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Who's the main common denominator between Star Trek: Voyager, Seinfeld, and Toy Story? The answer is Estelle Harris, who guest starred in a Voyager episode, recurred on Seinfeld as George Costanza's mother, and provided the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in several of the Toy Story movies.

Breaking that down in more detail, Harris -- who died at the age of 93 on April 2, 2022, just 20 days shy of her 94th birthday -- guest-starred as Old Woman in the Voyager episode “Sacred Ground.” That season-three installment premiered on October 30, 1996. According to StarTrek.com, “The Old Woman was actually a projection of the Nechani Spirits, and Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) interactions with the Old Woman perhaps helped Janeway ease up on her hardcore devotion to scientific reason.”

Far more famously, Harris played Estelle Costanza, the shrill mother of George Costanza (Jason Alexander), in more than two dozen episodes of Seinfeld. Even serious Seinfeld...

Kate Mulgrew will go down in history as one of the lead captains of the Star Trek franchise. While her Captain Janeway may not be as famous as Captain Kirk or Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard, her performance is one of the biggest reasons why Voyager has the cult following it enjoys now.

Mulgrew has yet to reprise her role in a live-action capacity, though she does voice Captain Janeway in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy. However, the actress revealed that there were talks for a Janeway-centered revival, much like Paramount+’s Picard, but it would only happen if the fans wanted it enough.

Kate Mulgrew reveals talks about a Captain Janeway spin-off but puts the onus on fans Kate Mulgrew in Star Trek: Voyager | Credits: Paramount

Fans thought they had seen the last of Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard after Star Trek: Nemesis, but Paramount (like Disney...

The Picard finale was a great affair, but it could have been even bigger! Here's some of the cooler ideas that didn't make it in!

Caution: This article contains Spoilers for Star Trek: Picard Season 3

Star Trek: Picard had a rough go in its first two seasons. Having Patrick Stewart back as Jean-Luc Picard was a great idea, with Star Trek fans excited to see the return of the iconic captain. 

However, the first two seasons were muddled. Seeing a broken Picard looking old as he faced a Romulan plot was hampered by a confusing storyline and a lack of engaging side characters. Season 2 had the return of Q, yet it also suffered with a time travel plotline and a rushed finale. 

Season 3, however, was what Star Trek fans had always wanted: A full-on reunion of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast on a grand adventure. It was everything fans could hope for,...

Star Trek is a franchise that’s built on beloved characters who have risen to the status of icons across generations. Many of them have reprised their roles in recent projects, but Colm Meaney seems to be done with the saga.

Colm Meaney in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Paramount Television

He’s the renowned actor who brought Chief Miles O’Brien to life in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Meaney spent 11 years in the franchise, so it’s shocking to know that he’s not attached to it and has no intentions of returning to Star Trek.

Why Colm Meaney won’t return to Star Trek Colm Meaney in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Paramount Television

Colm Meaney’s Miles O’Brien started as a minor character who first appeared in The Next Generation. But in Deep Space Nine, he became a fan favorite, and for seven seasons,...

One of the most polarizing aspects of Mad Men remains its depiction of people of color, as the Civil Rights era is mostly told through the eyes of the white, upper class. In its defense, creator Matthew Weiner argued that he was making a statement, stressing that he wanted to showcase the ’60s for what it was, tumultuous and still struggling with its prejudice and institutional racism.

Mad Men | Credit: AMC

Although the show premiered in the late 2000s, a period when prestige TV was starting to take off, thanks to the phenomenon that was The Sopranos, Weiner was putting in the work long before the show was officially greenlit.

Matthew Weiner kept Mad Men in the oven for a better part of a decade Mad Men | Credit: AMC

Amidst all its strength, it’s the depiction of the ’60s that propels Mad Men to a whole new height, and...

Last December, Nick Carpenter had an existential experience onstage. He was standing with the band Dawes, screaming along as they performed their signature song, 2009’s “When My Time Comes.” The moment made Carpenter, who sings and writes songs under the name Medium Build, think about his deepest fears and goals as an artist — namely, about coming to terms with the level of popularity you’ve been gifted rather than constantly worrying about it.

“There’s a huge fear of: If I stopped working, will it all go away?” says Carpenter,...

When picking the next show to cover, I always ask myself: what’s something I used to watch that people either loved or completely forgot about—but should still love? This time, it’s Dark Angel. When I mentioned Dark Angel to someone, they immediately assumed I meant a different show. “No,” I said, “the one with Jessica Alba.” She was great in Idle Hands, but Dark Angel? That was something else. Honestly, I’m a little surprised I even watched it back then.

