, books, and parodies. In 2005 when the Enterprise series ended in its fourth season, and no series was set to replace it, a massive fan-based movement took place. Called "Save Enterprise", it was able to raise 3.14 million dollars, but ultimately, (sadly) it failed.
My Recommendation
If you are now interested in Star Trek, but don't know what to watch first, then here is my recommendation:
First watch The Next Generation, followed by Deep Space Nine and Voyager (my two personnel favorites).
Then watch Enterprise, The Original Series, and The Animated Series (in any order you like). Next watch Discovery.
Finally, watch any new Star Trek series created after the publication of this post (you can watch the movies after you finish watching their associated series, however I recommend that you watch The Next Generation movies after watching Deep Space Nine and possibly also Voyager).
In conclusion, Star Trek is one of the, if not the, best sci-fi franchises of all time, which generations of people have grown up watching. I absolutely recommend that you watch it (all of the series besides Discovery are currently available on Netflix).
Thanks for reading this blog post and if you have any questions or comments about Star Trek, please comment below. Sorry for not making a blog post in the past few weeks, but I have been busy. I plan to try do to weekly posts being published on Friday (EST) from now on (although I will miss some weeks).
My Opinion
Star Trek is without a doubt my favorite TV Series. Its core ideas, philosophy, story lines, and uniqueness just can't be beat. In addition, even though some of the series are decades old, they don't seem dated at all.
What set Star Trek apart from many other sci-fi TV series when it was first created and even now today, is its core concept. The Enterprise didn't have any destination. It didn't just go from point A to point B. Its mission was to simply explore the endless frontier of space. No one (in the Star Trek Universe) knew where it would take them or what lied beyond the next star, but they did it anyway.
Unlike many other TV shows and even literature in general, Star Trek promotes a "there are multiple groups each with their own views and values" world view, compared to the typical "good vs evil" world view. In the Star Trek Universe (as previously mentioned) there are multiple factions. None of them, including the Federation, are just "good or evil". Each one has their own positive and negative aspects, each has done both good and bad things, and the people of each each have their own set of values and beliefs which they act in accordance with.
Furthermore, the story lines of Star Trek (Deep Space Nine and Voyager especially) are excellent. They are well thought-out, captivating, exciting, suspenseful, even humorous at times, yet they aren't overly complicated.
Besides being ahead of its time figuratively, Star Trek is also ahead of its time literally. In it, there is a "New World Economy" (in the Federation) where money doesn't exist, poverty had been eradicated on Earth, and Earth is a near-utopian society. Star Trek also tackles racism, bigotry, gender equality, religion, individuality, war and peace, the environment, and more.
For example, in the original series, the Enterprise had a racially diverse crew: a Japanese helmsman, a Russian navigator, an African communications officer, and a Vulcan (one of the races in Star Trek) first officer, a startling idea for the 1960s.
Star Trek also has a huge cult following with fans of the show being called Trekkies. There are many fan-created movies, series, books, and parodies. In 2005 when the Enterprise series ended in its fourth season, and no series was set to replace it, a massive fan-based movement took place. Called "Save Enterprise", it was able to raise 3.14 million dollars, but ultimately, (sadly) it failed.
My Recommendation
If you are now interested in Star Trek, but don't know what to watch first, then here is my recommendation:
First watch The Next Generation, followed by Deep Space Nine and Voyager (my two personnel favorites).
Then watch Enterprise, The Original Series, and The Animated Series (in any order you like). Next watch Discovery.
Finally, watch any new Star Trek series created after the publication of this post (you can watch the movies after you finish watching their associated series, however I recommend that you watch The Next Generation movies after watching Deep Space Nine and possibly also Voyager).
In conclusion, Star Trek is one of the, if not the, best sci-fi franchises of all time, which generations of people have grown up watching. I absolutely recommend that you watch it (all of the series besides Discovery are currently available on Netflix).
Thanks for reading this blog post and if you have any questions or comments about Star Trek, please comment below. Sorry for not making a blog post in the past few weeks, but I have been busy. I plan to try do to weekly posts being published on Friday (EST) from now on (although I will miss some weeks).
 |
| Photo by PICTUREQUOTES |
Comments
Post a Comment