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[[Franchise/StarTrek Main Page]] | StarTrek/TropesAToD | '''Tropes E To H''' | StarTrek/TropesIToL | StarTrek/TropesMToP | StarTrek/TropesQToT | StarTrek/TropesUToZ
These tropes are featured across the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise. Please add tropes for specific works to their individual pages.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:E]]
* EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Earth is both the capital of the Federation and the headquarters of Starfleet. If an alien enemy wants to seriously conquer the Federation, taking Earth is invariably seen as key to doing so. Not only this, but Earth lies nearly exactly on the border of the Federation-dominated Alpha Quadrant and the Klingon- and Romulan-controlled Beta Quadrant, making it an extremely strategically important planet.
* EliteAgentsAboveTheLaw: Section 31 takes its name from a provision of the United Earth Starfleet Charter, with its entire purpose being to "bend the rules in times of extreme threat"--and as their agent Harris notes in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', "Earth's got a lot of enemies." They go back and forth in their portrayal: ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' presents them as a theoretically legitimate service branch that has a tendency for things to GoHorriblyWrong. However, ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', where they originated, presents them as a virtually rogue agency that is not accountable to ''anyone at all'', and which goes to increasing extremes to "safeguard the Federation", including [[spoiler:using biological weapons to try to exterminate the Dominion's Founders, and framing a Federation-friendly Romulan senator for treason in order to put one of their [[TheMole moles]] into a higher position. They're even said to have an operative in the Federation President's Cabinet--in a series where there has already been [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost one attempted coup]] by a WellIntentionedExtremist Starfleet officer.]]
* EmotionSuppression: The Vulcan culture has EmotionSuppression at its core.
** Roddenberry once decreed that humans ''don't grieve'' in the future. "Death is natural." This was loosened up a bit after Gene got KickedUpstairs.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Romulans vs. Vulcans.
* TheEmpire:
** The Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire and the Cardassian "[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Union]]". The Andorians tried their hand at becoming an imperial power in ''ENT'', but mostly just embarrassed themselves.
** The Terran Empire rules with an iron fist in the Mirror Universe. TheAlliance that overthrew them [[SubvertedTrope also counts]].
** Whereas the Klingons were usually confined to SpaceColdWar and Romulans largely kept to themselves after the GreatOffscreenWar, the Dominion was the first example of this trope to truly give future humanity a run for its nonexistent money. Much larger and older than the Federation, ruled by paranoid [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]] with a CloneArmy that worships them as gods. It even took an [[TheAlliance alliance]] (of the Feds, Klingons and Romulans) plus LaResistance to defeat them.
* EnclosedExtraterrestrials: The Breen, who appear mostly in ''[=DS9=]'', is a race that is entirely hidden behind a suit and long-snouted helmet. Worf mentions that no one has ever seen a Breen without the suit and lived to speak of it. The suit is known to be a refrigeration suit, regulating a cold environment for the wearer and the Breen are known to have no blood. The most common belief among the races of the Alpha Quadrant is that the Breen homeworld is a frozen wasteland, which is why they need to wear refrigeration suits. However, Weyoun once refers to the Breen homeland as being quite comfortable, maintaining the mystery of the Breen and their suits. An Expanded Universe novel ''Zero Sum Game'' claims that the Breen wear the suit to promote equality between the different species of their Confederacy by forcing them all to have the same external appearance.
* EpicTrackingShot: It's an interesting thing to note as the next generation of shows progressed in special effects.
* EverythingSensor: ''Every'' scanner is like this.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: Of all the species, only the Borg and Cardassians have an excuse for this -- the Borg's minimalism, and the latter's sensitivity to light. Incidentally, this is the excuse for the Deep Space 9 station being so dimly-lit, since it was built by the Cardassians.
* EvilMeScaresMe: The Franchise/TrekVerse features a number of {{Evil Twin}}s, what with [[PhlebotinumBreakdown transporter accidents]] and the MirrorUniverse. There's the example of Kirk being a LiteralSplitPersonality with an aggressive, hotheaded side and a passive, weak-willed, but logical side, with the passive side being afraid of the aggressive one. Major Kira Nerys of ''[=DS9=]'' gets [[ScrewYourself HIT ON by Mirror Kira]]. However, since the MirrorUniverse normally involves plots of being swapped with the guy on the other side (presumably to avoid having to edit one actor into a single scene twice), mostly you get the counterparts never meeting and at most Evil You Scares (but sexually intrigues) Me. Or in ''[=DS9=]'''s version, their opposite is usually dead on one side of the mirror or the other.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: The Borg are amazed people aren't lining up to be assimilated. [[HiveQueen The Queen]] touts it as a ''blessing''.
* ExplosiveInstrumentation: ''Star Trek'' is the TropeCodifier. Consoles tend to explode in a shower of sparks whenever a ship takes damage. A frequent cause of RedShirt deaths.
* ExpositionBeam: Vulcan mind melds are essentially this, along with a host of other AppliedPhlebotinum uses.
* {{Expositron 9000}}: The ship/station computers. Also Data, if you think about it.
* ExtraLongEpisode: Numerous series from the franchise have had two-hour long episodes (as opposed to the usual hour long) that are later re-aired as two-part episodes. This generally happens to series openers such as "Encounter At Farpoint" from ''TNG'' and series finales such as "What You Leave Behind" from ''[=DS9=]'', but has also happened to episodes in the middle of seasons such as "Dark Frontier" from ''VOY''.
** The Season 4 premiere of ''[=DS9=]'', "The Way Of The Warrior" can also count, as previously (at least on ''TNG''), the first episode of a new season was the second-part resolution to a two-part episode. This was also the beginning of a "retool" of the show.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F]]
* FamilyValuesVillain: Many examples. Most notably, the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans place great importance on family and honoring their elders. Of course, there are numerous ugly exceptions to those rules.
* FamousForBeingFirst:
** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'': Lt. Valeris, the ''Enterprise'''s new helmsman and an old student of Spock's, was the first Vulcan to graduate at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy.
** ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': The ''Phoenix'' is the first Earth ship capable of faster-than-light travel. Just being in its presence prior to its history-making flight is awe-inspiring for Captain Picard, who takes the opportunity to touch it, something he was never able to do while it was displayed in the Smithsonian. Its creator, Zephram Cochrane, is similarly regarded for his accomplishment, something that starts to grate on him as the ''Enterprise'' crew keep showering him with hero-worship.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'':
*** The NX-01 is significant as it is the first Earth ship that can reach Warp 5, making true interstellar travel possible. The comment is made that they are making history with every light year they travel. She is also arguably the ship that marks the beginning of Starfleet as we would come to know it.
*** In "Unexpected", Trip Tucker gets (for lack of a better term) pregnant. He is not happy with this, but Phlox tries to cheer him up by saying he'll be not only the first MisterSeahorse but the first human to be knocked up by an alien. This doesn't console him.
*** In "First Flight," when Archer is passed up for the first Warp 2 flight and only kept on as a backup, he comments that nobody remembers what Buzz Aldrin said when he first stepped on the moon because Neil Armstrong did it first.[[note]]It was "Beautiful view. Magnificent desolation".[[/note]]
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]," this comes up as part of Chekov's usual CulturalPosturing:
---->'''Chekov:''' The area was first mapped by the famous Russian astronomer Ivan Burkoff almost two hundred--\\
'''Kirk:''' John Burke.\\
'''Chekov:''' Burke, sir? I don't think so.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
*** Riker volunteers to be part of an Officer Exchange Program, becoming the First Officer of a Klingon battlecruiser, mostly because nobody's ever done it before. ("It" being OEP-ing on a Klingon ship, not OEP-ing in general).
*** Worf was the first Klingon to graduate from Starfleet Academy and serve as a Starfleet officer.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Nog becomes the first Ferengi to graduate from Starfleet Academy and serve in Starfleet.
* FanOfThePast: Too many to name. You're far more likely to find a character enjoying a play, book, or movie that's a classic by ''our'' standards rather than a fictional future contemporary.
* {{Fanservice}}: For a franchise that aspires to the higher ideals of humanity, ''Trek'' isn't above playing to its audience's baser instincts. The famous miniskirt of ''TOS'' is just one example. Until the current era, every iteration of the show had at least one character who was primarily employed for her appearance: Janice Rand in ''TOS'', Deanna Troi in ''TNG'', Jadzia Dax in ''[=DS9=]'', Seven of Nine in ''Voyager'' and T'Pol in ''Enterprise''. To be fair, this was frequently subverted as many actresses hired for fanservice, particularly Terry Farrell and Jeri Ryan, actually turned out to be decent performers and aided in the development of popular and complex characters.