James Cameron—who needs no introduction—teamed up with Charles H. Eglee to make Dark Angel his first big project under his production company. Eglee, of course, is best known for Piranha 2… sure, he’s done other things, but for the sake of this episode, that’s the only credit that matters. The two cooked up Dark Angel while Cameron was, as always, on a quest...

Starting in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery, fans were ushered into the 'Nu Trek' era of Star Trek. It's an era that started with the aforementioned Discovery series and has gone through Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The era is far from done, but those are the key series that have made up this new era.

During the Nu Trek Era, one of the things that have become commonplace is the reliance (or overreliance) on past characters and actors from previous shows. Every show has either over-relied on previous characters or previous talents to bolster their show. It started with Spock and later Christopher Pike and Una Chin-Riley in Discovery (among others). Lately, we've seen the likes of Chakotay and Harry Kim pop up in Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks' respectively.

In fact, we've seen a large...

Star Trek: Prodigy debuted its second season on Netflix in July 2024. Since that time, fans have been eagerly awaiting news on a possible season three renewal. Though the series ended on a note that could possibly wrap up the storylines, there is still plenty of room for more adventures, which is why fans are still asking for Prodigy to be saved.

A fan campaign with aerial banner flyover has already taken place since it was so successful in helping to gain Netflix's attention after Paramount+ decided to cancel the series after only one season. And odds are good fans aren't done with spreading the word and petitioning for another season. The more attention Prodigy has, the better its chances.

Executive Producer Aaron Waltke asked on Twitter/X for those who enjoyed Prodigy to nominate the series for a Hugo Award in the Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) category, adding that...

Modern entertainment is too afraid to move forward. That is something we've seen across multiple genres and facets of the industry. Be it remixes in music that return a 40-year-old pop song to its former glory, a movie series that has been running non-stop for nearly 20 years with no sign of doing anything new, or franchises like Star Trek continually revisiting the past. We're stuck in what was once good and what may never be again.

Star Trek is one of the biggest offenders of this, oversaturating their modern product with copious amounts of nostalgia all to keep fans invested. Now, this isn't a bad thing if done every once in a while. If a show like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was the only culprit, that would be fine. After all, it's finishing the story the original, unused, Star Trek pilot started.

That's not the case though. Every series...

Jake Sisko & Wesley Crusher never met in the 24th Century

Cirroc Lofton's (DS9 - Jake Sisko) recent podcast "The 7th Rule" saw him interview Wil Wheaton (Tng - Wesley Crusher) where they reflected on their impact on portraying kids in Star Trek canon on their respective Starfleet vessels. Given both DS9 and Tng took place in the 24th Century, it struck me as significant these two young characters never connected in some type of viable crossover storyline.

We've seen Star Trek series, such as animated series like Star Trek: Prodigy (S1 E20 "Supernova: Part 2") that elevate the canon and continuity with the appearance of a wiser and older Wesley Crusher to honor the past to push the future beyond what we may know. It's this kind of crossover with Tng and Prodigy that Star Trek fandom loves to see, and I would like to see more as well there's...

The overwhelming financial success of "Star Trek" can only be ironic. "Star Trek," after all, takes place in a post-capitalist utopia wherein money has become a thing of the past, and want has been largely defeated. Reallocating resources is easy in the world of "Star Trek," as they have faster-than-light starships that can bring medical supplies to the sick, and matter replicators can instantaneously create food and clothing for the hungry and cold. Here on Earth in the year 2025, however, the makers of "Star Trek" are rolling in gold-pressed latinum. The ubiquity of the popular franchise across multiple streaming platforms has continued to generate huge amounts of revenue for Paramount, its holding company, for the last few years.

The Wrap has reported (via the Parrot Analytics streaming economics platform) that "Star Trek" has — from January 2020 to December 2024 — raked in $2.6 billion worldwide.

It's worth remembering that Paramount is earning revenue from,...

We've already touched on how Kathryn Janeway, and by proxy her actress Kate Mulgrew, appeared in over 200 episodes across Star Trek. For 30 years, and across two series, Mulgrew has built up a huge resume in Star Trek alone. She surpasses all of her Voyager and Prodigy castmates in appearances, and only bows out to three people; Colm Meaney, Michael Dorn, and Majel Barrett.

