126-462: Star Trek Technical Manuals are a number of both official and fan-produced works detailing the technology of the fictional Star Trek universe; most pertain to starship design, though others target equipment used in the various Star Trek television series and films. Franz Joseph Schnaubelt published the original Star Fleet Technical Manual in 1975; since then other manuals have been created by fans and professional artists alike to chronicle
252-560: A cult following among Trekkies greater than during its original run; by 1976, the cast described Star Trek as "the most popular series in the world". One sign of the series' growing popularity was the first Star Trek convention , which occurred on January 21–23, 1972 in New York City. Although the original expectation was that a few hundred fans would attend, several thousand turned up. Fans continue to attend similar conventions worldwide. The series' newfound success led to
378-540: A tent pole for the studio when other projects failed. The Next Generation had the highest ratings of any Star Trek series and became the most syndicated show during the last years of its original seven-season run. In response to the Next Generation 's success, Paramount released a spin-off series, Deep Space Nine , in 1993. While never as popular as the Next Generation , the series had sufficient ratings for it to last seven seasons. In January 1995,
504-660: A wormhole connecting Federation territory to the Gamma Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy. Following the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Paramount Pictures commissioned a new series set in the Star Trek fictional universe. In creating Deep Space Nine , Berman and Piller drew upon plot elements introduced in The Next Generation , namely the conflict between two species,
630-464: A CGI model used in regular production. It was first built and animated by VisionArt, which was responsible for the morphing of Odo . The CGI Defiant was featured heavily in the Season 4 episode " Starship Down ", where it battled a CGI Jem'Hadar ship in a CGI gas giant's atmosphere. The series started using Foundation Imaging and Digital Muse in 1997 (Seasons 6 and 7) for its effects as part of
756-557: A big fan wanted to meet her while attending an NAACP dinner party: I thought it was a Trekkie, and so I said, 'Sure.' I looked across the room, and there was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walking towards me with this big grin on his face. He reached out to me and said, 'Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan.' He said that Star Trek was the only show that he, and his wife Coretta, would allow their three little children to stay up and watch. [She told King about her plans to leave
882-561: A campaign reminiscent of the one that saved the third season of the Original Series . Paramount renewed Enterprise for a fourth season, but moved it to the Friday night death slot . Like the Original Series , Enterprise ' s ratings dropped during this time slot, and UPN canceled Enterprise at the end of its fourth season. Enterprise aired its final episode on May 13, 2005. A fan group, "Save Enterprise ", attempted to save
1008-411: A censor down to the set to measure a woman's cleavage to make sure too much of her breast wasn't showing." Roddenberry intended the show to have a progressive political agenda reflective of the emerging counter-culture of the youth movement, though he was not fully forthcoming to the networks about this. He wanted Star Trek to show what humanity might develop into, if it would learn from the lessons of
1134-490: A contest to build a medical tricorder device was announced in 2012. Ten finalists were selected in 2014, and the winner was to be selected in January 2016. However, no team managed to reach the required criteria. Star Trek also brought teleportation to popular attention with its depiction of "matter-energy transport", with the famously misquoted phrase " Beam me up, Scotty " entering the vernacular. The Star Trek replicator
1260-416: A few months after the Next Generation ended, Paramount released a fourth television series, Voyager . Star Trek production reached a peak in the mid-1990s with Deep Space Nine and Voyager airing concurrently and three of the four Next Generation -based feature films released in 1994, 1996, and 1998. By 1998, Star Trek was Paramount's most important property and the profits of "the franchise" funded
1386-590: A fourth is scheduled for July 2020. The first publisher of Star Trek fiction aimed at adult readers was Bantam Books . James Blish wrote adaptations of episodes of the original series in twelve volumes from 1967 to 1977; in 1970, he wrote the first original Star Trek novel published by Bantam, Spock Must Die! . Pocket Books published subsequent Star Trek novels. Prolific Star Trek novelists include Peter David , Diane Carey , Keith DeCandido , J.M. Dillard , Diane Duane , Michael Jan Friedman , and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens . Several actors from
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#17327720826141512-740: A genocide of the Founders. In DS9 , the Ferengi are no longer an enemy of the Federation, but rather an economic power whose political neutrality is, for the most part, respected. A number of episodes explore their capitalistic nature, while others delve into the race's sexist social norms. Unlike their depiction in Star Trek: The Next Generation , where they were generally portrayed as sexist buffoons, in DS9 they received
1638-484: A line in the script for pilot episode "Emissary", but it was cut due to run time considerations, after which the creators conceived the joke that he never talks. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ran for seven seasons, from 1993 to 1999. The first season started half-way through the typical broadcast season running from fall to spring and had fewer episodes than typical Star Trek runs. Major plotlines focus on several key Star Trek cultures, especially interactions between
1764-658: A long-time friend of Sisko's, and Michael Eddington , who defects while serving aboard the station, are Starfleet officers. The show's critique of traditional Star Trek themes can be seen in episodes such as " For the Cause ", in which Eddington compares the Federation to the implacable alien hive mind known as the Borg : "At least [the Borg] tell you about their plans for assimilation. You assimilate people and they don't even know it." The second-season episode " Rules of Acquisition " marks
1890-518: A more complex depiction. Some Ferengi characters seek life paths outside the pursuit of profit, such as Nog , who becomes the first Ferengi to join Starfleet; others attempt to reform Ferengi society from within, such as Ishka, who leads a women's rights revolution on the Ferengi homeworld, and Rom , who leads a strike against unfair working conditions in Quark's bar. Several episodes of DS9 explore
