A 'Brief' Rundown and Introduction to the Star Trek TV Series Franchise

The 2009 Star Trek has likely created a renewed interest in the "Star Trek" Universe along with a whole new generation of fans. Some may be interested in what came before the Chris Pine movie.

Enclosed is a brief synopsis and critique of the previous Star Trek series from a Trekker who has viewed most of the series' episodes.

STAR TREK

Series Run: 1966-1969

History and Synopsis: This was the original 'Star Trek' series that started it all created by Gene Roddenberry. It began with a pilot in 1965 starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike and a female first officer then only known as "Number One" portrayed by Majel Barret. The pilot also included a Vulcan Science Officer named "Mr. Spock" portrayed by Leonard Nimoy.

Critiques viewed the pilot episode as two cerebral. They also viewed a female first officer as unbelievable (this was the 1960s...) and asked Roddenberry to eliminated the entire cast for something more cowboyish. Roddenberry relented with one exception: he would not budge on his content that the Vulcan character Spock should remain a core member of the cast. Roddenberry won as Nimoy as the only member of the pilot retained for the 1966 revamp.

The new cast Roddenberry intended to reflect all humans on earth, thus it included a racially diverse cast, unique to television at the time.

The new Captain, James T. Kirk, new first officer, Mr. Spock, Dr. Leonard McCoy and crew would seek out new life and new civilizations week after week, exploring strange new worlds, bringing the concepts of transporters, phasers into mainstream pop culture.

Set in the mid-23rd Century, the crew of the Enterprise was part of the vast United Federation of Planets, a futuristic United States of America. The Federation's primary protagonist was the Klingon Empire, a representation of the Soviet Union.

The series was cancelled after three seasons, but gained popularity after the first moon landing in the 1970s. Additionally, the success of "Star Wars" in 1977 led Paramount to renew its interest in Science Fiction eventually leading to the cast returning for a motion picture in 1979 and several successful sequels.

Main Cast: William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as 1st Officer/Chief Science Officer Mr. Spock, DeForest Kelley as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Leonard McCoy, James Doohan as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott ("Scotty"), Nichelle Nichols as Communications Officer Lt. Uhura, George Takei as Helsman Lt. Sulu and Walter Koenig as Navigator Ensign Pavel Chekov (Seasons 2 and 3).

Major Recurring Cast: Majel Barret as Nurse Christine Chapel and Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Janice Ran (Season 1)

Recurring Enemies: Klingons, Romulans

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

Series Run: 1987-1994

History and Synopsis: The huge success of 1986's "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" led to producers considering returning the franchise to the small screen with a brand new cast and to update the show for the 1980s.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was set 78 years after the movie films in the 24th Century, partially to help update the technology as some of the then-futuristic gadgets from the 1960s had now become part of mainstream technology by the 1980s. The crew's ship would be the Enterprise-D, the namesake of the ship from the original series.

The plot the new Star Trek was once again seeking out new lifeforms and new civilizations. The tone, however, was less cowboyish/action-oriented and more cerebral, as Roddenberry had originally intended "Star Trek" to be. Episodes often dealt with ethics and were loaded with hidden themes about society and politics, considerably less subtly than the original series. The new tone fit the era and the series was a huge success.

The series included characters and aliens from the original series such as the Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans and introduced a number of new species. Added to the main cast was partially telepathic Betazoid Deanna Troi and Data an android (artificial lifeform). A major subplot of the show was Data's exploration of humanity and his lifelong goal to learn to be "more human." Klingon Worf was added to symbolize the idea that the Klingon's had now made peace with the federation.

Included among these new species was the Borg, a cybernetic species whose mission was to assimilate humanoid societies into their vast mechanical collective. Once assimilated, the civilazation would lose its distinctiveness and free will, serving the collective as cyborg drones.

The show introduces the holodeck to the franchise. The holodeck, is a holographic/virtuality recreational room on the ship that projects hard light images, places, people and things in such detail that they give the crew the illusion of being in a different place entirely when in reality they are in a room on the ship.

Main Cast: Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean Luc-Picard, Jonathan Frakes as 1st Officer Commander William T. Riker, Brent Spiner as Operations Officer Lt. Commander Data, Levar Burton as Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge, Michael Dorn as Security Chief Lt. Worf, Gates McFadden as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Beverly Crusher (Season 1, 3-7), Marina Sirtis as Counselor Diana Troi, Denise Crosby as Security Chief Lt. Tasha Yar (Season 1).

Major Recurring Cast: Whoppi Goldberg as bartender Guinan (Seasons 2-6), Colm Meaney as Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien (Seasons 1-6), Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher (main cast member Seasons 1-4), Majel Barret as Lwaxanna Troi, mother of Deanna Troi, Patti Yusatake as Nurse Ogawa (Seasons 4-7), Dwight Schultz as Engineer Reginald Barclay (Seasons 3-7).