* FantasticFightingStyle:
** ''TNG'' introduces the Klingon martial arts ''Mok'bara'', which includes unarmed combat and the use of traditional Klingon weapons such as the bat'leth. Several ''Mok'bara'' katas are mentioned to be very similar to Tai chi chuan.
** The Vulcan martial arts ''Suus Mahna'' was first featured in ''ENT'' and is seen again in ''DIS''.
** Although the hand-to-hand combat practiced by the Qowat Milat sisterhood hasn't been named onscreen in ''PIC'', it's nevertheless the first time in the franchise that a specific Romulan martial arts is showcased. It's more "fantastic" than that of the Klingons or the Vulcans because the Romulan warrior nuns develop SuperReflexes during [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower their training]] that are fast enough [[DodgeTheBullet dodge multiple energy weapons fire]] [[note]]which is a very rare ability in the Franchise/TrekVerse because it was only exhibited beforehand by Soong-type androids and Augments[[/note]]. This AmazonBrigade is [[MasterSwordsman remarkably adept at wielding a tan qalanq]] while also utilizing CombatParkour, HitAndRunTactics and [[StealthExpert stealth]] to single-handedly defeat several opponents.
*** [[https://ca.startrek.com/videos/watch-star-trek-picard-the-coppelius-fight-scene This featurette]] focuses on a [[invoked]]DeletedScene from ''PIC'''s "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" where Narek uses a UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}}-like Romulan martial arts to take on five Soong-type androids.
* FantasticMeasurementSystem:
** The Klingon distance unit "kellicam" is roughly equal to a kilometer.
** The Bajoran measurement system includes hecapate, kellipate, kerripate, linnipate, tessijen and tessipate.
** Computer capacity is measured in kiloquads, a unit that is very carefully never defined to avoid looking outdated when [[invoked]]TechnologyMarchesOn.
** Subspace distortion is measured in cochranes, an SI unit named for warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane.
** Stresses are often given units of "isodynes". The dyne is a legitimate unit of measure (albeit not SI), but is a measure of force (equal to 10 micronewtons). The correct usage would be "dynes per some unit of area". There is no mention of what the prefix iso- might represent. The prefix tera- is also used (e.g. "Hull stress at over 30 teradynes and rising!") and is more legitimate, but if that example was per square metre, the stress would be of the order of 10 megapascals -- 100 times atmospheric pressure. Not a huge quantity in the grand scheme of things if you're a starship.
* FantasticNamingConvention:
** The Bajorans use their family name before their personal name.[[note]]This isn't really fantastic; it's standard in China and other countries culturally tied to it.[[/note]]
** The Klingons have one personal name, their father's name, and then their ''house'' name. The house name is usually omitted in introductions, but the crest is worn on their metal sashes.
*** "Worf, son of Mogh, of the House of Martok" is Worf's official name after he joins Martok's house late in [=DS9=]. Worf's son Alexander Rozhenko, who is 3/4 Klingon and 1/4 human due to his mother being half-human, decided to use the human naming convention, and took the surname of Worf's adoptive human parents.
** Vulcans have several conventions followed:
*** They seem to only have one name, no family name.
*** This exchange in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise This Side of Paradise]]" indicates at least some Vulcans have another name:
---> '''Leila''': "You never told me if you had another name, Mister Spock".
--->'''Spock''': "You couldn't pronounce it."
*** Female names usually begin with T and have an apostrophe, followed by a P. Notable exceptions include: Saavik from movies ''II'', ''III'', and ''IV''.
*** Male names usually begin with S and do not have an apostrophe. Notable exceptions include: Tuvok from ''Voyager''.
** Romulans similarly tend to have only one name with no surname, but ''Picard'' Season One reveals they have additional secret names they only tell to certain people
** Ferengi also tend to have only one name, generally one syllable, with no surname. Ferengi women are identified by the names of their fathers and husbands.
** Trill symbionts get their names from the two beings that make them up. The first name is provided by the host, like Jadzia or Curzon, while the symbiote's name is second like a family name. Curzon Dax and Jadzia Dax are completely unrelated except for the fact that both were bonded to the Dax symbiote. Unjoined Trill apparently do have and use family names, as Ezri was Ezri Tigan before she became Ezri Dax.
* FantasticRaceWeaponAffinity:
** Ferengi mainly use plasma whips.
** Klingons are proficient with multiple kinds of bladed weapons, but they're mainly seen wielding the batl'eth, a kind of crescent-shaped, pronged blade held from a hilt placed in the middle of its outer curve.
** Romulans use "disruptors", which are a kind of RayGun like the phaser, but unlike phasers they always kill and their blast is green.
** Vulcans prefer the lirpa as a weapon during ceremonial combat. It's a staff with a fan-shaped blade on one end and a hefty counter-weight on the other, good for slashing or bludgeoning enemies.
* FantasticRacism: There will always be at least a few members of each species that has issues with humans, other species, or vice versa.
* FantasticNuke:
** The Genesis Device, a sophisticated torpedo used for rapid terraforming of dead worlds. Ironically, deploying this on an ''inhabited'' planet has the opposite effect, destroying all life to make way for the new matrix.
** In "Chain of Command", Picard is sent to destroy a protoype metagenic weapon. Metagenic bombs wipe out all organic matter on a planet's surface, leaving only the manufactured materials intact (and the world ripe for conquest). The weapons were outlawed, in part because they were equally hazardous to the invading force; however, the Cardassians were rumored to be overcoming that problem. This turned out to be a false flag, though.
** The Vulcans use "Red Matter" to create pocket [[OurWormholesAreDifferent black holes]]. Nero got the bright idea of using it to eat a planet (specifically [[DeathByIrony Vulcan]]).
** the Xindi superweapon from ''Enterprise'', said to be capable of destroying Earth entirely (the prototype kills 7 million people as a ''test'').
** isolytic subspace weapons, which are banned by treaty since they tear open actual holes in the fabric of space
* FantasticRankSystem: Everyone except the Federation has a different one. See the trope page for more details.
* FantasticShipPrefix:
** While Starfleet ships use an existing prefix, their registry numbers had various original designations which usually began with "N".
*** NCC: Starfleet active. Popular misconception is that it stands for "Naval Construction Contract" but the producers never assigned it any actual meaning. Production designer Matt Jeffries said he just combined the American aircraft registry (NC) with the Soviet one (CCCC).
*** NX: Starfleet experimental. Often used for the lead ships of a class, or ships that are the testbed of new technologies. The ''Excelsior'' first appears as NX-2000 while she is running trials and carrying an experimental warp drive. Later she is granted active status and her registry changes to NCC.
*** NAR: Federation non-Starfleet. Typically seen on civilian ships.
** Klingon ships are IKS, Imperial Klingon Ship. Prior to its establishment in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', various non-canon sources, including Michael Okuda's ''Star Trek Encyclopedia'', proposed "IKC" (for "Imperial Klingon Cruiser", a term heard in Klingon radio chatter in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'').
** Romulan ships use IRW (Imperial Romulan Warbird).
** When Kirk and company fell into the Mirror Universe, they found themselves aboard the ISS Enterprise (Imperial Star Ship).
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: While not fantasy, most of the major alien species have some connection to Real World counterparts. It should be considered that there is a difference between culture and politics.
** The Federation -- The United States. Although, it's sort of a mixture of the United States & the United Nations. The Federation flag & the Federation Council are reminiscent of the UN Flag & the Security Council. However, unlike the present-day UN, the Federation is a sovereign government with elements common to a federal republic. Persons on Federation worlds are citizens of the Federation. That citizenship is guaranteed rights by way of the Federation Charter & Constitution, and the rights enumerated in the Federation Charter & Constitution have supremacy across all member worlds.
** Starfleet -- The United States Navy. Both the Earth & Federation versions of Starfleet have individual ranks & systems of hierarchy that correspond with the USN's. The color of Starfleet personnel's uniforms are based on the specifics of their job, just as its done with the flight crews aboard USN aircraft carriers. Also, during the Dominion War, ''Deep Space Nine'' has Starfleet deployed in the numbered fleet configurations used by the USN, with the 3rd Fleet referenced as protecting Earth & the 7th Fleet all but destroyed in a failed offensive.
** Vulcans -- Great Britain. Not a perfect match-up, but ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' depicted them as a regional superpower who eventually lose much of their realm of control as Earth increases theirs. Culturally, they also share a good deal with Japanese society; a reclusive nature, emotional reserve, deep spiritualism, and technical prowess.
** Romulans -- Communist China, made fairly obvious in the original series. A secretive government who you aren't quite sure what they're up to. ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' expanded on that by showing the Romulans as emerging from decades of isolation from the rest of the galactic community. They also started to become a bit like Iran, for similar reasons. There are allusions to the Roman Empire too: their two main planets are Romulus and Remus, they are called an Empire, their ruling body is the Senate which is headed by a Praetor, and low-ranking officers are called "Centurions".