When we look at her fellow Voyager castmates, she nearly doubles some of her colleagues, like Jeri Ryan. The actress, who played Seven of Nine across two series (Voyager and Picard), has appeared in 125 episodes. 100 of them just with Voyager. While that's an impressive number, more than anyone on Star Trek: Enterprise ever got, it's actually not that impressive against her Voyager colleagues.

Every core cast member of Voyager, save for Ryan and Jennifer Lien (Kes), has been credited for 168 episodes. Ryan was credited with 100 (101 via IMDb...

For six decades, Star Trekhas told stories in shows set on ships and space stations. While each iteration of the universe Gene Roddenberry created is often very different from the others, there are things that every Star Trek series does. Beyond mere science fiction tropes, storytelling devices and thematic notions are what gives this universe its identity. While the universe is defined by its versatility for storytelling, there are some things every Star Trek story must be. Usually, this refers to more high-minded and thematic considerations.

The characters must be progressive, compassionate, curious and committed to preserving life in all forms. Roddenberry envisioned a better future for humanity with Star Trek, where things like prejudice, fear, cruelty and other undesirable qualities were all but eliminated. However, there are other things that make a story "feel" like Star Trek that appear in one form or another, in every series. From the...

When we talk about the greatest captain in Star Trek history, we don't often mention Kathryn Janeway. It's a shame because she should be in the conversation. The two names that get mentioned the most, and maybe rightfully so (or not rightfully so depending on your point of view) are Jean-Luc Picard and James T. Kirk.

Played first and most famously by Patrick Stewart and William Shatner respectively, Picard and Kirk have long been the franchise's standard bearers. As the first two series captains, they often are pitted against one another in debates, with many being split on who really is the best captain of the franchise.

While both men, and even others like Benjamin Sisko and Christopher Pike have a claim to the proverbial throne, Janeway has arguably the strongest argument for being the top captain.

Unlike every other captain (or eventual admiral) in Star Trek's long canon of television leaders,...

In the coming months, we hope to hear news about the next two Star Trek films. We're supposed to get two of them and while neither have official names yet, we've been referring to them as Star Trek 4 and Star Trek: Origins. However, both names will likely be changed in time.

The theatrical films have long been a source of enjoyment for fans, with the series producing more good films than bad. Albeit the film franchise is far from perfect. Still, the last three films were successful to a degree, with it peaking financially with Star Trek 2009, only for things to come crashing back down with Star Trek: Beyond. The latest film in the modern franchise was praised for a lot of reasons, but the trailer did seem to turn off a lot of potential fans before the film even came out.

It was one of the worst-performing films of the modern era.

Quick LinksSpider-Man is Not Peter Parker's Only Superpowered Alter EgoRicochet Was Excluded From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

The fourth episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, “Hitting the Big Time,” explored the ramifications of Peter Parker collaborating with Norman Osborn. Though anyone familiar with Spider-Man’s rogues gallery knows that Norman is destined to descend into villainy, he has served as a genuine ally so far. In this episode, Norman revealed that he had tasked Oscorp’s secret projects division with developing a series of new, high-tech suits to replace Peter’s homemade Spider-Man costume. Though they all provided some unique benefits, these were outweighed by the problems they caused Peter.

By the end of the episode, Norman realized that Peter needed a simpler suit that embraced the Spider-Man identity instead of trying to replace it with something better. Though this plot was unique to Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, the costumes featured within were not.

For better or worse, Star Trek: Section 31 is officially in the books. The final verdict? Maybe the worst piece of property Star Trek has ever produced. It's the truth, as fans, both old and new alike, have rejected this film. Even divisive series like Star Trek: Discovery have a strong, but small, fandom. There are people who will argue in defense of that series.

They'll cite season three as a high point, and with that, one more positive than Section 31 will ever have. That's because there's very little if anything at all redeeming about the film. At least on screen. To such a degree that, while it has some who liked it, the film is universally panned. There's a fan or two across the board who like it, but there isn't a sizeable community like you'd see for Discovery.

So, thankfully, the film is done and no sequel should ever be made.

Star Trek: Prodigy has not been in production for over a year as of this write-up. Reports claim that the show finished production in December of 2023. Netflix, who picked up the series after Paramount+ canceled it, would then release the show in July of 2024. Since the conclusion of the second season, there has been no word or update on the future of the show.

A season three is something many hope to see. From the cast, crew, and fandom alike, Prodigy was embraced. It was a highly entertaining show that split the difference between a legacy continuation and a brand new take on the Star Trek mythos. A spiritual successor to Star Trek: Voyager in some ways, the series mostly focused on a group of young cadet hopefuls. It received strong reviews and got people talking about what this show could be in time.

