Star Trek franchise

The crew of the Enterprise from the original 1960s show.

Star Trek is an American TV series created by Gene Roddenberry, which premiered on NBC September 8th, 1966 and ended June 3rd, 1969. The show featured a crew of space explorers traveling around the galaxy in a Constitution-class starship called the USS Enterprise NCC-1701, set in the 23rd century. It never caught on with late night viewers and was cancelled due to low ratings, but soon established a strong following in syndication that saw the show become much more popular than it had ever been in its original run. The original TV show became a franchise. Many different spin-offs of the original program have now been made, the last of which was a prequel with the original 'Enterprise' space ship.

Series Name	Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)	Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)	Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)	Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)	Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)
Original Air Dates	1966-1969	1973-1974	1987-1994	1993-1999	1995-2001	2001-2005
Number Of Episodes	80	22	178	176	172	98

Movie Name	Star Trek: The Motion Picture	Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan	Star Trek III: The Search for Spock	Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home	Star Trek V: The Final Frontier	Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country	Star Trek: Generations	Star Trek: First Contact	Star Trek: Insurrection	Star Trek: Nemesis
Year of Release	1979	1982	1984	1986	1989	1991	1994	1996	1998	2002
MPAA Rating	PG	PG	PG	PG	PG	PG	PG	PG-13	PG	PG-13

Extraterrestrial life

The drama of the shows typically arises from the crew's contact with various forms of extraterrestrial life, mostly humanoid but not all (eg the "Crystaline Entity"). In various ways, the premise of the ancient astronaut theory is used to assert the seeding of life throughout the galaxy as brought up in the TNG. (However, not to the overt extent of the later TV series, SG-1.)

Comments on Religion

Star Trek has numerous examples of anit-religion bias. Well-known examples include the 3rd season episode entitled "Who Watches the Watchers" where it is implied that an alien culture disgarding religious beliefs is a positive development. Religious parents may consider discussing these issues before their children view the program.

The Original Series

The main characters from the original series were:

• Captain Kirk
• Spock
• Dr. McCoy
• Scotty
• Sulu
• Uhuru
• Chekov