Recurring Enemies: Q, Romulans, the Ferengi, Lore, the Borg, Cardassians

Returning Original "Star Trek" characters: Leonard Nimoy as Ambassador Spock (Season 5), DeForest Kelley as Admiral McCoy (Pilot Episode), James Doohan as Capt. Montgomery Scott (Season 6), Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek (Season 3, 5).

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

Series Run: 1993-1999

History and Synopsis: Here I will editorialize is where executives or whomever started getting greedy. The Next Generation was a huge success as were the films featuring the original cast.

However, the original cast was aged by the 1990s and their final movie was released in 1991. Paramount wanted to continue making movies and intended to move the "Next Generation" cast to the films, due to the series popularity. A spin-off, entitled Deep Space Nine (DS9) was launched in 1993, amidst the Next Generation's sixth season.

The series was sucessful. Unlike any previous series, the series revolved around a space station, DS9. The Space Station borders the first stable wormhole, which proves to be a gateway to the Gamma Quadrant, a distant unexplored galaxy. Commander Benjamin Sisko (Capt. by the Season 3 Finale) is put in charge of a space station on the Cardassian border. The station, which borders the planet Bajor, is jointly controlled by the Bajorans. Kira Nerys, a Bajoran military officer, becomes the stations first officer. Enterprise Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien becomes the station's Chief of Operations, which on a space station, is basically the Chief Engineer.

Several characters and concepts from the previous series were incorporated into the show. However, the show took a more soap opera style line around the time of the fourth season with large subplots that would extend throughout a season or for multiple seasons, such as the eventual war with the show's primary protagonist, the Dominion. The war begins in late season five and continues through the series finale.

The show introduces new aliens, including the Dominion, a war-like federation led by "the Founders," an alien race of shapshifters, whose species, Security Chief Odo learns he is a member of during the third season. A conspiracy hits the federation when the shapeshifters infiltrate Starfleet Command.

In the third season, the U.S.S. Defiant starship was added to allow the crew to visit other worlds more periodically.

During the fourth season, the Klingons were predominantly featured again and withdrawl from their alliance with the Federation (the Klingons would later reestablish the alliance to fight the Dominion). Worf joins the cast of DS9 as the starfleet officer most experienced in dealing with Klingons. The move increases the race's presence throughout the remainder of the series.

The show also revisits the "Mirror Universe" first introduced in the episode "Mirror, Mirror" from the original series in several episodes throughout the series averaging one episode per season during the middle or the series.

Unlike other Star Trek series, the show also developed a large recurring cast. Many episodes in later seasons would revolve around the recurring cast members.

Main Cast: Avery Brooks as Capt. Benjamin Sisko, Nana Vistor as Major Kira Nerys, Rene Aberjonois as Security Chief Odo, Terry Ferrell as Chief Science Officer Jadzia Dax (Seasons 1-6), Alexander Siddig as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Julian Bashir, Colm Meaney as Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien, Michael Dorn as Strategic Operations Officer Lt. Commander Worf (Seasons 4-7), Armin Shimerman as Quark, Cirroc Lofton as Jake Sisko and Nicole de Boer as Counselor Ezri Dax (Season 7).

Major Recurring Cast: Andrew Robinson as Garak, Rosalind Chao as Keiko O'Brien, Brock Peters as Joseph Sisko, Max Grodenchik as Rom, Aron Eisenberg as Nog, Chase Masterson as Leeta, Mark Allen Shepard as Morn.

Recurring Enemies: Gul Dukat, The Dominion (Includes: The Founders, female founder/shapeshifter, the Jem 'Hadar warriors, the Vorta and Weyoun), the Cardassians, the Ferengi, the Maquis, Kai Winn, Mirror Universe Intendant Kira.

Returning Star Trek: the Next Generation Characters: Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean Luc Picard (Pilot Episode), Johnathan Frakes as Thomas Riker (Season 3), Michael Dorn as Lt. Commander Worf (series regular Seasons 4-7), Colm Meaney as Chief of Operations Miles O'Brien (series regular), Majel Barret as Lwaxana Troi (Seasons 1-4), John DeLancie as Q (Season 1), Robert O'Reilly as Klingon Chancellor Gowron (Seasons 4-7), Tony Todd as Kurn (Season 4).

STAR TREK: VOYAGER

Series Run: 1995-2001

History and Synopsis: Star Trek: Voyager was another spin-off launched in 1995, taking place during the same time period as DS9 and Next Generation. However, unlike any previous series, this series would find the starship Voyager stranded in the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light years from home. It would take the crew roughly 75 years to reach Earth.