2016-523: A more cynical view of human nature and the United Federation of Planets than the utopian vision presented in The Next Generation , and unlike its predecessor, it featured main characters who were not from the Federation and could offer an alternative perspective. The setting of the series — a space station rather than a starship — fostered a rich assortment of recurring characters. It was not unheard of for secondary characters to play as much of
2142-423: A narrative adventure video game set in the Next Generation era, was released by Dramatic Labs. Star Trek has led directly or indirectly to the creation of a number of magazines which focus either on science fiction or specifically on Star Trek . Starlog was a magazine which was founded in the 1970s. Initially, its focus was on Star Trek actors, but then it expanded its scope. Star Trek: The Magazine
2268-498: A new cast portraying the crew of the original show. Star Trek was a prequel of the original series set in an alternate timeline , later named the Kelvin Timeline. This gave the film and sequels freedom from the need to conform to the franchise's canonical timeline and minimized the impact these films would have on CBS's portion of the franchise. The eleventh Star Trek film's marketing campaign targeted non-fans, stating in
2394-549: A new set of fans to the franchise. CBS eventually sought to capitalize on this trend, and brought the franchise back to the small screen with the series Star Trek: Discovery to help launch and draw subscribers to its streaming service CBS All Access . Discovery's first season premiered on September 24, 2017. While Discovery is shown in the United States exclusively on Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access), for its first three seasons, Netflix, in exchange for funding
2520-558: A new starship Enterprise with a new crew. Following Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Roddenberry's role was changed from producer to creative consultant, with minimal input to the films, while being heavily involved with the creation of The Next Generation . Roddenberry died on October 24, 1991, giving executive producer Rick Berman control of the franchise. Star Trek had become known to those within Paramount as "the franchise", because of its great success and recurring role as
2646-497: A pilot, " The Cage ", starring Jeffrey Hunter as Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike . NBC rejected "The Cage", but the executives were still impressed with the concept, and made the unusual decision to commission a second pilot: " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". While the show initially enjoyed high ratings, the average rating of the show at the end of its first season dropped to 52nd out of 94 programs. Unhappy with
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#17327720826142772-486: A prequel to the 2009 film, Star Trek: Countdown . In 2012, IDW published the first volume of Star Trek – The Newspaper Strip , featuring the work of Thomas Warkentin. As of 2020, IDW continues to produce new titles. The Star Trek franchise has numerous games in many formats. Beginning in 1967 with a board game based on the original series and continuing through today with online and DVD games, Star Trek games continue to be popular among fans. Video games based on
2898-400: A racially diverse crew. In early 1964, Roddenberry presented a brief treatment for a television series to Desilu Productions , calling it "a Wagon Train to the stars". Desilu studio head Lucille Ball was instrumental in approving production of the series. The studio worked with Roddenberry to develop the treatment into a script , which was then pitched to NBC. NBC paid to make
3024-588: A resistance group known as the Maquis . Rooted in the events of The Next Generation episode " Journey's End ", in which Native American settlers refuse to leave when their planet is given to Cardassia as part of a treaty, the Maquis are an example of the show's exploration of darker themes: its members are Federation citizens who take up arms against Cardassia in defense of their homes, and some, such as Calvin Hudson ,
3150-508: A resistance movement and eventually liberate themselves (" Through the Looking Glass ", " Shattered Mirror ", " Resurrection ", " The Emperor's New Cloak "). The series was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller at the request of Brandon Tartikoff and was produced by Paramount Television . The original Star Trek series had been pitched as the science fiction equivalent to television westerns such as Wagon Train and DS9
3276-482: A role in an episode as the regular cast, if not more. For example, " The Wire " focused principally on the recurring character Elim Garak , while in " It's Only a Paper Moon ", the central characters were Nog and Vic Fontaine , with the regular characters in supporting roles. Several Cardassian characters figure prominently in DS9 , particularly Gul Dukat , a senior member of the Cardassian military involved in
3402-411: A sequel. The studio forced Roddenberry to relinquish creative control of future sequels. The success of the sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , reversed the fortunes of the franchise. While the sequel grossed less than the first movie, The Wrath of Khan ' s lower production costs made it net more profit. Paramount produced six Star Trek feature films between 1979 and 1991, each featuring
3528-420: A series of standalone mini-episodes which air between Discovery and Picard seasons. A new live-action series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , a spinoff of the second season of Discovery and prequel to the original series, premiered on May 5, 2022. Lower Decks , an animated adult comedy series, was released on August 6, 2020, on CBS All Access. Another animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy , premiered on
3654-416: A significant portion of the studio's operations. Voyager became the flagship show of the new United Paramount Network (UPN) and thus the first major network Star Trek series since the original. After Voyager ended, UPN produced Enterprise , a prequel series. Enterprise did not enjoy the high ratings of its predecessors and UPN threatened to cancel it after the series' third season. Fans launched
3780-459: A space station formerly operated by the Cardassians during their oppressive occupation of the planet Bajor. He is assigned to run the station jointly with the newly liberated Bajorans as they recover from the Cardassian occupation, to help pave the way for Bajor's entry into the Federation. Sisko and Jadzia Dax stumble upon a wormhole leading to the distant Gamma Quadrant, and discover that it
3906-475: A space station would appeal more to viewers, and would save the money required for a land-based show's on-location shooting. They did not want the show set aboard a starship because Star Trek: The Next Generation was still in production, and in Berman's words, it "seemed ridiculous to have two shows—two casts of characters—that were off going where no man has gone before". While its predecessors tended to restore