** Klingons:
*** Soviet Russia, like the Romulans the analogue was obvious enough in the original series (although in their initial appearance they were described as ''Vietcong'' -- "Oriental, hard-faced" and "the Ho Chi Minh type"). They were the passive/aggressive species with whom it felt like war was always just around the corner but never quite got there. They mirrored Post-Soviet Russia in ''The Next Generation'' in terms of politics, having gotten past the "cold war" era but still not fully trusting each other. But as part of Creator/GeneRoddenberry's plan to not make them evil and a race of "black hats," they turned into... vikings.
*** There are also a lot of parallels to FeudalJapan. As if Worf's passing reference to a "Klingon tea ceremony" in [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]], the whole [[PlanetOfHats racial obsession with]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy honor, combat, and dying with honor]], and their love of [[KatanasAreJustBetter big, fancy curved swords]] wasn't blatant enough, in "The Sons of Mogh" Worf's dishonored brother comes to him for help with a Klingon ceremony that's essentially {{Seppuku}} [[AC: [[RecycledInSpace In Space]]]].
** The Cardassians took a few stabs at being Nazi analogues (xenophobia is inherent in their genetic makeup). After various failed attempts at democratization and improving relations with the other galactic powers, they join the Dominion and become a Nazi client state like [[LesCollaborateurs Vichy France]]. Eventually a "[[LaResistance Free French]]" faction emerges, though they are led by Damar, a DefectorFromDecadence (whereas the exile Garak was more of a De Gaulle analogue).
*** Cardassian culture is very military-center and totalitarian -- in ''Deep Space Nine'', one of the characters comments that "Cardassians have a habit of looking to strong military leadership in hard times" (Bismarck, the Kaiser etc). Parallel was apparently noted in-series, as the anti-Cardassian resistance shares a name with the French resistance of WWII.
*** Cardassians as generic colonial powers works just as well as the obligatory Nazi comparison, since Bajor is always called a colony and is run along those lines: occupy and obtain resources (with local slave labor), rather than being a matter of living space or an ideology.
*** Cardassians as a version of Japan is a popular alternative, especially among those who look at details like what food they eat. Much like Imperial Japan in the 1930's and 40's, the Cardassian Union had a nominally civilian government but was actually ruled by the military; though it was considered to be a major power within its sphere of influence, the Cardassian Union was actually smaller and less powerful than its neighbour (which in this case, is the United Federation of Planets).
** Bajorans as generic colonized people. (Would support the Cardassians as generic colonial powers interpretation). Rick Berman compared the Bajorans to "the Kurds, the Palestinians, the Jews in the 1940s, the boat people from Haiti -- unfortunately, the homeless and terrorism are problems [of every age]". They're a mishmash of pretty much any victimized group throughout the 20th century.
** Orions -- The Mafia / Criminal Underground.
** Nausicaans -- Gang Leaders.
*** Same goes for ''Voyager's'' Kazon.
** Ferengi -- The East India Companies.
*** Their society and system of government both bear some resemblance to the cities of Hong Kong and Singapore, with a focus on business and commerce while having highly conservative and patriarchal cultures.
* FantasyCounterpartReligion:
** The Klingon religion: A warrior-based religion where honor and courage are quintessential and warriors are rewarded with an afterlife of glory fighting alongside their god Kahless in the halls of Sto-Vo-Kor. Obviously based on the [Hollywood version of] Norse religion, just change Kahless for Odin and Sto-Vo-Kor for Walhalla.
** The Bajoran religion: Spiritual worship of the Prophets who are not gods, but (at least for the Bajoran) enlightened beings, with a well-organized religious hierarchy and a common leader. Probably a counterpart of Buddhism with some Catholicism in the mix.
* FasterThanLightTravel: Rather hard to imagine the series without it.
## The name "warp" was meant to imply it bends space and time. They started out calling it a "factor," which would be consistent with that.
## Then they got lazy and just used it as a unit of speed.
## Then ''TNG'' decided they needed more tech to tech with their tech, so instead of just bending real space, they're moving through "subspace," where the rules are different, and depending on the writing can be treated as pretty much an alternate universe.
** The entire concept of subspace is to get around the apparent fact that FTL travel is impossible in regular space, so you submerge into a different dimension closely connected to it.
* FastKillingRadiation: Both ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' feature climactic scenes in which ''Enterprise''[='s=] damaged warp core is manually repaired, saving the ship at the cost of someone's life due to radiation exposure. In ''TWOK'', it's Spock; the radiation is an intense light that blasts him as he's making the repairs, leaving him blinded and with severe burns on his face and neck. In ''ID'', it's Kirk; the radiation is only visible as heat shimmer and he suffers burns on his face, but they're not nearly as severe as Spock's. In both scenes, Spock and Kirk die within a few minutes of the exposure.
* FeudalFuture: Earth seems to be the only planet that ever got the hang of democracy. Non-Federation worlds are depicted as imperialist aggressors (the faux-Chinese Romulans and the Greco-Roman Klingons) or peasant societies with well-oiled guillotines.
** Oddly, Cardassia-Prime of all places entered a new democratic age after the intelligence service folded. A brief civil war ensued, and in the wake of the Dominion War the civilian government took back its rightful place as head of the Union.
* FictionalFlag:
** The flag of the [[TheFederation United Federation of Planets]] is clearly based on the flag of the United Nations, with a blue circle flanked by laurel garlands (symbolizing peace) on a blue field. Unlike the UN flag, where the circle is a globe, the UFP flag depicts a starfield. In season 3 of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', many stars are missing since the chronologically last time the flag was seen, indicating the secession of a number of member states.
** The flag of the Romulan Star Empire depicts a stylized bird of prey with two planets, the home planets of the Empire, Romulus and Remus, grasped in its talons.
* FictionalGenevaConventions: The Khitomer Accords, an historic peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It's the prime focus of ''Star Trek VI'', with both sides attempting to scuttle it.
* FictionalSport: Parrises Squares, a highly-athletic game played on the Holodeck.
* FictionScience: The series have produced a large number of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_technical_manuals Technical Manuals]], many of them official. These fill in many details of life in the Trekkian future, especially the inner workings of the Enterprises and other starships.
%%* ForgotTheCall
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: In every single series and the movies. There are an insane number of instances where at the end of an episode the protagonists have in their possession some fantastic new piece of technology, which will ''never'' be used or mentioned ever again. Often a case of the StatusQuoIsGod, because the Federation simply cannot be allowed to get too far ahead of rivals such as the Klingons, Romulans or Cardassians.
** One of the most notable examples, if only because it was used so regularly for a while, is the Life Support Belt tech from the Animated Series. Of course, the Animated Series was considered officially non-canon for many years, but it's still surprising that the ExpandedUniverse materials don't use it more often, since they would frequently cite other elements from the Animated Series.
* FrankenVehicle:
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In a meta-example, many episodes during the Dominion War featured background shots of ships whose physical models had obviously been kitbashed together, without any InUniverse explanation ever being given. [[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Yeager_(NCC-65674) One of the more absurd]] was the USS ''Yeager'', which in real life took the saucer section of a model kit for the USS ''Voyager'' and put it atop the hull of a Maquis raider (the name and registry numbers were anagrams of ''Voyager''[='s=]). This kind of kitbashing was common among ''Star Trek''[='s=] modelmakers but was rarely so obvious.
** ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'': {{Implied}} in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E1TheBrokenCircle The Broken Circle]]". The ship used in the [[spoiler:FalseFlagOperation against the Klingon battlecruiser]] has the saucer section of a ''Crossfield''-class starship (e.g. USS ''Discovery''), but a ventrally mounted bridge like a ''Walker''-class (USS ''Shenzhou'') and a twin-boom after section and nacelles resembling an inverted [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise NX-class]], suggesting that the conspirators built it from several different salvaged wrecks. An {{enforced}} example, as the ship originally ''was'' going to be an NX-class, but budget constraints forced the reuse of sets from ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''.
* FreeLoveFuture: Obviously downplayed, due to television constraints. However, Roddenberry was very much a proponent of this trope. We don't see much of civilian life on Earth, but officers are allowed to cavort fairly freely aboard the Federation's flagship. Prostitution (real and [[SexBot simulated]]) has also been legalized.
-->'''Website/TheAgonyBooth''': ''Kirk has been with a lot of women, and is presumably deeply grateful for whatever eliminated [=STDs=] in Gene Roddenberry's universe''
* FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow: Across the franchise Starfleet has the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]], a rule that states that the Federation should not interfere with the development of pre-warp civilizations. It was not originally an unbreakable vow as much as it was a general guideline, but over the years it has gone back and forth.
