History Main / WagonTrainToTheStars

Note that these shows need not necessarily take place in outer space. ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'', for example, was essentially a Wagon Train to the Stars show, underwater. (So, recycled in the ocean?)

** The semi-canonical sequel ''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.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' has a spaceship ("or should we say ''{{faceship}}''?!")

** ''Series/StargateUniverse'', however, fits this perfectly.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and its spin-offs (except ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', which was set on a space station) are both the TropeMaker and the TropeCodifier. The trope is the phrase Creator/GeneRoddenberry used to pitch the show to network executives. It's also the name of a ''Star Trek'' novel which contains pretty much this premise to the letter. For the record, ''[=DS9=]'' was compared to another Western, ''Series/TheRifleman''.

The term comes verbatim from Gene Roddenberry'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.

Note that these shows need not necessarily take place in outer space. ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'', for example, was essentially a Wagon Train to the Stars show, underwater. (so, recycled in the ocean?)

The ship is often enough, as in ''Series/WagonTrain'', a [[SettlingTheFrontier colonization/settlement]] effort that [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption never quite gets to its destination]], at least until the finale. In this case, the ship is likely to be a [[GenerationShip massive, self-sustained, multigenerational community]] - essentially a mobile city in space, which allows making use of tropes typical to both TheQuest and TheSiege basic plots as the heroes both have a goal in mind and are concerned with protecting their way of life until it can be reached.

If the ship has no fixed destination (''Series/DoctorWho, Series/{{Firefly}}'') then this overlaps with WalkingTheEarth, sharing most of the same tropes. In either case, it may feature the BoldExplorer.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and spinoffs (except ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', which was set on a space station) is both the TropeMaker and the TropeCodifier. The trope is the phrase Gene Roddenberry used to pitch the show to network executives. It's also the name of a Star Trek book which contains pretty much this premise to the letter. For the record, ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was compared to another Western, ''Series/TheRifleman''.

Compare SpaceWestern, SpaceOpera.

The term comes verbatim from Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' to Creator/{{NBC}} in the middle of the 1960s, and references the early 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.

* ''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 dub however, changes the Saiyuki references to [[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers Three Musketeers]] references).

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' has a spaceship ("or should we say ''faceship''?!")

** While the Galaxy has a very effective and fast hyperspace highway network and the player never quite goes out of their way to explore new frontiers, the ''[[CoolStarship Normandy]]'', her crew and the assorted adventures they have over the course of an overarching plot remain the heart and soul of the series' appeal.
** 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.

** 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 homewold 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.

* The protagonists if ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'' are from opposite sides of a ForeverWar trying to evade authorities from both sides in their TreeVessel.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and spinoffs (except ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', which was set on a space station) is both the TropeMaker and the TropeCodifier. The trope is the phrase Gene Roddenberry used to pitch the show to network executives.
** It's also the name of a Star Trek book.
*** The book in question is LITERALLY that, details in the Lit section.
** For the record, ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' was compared to another Western, ''Series/TheRifleman''.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''
* ''Series/RedDwarf''
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''

* ''Series/{{Andromeda}}''
* ''Series/{{Space 1999}}''
* ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea''
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}''/''Film/{{Serenity}}''
* ''Series/{{Crusade}}''

* While the Galaxy in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has a very effective and fast hyperspace highway network and the player never quite goes out of their way to explore new frontiers, the ''[[CoolStarship Normandy]]'', her crew and the assorted adventures they have over the course of an overarching plot remain the heart and soul of the series' appeal.

* ''[[Literature/Aniara Aniara]]'': UnbuiltTrope. Martinsson's great epic predates even ''Wagon Train'' by at least a decade, and it has none of the hope and joy of later forays into the genre. ''Aniara'' is originally carrying colonists to Mars, but it is heavily implied that the Mars colonies are a "Hail Mary"-attempt to save anything of humanity from the polluted radioactive wasteland that is Earth. As the poem unfolds, ''Aniara'' receives a transmission indicating that Earth is gone. During ''Aniara'''s journey, she is forced off course and her engines damaged, ensuring that the ship is headed off into deep space with no hope of recovery, and that the only thing left for the colonists to do is to live out their days and then travel forever into the darkness.

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

* ''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.

* ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' aka ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'' features this in a way when Macross City is rescued after a "[[OurWormholesAreDifferent space fold]]" accident and housed in the titular ship; the successor TV shows, ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}'' and ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' take place on actual, literal stellar wagon trains (complete with collapsible roofs) intended to colonize planets.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' has a spaceship ("or should I say ''faceship''?!")

* ''VideoGame/Homeworld'' has a whole wagon caravan to the stars. Namely the Kushan fleet wich gets contineually expanded through the game, as the player fights their way through the galaxy to reclaim Hiigara, the epinomus 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'' has a whole wagon caravan to the stars. Namely the Kushan fleet wich gets contineually expanded through the game, as the player fights their way through the galaxy to reclaim Hiigara, the epinomus 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.

* ''VideoGame/Homeworld'' has a whole wagon caravan to the stars. Namely the Kushan fleet wich gets contineually expanded through the game, as the player fights their way through the galaxy to reclaim Hiigara, the epinomus 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.