Star Trek: Discovery, the newest entry in the Trek franchise, soared out of the spacedock in its first season, juggling an interstellar war, alternate universes, and the ultimate betrayal. With just a little over one season under its belt, Discovery has yet to build the repertoire necessary to judge it against the Treks that came before it. We can, however, compare its first season to that of every other Trek series. Some series failed to capitalize on the early promise of a strong first season, and others overcame a terrible maiden voyage to achieve greatness. Here’s our ranking of the Star Trek series based solely on their first seasons.
7. Star Trek: The Next Generation
It only took two episodes into Star Trek’s first live-action spinoff for teen Wesley Crusher to save the Enterprise, a trope the show would use five more times during The Next Generation’s rocky first season. Wesley’s heroics were not the only flaw of a season mired in an identity crisis. TNG borrowed heavily from its ’60s-era predecessor, employing recycled plots (see: “The Naked Now” and “The Neutral Zone“) and unintentionally comical aesthetics, before ultimately finding its own voice.
Arguably the best of the Treks and one of the best sci-fi shows of all time, TNG’s woeful first season offered some of the franchise’s worst moments including the overtly racist “Code of Honor” and the meaningless death of Tasha Yar at the hands of a grease-covered garbage bag. But it did give us brief flashes of the brilliance to come. Patrick Stewart’s acting shines, even through the stiff dialogue, and the balance of pathos and humor in Data’s quest to discover his humanity steals the show from day one. Not to mention that Worf’s rich but underused Klingon backstory teases a wealth of great stories to come over two different series.
6. Star Trek: The Animated Series
Four years after the cancellation of Star Trek: The Original Series, its first spinoff, The Animated Series, gave the budding Trek fandom even more of Enterprise’s adventures over the course of its five-year mission. The show brought back nearly every core character from the original. Due to budgetary constraints, Walter Koenig — and his character Chekov — were left behind. It’s a serviceable extension of the original, filling the decade-long gap between the original and the first film.
With 22 episodes, only six of which aired in Season 2, Season 1 is the lion’s share of the series. Despite an overall blandness, the series does offer some memorable moments, including a trip to Spock’s childhood. Unconstrained by the costs of a live-action production, The Animated Series was able to expand the Trek universe with more aliens, including crew members M’Ress and Arex, and technologies like the holodeck and the life-support belt.
5. Star Trek: Voyager
In Voyager, the crew of the titular starship finds itself hurled to the other side of the galaxy, with no way home other than the 75-year warp journey back. After an impressive premiere — introducing Trek’s first female lead in a series — Voyager floundered most of its first season, never taking full advantage of its premise of terrorists/freedom fighters and the military, who happen to be hunting them, being forced to work together to survive.
To shake the status quo, Voyager gave us two aliens from brand new races along with a half-Klingon, a full-blooded Vulcan, and a Native American. Unfortunately, the Ocampa Kes proved one of the blandest characters in all of Star Trek, and the writers didn’t seem to know what to do with the Talaxian hybrid Neelix. The Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), on the other hand, became the breakout star of the inaugural season and remained one of the best parts of Voyager until the end of its run.
4. Star Trek: Enterprise
In 2001, Paramount gave the world what we didn’t even know we wanted: a Klingon running through a cornfield. Enterprise offered a bold new take on Star Trek, where Andorians were the big bad, transporters were experimental and dangerous, and Vulcans were, well, kind of jerks. Basically the beta version of Discovery, Enterprise turned Star Trek tropes on their heads and presented a more nuanced and critical look at what would someday become the Federation.
The show backpedaled in subsequent seasons, leaning on ideas from previous series, even (re)introducing the Borg in Season 2. The first season, though, presented space as the great unknown in a way no Trek since TOS had. Through the wide eyes of its crew, Enterprise captured the essence of space as a vast — and sometimes terrifying — expanse, but one humanity couldn’t help but explore.
3. Deep Space Nine
Deep Space Nine suffered from the same identity crisis as The Next Generation as it tried too hard to duplicate the show that came before it. What worked for TNG proved a bad fit for a show about a border outpost. Even in Season 1, though, it wasn’t afraid to lean into its premise: the Federation’s takeover of Cardassian Space Station Terok Nor in the aftermath of the brutal Bajoran Occupation. Episodes like “Duet,” which dealt with the emotional costs of war, teased the darker tone of the series’ later seasons.
From the Cardassians to the Wormhole Aliens to Odo’s mysterious origins, Season 1 laid the foundation of the Dominion War and the series’ exploration of religion, politics, and the limitations of morality in the face of annihilation. Not content to rely solely on its main cast, DS9 gave us a rich world of supporting characters. Cardassian tailor/spy Garak, villainous yet nuanced Gul Dukat, and Quark’s extended family of Rom and Nog all debuted in Season 1.
2. Star Trek: Discovery
What would Star Trek look like in the era of peak TV? Pretty good, it turns out. Following the adventures of disgraced Starfleet officer Michael Burnham, Discovery challenged the limits of what Star Trek could be. For the first time, starship captains were secondary characters — and replaceable ones. The franchise’s first fully serialized entry gave us twists and shocks worthy of Locutus on an almost weekly basis.
Unlike a lot of the previous series, which took time to, well, discover themselves, Discovery knew exactly what it wanted to be. It didn’t fall into the trap of previous Star Treks in trying to mimic earlier versions. Instead, it gave us a nuanced, character-driven adventure that showed it could go as dark as Deep Space Nine, yet still honor Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a better, brighter future.
1. Star Trek: The Original Series
Famously billed as “Wagon Train to the Stars,” Star Trek offered audiences a show like nothing else on television. It presented a vision of the future in which humanity had finally overcome its baser instincts, and war, poverty, and racism no longer existed. At the same time, it offered viewers an action-packed hour of space-faring adventure, featuring starships, aliens, and impressive production values for a ‘60s television show.
Despite never being a ratings champ throughout its three-year run, Star Trek did receive five Emmy nominations for its debut season, including Best Dramatic Series. For a show with some famously awful episodes, very few duds populate the first season. The Original Series’ best season gave us classic episodes like “The Menagerie,” “The Galileo Seven,” and “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Oh, and it also introduced us to some guy name Khan.