* TheFutureIsNoir:
** The original designation for ''[=DS9=]'' was Terok Nor, which is one letter removed. It shows in the station's habitat ring, which is marked by patchy lighting and catwalk ceilings.
** Originally, going to Red Alert merely caused red lights to flash. By ''VOY'', every single light on the ship is dimmed. Most likely a nod to the RealLife military practice of using red and/or dimmed lights in dark environments to preserve one's night vision, although this would be counterproductive on a ship that is operated entirely using brightly-lit touchscreens. But would help conserve energy that might be needed in a red alert situation.
** "Yesterday's Enterpise" (''TNG'') and "Living Witness" showed alternate worlds in which the ''Enterprise'' and ''Voyager'' are fully-cocked warships, under the oppression of ''permanent'' Red Alert.
** ''Generations'' was shot this way mostly to disguise the decade-old sets. However, ''First Contact'' was filmed much the same way, despite taking place on a brand new ship, perhaps to illustrate that the Federation is at war again.
* FuturisticJetInjector: The [[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hypospray hyposprays]] are likely the TropeCodifier. As early as the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], they have been used by doctors to deliver various medicines (conveniently packaged in easy-to-insert capsules) to patients in adjustable doses. Regarding application through clothes, the franchise has been inconsistent: sometimes people would be injected right through their clothing, other times medical staff were shown removing it to expose skin before using the hypospray.
* FutureSocietyPresentValues: Most prominent in ''TOS'', which was limited by network standards and very heavy on Cold War allegory, with the Federation (the United States), Klingon Empire (the Soviet Union) and Romulans (China) being very obvious expies of real world nations. Real world social values from the time also crept into the show in a variety of ways, such as consistent gender roles, and fashions paralleling the real world. [[SubvertedTrope The pilot episode, however, had a powerful female second-in-command]], who was reportedly disliked by [[invoked]]''[[ValuesDissonance female viewers]]'' [[ValuesDissonance because she was "too domineering".]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G]]
* GameOfNerds:
** A recurring motif in some episodes. Wesley Crusher mentions his father once teaching him the game, and a physicist in "Evolution" bemoans the decline of the sport in the late [=20th century=] (attributed to commercialism and sloth).
** Ben Sisko is a serious baseball nut. In his debates with the Prophets, an abstract species who think in non-linear terms, baseball is used as a methaphor for each crisis.
* GargleBlaster:
** The Ferengi specialize in an alcoholic beverage called a black hole. Want to get hammered fast? Try a black hole.
** Romulan ale was largely illegal in the Federation, but once the Romulans allied with the Federation and the Klingons against the Dominion, the Federation lifted the embargo against the Romulan Empire, allowing Romulan ale to be purchased legally. Federation citizens also discovered that the ale is ''quite'' potent, as Worf learned in "Nemesis".
%%* GenericistGovernment
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: We see the full effects of DNA hacking during the Eugenics and Dominion wars.
** Bio-memetic gel, a key component of biogenic weapons. The actual ''effects'' of this gel are left up to the imagination; the Federation bans any and all weapons applications, so it must be pretty hairy.
** "In the Pale Moonlight" suggests that it can be used to create bombs that pass for organic matter.
** Some ExpandedUniverse sources imply that ''biogenic'' is the equivalent of ''weapon of mass destruction'' in current parlance. That is, this is a weapon you had DAMN well better not get caught actually using.
* GenericanEmpire: The United Federation of Planets, the Dominion.
* GenericFederationNamedEmpire: The United Federation of Planets vs. the Klingon Empire, Romulon Empire, and Cardassian Union among others. The Dominion is also named generically as an "evil counterpart" to the Federation while the MirrorUniverse Federation is the Terran Empire.
* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: The remastered Original Series and The Next Generation got a lot of "nip and tuck" regarding for the Hi-Def release (CBS aired some episodes before the actual Blu-Ray release came out). For the Original Series they strove to attain a visual look [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series?file=Comparison_TOS_original_remastered.jpg virtually identical but simply cleaned-up]]. They also included a couple of brand new clips that were intended for the original episode but unable to film at the time, such as an establishing shot of Starfleet Command on Earth. TNG had a similar process done, largely for some effects that simply didn't age as well like the Crystalline Entity. The whole thing was well regarded, in large part because they were supervised by Trek production legend Michael Okuda.
* GhostExtras: In the hundreds and thousands, given that TheMainCharactersDoEverything on every single ''Trek'' show. Occasionally one will be promoted to AscendedExtra, but more often they get "demoted" to RedShirt.
* AGodAmI: ironically, characters who have or obtain godlike powers usually do just the opposite, or merely posing as a god to fuck with people. But there are a few examples:
** Gary Mitchell gets powered up by the Galactic Barrier, declares himself to be a god and even forces Kirk to pray to him.
** Ransom does something similar in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E01StrangeEnergies after said energies empower him, and even tries to start his own religion based around pumping iron.
** To be a {{Terraform}}er in the Trek universe is to be very lordly, indeed. See the imperious Kurk Mandl in "Home Soil" (TNG), later one-upped by nine-time author (all autobiographies) Gideon Seytik in [=DS9=]'s "Second Sight". Something about creating planets gives scientists a god complex; Seytik's final words were even, "Let there be light!"
* GoodColorsEvilColors: When heroes on Trek use transporters, the visual effect appears blue. Alternatively, Klingons use a red effect. The Borg are green.
** Cardassians (and, by extension, the crew of ''[=DS9=]'') have yellow transporter beams.
* GoodOldWays: Captain Kirk in particular strongly reminisces about the time of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eXB1Yj05Fw wooden ships and iron men.]]
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Given its position on network TV, swearing is pretty much non-existent in early ''Trek''; it even escaped the movies until ''Generations'', in which a single four-letter word became the punchline to an entire subplot's worth of buildup. Subverted big time in current ''Trek'', where the freedom of streaming has led to a (comparatively) massive rise in expletive use.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: Used a couple of times in TNG and ''Deep Space Nine'', also used in the movie ''Insurrection''.
* GratuitousRape: TOS and TNG in particular have been called out for it, with Kirk being drugged somehow into kissing (or worse) at least four times, Uhura having to fight an attacker off, Tasha's backstory involving rape gangs, and Deanna Troi getting far too many MindRape plots.
* GrayingMorality: From series to series, at least for a while. TNG is grayer than the original series, and ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' is even grayer than that.
** The Prime Directive is often at the heart of this over the progression of the franchise, interestingly despite the fact that later series like ENT and the reboot movies chronologically predate TOS. As time has gone on, writers have increasingly treated the Prime Directive as an almost callous SocialDarwinist policy, to the extent that extinction of sapient species is considered preferable to the hypothetical negative consequences of "interference" in their cultures.
** As part of the DarkerAndEdgier nature of the reboot movies, Section 31, much earlier in its history than in the main timeline, is well past the MoralEventHorizon. They have gone from covert activities to defend the Federation to building super-warships and attempting to preemptively start interstellar wars to eradicate Federation enemies.
* GreatOffscreenWar:
** The Eugenics Wars (augmented superhumans vs. everybody else) and, to a lesser extent, WorldWarIII, all taking place on Earth and concerning only humanity. Both are mentioned across multiple shows and films and have lasting effects (humans have banned genetic engineering, for one).
** The Earth-Romulan War, which was first mentioned all the way back in TOS's first season. ENT was building up to it but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen sadly got cancelled first]].
** The Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon" [[CanonImmigrant imports]] Creator/LarryNiven's Kzinti, and claims that Earth fought and won ''four separate wars'' with them a full two hundred years ago.
** The Next Generation has the war between the Federation and the Cardassians, which was responsible for creating the Anti-Federation confederates known as the Maquis; and "brutal border wars" against the Talarians and the Tzenkethi, which happened at some point between TOS and TNG.
** ''Discovery'' season three mentions the Temporal Wars, involving troops from multiple universes and "weaponizing time itself". It's not clear who fought whom or why, only that it was terrible. So terrible, in fact, that all forms of time travel tech have been outlawed throughout the galaxy, and the Federation's black ops division won't risk even touching it over 100 years later.
* GroupIdentifyingFeature:
** Betazoids look just like humans, only with black irises.
** Bajorans look a lot like humans, but with ridges on their noses. The majority of them also wear an earring on their right ear.
** Uniforms:
*** In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', red is the "generic" Starfleet uniform colour, while the command crew wear gold. In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', and ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', it's the other way round. In all of those series, science officers wear blue. Additionally, in ''The Original Series'', women wear dresses while men wear black pants.
*** In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', Starfleet officers wear matching dark blue boiler suits. You can tell someone's division by a stripe pattern that goes around the shoulders. Like in ''The Original Series'', gold stands for command, blue stands for science, and red is generic. Starfleet officers also wear an embroidered patch of their ship and its name on their upper sleeves.
