Star Trek

Star Trek began life in the 1960's as a tale about humanity's quest to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life.

Although you wouldn't believe it now the early first series of Star Trek initially struggled and was threatened with cancellation after its second season only being saved by a letter writing campaign to the studio from fans. Nothing however could save it from cancellation after the third season and Star Trek may have become a footnote in history.

It was only after the series ended that Star Trek went on to create a massive fanbase in endless reruns on syndication and the show returned in the form of the first movie after executives recognised the success of the film Star Wars.

The original cast went on to star in 5 more movies, The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, and The Undiscovered Country.

The Next Generation

Such was the success of the Star Trek movies that in the late 1980's another Star Trek television series was commissioned. Star Trek, The Next Generation was set some 200 years after the voyages of the original crew and featured a new ship and entirely new cast fronted by Patrick Stewart.

The Next Generation really hit its stride in Season 2 and this season also so the arrival of Star Trek's most famous enemies, The Borg.

The show completed 7 seasons and over 170 episodes before the cast moved onto the big screen in Star Trek Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis.

Deep Space Nine

Coinciding with the approaching end of The Next Generation television show Paramount launched Deep Space Nine. This series differed from anything previously attempted in it was set on a space station allowing characters and the location to develop in much greater detail than ever before. Some say it's Star Trek's finest series whilst others argue it veered too far from the original concept.

Voyager

The mid 1990's saw another new Star Trek series take flight in the form of Voyager. This series again broke with previous traditions by installing a female captain and basing the entire series on the quest by the crew to return home after being marooned thousands of light years from home.

Enterprise

The most recent Star Trek series took fans back to the time when the Federation was first beginning. The show had a more rough and ready feel about it and set off with the assumption that not everything taken for granted in later shows worked.