Yet, after 40 episodes across two seasons,...

Quick LinksProto-Type SuitProdigyThe HornetDuskThe Future FoundationClassic Suit

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been a hit with critics and audiences since it debuted on Disney+ on Jan. 29, 2025. Spider-Man has had many animated series over the years, and his origin story has been told countless times in comics and on film, so the fact that Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man can do it in a refreshing way that feels new and exciting speaks volumes about it. The series honors many eras of Spider-Man, and one way it does that is with the costumes. The series features a prototype suit, and trailers have shown it featuring the classic red and blue suit, but along the way, Spider-Man will test out a few suits from the comics, ones that haven't gotten the spotlight before.

Episode 4 "Hitting the Big Time" sees Peter Parker test out four new suits. Three of the new Spider-Man costumes come from...

Star Trek is at a crossroads. The franchise has seen three series underperform to some degree to kick off the Nu Trek era of the franchise, all while burning through money that Paramount+ will likely no longer be giving to any one show or film ever again. What little success the franchise has had was due to going back to basics, like with Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Both shows fully embrace the classic Star Trek approach to storytelling and to great effect. Even then, however, shows like Prodigy weren't safe as Paramount+ canceled the show after the toy line attached to the series failed to turn enough money. Since then, everything has been lean.

Ever since reports came out that investors and banks wanted returns on investment for streaming services, Paramount+ has been cutting costs across the board, as has Paramount Global. When the money facets turned off,...

The recent failings of Star Trek: Section 31 can't be understated. The film was supposed to usher in the next era of Star Trek entertainment, with more made-for-streaming films being made, all about different concepts. It was a unique idea and would set up Star Trek to be able to tell some stories without having to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a project.

We had ideas of what kind of films the franchise would see made next. Concepts like a spy thriller that wrapped up Star Trek: Enterprise, coupled with a return to the land of the living for one Charles "Trip" Tucker. Another idea would see the family of Worf banding together to have him his own Klingon house. We could do a huge idea and do a team-up movie featuring some of Star Trek's more beloved, but less profitable characters.

There were so many ideas...

Back in June 2023, Paramount+ announced one of the most unexpected news surrounding the Star Trek franchise. The streamer decided to cancel the fan-favorite animated show Star Trek: Prodigy, alongside a few other shows. The official announcement took the internet by storm, as people began expressing their disappointment.

A still from Star Trek: Prodigy | image: Netflix

Considering how the show had received appreciation from fans and had managed to bag a massive fanbase, people were left baffled by Paramount’s decision to cancel the show. Thankfully, the show later found a new home under Netflix and also got renewed for Season 2. But people continued wondering what might have actually led the streamer to cancel the show in the first place. So today, let’s take a look at what actually happened.

Why did Paramount+ cancel Star Trek: Prodigy?

Despite being one of the most beloved franchises in pop culture, even Star Trek...

The Orville is one of the best pieces of science fiction going today. Whether or not it gets a fourth season, the show's legacy has been cemented. It's funny, it's poignant and it's not afraid to do what Star Trek used to do quite a bit, and tackle serious questions. Topics like gender-affirming care, social media's toxic influence, addiction, and so many other conversations have all been had in this show. A show that is quite honestly a parody, and love-letter to the world of Star Trek.

It's actually one of the biggest compliments that the show routinely gets from Star Trek fans; it feels like a Star Trek show. That's not by accident, they've intentionally brought on numerous figures both behind the scenes and in front of the camera to come in and help with the franchise. Due to that, it has a very Star Trek vibe. Well, the...

Star Trek: Voyager debuted 30 years ago this month, and it’s a kick to look back at the show’s earliest days. For example, the Voyager cast are the old-timers now, as Enterprise, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, Lower Decks, several feature films, and now Section 31 have all followed. But, when Voyager started, “typecasting” was still very much a thing, the notion being that acting in a Star Trek production could lead to trouble landing subsequent roles after a series ended because the public and entertainment industry so strongly associated an actor with their Star Trek role. More than just about anyone other than Patrick Stewart, Voyager star Kate Mulgrew has avoided that fate.

“This is such a great job and, for me, Janeway is such a great role that even if a stigma were attached to it later on, that would just be tough luck," Mulgrew told me in...

Star Trek is in a weird limbo state. Most of the shows have been canceled, the long-gestating Star Trek 4 is nowhere to be seen, Star Trek: Section 31 was an utter disaster, the toy line they were so keen on failed, and they are all under the umbrella of a company that is struggling.