*** In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', most people wear matching dark blue outfits (in some cases jumpsuits similar to the ''Enterprise'' uniforms and in other cases shirts and pants). However, the doctors wear white jumpsuits instead of blue.
** You can tell what rank someone is in ''Next Generation'', ''Deep Space Nine'', and ''Voyager'' by the golden dots they have on their collars, which are known as "pips" or "rank insignia". Cadets don't have any, ensigns have one, junior-grade lieutenants have one, plus one hollowed-out one, regular lieutenants have two, lieutenant-commanders have two and one hollowed-out one, commanders have three, captains have four, and admirals have six (three on either side).
** Romulans can be distinguished from Vulcans by the V-shaped ridge on their heads.
** Trills look like humans, but with spots going all the way down their sides.
** Aenar can be distinguished from Andorians by their white skin.
** Orions look just like humans, except for their green skin, and seeing as they're a seductive race, a female Orion is a literal GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe.
* GunboatDiplomacy: TheFederation definitely believes in "carrying a big [[CoolStarship ship]]" to negotiations. They don't usually push their self-interest too hard with this show of force, but it still makes three things clear. "We are strong". "We are rich". "You ''don't'' start fights when we're trying to negotiate".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:H]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: Spock, Deanna Troi, B'Elanna Torres, [[spoiler:Sisko]].
* HamAndDeadpanDuo: Kick (definitive Ham) and Spock (contrasting Deadpan)
* HandmadeIsBetter: It's something of a RunningGag across the various series that "real" food (i.e. food that was grown rather than replicated) somehow tastes better, at least to those who aren't used to eating the replicated stuff.
* HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday: Klingons tend to do this a lot; Worf is only the most prominent example.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: It is implied through the various ''Star Trek'' shows that the sort of adventures the ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' and her crew get in is just the far side of typical. {{Lampshaded}} by Captain Janeway when she stated in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' that "Weird is part of the job".
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Worf once justified this by claiming Starfleet duds are suited for a wide variety of climates, due to the special material or somesuch. ("Let He Who is Without Sin"). It also spared the makeup department from showing us what Klingons look like in swim trunks, but that's just coincidental.
** The Klingons are the lords of this trope. At least the Romulans can claim a degree of urban camo with their checkered outfits. The Klingons are all about plate metal, spikes, and gauntlets that would make [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]] envious. And don't forget the steel-toed, spiked boots for kicking your enemy's skull in.
** The Cardassians favor big, bulky chestplates, along with a wide neckline for the snake-like hoods on their neck. It doesn't look very comfortable or maneuverable.
* HollywoodEvolution: The franchise is guilty of promulgating virtually every sub-trope of this into public consciousness, undoing the work of biology teachers everywhere. In particular, GoalOrientedEvolution is extremely popular with the writers, who often incorporate the idea that the evolutionary future of any species can be predicted with comparative ease and surprising accuracy. This often forms the backbone of rationalizations of how the Prime Directive is interpreted in a given episode, with characters taking the stance that the evolution of a given species is "supposed" to go down a certain path (which may include extinction if the species is unfortunate enough to be pre-warp).
* HollywoodTactics: Fairly common in most of the series, particularly in firefights, where humans and aliens alike frequently fail to use cover or take evasive action. Could be partly due to early special effects limitations, as it's hard to draw phaser beams when the actors are moving around. Later shows were better about this, particularly Enterprise, which introduced actual military personnel who fought more convincingly.
* {{Hologram}}: Starting in [=TNG=], recreational holodecks were standard, with "hard light" holograms made of projections and forcefields. Later series also added the Emergency Medical Hologram.
* HumanOutsideAlienInside: While most of the species that are encountered look fairly humanoid, many of them turn out to have truly [[BizarreAlienBiology bizarre biological differences]].
* HumansAreDiplomats: Especially during [=TOS=] and early TNG. Gene Roddenberry opposed the idea of a military Starfleet.
* HumansAreSpecial: The Federation is a vast, multi-species, space nation -- that is overwhelmingly run by humans and HumanAliens. Aliens are a definite minority in Starfleet. Many alien species use "The Federation" and "Starfleet" to explicitly refer to "humanity" and "Earth".
** Particularly noteworthy in crew of the Federation Flagships. In TOS and TNG, the majority of the main cast was human. The remainders? Spock, a half-Human half-Vulcan. Troi, a half-Betazed half-Human. Data, an android designed by a human, with a personal goal of becoming more like a human (Not like humanoids or other biological lifeforms, but specifically human). And Worf, a full blooded Klingon, who was raised by Humans. Ironically, the one Enterprise which would have an excuse to have only humans on it, the Pre-Federation Earth vessel captained by Archer, had two alien main cast members with no particular tie to humanity.
** Notably, only two species have been shown to put the lie to the Borg's claim that ResistanceIsFutile: One borders on nearly StarfishAliens physiology and hail from an alternate dimension so far outside the context the Borg are familiar with their technology ''simply doesn't work'' against them. The other is the human-dominated Federation which, despite the Borg Queen's observation about humanity's biological and technological inferiority bordering on PunyEarthlings, have stopped every attempt by the Borg to assimilate the Federation cold. Notably, it was ''humans'' who figured out how to make Borg nanoprobes work against the other species.
* HumansAreWarriors: As much as Starfleet may protest that their primary purpose is one of exploration, one of their most famous captains (Kirk) was legendary even among the Klingons for his prowess in battle. The Federation may prefer to speak softly, but they are ''more'' than willing to swing the stick if left with no other choice. They were the center of the resistance against the Dominion, and are the only species (other than near-StarfishAliens from outside the universe) that have routinely managed to give the Borg a black eye.
-->'''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Quark]]:''' Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes.
* HumorlessAliens: Vulcans allegedly have no sense of humor, but they all seem to be {{Deadpan Snarker}}s anyway.
** This is a bit of FridgeBrilliance. Humor is usually about the incongruity between logic and reality. So, basically, Vulcans have spent hundreds of years watching every other race act like clowns, and they get the joke. They may not guffaw, but their sense of humor is finely honed.
** Sulu tells a young Tuvok once, "Don't tell me Vulcans don't have a sense of humor, because I know better." True enough!
[[/folder]]
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These tropes are featured across the entire ''Star Trek'' franchise. Please add tropes for specific works to their individual pages.
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:E]]
* EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Earth is both the capital of the Federation and the headquarters of Starfleet. If an alien enemy wants to seriously conquer the Federation, taking Earth is invariably seen as key to doing so. Not only this, but Earth lies nearly exactly on the border of the Federation-dominated Alpha Quadrant and the Klingon- and Romulan-controlled Beta Quadrant, making it an extremely strategically important planet.
* EliteAgentsAboveTheLaw: Section 31 takes its name from a provision of the United Earth Starfleet Charter, with its entire purpose being to "bend the rules in times of extreme threat"--and as their agent Harris notes in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', "Earth's got a lot of enemies." They go back and forth in their portrayal: ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' presents them as a theoretically legitimate service branch that has a tendency for things to GoHorriblyWrong. However, ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', where they originated, presents them as a virtually rogue agency that is not accountable to ''anyone at all'', and which goes to increasing extremes to "safeguard the Federation", including [[spoiler:using biological weapons to try to exterminate the Dominion's Founders, and framing a Federation-friendly Romulan senator for treason in order to put one of their [[TheMole moles]] into a higher position. They're even said to have an operative in the Federation President's Cabinet--in a series where there has already been [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E12ParadiseLost one attempted coup]] by a WellIntentionedExtremist Starfleet officer.]]
* EmotionSuppression: The Vulcan culture has EmotionSuppression at its core.
** Roddenberry once decreed that humans ''don't grieve'' in the future. "Death is natural." This was loosened up a bit after Gene got KickedUpstairs.
* EmotionsVsStoicism: Romulans vs. Vulcans.
* TheEmpire:
** The Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire and the Cardassian "[[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Union]]". The Andorians tried their hand at becoming an imperial power in ''ENT'', but mostly just embarrassed themselves.
** The Terran Empire rules with an iron fist in the Mirror Universe. TheAlliance that overthrew them [[SubvertedTrope also counts]].
** Whereas the Klingons were usually confined to SpaceColdWar and Romulans largely kept to themselves after the GreatOffscreenWar, the Dominion was the first example of this trope to truly give future humanity a run for its nonexistent money. Much larger and older than the Federation, ruled by paranoid [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifters]] with a CloneArmy that worships them as gods. It even took an [[TheAlliance alliance]] (of the Feds, Klingons and Romulans) plus LaResistance to defeat them.