List of Star Trek technical manuals - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-590: A television film every two years starting with Section 31 . Many licensed products are based on the Star Trek franchise. Merchandising is very lucrative for both studio and actors; by 1986 Nimoy had earned more than $ 500,000 from royalties. Products include novels, comic books, video games, and other materials, which are generally considered non-canon . Star Trek merchandise generated $ 4 billion for Paramount by 2002. Since 1967, hundreds of original novels, short stories, and television and movie adaptations have been published. The first original Star Trek novel
4158-495: A writer coping with racism in 20th-century New York. Although DS9 ' s ratings remained solid, it was never as successful as the syndicated Star Trek: The Next Generation . One factor was the minimal promotion for DS9 , as Paramount focused its efforts on its flagship network series Star Trek: Voyager . DS9 was well received by critics, with TV Guide describing it as "the best acted, written, produced, and altogether finest" Star Trek series. Though debuting in
4284-642: Is a multibillion-dollar industry, owned by Paramount Global. Gene Roddenberry sold Star Trek to NBC as a classic adventure drama; he pitched the show as " Wagon Train to the Stars" and as Horatio Hornblower in Space . The opening line, "to boldly go where no man has gone before", was taken almost verbatim from a U.S. White House booklet on space produced after the Sputnik flight in 1957. Star Trek and its spin-offs have proven highly popular in syndication and
4410-508: Is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller . The fourth series in the Star Trek media franchise , it originally aired in syndication from January 3, 1993, to June 2, 1999, spanning 176 episodes over seven seasons. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets , its narrative is centered on the eponymous space station Deep Space Nine , located adjacent to
4536-685: Is assigned to manage it, led by Commander Benjamin Sisko . Shortly after his arrival, Sisko discovers a stable wormhole in Bajoran space between the Alpha Quadrant and the unexplored Gamma Quadrant , and the station is moved near the wormhole's entrance. The wormhole is the home of powerful, non-corporeal aliens whom the Bajorans worship as "the Prophets". Sisko is revered by the Bajorans as
4662-410: Is credited in the scientific literature with inspiring the field of diatom nanotechnology . In 1976, following a letter-writing campaign, NASA named its prototype Space Shuttle Enterprise , after the fictional starship . Later, the introductory sequence to Star Trek: Enterprise included footage of this shuttle which, along with images of a naval sailing vessel called Enterprise , depicted
4788-529: Is in pre-production to take the place of one of these series. Star Trek: Prodigy was removed from Paramount+ in June 2023. The series was picked up by Netflix, and season 1 was made available on December 25, 2023. A second season aired later in 2024. Paramount is also planning to create television films for Paramount+ every two years. The first of these movies, Section 31 , will star Michelle Yeoh , reprising her role as Empress Georgiou from Discovery . It
4914-567: Is inhabited by beings who are not bound by normal space and time. To the strongly religious people of Bajor, the wormhole aliens are their gods (the Prophets ) and the wormhole itself is the long-prophesied Celestial Temple. Sisko is hailed as the Emissary of the Prophets, through whom the Prophets act. Bajor's politics and religion, and Sisko's status within it, provide the basis for long-lasting story arcs. Early seasons show Bajor reckoning with
5040-537: Is introduced in Season 4 as an aide to Gul Dukat, and he rises in stature as Dukat regains prominence. He becomes the leader of the Cardassian Union when Dukat has an emotional breakdown, but, dissatisfied with Cardassia's relationship with the Dominion, Damar forms and leads an insurgency against the Dominion, playing a vital role in its eventual defeat. Jeffrey Combs has stated that he had auditioned for
5166-807: Is lack of funds to pull it off, and lack of technology to show it. Otherwise, GR would certainly have added it; he knew what audiences liked". Roddenberry is quoted in The Making of Star Trek DS9 as having doubts that a non-exploration show could work, and being displeased with early concepts presented to him in 1991. However, Rick Berman stated in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion that Roddenberry had given him his blessing for developing it close to his death. At Shore Leave 14 in July 1992, Majel Barrett commented on Roddenberry's involvement, saying: "He knew about it, but he
List of Star Trek technical manuals - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-448: Is noted for its cultural influence beyond works of science fiction. The franchise is also notable for its progressive stances on civil rights . The Original Series included one of the first multiracial casts on US television. As early as 1964, Gene Roddenberry drafted a proposal for the science fiction series that would become Star Trek . Although he publicly marketed it as a Western in outer space —a so-called " Wagon Train to
5418-450: Is often called upon to choose between his role as Emissary and his duties to Starfleet, as when he persuades the Bajorans to withdraw their application for Federation membership after receiving a vision from the Prophets. The political and religious implications of Sisko's status for Bajor and its spiritual leaders (most notably, Winn Adami ) provide a central arc that lasts until the end of the series. The station crew early on contends with
5544-491: Is scheduled to be released in early 2025. Twelve television series make up the Star Trek franchise: The Original Series , The Animated Series , The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , Voyager , Enterprise , Discovery , Short Treks , Picard , Lower Decks , Prodigy , and Strange New Worlds . All series in total amount to 936 episodes across 49 seasons of television. Paramount Pictures has produced thirteen Star Trek feature films. The first six films continue
5670-480: Is the introduction of Section 31 , a secret organization dedicated to preserving the Federation way of life at any cost. This shadowy group, introduced in " Inquisition ", justifies its unlawful, unilateral tactics by claiming that it is essential to the continued existence of the Federation. Section 31 features prominently in several episodes of the Dominion War arc, especially as it is revealed that it attempted
5796-475: Is the only Cardassian who remains on the space station when the Federation and the Bajorans take over. Although he maintains that he is merely a simple tailor, Garak is a former agent of the Obsidian Order , the feared Cardassian secret police ; his skills and contacts on Cardassia prove invaluable on several occasions, and he becomes a pivotal figure in the war with the Dominion. Damar ( Casey Biggs )