That said, they have two shows on the air a third in the works (Starfleet Academy), and rumors of not one, but two theatrical films on the way. All is not lost. The franchise is not as well off as it was heading into 2022 when it had five shows in development or on the air, but it's not failing. We went 12 years between Star Trek's Enterprise and Discovery.

We went 18 years between The Next Generation and Star Trek's original series. We've had worse stretches of time for Star Trek fans. We're not at...

Plot: Philippa Georgiou, the parallel timeline version of the deceased USS Discovery Captain, was Emperor of the Terran Empire before coming to our timeline where she joins a secret division of Starfleet known as Section 31. Tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets, she also must face the sins of her past.

Review: I am often an apologist when it comes to big franchises. I have overlooked a lot in Marvel, DC, and Star Wars in favor of pure, unadulterated entertainment. Since Star Trek returned to the small screen in Alex Kurtzman’s expanding portfolio of Paramount+ series with Discovery, I have found a lot to enjoy in each series. While Prodigy and Lower Decks have taken a new angle to Gene Roddenberry’s creation through animation, Picard mined nostalgia for The Next Generation. At the same time, Strange New Worlds harkened back to the heyday of The Original Series.

Robert Picardo played the Emergency Medical Hologram on Star Trek: Voyager for seven seasons and has since returned to the character on Star Trek: Prodigy. He'll also portray the character yet again on the upcoming Starfleet Academy. After so many episodes and seasons, he knows the doctor inside and out. But, of course, that wasn't the case when he first saw the doctor on script, then named Dr. Zimmerman.

According to an interview in Star Trek Communicator during Voyager's first season, Picardo just didn't get the character. He thought playing a "machine-type guy with no personality" would get very old very quickly. In fact, when he saw the audition lines for the doctor, the description read "colorless, humorless." Picardo passed on that audition and, instead, auditioned for the part of Neelix, which ended up going to Ethan Phillips.

Voyager producers came back to Picardo and asked him to reconsider the...

Every so often a site will decide to rank the Star Trek series in worst to best order. With more series having been added to the franchise, we have more to take into consideration now, and Entertainment Weekly's Chris Snellgrove took on the task of a new ranking order recently, calling it "our definitive take on every show in the sci-fi franchise." And the choices are bound to cause some disagreements, some of them vehement. In fact, the opposition has even started in the comments section.

Entertainment Weekly chose Star Trek: Picard as the worst of the series, and that set many fans off. Though the series wasn't everyone's cup of tea, the third season of Picard was an epic success and gave the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast a much better send-off than they'd gotten in their final movie together, Star Trek: Nemesis.

While the entertainment site...

Star Trek disappointingly has no new upcoming TV shows about its best and most popular era, Star Trek: The Next Generation's 24th century, which continued into the 25th century in Star Trek: Picard. Tng kicked off the most expansive era of Star Trek. Overseen by executive producer Rick Berman, the 24th century spanned Tng, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and 4 Star Trek: The Next Generation movies. Star Trek on Paramount+ continued Tng's era with Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Prodigy.

2025 won't be entirely lacking in Star Trek: The Next Generation-era representation. Star Trek: Section 31 is set in the "lost era" of the 24th century decades before Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, after Section 31, Star Trek on Paramount+ has no new projects scheduled or in production that take place in the late 24th century or early 25th century. Similarly, with...

With the Paramount+ streaming movie Star Trek: Section 31 premiering on January 24th, anticipation for an exciting new addition to the Star Trek universe is high. Academy award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou heads the cast as leader of the Terran Empire from the Mirror Universe. Yeoh is reprising her role as the complicated, battle-ready leader who was introduced in the series Star Trek: Discovery. Section 31 refers to a covert intelligence organization that carries out shadow missions outside the jurisdiction of the United Federation of Planets, that has been in existence since the beginning of Starfleet in the 22nd Century.

According to Inverse, Section 31 will occur in the 24th Century. It will reveal where the intrepid mirror Georgiou ended up after stepping through the Guardian of Forever in Season 3 of Discovery. This standalone movie was originally slated to be produced as a television series, but it’s my bet...

I've softened on Star Trek: Lower Decks these days. The show was never my cup of tea, and it pales in comparison to Star Trek's Strange New Worlds and Prodigy, but it's leaps and bounds better than Discovery and Picard. It's a middling show and its five-season run helps cement that fact. It was not a show that really stood out on its own.