Capt. Kathyrn Janeway recruits Tom Paris, a former member of the renegade Maquis, to track down the maquis ship carrying Voyager's Security Chief, Commander Tuvok, undercover and on assignment to infiltrate the Maquis. (The Paris character based on a character in the Next Generation episode, "The First Duty," portrayed by the same actor). Voyager, while tracking the path of the ship, is pulled by an alien Array to the Delta Quadrant and encounter new alien species. While much of the crew is killed in the process, the crew does find the Maquis ship in the Delta Quadrant.

Believing a hostile alien species intends to harm use the array to harm a helpless humanoid race and believing their presence led to the hostile aliens gaining control of the array, Capt. Janeway orders the destruction of the array, leaving both crews stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

Both crews unite, with the Maquis Capt. Chakotay becoming the First Officer and the Maquis Engineer B'Elanna Torres (half Klingon/half human) becoming Chief Engineer.

The show introduces a holographic doctor, who becomes the Chief Medical Officer. The doctor is a projection that utilizes the same technology that creates characters on the holodeck. However, as the show moves forward, the doctor is granted increases autonomy and eventually evolves from being treated as an appliance to an actual member of the crew.

The Borg, native to the Delta Quadrant, are featured prominently in the series beginning in the middle of the third season through the series finale.

A Borg human female severed from the collective, joins the crew at the start of the fourth season. Having been assimilated as a young girl, her personality is more Borg than human and she prefers to be called by her drone designation, Seven of Nine, as opposed to her human name. She retains much of her Borg characteristics and clashes with Capt. Janeway from time to time, though the two share a mutual respect for one another and grow to become close as the series progresses. Throughout the series, she relearns, sometimes reluctantly how to be human again.

Unlike its predecessors, Voyager did not have major recurring cast that appeared to the degree that recurring cast members did on previous series, largely because the crew was stranded from Starfleet and the Federation.

Many villians and guest cast from "Star Trek: the Next Generation" would appear throughout the series, including three appearances by Q and several appearances by Diana Troi and Reginald Barclay together in the sixth and seventh seasons.

The Season 3 episode "Flashback," featured three characters from the original series: Hikaru Sulu, Janice Rand and the Klingon Captain Kang. All three were portrayed by the same actors who portrayed the characters in the 1960s series. The episode aired in 1996, the 30th anniversary of "Star Trek."

Main Cast: Kate Mulgrew as Capt. Kathryn Janeway, Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay, Tim Russ as Security Chief Tuvok, Roxanne Dawson as B'Elanna Torres, Robert Picardo as the Doctor, Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine (Seasons 4-7), Robert Duncan McNeil as Helmsman Lt. Tom Paris, Garrett Wang as Chief Operations officer Ensign Harry Kim, Ethan Phillips as Neelix and Jennifer Lein as Kes (Seasons 1-3).

Recurring Enemies: The Kazon, Seska, the Borg, the Vidiians, Species 8472, the Hirogen, Q.

Returning Characters From Previous "Star Trek" Series: Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker (Season 2), John DeLancie as Q (Seasons 2,3,7), Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi (Seasons 6,7), Dwight Schultz as Lt. Reginald Barclay (Seasons 2,6,7), George Takei as Capt. Hikaru Sulu (Season 3), Grace Lee Whitney as Commander Janice Ran (Season 3), Michael Ansara as Kang (Season 3), Levar Burton as Capt. LaForge (Season 5), Armin Shimerman as Quark (Pilot Episode).

STAR TREK ENTERPRISE

Series Run: 2001-2005

History and Synopsis: After Voyager aired its series finale in 2001, Paramount immediately began work to air a new Star Trek show that fall season. Riding on the Prequel trend made popular by the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, it was decided the new series would take place 100 years before the events the original Star Trek series, roughly a decade before the formal formation of the United Federation of Planets.

Throughout much of series, the crew would encounter aspects of Trek lore for the first time and the show would gradually evolve to include and establish concepts first presented in the original series. The Vulcans play a predominant role in this series as we learn much more about Vulcan society than in any other series and see a great varied aspects of Vulcan culture, both positive and negative.

The series would become the least popular of the franchise. Due to continually low ratings (and arguably a persistent lack of chemistry between the cast itself), the series was cancelled in 2005.

As the series took place long before the original series, it was rare for a cast member from a previous series to appear on the show. However, Brent Spiner did appear several times as Arik Soong, an ancestor of Data's creator. Additionally Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis appeared as their "Next Generation" characters, Riker and Troi in the series finale as the entire episode was set as a holodeck program on the Enterprise holodeck.

Main Cast: Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, Jolene Blalock as Science Officer T'Pol, Connor Trinneer as Chief Engineer Charles Tucker "Trip," Dominic Keating as Armory Officer Lt. Malcolm Reed, Linda Park as Communcations Officer Hoshi Sato, Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather, John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox.

Major Recurring Cast: Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Maxwell Forest, Gary Graham as Vulcan Ambassador Soval

Recurring Enemies: the Klingons, the Suliban, the Andorians (Thy'lek Shran), the Xindi, the Romulans, Arik Soong.