5922-517: The Star Wars franchise being rivals in the science fiction genre with many fans and scholars. The Star Trek franchise inspired some designers of technologies, the Palm PDA and the handheld mobile phone. Michael Jones, Chief technologist of Google Earth , has cited the tricorder 's mapping capability as one inspiration in the development of Keyhole/Google Earth. The Tricorder X Prize ,
6048-435: The status quo ante at the end of each episode, allowing out-of-order viewing, DS9 contains story arcs that span episodes and seasons. One installment often builds upon earlier ones, with several cliffhanger endings. Michael Piller considered this one of the series' best qualities, allowing repercussions of past episodes to influence future events and forcing characters to "learn that actions have consequences." This trend
6174-530: The Cardassians and the Bajorans . Deep Space Nine was the first Star Trek series to be created without the direct involvement of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry , the first set on a space station rather than a traveling starship and the first to have an African American as its central character: Starfleet Commander, later Captain, Benjamin Sisko (played by Avery Brooks ). Changes were made to
6300-675: The Mirror Universe , first introduced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode " Mirror, Mirror ". In the second-season episode " Crossover ", Kira and Dr. Bashir are accidentally sent to the Mirror Universe and discover that it is dominated by a ruthless Klingon–Cardassian alliance and Terrans (humans) are slaves. Over the course of four Mirror Universe episodes of DS9 , the Terran workers form
6426-404: The Original Series cast in their original roles. In 1987, Paramount responded to the popularity of Star Trek feature films by bringing the franchise back to television with Star Trek: The Next Generation . Paramount chose to distribute the new series as a first-run syndication show rather than a network program. The series was set a century after the original, following the adventures of
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#17327720826146552-554: The Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. Kurtzman wanted to "open this world up" and create multiple series set in the same universe but with their own "unique storytelling and distinct cinematic feel", an approach that he compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe . However, the franchise would not tell a single story across multiple series, allowing audiences to watch each series without having to see all of
6678-433: The Star Trek franchise to use computer-generated imagery (CGI) for exterior space shots. Although a few other television series, like Babylon 5 , were using CGI exclusively to avoid the high expense of model photography, the Star Trek franchise had continued to use primarily physical models for exterior space shots because producers decided models provided more realism. DS9 continued using models where needed, such as
6804-578: The Vorta , and their fearless shock troops, the Jem'Hadar . These races worship the Founders as gods. At the start of DS9 ' s third season (" The Search "), with the threat of a Dominion attack looming from the other side of the wormhole, the USS Defiant , a prototype warship, is stationed at Deep Space Nine , providing an avenue for plot lines away from the station. With the third season, writers from
6930-608: The "richest narrative" of the Star Trek universe, though the arc's only standout episode is "In the Pale Moonlight", which it ranked the fourth best episode of all Star Trek for highlighting the moral confusion and compromises that can occur during war. In 2016, the Los Angeles Times ranked DS9 third of all Star Trek films and TV series. In 2017, Vulture ranked it the best live-action Star Trek television show. In 2019, Popular Mechanics ranked it
7056-526: The 16th best science fiction television show ever. In 2021, Variety magazine ranked it ninth among Star Trek film and television series. In 2021, Empire ranked it the 46th greatest television show ever, saying its seasons-long character and story arcs make it good for binge-watching . In a 2007 interview with If Magazine , George Takei , who had played the character Hikaru Sulu in The Original Series , criticized DS9 for being
7182-448: The 1956 film Forbidden Planet , and television westerns such as Wagon Train . The Star Trek canon includes the Original Series , 11 spin-off television series, and a film franchise ; further adaptations also exist in several media. After the conclusion of the Original Series , the adventures of its characters continued in the 22-episode Star Trek: The Animated Series and six feature films. A television revival beginning in
7308-436: The 1980s saw four spinoff series: The Next Generation , following the crew of a new starship Enterprise a century after the original series; Deep Space Nine and Voyager , set in the same era as the Next Generation ; and Enterprise , set a century before the original series in the early days of human interstellar travel. The adventures of the Next Generation crew continued in four additional feature films. In 2009,
7434-530: The Alpha Quadrant in the season finale " Call to Arms ". The Dominion War tests Starfleet's commitment to its ethics; when the formerly neutral Romulans are persuaded to ally themselves with the Federation (" In the Pale Moonlight "), it is only through criminal and duplicitous acts on Sisko's part. This provides an example of the moral ambiguity prevalent in DS9 in comparison to the other Star Trek series. Another example of DS9 ' s darker nature
7560-411: The Bajorans, Cardassians, Ferengi, Klingons, and the Federation. Each of these cultures is represented by major characters in the main or recurring cast. Major arcs revolve around Bajor's recovery from Cardassian occupation; the Maquis, a rebellious Federation splinter group; and the Dominion, a hostile imperial power from the other side of the galaxy. The war between the Dominion and the Federation spans
7686-432: The Dominion . Although not as popular as The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine was critically well received. Following the success of Deep Space Nine , Paramount commissioned Berman, Piller and Jeri Taylor to produce Star Trek: Voyager , which began in 1995. During Deep Space Nine 's run, various episode novelizations and tie-in video games were produced. After the show ended, various novels and comics continued
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#17327720826147812-509: The Empire, who was introduced on The Next Generation , and General Martok ( J. G. Hertzler ), a leader of the Klingon forces in the Dominion War, who succeeds Gowron as Chancellor when Gowron is killed by Worf late in the series. Kor , a Klingon character from Star Trek: The Original Series , appears in three DS9 episodes; one of them, " Blood Oath ", unites Kor with two other Klingons from