It was emboldened by the endless cash that Paramount+ had a the start of its life cycle. Yet, when the banks came calling for past debts to be paid by these streaming services, all of a sudden just having content wasn't enough anymore. It had to be content that was bringing people in on subscriptions. By all accounts, Lower Decks didn't do this.

Animated shows are routinely less expensive to produce than a live-action sci-fi show like Star Trek, so if the show was doing well and garnering an audience,...

Star Trek: Prodigy is a very good show. It's Star Trek but truly for all ages. It's an animated story about the growth of these characters first and foremost. It focuses on a group of young Starfleet cadets, as they try to find their way in the universe as well as with one another. The story is as old as time and as relevant as ever.

A story about finding out who you are, no matter your age, is very poignant and always relatable. Sadly, we continue to find ourselves in a situation where the best of Star Trek is constantly being over-analyzed, while the worst of it gets renewed season after season.

If any show deserves a five-season run, it's Prodigy and its latest nominees almost prove that fact on its own. It's a spectacular series, that further proves itself against the industry's giants. While the category and award...

Every year the Hollywood Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild honors the most talented sound artists that have contributed to television, film, animation, computer entertainment, and student productions. Star Trek: Prodigy was included as a nominee this year for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Broadcast Animation. The nomination is for the second season episode “The Devourer of All Things, Part II." [via Trekmovie]

So far, this is the only award nomination for season two of Prodigy however, there is still a chance for a nomination for the 2025 Children and Family Emmys with nominations coming in December 2025. The first season of Prodigy received two Emmy-award nominations and production designer Alessandro Taini took home the award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.

With fans proclaiming the second season of Prodigy as easily the best of the two, it won't be a surprise if the series is nominated for at least one Emmy, if not more.

Star Trek's newest series, Starfleet Academy, is in production for the first season of the series, but in October 2024, the series was renewed for a second season. Paramount executives don't know how the new series will be accepted by fans, and it's a risky manuever to take a chance on the first season, let alone a second.

Though there has been some speculation that this is a cost-effective measure because there are fans looking forward to the series due to its setting and going behind the scenes of the Academy where every Starfleet officer got their start...well, most of them. There were one or two, like Jeri Ryan's Seven of Nine that got a field commission. So once the sets are built, it's easier to renew the series than to invest in an even newer series.

However, there are plenty of fans still wondering why Starfleet Academy...

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At the end of the 1994 film "Star Trek: Generations," the tried-and-true U.S.S. Enterprise-d crash-landed into Veridian III after a run-in with a sneaky Klingon vessel. The ship was damaged beyond repair, and the crew walked away, completely unsentimental about the ship's destruction. They were merely happy to be alive. In the 1996 follow-up film, "Star Trek: First Contact," the same crew was gathered on board the all-new U.S.S. Enterprise-e, a Sovereign-class vessel that was a bit smaller, but faster and much better armed. The crew stayed on board the Enterprise-e through the events of 2002's "Star Trek: Nemesis," the fourth and final film to star the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" characters.

The Enterprise-e was also severely damaged at the end of "Star Trek: Nemesis," although it seemed that this time, it could be repaired. After the events of "Nemesis,...

I've come around on Star Trek: Lower Decks. I find it to be a charming, relatively inoffensive offering from Star Trek. It's not 'Star Trek' as I would want it, but it catered to a small group within the fandom that wanted something different than what they were getting from Star Trek's Discovery or Picard. Of all the new shows, it snuggles directly into the middle of all the new shows.

Still, with Star Trek's Strange New Worlds and Prodigy out, it's hard to say that Lower Decks will have the same effect on the fandom as those two new shows. The reason for that is pretty simple, as our own Brian T. Sullivan pointed out; it lived in a world of callbacks. It over-relied on the concept. To the point that each episode felt like it was just a delivery service to get to the callbacks.

Imagine going to your favorite steak house, you place your order, you're waiting patiently, and then your food comes. Yet, it isn't the delicious piece of beef you ordered, instead, it's the most impressive-looking sushi you could picture. Do you eat it? Not likely, because it's not what you wanted. It's not what you ordered. It's also darn sure not what you expected.

So why do "filmmakers" keep trying to "subvert expectations" by giving fans of established franchises different things than they want? I'm not watching Ozark for a fun sitcom. I'm not watching Community because I want high-tension scares. I'm not watching Bluey because I like cats.

And I'm not watching Star Trek for someone else's interpretation of what they think Star Trek should be. There's a formula, a successful formula, and deviating from it makes very little sense. Especially after the last eight years, where we know what...