* EnclosedExtraterrestrials: The Breen, who appear mostly in ''[=DS9=]'', is a race that is entirely hidden behind a suit and long-snouted helmet. Worf mentions that no one has ever seen a Breen without the suit and lived to speak of it. The suit is known to be a refrigeration suit, regulating a cold environment for the wearer and the Breen are known to have no blood. The most common belief among the races of the Alpha Quadrant is that the Breen homeworld is a frozen wasteland, which is why they need to wear refrigeration suits. However, Weyoun once refers to the Breen homeland as being quite comfortable, maintaining the mystery of the Breen and their suits. An Expanded Universe novel ''Zero Sum Game'' claims that the Breen wear the suit to promote equality between the different species of their Confederacy by forcing them all to have the same external appearance.
* EpicTrackingShot: It's an interesting thing to note as the next generation of shows progressed in special effects.
* EverythingSensor: ''Every'' scanner is like this.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: Of all the species, only the Borg and Cardassians have an excuse for this -- the Borg's minimalism, and the latter's sensitivity to light. Incidentally, this is the excuse for the Deep Space 9 station being so dimly-lit, since it was built by the Cardassians.
* EvilMeScaresMe: The Franchise/TrekVerse features a number of {{Evil Twin}}s, what with [[PhlebotinumBreakdown transporter accidents]] and the MirrorUniverse. There's the example of Kirk being a LiteralSplitPersonality with an aggressive, hotheaded side and a passive, weak-willed, but logical side, with the passive side being afraid of the aggressive one. Major Kira Nerys of ''[=DS9=]'' gets [[ScrewYourself HIT ON by Mirror Kira]]. However, since the MirrorUniverse normally involves plots of being swapped with the guy on the other side (presumably to avoid having to edit one actor into a single scene twice), mostly you get the counterparts never meeting and at most Evil You Scares (but sexually intrigues) Me. Or in ''[=DS9=]'''s version, their opposite is usually dead on one side of the mirror or the other.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: The Borg are amazed people aren't lining up to be assimilated. [[HiveQueen The Queen]] touts it as a ''blessing''.
* ExplosiveInstrumentation: ''Star Trek'' is the TropeCodifier. Consoles tend to explode in a shower of sparks whenever a ship takes damage. A frequent cause of RedShirt deaths.
* ExpositionBeam: Vulcan mind melds are essentially this, along with a host of other AppliedPhlebotinum uses.
* {{Expositron 9000}}: The ship/station computers. Also Data, if you think about it.
* ExtraLongEpisode: Numerous series from the franchise have had two-hour long episodes (as opposed to the usual hour long) that are later re-aired as two-part episodes. This generally happens to series openers such as "Encounter At Farpoint" from ''TNG'' and series finales such as "What You Leave Behind" from ''[=DS9=]'', but has also happened to episodes in the middle of seasons such as "Dark Frontier" from ''VOY''.
** The Season 4 premiere of ''[=DS9=]'', "The Way Of The Warrior" can also count, as previously (at least on ''TNG''), the first episode of a new season was the second-part resolution to a two-part episode. This was also the beginning of a "retool" of the show.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:F]]
* FamilyValuesVillain: Many examples. Most notably, the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans place great importance on family and honoring their elders. Of course, there are numerous ugly exceptions to those rules.
* FamousForBeingFirst:
** ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'': Lt. Valeris, the ''Enterprise'''s new helmsman and an old student of Spock's, was the first Vulcan to graduate at the top of her class at Starfleet Academy.
** ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': The ''Phoenix'' is the first Earth ship capable of faster-than-light travel. Just being in its presence prior to its history-making flight is awe-inspiring for Captain Picard, who takes the opportunity to touch it, something he was never able to do while it was displayed in the Smithsonian. Its creator, Zephram Cochrane, is similarly regarded for his accomplishment, something that starts to grate on him as the ''Enterprise'' crew keep showering him with hero-worship.
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'':
*** The NX-01 is significant as it is the first Earth ship that can reach Warp 5, making true interstellar travel possible. The comment is made that they are making history with every light year they travel. She is also arguably the ship that marks the beginning of Starfleet as we would come to know it.
*** In "Unexpected", Trip Tucker gets (for lack of a better term) pregnant. He is not happy with this, but Phlox tries to cheer him up by saying he'll be not only the first MisterSeahorse but the first human to be knocked up by an alien. This doesn't console him.
*** In "First Flight," when Archer is passed up for the first Warp 2 flight and only kept on as a backup, he comments that nobody remembers what Buzz Aldrin said when he first stepped on the moon because Neil Armstrong did it first.[[note]]It was "Beautiful view. Magnificent desolation".[[/note]]
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles The Trouble with Tribbles]]," this comes up as part of Chekov's usual CulturalPosturing:
---->'''Chekov:''' The area was first mapped by the famous Russian astronomer Ivan Burkoff almost two hundred--\\
'''Kirk:''' John Burke.\\
'''Chekov:''' Burke, sir? I don't think so.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
*** Riker volunteers to be part of an Officer Exchange Program, becoming the First Officer of a Klingon battlecruiser, mostly because nobody's ever done it before. ("It" being OEP-ing on a Klingon ship, not OEP-ing in general).
*** Worf was the first Klingon to graduate from Starfleet Academy and serve as a Starfleet officer.
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Nog becomes the first Ferengi to graduate from Starfleet Academy and serve in Starfleet.
* FanOfThePast: Too many to name. You're far more likely to find a character enjoying a play, book, or movie that's a classic by ''our'' standards rather than a fictional future contemporary.
* {{Fanservice}}: For a franchise that aspires to the higher ideals of humanity, ''Trek'' isn't above playing to its audience's baser instincts. The famous miniskirt of ''TOS'' is just one example. Until the current era, every iteration of the show had at least one character who was primarily employed for her appearance: Janice Rand in ''TOS'', Deanna Troi in ''TNG'', Jadzia Dax in ''[=DS9=]'', Seven of Nine in ''Voyager'' and T'Pol in ''Enterprise''. To be fair, this was frequently subverted as many actresses hired for fanservice, particularly Terry Farrell and Jeri Ryan, actually turned out to be decent performers and aided in the development of popular and complex characters.
* FantasticFightingStyle:
** ''TNG'' introduces the Klingon martial arts ''Mok'bara'', which includes unarmed combat and the use of traditional Klingon weapons such as the bat'leth. Several ''Mok'bara'' katas are mentioned to be very similar to Tai chi chuan.
** The Vulcan martial arts ''Suus Mahna'' was first featured in ''ENT'' and is seen again in ''DIS''.
** Although the hand-to-hand combat practiced by the Qowat Milat sisterhood hasn't been named onscreen in ''PIC'', it's nevertheless the first time in the franchise that a specific Romulan martial arts is showcased. It's more "fantastic" than that of the Klingons or the Vulcans because the Romulan warrior nuns develop SuperReflexes during [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower their training]] that are fast enough [[DodgeTheBullet dodge multiple energy weapons fire]] [[note]]which is a very rare ability in the Franchise/TrekVerse because it was only exhibited beforehand by Soong-type androids and Augments[[/note]]. This AmazonBrigade is [[MasterSwordsman remarkably adept at wielding a tan qalanq]] while also utilizing CombatParkour, HitAndRunTactics and [[StealthExpert stealth]] to single-handedly defeat several opponents.
*** [[https://ca.startrek.com/videos/watch-star-trek-picard-the-coppelius-fight-scene This featurette]] focuses on a [[invoked]]DeletedScene from ''PIC'''s "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2" where Narek uses a UsefulNotes/{{Capoeira}}-like Romulan martial arts to take on five Soong-type androids.
* FantasticMeasurementSystem:
** The Klingon distance unit "kellicam" is roughly equal to a kilometer.
** The Bajoran measurement system includes hecapate, kellipate, kerripate, linnipate, tessijen and tessipate.
** Computer capacity is measured in kiloquads, a unit that is very carefully never defined to avoid looking outdated when [[invoked]]TechnologyMarchesOn.
** Subspace distortion is measured in cochranes, an SI unit named for warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane.
** Stresses are often given units of "isodynes". The dyne is a legitimate unit of measure (albeit not SI), but is a measure of force (equal to 10 micronewtons). The correct usage would be "dynes per some unit of area". There is no mention of what the prefix iso- might represent. The prefix tera- is also used (e.g. "Hull stress at over 30 teradynes and rising!") and is more legitimate, but if that example was per square metre, the stress would be of the order of 10 megapascals -- 100 times atmospheric pressure. Not a huge quantity in the grand scheme of things if you're a starship.
* FantasticNamingConvention:
** The Bajorans use their family name before their personal name.[[note]]This isn't really fantastic; it's standard in China and other countries culturally tied to it.[[/note]]
** The Klingons have one personal name, their father's name, and then their ''house'' name. The house name is usually omitted in introductions, but the crest is worn on their metal sashes.