7938-553: The Gamma Quadrant ruled by a race of shapeshifters . The starship USS Defiant is assigned to help protect the station. When the Dominion and the Cardassians take up arms against the Federation and its allies starting in the fifth season, Deep Space Nine becomes a key Federation base in the Dominion War . According to co-creator Berman, he and Piller considered setting the new series on a colony planet, but they decided
8064-472: The Prophets' "Emissary"; although he is initially uncomfortable with being a religious figure, he gradually grows to accept his role. Deep Space Nine and Bajor quickly become a center for exploration, interstellar trade , political maneuvering and finally open conflict. Threats come not only from Cardassians, Klingons and Romulans from the Alpha Quadrant, but later from the Dominion , a powerful empire in
8190-418: The Season 4 premiere and the alternate-universe episode "Shattered Mirror". During the battle sequences between the Federation and Klingon fleets, the effects department used Playmates toys, Ertl model kits and Hallmark Bird-of-Prey Christmas ornaments in the background in an effort to keep production costs down. The USS Defiant was the first full-fledged starship in the Star Trek franchise to have
8316-529: The US space program , working in this quality for NASA from the late 1970s until the late 1980s. In 2020, the US effort to develop a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 was named Operation Warp Speed , which was suggested by a Star Trek fan, Peter Marks. Marks leads the unit at the Food and Drug Administration which approves vaccines and therapies. Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ( DS9 )
8442-487: The actualization of Star Trek's holodeck in the future by making extensive use of artificial intelligence and cyborgs. Star Trek -based comics have been issued almost continuously since 1967, published by Marvel , DC , Malibu , Wildstorm , and Gold Key , among others. In 2009, Tokyopop produced an anthology of Next Generation -based stories presented in the style of Japanese manga . In 2006, IDW Publishing secured publishing rights to Star Trek comics and issued
8568-485: The advancement of human transportation technology. Beyond Star Trek 's fictional innovations, its contributions to television history included a multicultural and multiracial cast. While more common in subsequent years, in the 1960s it was controversial to feature an Enterprise crew that included a Japanese helmsman, a Russian navigator, and a black female communications officer. Captain Kirk's and Lt. Uhura's kiss, in
8694-528: The adventures of the cast of the Original Series ; the seventh film, Generations , was intended as a transition from original cast to the cast of the Next Generation ; the next three films focused completely on the Next Generation cast. The eleventh film was widely considered to be a reboot of the franchise, despite being a continuation set in an alternate timeline known as the "Kelvin Timeline". Additionally, streaming service Paramount+ intends to release
8820-476: The adventures of the crew. The main setting of Deep Space Nine is a space station near the planet Bajor , built by the imperialistic Cardassians during their long, brutal occupation of Bajor. After liberating themselves through a guerrilla war , the Bajorans invite the United Federation of Planets to jointly administer the station. The station is renamed Deep Space Nine , and a Starfleet crew
8946-400: The aftermath of occupation and establishing itself as a democracy. Meanwhile, Sisko initially considers his role as a religious icon with discomfort and skepticism, striving to keep his role as commander of the station distinct from any religious obligations that the Bajorans try to place on him. Later, he becomes more accepting of his role and, by the end of the series, he openly embraces it. He
9072-475: The box office. CBS turned down several proposals in the mid-2000s to restart the franchise on the small screen. Proposals included pitches from film director Bryan Singer , Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski , and Trek actors Jonathan Frakes and William Shatner. While CBS was not creating new Star Trek for network television, the ease of access to Star Trek content on new streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video introduced
9198-442: The conflicts and political dimensions of Star Trek are allegories of contemporary cultural realities. The Original Series addressed issues of the 1960s, just as later spin-offs have tackled issues of their respective decades. Issues depicted in the various series include war and peace, the value of personal loyalty, authoritarianism , imperialism , class warfare, economics, racism, religion, human rights, sexism , feminism, and
9324-405: The episode " Plato's Stepchildren ", was also daring, and is often mis-cited as being American television's first scripted, interracial kiss, even though several other interracial kisses ( e.g. on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ) predated this one. Nichelle Nichols, who played the communications officer, said that the day after she told Roddenberry of her plan to leave the series, she was told
9450-427: The fact that he, with his English accent, unusual screen name at time of casting (Siddig El Fadil), and North African heritage was a main character on a prominent television series, despite not being as easily racially identifiable to audiences as many other TV actors and characters were at the time. Andrew J. Robinson commented on DS9 not being as popular as its predecessors: "It's not the most popular because it's
9576-455: The few Star Trek actors to play two unrelated roles (Brunt and Weyoun) in the same episode. He would later play the recurring role of Shran on Star Trek: Enterprise . In addition to Quark and his brother Rom ( Max Grodénchik ), several other Ferengi had recurring roles, including their shrewd mother Ishka ( Andrea Martin , later Cecily Adams ), who eventually engineers a social revolution on Ferenginar; Rom's son Nog ( Aron Eisenberg ),
9702-400: The film Star Trek: Insurrection . For details on out-of-universe reference books see List of Star Trek reference books . The following list is incomplete. Star Trek Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry , which began with the series of the same name and became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon . Since its creation,
9828-486: The film did not earn as much in the North American box office as its predecessor, internationally, in terms of box office receipts, Into Darkness is the most successful of the franchise. The thirteenth film, Star Trek Beyond , was released on July 22, 2016. The film had many pre-production problems and its script went through several rewrites. While receiving positive reviews, Star Trek Beyond disappointed in
9954-486: The film franchise underwent a reboot , creating an alternate continuity known as the Kelvin timeline; three films have been set in this continuity. The newest Star Trek television revival, beginning in 2017, includes the series Discovery , Picard , Short Treks , Lower Decks , Prodigy , and Strange New Worlds , streaming on digital platforms. Star Trek has been a cult phenomenon for decades. Fans of
