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Star Trek (All Generations)
Star Trek The Original Series
On September 8, 1966, NBC broadcasted the first episode
of Star Trek. Star Trek offered a slightly different direction in science-fiction
television, giving birth to stories that would focus on the human drama
of the crews' lives as much as the new worlds and alien creatures they
would encounter. Even though Star Trek recieved five Emmy nominations
in its first season alone, the show still wasn't close to a hit. Less
than three months after Star Trek's debut, NBC hinted that it might
pull the plug because of low ratings. Fans flooded NBC offices with
thousands and thousands of letters, and saved the show.
Star Trek's luck ran out on in 1969, when NBC cancelled the series.
On June 3, the network aired the final Star Trek episode, entitled "Turnabout
Intruder." Even though the show itself had ended, Star Trek continued
to gain popularity through syndicated reruns. And it resultet in many
spin-offs like The Next Generation, DS9, and Voyager.
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STARRING: William Shatner as Captain
James T. Kirk |
The Next Generation
On September 28, 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation
began. The pilot episode, titled "Encounter at Farpoint,"
was watched in over 12 million North American households. Set in the
24th century, roughly 85 years after the classic series, the voyages
of the U.S.S Enterprise D began "its continuing voyage - to boldly
go where no one has gone before."
Despite early criticism that plot lines resembled those of the original
series too closely, Star Trek: The Next Generation steadily climbed
in both ratings and in the number of stations airing the program in
prime time. By the end of the first season, Star Trek: The Next Generation
had become the No. 1 first-run hourlong series in syndication. The show
continued on for seven seasons, before coming to an end in 1994 with
a total of 171 episodes.
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STARRING: Patrick Stewart
as Captain Jean-Luc Picard |
Star Trek Deep Space 9 (DS9)
When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made its debut in January 1993, in the middle of Star Trek: The Next Generation's sixth season, people wondered, "Could two Star Trek series actually co-exist?" Deep Space Nine's creators, Rick Berman and Michael Piller, wanted to keep Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future while introducing a degree of tension and conflict. The Bajoran-Cardassian conflict would be a main component of the series, and ongoing tension between characters would be the main object that would set Deep Space Nine apart from its predecessor.
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STARRING: Avery Brooks as Captain
Benjamin Sisko |
Star Trek Voyager
The fourth and newest Star Trek series, which hit U.S.
airwaves in January 1995, is the first to feature a female Captain --
Kathryn Janeway. Set aboard the starship U.S.S. Voyager NCC-74656, the
ship and crew are lost over 70,000 light years from Federation space
and struggling to find a way home. The U.S.S. Voyager was carried beyond
the explored limits of space while in pursuit of a rebel Maquis vessel,
and out of necessity, the two ships combined into a mismatched crew
of Starfleet officers and Maquis terriorists.
This season, the writers dumped Kes in favor of a new character, called
Seven of Nine, in an attempt to draw viewer intrest. And it semms to
be working. The fourth season premiere had the highest viewing audience
since Voyager's premiere episode.
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STARRING: Kate Mulgrew
as Captain Kathryn Janeway |
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