*** "Worf, son of Mogh, of the House of Martok" is Worf's official name after he joins Martok's house late in [=DS9=]. Worf's son Alexander Rozhenko, who is 3/4 Klingon and 1/4 human due to his mother being half-human, decided to use the human naming convention, and took the surname of Worf's adoptive human parents.
** Vulcans have several conventions followed:
*** They seem to only have one name, no family name.
*** This exchange in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise This Side of Paradise]]" indicates at least some Vulcans have another name:
---> '''Leila''': "You never told me if you had another name, Mister Spock".
--->'''Spock''': "You couldn't pronounce it."
*** Female names usually begin with T and have an apostrophe, followed by a P. Notable exceptions include: Saavik from movies ''II'', ''III'', and ''IV''.
*** Male names usually begin with S and do not have an apostrophe. Notable exceptions include: Tuvok from ''Voyager''.
** Romulans similarly tend to have only one name with no surname, but ''Picard'' Season One reveals they have additional secret names they only tell to certain people
** Ferengi also tend to have only one name, generally one syllable, with no surname. Ferengi women are identified by the names of their fathers and husbands.
** Trill symbionts get their names from the two beings that make them up. The first name is provided by the host, like Jadzia or Curzon, while the symbiote's name is second like a family name. Curzon Dax and Jadzia Dax are completely unrelated except for the fact that both were bonded to the Dax symbiote. Unjoined Trill apparently do have and use family names, as Ezri was Ezri Tigan before she became Ezri Dax.
* FantasticRaceWeaponAffinity:
** Ferengi mainly use plasma whips.
** Klingons are proficient with multiple kinds of bladed weapons, but they're mainly seen wielding the batl'eth, a kind of crescent-shaped, pronged blade held from a hilt placed in the middle of its outer curve.
** Romulans use "disruptors", which are a kind of RayGun like the phaser, but unlike phasers they always kill and their blast is green.
** Vulcans prefer the lirpa as a weapon during ceremonial combat. It's a staff with a fan-shaped blade on one end and a hefty counter-weight on the other, good for slashing or bludgeoning enemies.
* FantasticRacism: There will always be at least a few members of each species that has issues with humans, other species, or vice versa.
* FantasticNuke:
** The Genesis Device, a sophisticated torpedo used for rapid terraforming of dead worlds. Ironically, deploying this on an ''inhabited'' planet has the opposite effect, destroying all life to make way for the new matrix.
** In "Chain of Command", Picard is sent to destroy a protoype metagenic weapon. Metagenic bombs wipe out all organic matter on a planet's surface, leaving only the manufactured materials intact (and the world ripe for conquest). The weapons were outlawed, in part because they were equally hazardous to the invading force; however, the Cardassians were rumored to be overcoming that problem. This turned out to be a false flag, though.
** The Vulcans use "Red Matter" to create pocket [[OurWormholesAreDifferent black holes]]. Nero got the bright idea of using it to eat a planet (specifically [[DeathByIrony Vulcan]]).
** the Xindi superweapon from ''Enterprise'', said to be capable of destroying Earth entirely (the prototype kills 7 million people as a ''test'').
** isolytic subspace weapons, which are banned by treaty since they tear open actual holes in the fabric of space
* FantasticRankSystem: Everyone except the Federation has a different one. See the trope page for more details.
* FantasticShipPrefix:
** While Starfleet ships use an existing prefix, their registry numbers had various original designations which usually began with "N".
*** NCC: Starfleet active. Popular misconception is that it stands for "Naval Construction Contract" but the producers never assigned it any actual meaning. Production designer Matt Jeffries said he just combined the American aircraft registry (NC) with the Soviet one (CCCC).
*** NX: Starfleet experimental. Often used for the lead ships of a class, or ships that are the testbed of new technologies. The ''Excelsior'' first appears as NX-2000 while she is running trials and carrying an experimental warp drive. Later she is granted active status and her registry changes to NCC.
*** NAR: Federation non-Starfleet. Typically seen on civilian ships.
** Klingon ships are IKS, Imperial Klingon Ship. Prior to its establishment in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', various non-canon sources, including Michael Okuda's ''Star Trek Encyclopedia'', proposed "IKC" (for "Imperial Klingon Cruiser", a term heard in Klingon radio chatter in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'').
** Romulan ships use IRW (Imperial Romulan Warbird).
** When Kirk and company fell into the Mirror Universe, they found themselves aboard the ISS Enterprise (Imperial Star Ship).
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: While not fantasy, most of the major alien species have some connection to Real World counterparts. It should be considered that there is a difference between culture and politics.
** The Federation -- The United States. Although, it's sort of a mixture of the United States & the United Nations. The Federation flag & the Federation Council are reminiscent of the UN Flag & the Security Council. However, unlike the present-day UN, the Federation is a sovereign government with elements common to a federal republic. Persons on Federation worlds are citizens of the Federation. That citizenship is guaranteed rights by way of the Federation Charter & Constitution, and the rights enumerated in the Federation Charter & Constitution have supremacy across all member worlds.
** Starfleet -- The United States Navy. Both the Earth & Federation versions of Starfleet have individual ranks & systems of hierarchy that correspond with the USN's. The color of Starfleet personnel's uniforms are based on the specifics of their job, just as its done with the flight crews aboard USN aircraft carriers. Also, during the Dominion War, ''Deep Space Nine'' has Starfleet deployed in the numbered fleet configurations used by the USN, with the 3rd Fleet referenced as protecting Earth & the 7th Fleet all but destroyed in a failed offensive.
** Vulcans -- Great Britain. Not a perfect match-up, but ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' depicted them as a regional superpower who eventually lose much of their realm of control as Earth increases theirs. Culturally, they also share a good deal with Japanese society; a reclusive nature, emotional reserve, deep spiritualism, and technical prowess.
** Romulans -- Communist China, made fairly obvious in the original series. A secretive government who you aren't quite sure what they're up to. ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' expanded on that by showing the Romulans as emerging from decades of isolation from the rest of the galactic community. They also started to become a bit like Iran, for similar reasons. There are allusions to the Roman Empire too: their two main planets are Romulus and Remus, they are called an Empire, their ruling body is the Senate which is headed by a Praetor, and low-ranking officers are called "Centurions".
** Klingons:
*** Soviet Russia, like the Romulans the analogue was obvious enough in the original series (although in their initial appearance they were described as ''Vietcong'' -- "Oriental, hard-faced" and "the Ho Chi Minh type"). They were the passive/aggressive species with whom it felt like war was always just around the corner but never quite got there. They mirrored Post-Soviet Russia in ''The Next Generation'' in terms of politics, having gotten past the "cold war" era but still not fully trusting each other. But as part of Creator/GeneRoddenberry's plan to not make them evil and a race of "black hats," they turned into... vikings.
*** There are also a lot of parallels to FeudalJapan. As if Worf's passing reference to a "Klingon tea ceremony" in [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]], the whole [[PlanetOfHats racial obsession with]] [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy honor, combat, and dying with honor]], and their love of [[KatanasAreJustBetter big, fancy curved swords]] wasn't blatant enough, in "The Sons of Mogh" Worf's dishonored brother comes to him for help with a Klingon ceremony that's essentially {{Seppuku}} [[AC: [[RecycledInSpace In Space]]]].
** The Cardassians took a few stabs at being Nazi analogues (xenophobia is inherent in their genetic makeup). After various failed attempts at democratization and improving relations with the other galactic powers, they join the Dominion and become a Nazi client state like [[LesCollaborateurs Vichy France]]. Eventually a "[[LaResistance Free French]]" faction emerges, though they are led by Damar, a DefectorFromDecadence (whereas the exile Garak was more of a De Gaulle analogue).
*** Cardassian culture is very military-center and totalitarian -- in ''Deep Space Nine'', one of the characters comments that "Cardassians have a habit of looking to strong military leadership in hard times" (Bismarck, the Kaiser etc). Parallel was apparently noted in-series, as the anti-Cardassian resistance shares a name with the French resistance of WWII.
*** Cardassians as generic colonial powers works just as well as the obligatory Nazi comparison, since Bajor is always called a colony and is run along those lines: occupy and obtain resources (with local slave labor), rather than being a matter of living space or an ideology.
*** Cardassians as a version of Japan is a popular alternative, especially among those who look at details like what food they eat. Much like Imperial Japan in the 1930's and 40's, the Cardassian Union had a nominally civilian government but was actually ruled by the military; though it was considered to be a major power within its sphere of influence, the Cardassian Union was actually smaller and less powerful than its neighbour (which in this case, is the United Federation of Planets).
** Bajorans as generic colonized people. (Would support the Cardassians as generic colonial powers interpretation). Rick Berman compared the Bajorans to "the Kurds, the Palestinians, the Jews in the 1940s, the boat people from Haiti -- unfortunately, the homeless and terrorism are problems [of every age]". They're a mishmash of pretty much any victimized group throughout the 20th century.