10080-425: The film's advertisements that "this is not your father's Star Trek ". The film earned considerable critical and financial success, grossing (in inflation-adjusted dollars) more box office sales than any previous Star Trek film. The plaudits include the franchise's first Academy Award (for makeup ). Two sequels were released. The first sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness , premiered in the spring of 2013. While
10206-407: The first Ferengi to join Starfleet; and Grand Nagus Zek ( Wallace Shawn ), the Ferengi leader. The Bajoran character Leeta ( Chase Masterson ), who works at Quark's bar and later marries Rom, is sometimes involved in the Ferengi storyline. The Klingon Empire plays a significant role in DS9 . Aside from Worf, recurring Klingon characters include Chancellor Gowron ( Robert O'Reilly ), leader of
10332-578: The first mention of the Dominion , a ruthless empire in the Gamma Quadrant , though they are not fully introduced until the second-season finale, " The Jem'Hadar ". It is led by "the Founders", a race of shape-shifting Changelings , the same species as DS9' s security chief, Odo. They were once persecuted by non-shape-shifters (whom they call "solids") and they seek to impose "order" upon any who could potentially harm them, which includes nearly all solids. The Founders have created or genetically modified races to serve them: their sly diplomats and administrators,
10458-530: The franchise are called " Trekkies " or "Trekkers". The franchise spans a wide range of spin-offs including games , figurines, novels , toys, and comics . From 1998 to 2008, there was a Star Trek –themed attraction in Las Vegas . At least two museum exhibits of props travel the world. The constructed language Klingon was created for the franchise. Several Star Trek parodies have been made, and viewers have produced several fan productions . Star Trek
10584-419: The franchise has expanded into various films , television series , video games , novels , and comic books , and it has become one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time . The franchise began with Star Trek: The Original Series , which premiered on September 6, 1966, on Canada's CTV network. In the US it debuted on September 8, 1966, on NBC . The series followed
10710-545: The franchise's first theatrical release , and later worked for the series Next Generation , Deep Space Nine and Voyager ; he went on to contribute to the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine technical manuals from Pocket Books. Geoffery Mandel, who helped create Pocket Books's interstellar reference work Star Trek: Star Charts , worked as scenic artist on the Voyager and Enterprise series as well as
10836-484: The future of the franchise. Paramount relieved Berman, the franchise producer, of control of Star Trek . In 2007, Paramount hired a new creative team to reinvigorate the franchise on the big screen. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and producer J. J. Abrams had the freedom to reinvent the feel of the franchise. The team created the franchise's eleventh film, Star Trek , releasing it in May 2009. The film featured
10962-415: The idea of reviving the franchise. Filmation with Paramount Television produced the first post–original series show, Star Trek: The Animated Series , featuring the cast of the original series reprising their roles. It ran on NBC for 22 half-hour episodes over two seasons on Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1974. Although short-lived, typical for animated productions in that time slot during that period,
11088-469: The increasing variety of both canon and noncanon vessels and gear. Trek fan Shane Johnson created the official Pocket Books works Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise and Worlds of the Federation after making his own self-produced blueprints. Two manual creators moved from making blueprints to helping shape the look of the shows themselves. Rick Sternbach became an official illustrator for
11214-418: The introduction of CGI inserts of construction work being performed on the station's exterior by suited maintenance crews, and more docking and launching activity by ships, along with subtle colored wisps of nebulae added to the background starfield. Accordingly, the solo trumpet (preceded by a solo French horn ) featured prominently in the main theme by Dennis McCarthy to accentuate the lonely isolation of
11340-538: The last two seasons of the show, after tensions between the two gradually increase from the beginning of the third season. Throughout the series, loyalties and alliances change repeatedly: pacts with the Cardassians are made, broken, and remade; a short war with the Klingons flares up and is settled; Bajor grows into political stability; and formerly neutral powers are drawn into conflict. In the first episode, Starfleet Commander Benjamin Sisko arrives at Deep Space Nine ,
11466-424: The most morally ambiguous... Whenever you have characters who are gray rather than black and white... Although they are more interesting, they are more difficult for people to get a handle on. I loved DS9 because they were gray, because the characters were not easily definable, but that's not for everybody". Author Terry J. Erdmann commented: " DS9 was never as popular as its two predecessors, although it arguably
11592-410: The now completed The Next Generation began to write regularly for DS9 . In the middle seasons of the show, the Dominion foments discord to weaken the Alpha Quadrant powers, manipulating the Klingons into war with the Cardassians, and almost inciting a coup d'état on Earth. In the fifth-season episode " By Inferno's Light ", the Dominion annexes Cardassia, and goes to war with the other major powers of
11718-435: The occupation of Bajor, played by Marc Alaimo . A complex character, Dukat undergoes several transformations before ultimately resolving as a profoundly evil character, and Sisko's archenemy, by the show's conclusion. A StarTrek.com article about Star Trek ' s greatest villains described Gul Dukat as "possibly the most complex and fully-developed bad guy in Star Trek history". Elim Garak, portrayed by Andrew Robinson ,
11844-409: The ongoing storyline of the Dominion occupation of the station. The station itself remained a physical model throughout the series' seven-year run, except for the final scene of the series. In October 2006, the physical model of the station was sold for $ 132,000 in an auction at Christie's auction house in New York City. The opening sequence was likewise modified in the fourth season, most notably by
11970-407: The original series: Koloth and Kang . John Colicos , William Campbell and Michael Ansara reprised their original series roles. Morn is a minor character who is a fixture in Quark's establishment, sitting at the bar over the course of seven years. It became a running joke that, though the other characters remark on how talkative and funny he is, he never speaks a word on camera. Morn did have
