History Main / WagonTrainToTheStars

[[caption-width-right:350:The fun of The Oregon Trail with none of the dysentery.[[note]]We hope.[[/note]]]]

%%Please start a new thread to discuss a new thread.

%%Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1649922795044429100

* ''Anime/SFSaiyukiStarzinger'' (dubbed as "Spaceketeers" in the US), a sci fi retelling of the classic Asian story ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' (''Saiyuki'') does this as well (the English dub, however, changes the ''Saiyuki'' references to ''[[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers Three Musketeers]]'' references).

The term comes verbatim from Creator/GeneRoddenberry's original pitch for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' to Creator/{{NBC}} in the middle of the 1960s, and references the early [[TheWestern Western]] show ''Series/WagonTrain'', which was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin about a wagon train making its way west]]. The original is now less well known than the "...to the stars" phrase, making it an example of ParodyDisplacement.

* The entire premise of ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', as the name suggests, is that the player and their companions are traveling through space on a train-shaped spaceship and visiting various worlds along the way.

* ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail''
** If the title didnt tip you off, the Astral Express is also a literal wagon train to the stars.

* Book one in the ''Star Trek: New Earth'' series is called "Wagon Train to the Stars". The book is nothing less than LITERALLY that. A group of civilian settlers embark on a nine month journey at warp two to the Occult system to colonize the planet Belle Terre as a new colony. At the last second, Starfleet decides to get involved, giving the settlers a four ship UFP escort led by (of course) the starship Enterprise under the command of the original space cowboy, Jim Kirk. In fact, the only way that the Council, and Spock (who was in command of the Enterprise as this takes place between TMP and TWOK) would even leave Federation space was if Kirk was in command of the Enterprise. The colonists are on Conestoga-class ships (partially designed by Scotty), most of which have Western-style names (i.e. the pathfinder ship is called the Rattlesnake, the hotel/casin vessel is Uncle Jake's Pocket), and when they fell under attack just after reaching the Occult system, they 'sphered the ships' with Kirk saying (and this is a DIRECT quote from the book)"It's an old defensive tactic. Circling the wagons, only in three dimensions instead of two."

* ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy''. There is a colony ship which is traveling to another planet. Evil aliens keep attacking and damaging it, and some of the damage can't be repaired, so while they started off with 10 engines, by the end they have only one, then zero. But, they did eventually get to their destination, which was covinently the home planet of the alien team member none of them had any way of knowing it was beforehand.

** The quarian race have been living the life of space nomads for the past 300 years. While most of the spacefaring species are organized in the [[TheFederation Citadel Council]], the quarians lost their homeworld in a RobotWar and have been living on spaceships ever since. They travel the stars as scavengers who salvage wrecked ships, until one day they find a way to take back their ancestral home with the protagonist's help.

-->--opening title lines for ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/XMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wagon.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Magneto takes this concept [[VisualPun a bit too literally]]...]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' (though without the spaceship).
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' has a spaceship ("or should we say ''{{faceship}}''?!")

* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' has a whole wagon caravan to the stars. Namely the Kushan fleet which gets continually expanded through the game, as the player fights their way through the galaxy to reclaim Hiigara, the eponymous homeworld of their people. There is also the Mothership, serving as the base of operations, and the only vessel which must stay alive through the game.
* ''Homeworld: Cataclysm'' has this to a lesser extent. Fed up with being marginalized on Hiigara, Kiith Somtaaw petitions the dominant kiithid for access to the Mothership. In record time, they design and build two command ships and an explorer ship, and the entire kiith heads into space to live as nomadic [[AsteroidMining asteroid miners]] with the command ships (''Faal-Corum'' and ''Kuun-Lan'') serving as smaller versions of the Mothership. Unable to field large fleets of specialized ships, the Somtaaw are forced to improvise and borrow designs from elsewhere. For example, the primary fighter craft for the Somtaaw is the Acolyte heavy fighter, which can also launch missiles in addition to its mass drivers. The design is based on tech traded from the Bentusi (minus the weapon systems). Instead of having a separate corvette type, the Somtaaw have designed the Acolyte to be able to link with another Acolyte and become an Avenger ACV (Acolyte Composite Vehicle). With double the firepower (minus missiles), the Avenger also has an EMP emitter. It's this versatility that is instrumental in the Somtaaw becoming the only ones who can save the day against the game's BigBad.
* The {{Retraux}} indie game ''Orion Trail'' exemplifies this trope, being an AffectionateParody of both ''VideoGame/OregonTrail'' and ''Franchise/StarTrek''.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheGalaxySuperExpress'' revolves around Doraemon and friends boarding the titular Galaxy Super-Express, a spaceship shaped like a train capable of carrying hundreds and hundreds of tourists from various planets to visiting multiple theme park planets.

The term comes verbatim from Creator/GeneRoddenberry's original pitch for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' to Creator/{{NBC}} in the middle of the 1960s, and references the early [[TheWestern Western]] show ''Series/WagonTrain'', which was [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin about a wagon train making its way west]]. The original is now less well known than the "...to the stars" phrase, making it an example of the WeirdAlEffect.

* {{Invoked}} by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_5 Gemini V]]. It was the first NASA mission to have a mission patch, which featured a covered wagon.