The Star Trek franchise is one of the oldest and most beloved space operas of all time, and with so many movies and TV shows set within the main canon, it can be pretty taxing trying to keep up as a casual fan. The sci-fi franchise started with Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966, and despite the show’s cancellation after three seasons, an avalanche of prequels, sequels, and spinoffs has since fleshed out the universe set in motion by creator Gene Roddenberry.
Although devoted Trekkies tend to get more out of the franchise thanks to frequent interaction with the various projects on offer, it’s still possible to enjoy Star Trek without diving in deeply. Casual fans of the franchise can easily get key details wrong, and some mistakes are made pretty commonly among part-time Trekkies. While everyone’s Star Trek experience can be unique, misinterpreting certain aspects of the franchise can actually affect how well certain elements are received. As such, it’s time to put the record straight.
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Thinking Every ‘Star Trek’ Project Is Needed for the Franchise To Make Sense
Most ‘Star Trek’ Shows Can Be Enjoyed in Isolation
It’s certainly true that every Star Trek movie and TV show combine to tell a much longer, generational story. That said, it’s not a strictly linear affair. Fans can start with pretty much any show and enjoy it. They will miss some of the references to other Star Trek shows, but every effort is taken not to alienate those who aren’t “caught up.” Certain episodes of some Star Trek shows will revolve heavily around characters and storylines that have previously been part of other Star Trek projects, but they always make sense in the new context in which they’re presented.
The purest example of this is J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie trilogy. While all three movies feature characters who first appeared in The Original Series, the trilogy takes place in an alternate reality, with new actors portraying those characters. There are many Easter eggs and references to TOS that inform the story of the trilogy, but they aren’t necessary for viewers to stay engaged. Conversely, Star Trek: Lower Decks is probably the least advisable place to start, as the animated comedy is essentially a wall-to-wall parody of the franchise at large, dense with nods to other shows and movies.
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Where the Movies & TV Shows Fall on the ‘Star Trek’ Timeline
Newer-looking ‘Star Trek’ Shows Aren’t Necessarily Prequels
Every new Star Trek project doesn’t necessarily act as a sequel to the one that came before. Things started that way, but the timeline has since become trickier to follow as the decades have passed. After The Original Series kick-started the franchise with a 23rd-century setting, Star Trek remained quite linear for a while. However, a sizable time jump then introduced audiences to the 24th century with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. When Voyager ended in 2001, Star Trek looped back around with Enterprise, which was set in the 22nd century, and is still a prequel to everything today.
Star Trek: Discovery brought the TV franchise back in 2017 for the first time since Enterprise ended in 2005, but it was set between Enterprise and TOS. After that, it became anyone’s guess when the next Star Trek show would be set. The 22nd century hasn’t been revisited, but Star Trek has fleshed out the 23rd and 24th centuries in fairly sporadic fashion. Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery both push onward by ending in the 25th and 32nd centuries, respectively. What makes the timeline even trickier for casual Star Trek fans is the modernized aesthetics introduced since Discovery, despite some shows being set before TOS.
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One of Captain Kirk’s Most Famous “Quotes” in ‘Star Trek’
“Beam me up, Scotty,” Is a Falsehood
Star Trek has enjoyed such longevity that much of its lexicon has made its way into popular culture. For instance, “Revenge is a dish best served cold,” while not being created by Star Trek, was popularized by the franchise when it canonized the saying as an old Klingon proverb. “Live long and prosper,” the immortal Vulcan farewell, is also known to many who have never seen a single second of Star Trek, and those who are only intermittent fans. However, the most famous quote that’s attributed to Star Trek was never actually uttered on screen.
William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk was often on the surface of a hostile alien world and needed immediate extraction in the face of a hostile threat. So, while he did ask the Enterprise’s chief engineer to fire up the transporters in these situations, Kirk never said: “Beam me up, Scotty.” He used several variations of the phrase, but he never gave the order to James Doohan’s character in this specific way. So, when a casual fan says “Beam me up, Scotty” in the presence of a die-hard Trekkie, there’s quite often a little lecture that follows.
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‘Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets & Starfleet Being the Same Thing
They Are Related, But Not Synonymous
Starfleet is a spacefaring organization that’s based on Earth and founded by humanity. It features heavily in every Star Trek show because most of the main characters are human and almost always serve aboard Starfleet vessels. Since its inception in the 22nd century, Starfleet has become a body that welcomes members of all species. At first, it was unusual for a non-human to be a Starfleet officer, but that gradually stopped being the case. The Federation is related to Starfleet, but the two terms are not necessarily interchangeable.
The Federation was not founded until after Starfleet, and it consists of member worlds spread throughout space. Earth is a founding member of the Federation, but so are Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar Prime. The list of worlds that have been welcomed into the Federation has increased a considerable amount since its inception, and it’s an ongoing mission to make sure that list continues to grow. Starfleet has also since been folded into the Federation as the organization’s primary spacefaring body. So, when the Federation was founded at the end of Star Trek: Enterprise, all Starfleet ships became Federation ships, but not all Federation ships are Starfleet.
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The Full Truth of Spock’s ‘Star Trek’ Lineage
The “Vulcan” Has a More Complex Background
First played by Leonard Nimoy, Spock debuted in Star Trek: The Original Series as the only alien serving aboard the USS Enterprise. Strange New Worlds has since retconned that with Commander Una Chin-Riley, but that’s beside the point. Regardless, Spock is often referred to as a Vulcan, which is a simplification of his race. Only his father was Vulcan, while his mother was human. Spock appears indistinguishable from a full-blooded Vulcan, but his human side is a vital part of his character.
Growing up on Vulcan, which is also the name of the Vulcan homeworld, Spock always felt like an outsider because of his partial Earth origins. This is addressed in numerous corners of the Star Trek franchise and features quite prominently in Strange New Worlds, with Ethan Peck playing a younger version of Spock. So, the fact that Spock is half-human isn’t just a curious piece of trivia to be swept aside, but is actually worth knowing to fully appreciate the respective performances of Nimoy and the other Spock actors. That said, it’s understandable that he’s referred to as a Vulcan more often than he is correctly labeled a Vulcan/human hybrid. It’s quicker.
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The Canon Status of Animated ‘Star Trek’ Shows
Only ‘Star Trek: Scouts’ Isn’t Canon
Primarily a live-action saga, Star Trek has also made animated shows and integrated them into the timeline. The first was Star Trek: The Animated Series, which continued The Original Series after it was canceled. There has been debate about whether The Animated Series is part of the main canon. While its status has fluctuated over the years, it officially belongs to the same continuity as all the live-action shows.
Similarly, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy, both of which were made for the modern era, are also canon to the rest of the franchise. Lower Decks features several cameos by established Star Trek stars. Despite its unconventional, meta approach to fleshing out the canon while also breaking the fourth wall, the show is 100% part of the Prime Timeline. Prodigy is essentially a legacy sequel to Voyager, so it’s even harder to argue that it’s not canon. The only animated Star Trek outlier is Star Trek: Scouts, which is very clearly not canon and is aimed at a much younger audience. Paramount+ is the streaming home of Star Trek.