12096-612: The others. CBS and Kurtzman refer to this expanded franchise as the Star Trek Universe . The second series of the expansion of the Star Trek Universe, Star Trek: Picard , features Patrick Stewart reprising the character Jean-Luc Picard from The Next Generation . Picard premiered on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020. Unlike Discovery , Amazon Prime Video streams Picard internationally. CBS has also released two seasons of Star Trek: Short Treks ,
12222-512: The outpost was augmented by a chorus of brass as the station attained a more bustling atmosphere following the presence of the wormhole. The digital effects were done in standard definition and thus the series cannot be re-released in HD format without re-doing the special effects. Overall 176 episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would be produced, with an average run-time of 43 minutes each. Geek.com calculated 126 hours of total viewing time for
12348-594: The past, most specifically by ending violence. An extreme example is the alien species known as the Vulcans , who had a violent past but learned to control their emotions. Roddenberry also gave Star Trek an anti-war message and depicted the United Federation of Planets as an ideal, optimistic version of the United Nations. His efforts were opposed by the network because of concerns over marketability, e.g., they opposed Roddenberry's insistence that Enterprise have
12474-514: The polar opposite of Gene Roddenberry 's philosophy and vision of the future. Writer D. C. Fontana thought that as a World War II veteran Roddenberry would have appreciated the show and its dark themes. Bjo Trimble , one of the major forces behind the letter-writing campaign that helped renew The Original Series for its third season, commented that she thought Roddenberry would have "come to like DS9 , had he lived to see it", and that "the only reason there were not full battles in early Star Trek
12600-487: The production costs of the show, owned the international screening rights for the show. This Netflix distribution and production deal ended right before the fourth season premiere of Discovery in November 2021. Discovery has since been exclusive to Paramount Global owned platforms. In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of Discovery , Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand
12726-557: The rebranded service Paramount+ first on October 28, 2021, and on December 17, 2021, on Nickelodeon . Prodigy is the first Star Trek series to specifically target younger audiences, and is the franchise's first fully computer animated series. Star Trek saturation would hit a new peak in 2022, with five Star Trek series airing in the same year. The Star Trek: Picard series finale aired in April 2023. Discovery's series finale aired in May 2024. A Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series
12852-422: The remainder of the series. In addition to Berman, Piller, and Behr, key writers included Robert Hewitt Wolfe , Ronald D. Moore , Peter Allan Fields , Bradley Thompson , David Weddle , Hans Beimler and René Echevarria . Several actors also directed episodes, including Avery Brooks, who directed and starred in the critically acclaimed episode "Far Beyond the Stars". DS9 was the first television series in
12978-577: The role of William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation , but when Jonathan Frakes (who won the part) later directed the DS9 episode " Meridian ", he recommended Combs for a part. Combs made his Star Trek and DS9 debut as a one-episode alien named Tiron, before being cast as two recurring characters, the Ferengi Brunt and the Vorta Weyoun . He would go on to appear in 31 episodes of DS9 . In " The Dogs of War ", he became one of
13104-473: The role of technology. Roddenberry stated: "[By creating] a new world with new rules, I could make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam , politics, and intercontinental missiles. Indeed, we did make them on Star Trek : we were sending messages and fortunately they all got by the network. If you talked about purple people on a far off planet, they (the television network) never really caught on. They were more concerned about cleavage. They actually would send
13230-405: The series and tried to raise $ 30 million to privately finance a fifth season of Enterprise . Though the effort garnered considerable press, the fan drive failed to save the series. The cancellation of Enterprise ended an eighteen-year continuous production run of Star Trek programming on television. The poor box office performance in 2002 of the film Nemesis cast an uncertain light upon
13356-463: The series garnered the franchise's only Emmy Award in a "Best Series" category—specifically Outstanding Entertainment Children's Series ; later Emmy awards for the franchise would be in technical categories. Paramount Pictures and Roddenberry began developing a new series, Star Trek: Phase II , in May 1975 in response to the franchise's newfound popularity. Work on the series ended when the proposed Paramount Television Service folded. Following
13482-435: The series include Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Conquest . An MMORPG based on Star Trek called Star Trek Online was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by Perfect World . It is set during the Next Generation era, about 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis . The most recent video game was set in the alternate timeline from Abrams's Star Trek . On April 23, 2023, Star Trek: Resurgence ,
13608-409: The series over the course of its seven-year run. In the third season, the starship USS Defiant was introduced to enable more stories away from the space station, and the fourth added Worf ( Michael Dorn ), a character who originated on The Next Generation , to the main cast. The final three seasons deal with a story arc , that of the war between the Federation and an invading Gamma Quadrant power,
13734-407: The series. The show debuted in January 1993 with the double-episode "Emissary", half-way through the 6th season of The Next Generation . This is the first time that two Star Trek franchise series aired concurrently, which would continue until DS9 ended in 1999, except for late 1994, when Next Generation ended and DS9 was alone on the air. But in the next year, Star Trek: Voyager aired on
13860-414: The series.] I never got to tell him why, because he said, 'You can't. You're part of history.' After the show, Nichols used this public standing to speak for women and people of color and against their exclusion from the US human space program; NASA reacted by asking her to find people for its future Space Shuttle program. Nichols proceeded and successfully brought the first non-white people and women into