Star Trek came into 2024 with five shows, two films, and an endless supply of uncertainty behind it. With the concerns over project funding due to Paramount's mismanagement and the impending sale/merger that was bound to happen (which ended up going to Skydance), we had no idea what to expect in 2024.

By the end of the year, two shows are finished, one show hangs in the balance (Prodigy), one show missed almost two years of air time (Strange New Worlds) and a fifth is in production (Starfleet Academy). The first of two films (Star Trek 4) never got announced and the second of two films (Star Trek: Section 31) isn't trending in the right direction as far as fan hype is concerned.

Star Trek has seen its budgets for projects limited, which isn't indicative of Star Trek, it's a byproduct of Paramount's struggles that is affecting most of their scripted projects.

Most Star Trek fans adore Star Trek: The Original Series, and we're happy to spend time in that time period as well as the 24th and 25th centuries. We all have fond memories of great Star Trek episodes from the foundational shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek; Deep Space Nine. The Star Trek: Enterprise took us back to the 22nd century before Star Trek: Discovery returned to the 23rd century before jumping ahead to the 32nd century. Both Lower Decks and Prodigy are in the 24th century while Star Trek: Picard dipped a toe into the 25th century while Star Trek: Strange New Worlds redirected us to the 23rd century. And now, Starfleet Academy is on the way, and it's set in the 32nd century. So what is going on with the other 600 years that have yet to be explored by Star Trek?...

Star Trek: Lower Decks really steered into the multi-verse theory to close out their show's run. in the second-to-last episode of the season, the series brought in numerous returning stars from past Star Trek shows. Instead of reprising their roles, however, they all played alternate-reality versions of their original character.

For instance, T'Pol was married for a long time to Charles "Trip" Tucker in her timeline, while one version of Harry Kim was a lieutenant. It was all in good fun but the problem with the multi-verse concept is that it's overdone to such a degree the originality of it has lost its luster.

Not only that, but the point of a story is to follow around a set of characters and see what happens to them. If you could just replace the characters if they were to die or become disinteresting, then you lose the stakes of the moment entirely.

Star Trek is expected to have a quiet 2025. It's only natural, after all, 2024 saw Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks all release new seasons of their show. For Discovery and Lower Decks, it was the final season. For Prodigy, their fate remains unknown.

Yet, due to the turnover at the top of Paramount, and the new principal owner entering the picture, plus uncertainty about the company's profits and available resources, the studio has been a bit lean this year. 2025 currently doesn't have a lot to offer for fandoms of various products. Star Trek isn't unaffected by this by any means.

Currently, there are only two Star Trek properties getting released in 2025, a far cry from the idea that Paramount wanted to have Star Trek airing new episodes of various shows for 52 straight weeks just a couple of years ago. That idea was unsustainable and those...

The pairing of Ella Purnell and Star Trek has been wonderful. They struck gold when they cast her to be part of the main cast of the animated series. Playing Gwyndala, aka Gwyn, Purnell brings a life to the character that few could match. She conveys the complexities of the young girl's life perfectly. The daughter of a mad man, and the rising pupil within Starfleet.

Purnell has only seen her star grow since she originally arrived on Star Trek. She's now in four ongoing shows as the lead; Yellowjackets, Prodigy, Sweetpea, Fallout, and has finished up a fifth in Arcane.

Those shows have all helped establish her as a rising star and one that shouldn't be ignored. She's got a lot of drawing power now, and there are some, like Screenrant who believe that her rising star can help Prodigy find a third season on Netflix (or elsewhere). Sadly,...

Star Trek: Lower Decks is in the books with its final episode having aired just this past week. It's being heralded as a final episode worthy of the show and one that fans have really enjoyed. With its conclusion, there are now four shows in the Star Trek pantheon that have wrapped up during the Nu Trek era.

A potential fifth could happen soon if Netflix doesn't renew Star Trek: Prodigy. Yet, until that show formally gets canceled, there are currently just four shows that have been formally canceled and brought to an end. Those four are (in order of debut) Discovery, Short Treks, Picard, and Lower Decks.

The first four shows of the Nu Trek Era. With all of them in the books for good, we're going to rank and grade each of the first four shows of the modern era of Star Trek to see not only how...

Quick Links How Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Are Similar Skeleton Crew and Prodigy Have Significant Differences, Too Star Trek and Star Wars Need to Attract Younger Fans to Survive Skeleton Crew Has to Live Up to Prodigy In a Crucial Way

The following contains light spoilers for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, now streaming on Disney+, and Star Trek: Prodigy, streaming on Netflix.

