Star Trek: DiscoverySeason 5, the final season, is currently underway. The series debuted in 2017 and was used as the launch title for the streaming service CBS All Access, now rebranded Paramount+. It was also the firstStar Trekseries on television in 12 years following the conclusion ofStar Trek: Enterpriseback in 2005. While Paramount has spent nearly a decade trying to getStar Trek 4out of development hell, the franchise has been going strong on Paramount+ with various series on the streaming service at different times of the year. Now, there is almost always aStar Trekseries on the air at any given point.
Star Trek: Discoveryis a fascinating case for the franchise, as it was originally conceived as a prequel toStar Trek: The Original Series, but following the conclusion of Season 2 and starting in Season 3, the series jumped far into the future, the farthest point in the franchise history.Star Trek: Discoverynow takes place in a universe built on years of stories. Here is a breakdown of theStar Trektimeline across television and film and how it all leads toStar Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek: Enterprise (2151-2155)
Star Trek: Enterprise
The last television series on air beforeStar Trek: Discoveryis also the first in the timeline asStar Trek: Enterprisetakes place over 100 years before the adventures of Kirk and Spock inStar Trek: The Original Series. The series follows Jonathan Archer, the captain of the Enterprise NX-01 which was Earth’s first starship able to reach warp five. Major events in the series are around first contact with alien species like the Klingon and the Xindi. The series also featured the true formation of the United Federation of Planets.
The series also established the Temporal Wars, a conflict that stretched across time and space and resulted in the creation of multiple timelines as agents from various factions in the 32nd century were sent back in time to move history in their favor. This eventually resulted in an all-out war, and while it was resolved, it later had some major ramifications for the franchise. The first was that all-time travel technology became outlawed or destroyed in the 32nd century, so when the crew of Discovery jumped forward in time, they had no way of returning home. The other was a way for the writers tofix continuity errors, like moving up the date of Khan’s rise and the Eugenics wars from the 1990s, as established inThe Original Series, to the 2010s.
Star Trek: Discovery: Seasons 1 and 2 (2256-2258)
WhenStar Trek: Discoveryfirst premiered, it waspitched as a prequeltoStar Trek: The Original Series, taking place nine years before the events of the series. It introduced Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham, the never-before-mentioned adopted sister of Spock who ended up starting the war between the Federation and the Klingons, one that would have repercussions for the franchise for years.Star Trek: Discoverydealt with athreat from the Mirror Universe, a faction that would come into play inStar Trek: The Original Series, while season two brought on fan-favorite versions of characters from the originalStar Trekpilot in the form of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijln), and Spock (Ethan Peck).
Star Trek: Discoveryseason two ended with the crew of the Enterprise making the decision to jump forward 1000 years in the future to save the galaxy from an artificial intelligence threat. This resulted in Pike, Spock, and Number One telling Starfleet that Discovery was destroyed in the battle and vowing never to speak of it or the crew again to prevent another incident like the rouge AI Control from happening. This was done to explain why nobody in the later series ofStar Trekmentioned any of the characters onDiscoveryor the advanced technology the ship had as the first and only one of its kind to use an experimental spore drive.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2259-TBD)
star trek: strange new worlds
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsis both a spin-off ofStar Trek: Discovery, following Captain Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise, introduced in that series, as well as acontinuation of the original pilotforStar Trek: The Original Series"The Cage." Now that Captain Pike knows the fate that awaits him by the timeStar Trek: The Original Serieshappens, he and the crew of the Enterprise begin exploring strange new worlds. The series is notable for featuring not only Spock but also his first-ever meeting with Captain Kirk (Paul Wesley) and the first missions of Uhurua (Celia Rose Gooding). Other members of the original crew, like Nurse Chapel (Jess Bush) and Doctor M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun), while Season 2’s finale introduces a young Scotty (Martin Quinn).
It also adds a new wrinkle to the lore: La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong), who is a descendant of villain Khan Noonien Singh. The series has so far fleshed out the alien race, The Gorn, and features the foundation of the Prime Directive rule, one that forbids a Starship from interfering with the development of an alien planet. It also features time travel in two key episodes. The first was when La’an and another version of Kirk traveled to 2020 Toronto, where La’an has a chance to kill a young Khan when he was just a boy but doesn’t due to him not being guilty of any crime yet, and the other involved the crew ofStar Trek: Lower Deckstraveling back in time and arriving back 100 years before their time.