13986-459: The shadow of The Next Generation , DS9 achieved a considerable level of success in its own right. According to a press release through Newswire on April 7, 1999, it was the #1 syndicated show in the United States for adults 18–49 and 25–54. The characters of DS9 were featured on the cover of TV Guide ten times during its run, including several "special issue" editions in which a set of four different-covered versions were printed. The series
14112-506: The show's ratings, NBC threatened to cancel the show during its second season. The show's fan base , led by Bjo Trimble , conducted an unprecedented letter-writing campaign, petitioning the network to keep the show on the air. NBC renewed the show, but moved it from primetime to the " Friday night death slot ", and substantially reduced its budget. In protest, Roddenberry resigned as producer and reduced his direct involvement in Star Trek , which led to Fred Freiberger becoming producer for
14238-475: The show's third and final season. Despite another letter-writing campaign, NBC canceled the series after three seasons and 79 episodes. After the original series was canceled, Desilu, which by then had been renamed Paramount Television , licensed the broadcast syndication rights to help recoup the production losses. Reruns began in late 1969, and by the late 1970s the series aired in over 150 domestic and 60 international markets. This helped Star Trek develop
14364-560: The stars"—he privately told friends that he was modeling it on Jonathan Swift 's Gulliver's Travels , intending each episode to act on two levels: as a suspenseful adventure story and as a morality tale. Most Star Trek stories depict the adventures of humans and aliens who serve in Starfleet , the space-borne humanitarian and peacekeeping armada of the United Federation of Planets . The protagonists have altruistic values, and must apply these ideals to difficult dilemmas. Many of
14490-522: The success of the science fiction movies Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Paramount adapted the planned pilot episode of Phase II into the feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture . The film opened in North America on December 7, 1979, with mixed reviews from critics. The film earned $ 139 million worldwide, below expectations but enough for Paramount to create
14616-512: The television series have also written or co-written books featuring their respective characters: William Shatner , John de Lancie , Andrew J. Robinson , J. G. Hertzler and Armin Shimerman . Voyager producer Jeri Taylor wrote two novels detailing the personal histories of Voyager characters. Screenplay writers David Gerrold , D. C. Fontana , and Melinda Snodgrass have also penned books. A 2014 scholarly work Newton Lee discussed
14742-409: The then-new UPN network, so that once again two shows from the franchise aired. The most acclaimed episodes of DS9 include these: " In the Pale Moonlight ", in which Sisko wrestles with compromising his ethics to win the Dominion War; " The Visitor ", in which an elderly Jake Sisko tries desperately to undo the loss of his father; and " Far Beyond the Stars ", in which Sisko has a vision of himself as
14868-457: The voyages of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise , a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before ". In creating Star Trek , Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester 's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift 's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels ,
14994-480: Was Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds , which was published in hardcover by Whitman Books in 1968. In 1968, Gene Roddenberry cooperated with Stephen Edward Poe, writing as Stephen Whitfield, on the nonfiction book The Making of Star Trek for Ballantine Books . Among the most recent is the Star Trek Collection of Little Golden Books . Three titles were published by Random House in 2019,
15120-578: Was a magazine published in the U.S. that ceased publication in 2003. Star Trek Magazine , originally published as Star Trek Monthly by Titan Magazines for the United Kingdom market, began in February 1995. The magazine has since expanded to worldwide distribution under the name Star Trek Explorer . Other magazines through the years included professional, as well as magazines published by fans, or fanzines . The Star Trek media franchise
15246-410: Was a more critically acclaimed series". In 2018, IndieWire ranked Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the third best space science fiction show set in outer space, while placing Star Trek (1966–1969) in eighth place and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) in 12th place among other shows in this genre, including 18 overall. In 2016, The Washington Post called the Dominion war arc possibly
15372-411: Was also nominated for two Hugo Awards in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation for " The Visitor " and " Trials and Tribble-ations ". Deep Space Nine drew praise from African-American, Latino and other minority viewers for its handling of the minority characters, particularly the Sisko family members. In addition, actor Alexander Siddig (who portrayed Dr. Bashir) expressed his enthusiasm for
15498-462: Was bestowed with a number of award nominations and awards. DS9 earned 31 Emmy Award nominations during its run, including for makeup, cinematography , art direction, special effects, hairstyling, music (direction and composition) and costumes. Of these, it won two for makeup (for " Captive Pursuit " and " Distant Voices "), one for special visual effects (for " Emissary "), and one for its main title theme music (by composer Dennis McCarthy ). DS9
15624-433: Was broadcast worldwide. The show's cultural impact goes far beyond its longevity and profitability. Star Trek conventions have become popular among its fans, who call themselves " trekkies " or "trekkers". An entire subculture has grown up around the franchise, which was documented in the film Trekkies . Star Trek was ranked most popular cult show by TV Guide . The franchise has also garnered many comparisons of
15750-601: Was especially noticeable toward the series finale, by which time the show was intentionally scripted as a serial. Unlike Star Trek: The Next Generation , interpersonal conflicts were prominently featured in DS9 . This was at the suggestion of Star Trek: The Next Generation ' s writers, many of whom also wrote for DS9 , who said that Roddenberry's prohibition of conflicts within the crew restricted their ability to write compelling dramatic stories. In Piller's words, "People who come from different places — honorable, noble people — will naturally have conflicts". The series took
15876-464: Was instead analogous to shows like The Rifleman , featuring a town or trading post right on the edge of the frontier. As overall head of Star Trek production, Berman served as executive producer for the series's entire run. Piller initially served as second executive producer and showrunner, but left the series in 1995 to manage Star Trek: Voyager . Writer Ira Steven Behr was promoted by Berman to replace Piller as showrunner and held that role for
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