The newest Disney+ series in a galaxy far, far away is Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which is strikingly similar to an animated series by its main sci-fi rival. Star Trek: Prodigy is a series that follows a group of misfit kids who end up in command of a powerful starship and go on-the-run. Even though both series were inspired by the same movies, they stand as examples of why these two universes are so fundamentally different.

To fans of more terrestrial stories, Star Wars...

Netflix would be wise to not only renew Star Trek: Prodigy, but also benefit from the rising star power of Ella Purnell. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 is the only current Star Trek series that boasts a perfect 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a stellar 96% audience score. Despite widespread critical and fan acclaim, and charting in Netflix's top 10 in several countries, however, Star Trek: Prodigy didn't reach the same heights in the United States, and the streamer has yet to green light Star Trek: Prodigy season 3.

Star Trek: Prodigy cast Ella Purnell as Gwyndala just as the British actress was starting to make inroads. Purnell had lead roles in Ordeal By Innocence, Sweetbitter on Starz, and Belgravia, but she began to gain fame from playing Dave Bautista's daughter in Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead and as Jackie Taylor in Showtime's hit series Yellowjackets. Star Trek: Prodigy...

The following contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5, Episode 9, "Fissure Quest," now streaming on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager actor Garrett Wang reprises his fan-favorite role of Harry Kim for Star Trek: Lower Decks, but with a twist that only the animated series could pull off. Rather than portray the familiar Kim from the main Star Trek universe, Wang plays a whole host of Kims plucked from different corners of the multiverse to safeguard all of reality. He also lends his voice to an alternate universe Lieutenant Harry Kim, whose rare promotion overshadows his descent into villainy.

In an interview with Cbr, Garrett Wang talks about taking on this uniquely multi-faceted approach to reprise his role as Harry Kim. He also reflects on the evolving legacy of Star Trek: Voyager and his prominent role on that show. Plus, he shares his feelings about getting to add more comedy to the Star Trek world.

Unless they're a Klingon or Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), pretty much everyone loves Tribbles. The alien critters, first introduced to the "Star Trek" franchise in the original series season 2 episode "The Trouble with Tribbles," are cute little furballs who reproduce with incredible speed, sort of like faceless bunnies on baby-making hyperdrive. They're both adorable and a major problem because they reproduce asexually and are born pregnant, able to produce a litter of 10 baby Tribbles, each pregnant themselves, whenever they are fed. Anyone who's ever tried to stop their pet from getting food they weren't supposed to knows it can be close to impossible, and if you have a pet Tribble, that means you now have 11 Tribbles.

Tribbles were allegedly wiped out by Klingon forces according to Worf (Michael Dorn) on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," but a killer Tribble variant appeared in "Star Trek: Picard," so they're probably still out there,...

Star Trek: Voyager's Kes could make a comeback, even if Jennifer Lien doesn't return to reprise the role. As an Ocampa with a projected lifespan of only nine years, Kes' days were necessarily numbered. Kes was two years old when she and Neelix (Ethan Phillips) joined the USS Voyager crew in 2371, so even if Kes had made it through Voyager's seven-year journey, she'd be near the end of her life for Voyager's 2378 arrival in the Alpha Quadrant. New Star Trek shows post-Voyager take place in the 2380s or later, so Kes shouldn't be alive ... right?

In Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 10, "Cold Fire", Kes meets Ocampa colonists who have harnessed their natural telepathic gifts, which allows them to extend their lives to 14 years or longer. After Kes begins training with Lieutenant Tuvok (Tim Russ), Kes' Ocampa powers grow at a surprising rate. Star Trek: Voyager season 3, episode 21, "Before and After...

Star Trek: Lower Decks is wrapping up its final season, with the finale airing on December 19th. It was the second of Paramount+'s Star Trek series to be cancelled after five seasons, but that doesn't mean the actors and the fans aren't holding out for more.

In an interview with Trekmovie, Jerry O'Connell, who plays Jack Ransom, said they were very proud of this season and "Come on. I mean… There’s room. Have another animated shows gotten picked up? Yeah, there’s room. Plus, we’re very proud of this last season. We’re very excited, and there’s no sadness. Never a goodbye."

And he's right about there being more room for animated Star Trek. Netflix made room when it picked up the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy. Will Lower Decks have the same fate? Right now, it's not looking that way, but as O'Connell said,...