Star Trek: The Original Series (2265-2269)
The one that started it all,Star Trek: The Original Series, follows the crew of the USS Enterprise in their five-year mission to explore strange new worlds and go where no one has gone before. Underthe guidance of Captain Kirk(William Shatner), his first officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and friend and ship doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelly), the crew of the USS Enterprise are the most important characters in the Star Trek franchise. Decisions and events here have major ripple effects on the entire franchise.
There are far too many to name, but the biggest ones include in 2267 when the crew finds and uncovers the body of Khan Nooniegn-Signh, and after he attempts a mutiny, they leave him on a planet to begin a new life, an action that will have repercussions decades later.
Star Trek: The Animated Series (2269-2270)
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Animated Serieswas made in 1973, four years afterStar Trek: The Original Serieswas canceled. It featured the continuing adventures of the crew of the Enterprise’s five-year mission. It lasted for two seasons and helped round out the stories of Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the USS Enterprise.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (2271)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
While no official stardate is mentioned inStar Trek: The Motion Pictureand is only identified as the 2270s, supplementary material for the film dates it one year after the crew of the Enterprise’s five-year mission. The film sees the crew of the Enterprise reunite to investigate a mysterious and powerful alien cloud known as V’Ger, which is destroying everything in its path as it approaches Earth. While not stated in the film, subsequentStar Trekmaterial has suggested that V’Ger is the progenitor of the Borg, one of the franchise’s most popular recurring enemies.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (2285)
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
The most iconicStar Trekfilm,The Wrath of Khan, picks up 15 years after the events of theStar Trek: The Original Seriesepisode “Space Seed.” The time since theplanet Khan was marooned on, it became a wasteland after one of the planets near it was destroyed and altered the atmosphere. Khan now seeks revenge on Kirk and does so by going after the planet-terraforming machine called the Genesis device, a machine created by Kirk’s ex, Carol Marcus, and his son, David Marcus. Kirk is able to defeat Khan but at a price, as Mr. Spock is forced to give his life to save the crew of the Enterprise. Spock’s death will have major repercussions on the franchise that will be felt for years.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (2285)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spockpicks up just months afterThe Wrath of Khan, as the crew of the Enterprise discovers that there is a way to revive Spock. They go against Starfleet’s orders and steal the Enterprise to return Spock’s body and mind to Vulcan so that he can be reborn. The crew must also face off with hostile Klingons, led by Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), who is bent on stealing the secrets of the powerful terraforming Genesis.
Here’s How Much Each Star Trek Movie Made at the Box Office Upon Release
Star Trek is one of the most lucrative franchises of all time. Let’s look at each film’s box office numbers.
The film features some major hallmarks of the franchise. The first is the destruction of the Enterprise, a ship that had been with the franchise for years and would be absent in the following film. The second was establishing the core characters as fugitives from the United Federation of Planets, which would set up clearing their names in the follow-up. It also featuredSpock being resurrectedbut at another cost for Kirk, the death of his son, which would begin to drive Kirk’s prejudice against Klingons for many films.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (2286 and 1986)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Homesees the former crew of the USSEnterprisediscover that Earth is in grave danger from an alien probe attempting to contact now-extinct humpback whales. The crew travels to Earth’s past to find whales who can answer the probe’s call. The first and final part of the movie takes place one year afterThe Search for Spock, but the majority of the movie takes place in 1986, the present day for moviegoing audiences. While Star Trek had done time travel stories before, this one set a template for future entries in the franchise. By the end of the film, Kirk and his crew had been reinstated and cleared of all charges.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (2287)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontierdeals with the crew of the new USS Enterprise-A as they confront renegade Vulcan Sybok, who is searching for God at the center of the galaxy.Sybok is Spock’s half-brother, and he is from his father’s previous relationship with a Vulcan woman. This makes the second chronologicalsecret member of Spock’s familyand the first introduced in the series in order of release.
Sybok’s presence was actually hinted at in the seriesStar Trek: Strange New Worldswhen his lover, Angel, attacks his half-brother’s ship. The entry is also the first to allude to a higher power in the Star Trek franchise, and while God would not be revealed in the series, the idea of someone being the creator of life in the galaxy would be picked up years later inStar Trek: The Next Generationand is now the main storyline for the final season ofStar Trek: Discovery.
