Since I’m new to the entire Star Trek universe, before I get started with my ridiculous mission my first task is to actually figure out what I have to watch and in what order I have to do it.
After hours of heavy research (five minutes on Wikipedia) I’ve discovered that there are six TV series, with next year’s Star Trek: Discovery being the seventh.
And yes, given how long this will take me, I’m certain watching Discovery will become part of the mission.
As well as the six series there are also 13 movies I need to watch. I vaguely remember someone saying either the odd-numbered or even-numbered ones are rubbish – suppose I’ll eventually find out which is which.
The important rule I want to stick with here is that I want to watch everything in the order it was first aired on TV or (in the case of the movies) released in cinemas.
I’ve already had folk on Twitter saying “watch The Next Generation series 3 first” and the like, but that isn’t really going to work. If I watch what are regarded to be the best episodes first then 1) I’m not really going into it with no knowledge, which is sort of the point, and 2) I’m likely to give up early if I know I’ve only got garbage left to watch.
So, sequential order it is. I’ll be going through the highs and lows of Star Trek as they originally occurred, and hopefully you’ll be joining me for the trip.
After I watch an episode I’ll write a short capsule review of it. These will generally be around 200 words long, unless something particularly remarkable happens in an episode and more needs to be said about it.
These reviews will be pretty low-tech. Expect no comedy gifs or anything like that: for the most part it’ll probably be a main header image and maybe another one or two.
This is for two reasons. Firstly, reviewing hundreds of Star Trek episodes is going to be a hell of an undertaking as it is without me slaving over flashy bells and whistles. They’re only designed to be little summaries of each episode, potentially encouraging further discussion or debate in the comments.
Secondly, I also have a life to live and since this’ll take at least a couple of years there will be times when I’m on holiday or away from my PC. On occasions like this I might have to end up writing something on a tablet or my phone, so not having flashy reviews as standard will ensure that standard doesn’t drop while I’m posting from a different device.
Here, then, based on air dates, is the definitive order in which I’ll be watching the whole of Star Trek.
Note: If a series or movie has an asterisk (*) next to it, that means it started / was released while the previous series was still running. When this happens, I’ll alternate between them based on their original airdate or release date, so that I’m still seeing everything in the exact order the public originally did.
Star Trek – season 1 (1966-67)
29 episodes, 1450 minutes
Star Trek – season 2 (1967-68)
26 episodes, 1300 minutes
Star Trek – season 3 (1968-69)
24 episodes, 1200 minutes
The Cage (the unaired pilot episode)
1 episode, 63 minutes
Star Trek: The Animated Series – season 1 (1973-74)
16 episodes, 368 minutes
Star Trek: The Animated Series – season 2 (1974)
6 episodes, 138 minutes
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Movie, 132 minutes
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982)
Movie, 112 minutes
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)
Movie, 105 minutes
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Movie, 122 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 1 (1987-88)
26 episodes, 1144 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 2 (1988-89)
22 episodes, 968 minutes
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)*
Movie, 106 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 3 (1989-90)
26 episodes, 1144 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 4 (1990-91)
26 episodes, 1144 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 5 (1991-92)
26 episodes, 1144 minutes
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)*
Movie, 110 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 6 (1992-93)
26 episodes, 1144 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 1 (1993)*
20 episodes, 900 minutes
Star Trek: The Next Generation – season 7 (1993-94)
26 episodes, 1144 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 2 (1993-94)*
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 3 (1994-95)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek Generations (1994)*
Movie, 118 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 1 (1995)*
16 episodes, 720 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 2 (1995-96)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 4 (1995-96)*
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 3 (1996-97)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 5 (1996-97)*
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)*
Movie, 111 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 4 (1997-98)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 6 (1997-98)*
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – season 7 (1998-99)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 5 (1998-99)*
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)*
Movie, 103 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 6 (1999-00)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Voyager – season 7 (2000-01)
26 episodes, 1170 minutes
Star Trek: Enterprise – season 1 (2001-02)
26 episodes, 1092 minutes
Star Trek: Enterprise – season 2 (2002-03)
26 episodes, 1092 minutes
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)*
Movie, 116 minutes
Star Trek: Enterprise – season 3 (2003-04)
24 episodes, 1008 minutes
Star Trek: Enterprise – season 4 (2004-05)
22 episodes, 924 minutes
Star Trek (2009)
Movie, 127 minutes
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
Movie, 133 minutes
Star Trek: Beyond (2016)
Movie, 122 minutes
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
13 episodes, TBC minutes
If you’re in a hurry, let me summarise: that’s a fuckton of Star Trek.
To be precise, not counting the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery that’s 726 episodes and 13 movies I’ve set for myself, clocking in at a total of 33,644 minutes.
That means if I was to watch it back-to-back without sleep I’d have to do it for 23 days, 8 hours and 44 minutes.
And that doesn’t count the fact that I’m going to be writing little capsule reviews of each one (otherwise this site would be a bit pointless). Say I wrote 200 words an episode and 800 words per movie: that would be over 155,000 words.
So hey, on the bright side, maybe I’ll get a book deal out of it when it’s all over.
My mission kicks off tomorrow when I watch the original episode of Star Trek, which I’m reliably informed is called ‘The Man Trap’. An appropriate name given the circumstances.
Until then, please do your best to spread the word about this project. The more people know about it at this early stage, the more people may be encouraged to follow its progress by working their way through the episodes alongside me.
On top of this, the more folk who get involved in the comments for each episode, the more we’ll all be able to get a big discussion going on this (what I’m led to believe is) fantastic world of Star Trek.
Hopefully see you tomorrow, when our journey begins.
Star Trek Virgin 
I know you seem pretty set, in what order you want to watch Star Trek Chris, but please be aware that broadcast order is not the best way to view Star Trek the original series as the first few episodes were broadcast out of chronological order (like firefly was). If you ignore the unaired pilot, the best episode to start with would be “where no man has gone before” there are actually four episodes set chronologically before “the man trap”. You can find the information over at http://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/and-now-we-present-complete-star-trek_19.html?m=1
I know you don’t want people to tell you what order you should watch the shows but I thought this aspect was important for you to know. I personally think watching star trek in chronological order rather than broadcast order, is a much better experience for a newcomer, it’s a much less jarring experience.
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Hmmm. Wasn’t aware of that (obviously, because I’m not aware of anything!).
Think what I’ll do is watch them in broadcast order but once I’ve got past that section I’ll write a separate post explaining how the order was messed up and what I think about it.
I’m really keen on getting the original experience, and if that includes watching them in the wrong order and finding out the chronological order later then so be it 🙂
Thanks for the heads up anyway mate, appreciate you warning me.
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No problem👍 Glad I could help you on your quest 😁
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I think the battleplan is sound. There is no way to get it right only the effort to get it the last wrong possible. A Kobayashi Maru scenario, in fact, in which you have squirted yourself admirably. GOD, you’re going to love Star Trek.
I’m so jelly. I wish I hadn’t seen any Star Trek instead of having seen all of it more than once. If I was I t he room while you were watching it I would just be staring at at your face like 😀
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Kobayashi Maru rings a very faint bell – was that from the first reboot film? That’s the only Star Trek I’ve seen but I only saw it once in the cinema so I can’t remember much about it
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You could say this series is going to be…
A bit mental
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YEEEAAAAHHHHH
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Someone got a book deal out of watching all of Doctor Who with their poor unsuspecting wife (Adventures with the Wife in Space) so fingers crossed for you
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