The Star Trek chronology of our dreams, thanks to TechRadar.Com.
by Richard Edwards
If you want to watch Star Trek in order, it can be a daunting undertaking. After the Original Series, there are currently a total of 13 movies and seven TV shows, with more on the way. Watching them together without a break would you more than 24 days.
“Space: the final frontier…” When Captain James T Kirk first spoke those iconic words in September 1966, a legend was born. But the USS Enterprise’s original five-year mission was only the beginning of a franchise that’s now grown to galactic proportions.
With so much Star Trek content already out in the universe, any Trek newbie looking to explore strange new worlds, discover new life, and experience new civilizations is faces a mission of Kobayashi Maru-proportions to catch up.
With Star Trek: Picard behind us and Star Trek Discovery season 3 coming up (along with numerous other spin-offs), we’ve tackled half a century’s worth of captains’ logs to explain how the Star Trek timeline works. Here, then, is how you watch Star Trek in release and chronological order, across all TV shows and movies. Engage!
Star Trek TV shows and movies in chronological order
This is probably the Star Trek list you’re looking for. It’s where things get really interesting, as Star Trek movies and TV shows have a habit of jumping around the franchise’s chronology with sequels, prequels and bits in between. There are even two distinct timelines – don’t worry, we’ll get to that.
The original ‘Prime’ timeline was started by the Original Series, the Next Generation-era TV shows, and the first ten movies, The alternative ‘Kelvin’ timeline, meanwhile, was created in JJ Abrams’ first Star Trek (2009) to allow the familiar crew to have new adventures without contradicting canon. To avoid confusion, we’ve defined the two timelines as separate entities below….