** Orions -- The Mafia / Criminal Underground.
** Nausicaans -- Gang Leaders.
*** Same goes for ''Voyager's'' Kazon.
** Ferengi -- The East India Companies.
*** Their society and system of government both bear some resemblance to the cities of Hong Kong and Singapore, with a focus on business and commerce while having highly conservative and patriarchal cultures.
* FantasyCounterpartReligion:
** The Klingon religion: A warrior-based religion where honor and courage are quintessential and warriors are rewarded with an afterlife of glory fighting alongside their god Kahless in the halls of Sto-Vo-Kor. Obviously based on the [Hollywood version of] Norse religion, just change Kahless for Odin and Sto-Vo-Kor for Walhalla.
** The Bajoran religion: Spiritual worship of the Prophets who are not gods, but (at least for the Bajoran) enlightened beings, with a well-organized religious hierarchy and a common leader. Probably a counterpart of Buddhism with some Catholicism in the mix.
* FasterThanLightTravel: Rather hard to imagine the series without it.
## The name "warp" was meant to imply it bends space and time. They started out calling it a "factor," which would be consistent with that.
## Then they got lazy and just used it as a unit of speed.
## Then ''TNG'' decided they needed more tech to tech with their tech, so instead of just bending real space, they're moving through "subspace," where the rules are different, and depending on the writing can be treated as pretty much an alternate universe.
** The entire concept of subspace is to get around the apparent fact that FTL travel is impossible in regular space, so you submerge into a different dimension closely connected to it.
* FastKillingRadiation: Both ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' feature climactic scenes in which ''Enterprise''[='s=] damaged warp core is manually repaired, saving the ship at the cost of someone's life due to radiation exposure. In ''TWOK'', it's Spock; the radiation is an intense light that blasts him as he's making the repairs, leaving him blinded and with severe burns on his face and neck. In ''ID'', it's Kirk; the radiation is only visible as heat shimmer and he suffers burns on his face, but they're not nearly as severe as Spock's. In both scenes, Spock and Kirk die within a few minutes of the exposure.
* FeudalFuture: Earth seems to be the only planet that ever got the hang of democracy. Non-Federation worlds are depicted as imperialist aggressors (the faux-Chinese Romulans and the Greco-Roman Klingons) or peasant societies with well-oiled guillotines.
** Oddly, Cardassia-Prime of all places entered a new democratic age after the intelligence service folded. A brief civil war ensued, and in the wake of the Dominion War the civilian government took back its rightful place as head of the Union.
* FictionalFlag:
** The flag of the [[TheFederation United Federation of Planets]] is clearly based on the flag of the United Nations, with a blue circle flanked by laurel garlands (symbolizing peace) on a blue field. Unlike the UN flag, where the circle is a globe, the UFP flag depicts a starfield. In season 3 of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', many stars are missing since the chronologically last time the flag was seen, indicating the secession of a number of member states.
** The flag of the Romulan Star Empire depicts a stylized bird of prey with two planets, the home planets of the Empire, Romulus and Remus, grasped in its talons.
* FictionalGenevaConventions: The Khitomer Accords, an historic peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It's the prime focus of ''Star Trek VI'', with both sides attempting to scuttle it.
* FictionalSport: Parrises Squares, a highly-athletic game played on the Holodeck.
* FictionScience: The series have produced a large number of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_technical_manuals Technical Manuals]], many of them official. These fill in many details of life in the Trekkian future, especially the inner workings of the Enterprises and other starships.
%%* ForgotTheCall
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: In every single series and the movies. There are an insane number of instances where at the end of an episode the protagonists have in their possession some fantastic new piece of technology, which will ''never'' be used or mentioned ever again. Often a case of the StatusQuoIsGod, because the Federation simply cannot be allowed to get too far ahead of rivals such as the Klingons, Romulans or Cardassians.
** One of the most notable examples, if only because it was used so regularly for a while, is the Life Support Belt tech from the Animated Series. Of course, the Animated Series was considered officially non-canon for many years, but it's still surprising that the ExpandedUniverse materials don't use it more often, since they would frequently cite other elements from the Animated Series.
* FrankenVehicle:
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In a meta-example, many episodes during the Dominion War featured background shots of ships whose physical models had obviously been kitbashed together, without any InUniverse explanation ever being given. [[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Yeager_(NCC-65674) One of the more absurd]] was the USS ''Yeager'', which in real life took the saucer section of a model kit for the USS ''Voyager'' and put it atop the hull of a Maquis raider (the name and registry numbers were anagrams of ''Voyager''[='s=]). This kind of kitbashing was common among ''Star Trek''[='s=] modelmakers but was rarely so obvious.
** ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'': {{Implied}} in "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E1TheBrokenCircle The Broken Circle]]". The ship used in the [[spoiler:FalseFlagOperation against the Klingon battlecruiser]] has the saucer section of a ''Crossfield''-class starship (e.g. USS ''Discovery''), but a ventrally mounted bridge like a ''Walker''-class (USS ''Shenzhou'') and a twin-boom after section and nacelles resembling an inverted [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise NX-class]], suggesting that the conspirators built it from several different salvaged wrecks. An {{enforced}} example, as the ship originally ''was'' going to be an NX-class, but budget constraints forced the reuse of sets from ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''.
* FreeLoveFuture: Obviously downplayed, due to television constraints. However, Roddenberry was very much a proponent of this trope. We don't see much of civilian life on Earth, but officers are allowed to cavort fairly freely aboard the Federation's flagship. Prostitution (real and [[SexBot simulated]]) has also been legalized.
-->'''Website/TheAgonyBooth''': ''Kirk has been with a lot of women, and is presumably deeply grateful for whatever eliminated [=STDs=] in Gene Roddenberry's universe''
* FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow: Across the franchise Starfleet has the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]], a rule that states that the Federation should not interfere with the development of pre-warp civilizations. It was not originally an unbreakable vow as much as it was a general guideline, but over the years it has gone back and forth.
* TheFutureIsNoir:
** The original designation for ''[=DS9=]'' was Terok Nor, which is one letter removed. It shows in the station's habitat ring, which is marked by patchy lighting and catwalk ceilings.
** Originally, going to Red Alert merely caused red lights to flash. By ''VOY'', every single light on the ship is dimmed. Most likely a nod to the RealLife military practice of using red and/or dimmed lights in dark environments to preserve one's night vision, although this would be counterproductive on a ship that is operated entirely using brightly-lit touchscreens. But would help conserve energy that might be needed in a red alert situation.
** "Yesterday's Enterpise" (''TNG'') and "Living Witness" showed alternate worlds in which the ''Enterprise'' and ''Voyager'' are fully-cocked warships, under the oppression of ''permanent'' Red Alert.
** ''Generations'' was shot this way mostly to disguise the decade-old sets. However, ''First Contact'' was filmed much the same way, despite taking place on a brand new ship, perhaps to illustrate that the Federation is at war again.
* FuturisticJetInjector: The [[https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Hypospray hyposprays]] are likely the TropeCodifier. As early as the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]], they have been used by doctors to deliver various medicines (conveniently packaged in easy-to-insert capsules) to patients in adjustable doses. Regarding application through clothes, the franchise has been inconsistent: sometimes people would be injected right through their clothing, other times medical staff were shown removing it to expose skin before using the hypospray.
* FutureSocietyPresentValues: Most prominent in ''TOS'', which was limited by network standards and very heavy on Cold War allegory, with the Federation (the United States), Klingon Empire (the Soviet Union) and Romulans (China) being very obvious expies of real world nations. Real world social values from the time also crept into the show in a variety of ways, such as consistent gender roles, and fashions paralleling the real world. [[SubvertedTrope The pilot episode, however, had a powerful female second-in-command]], who was reportedly disliked by [[invoked]]''[[ValuesDissonance female viewers]]'' [[ValuesDissonance because she was "too domineering".]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:G]]
* GameOfNerds:
** A recurring motif in some episodes. Wesley Crusher mentions his father once teaching him the game, and a physicist in "Evolution" bemoans the decline of the sport in the late [=20th century=] (attributed to commercialism and sloth).
** Ben Sisko is a serious baseball nut. In his debates with the Prophets, an abstract species who think in non-linear terms, baseball is used as a methaphor for each crisis.
* GargleBlaster:
** The Ferengi specialize in an alcoholic beverage called a black hole. Want to get hammered fast? Try a black hole.
** Romulan ale was largely illegal in the Federation, but once the Romulans allied with the Federation and the Klingons against the Dominion, the Federation lifted the embargo against the Romulan Empire, allowing Romulan ale to be purchased legally. Federation citizens also discovered that the ale is ''quite'' potent, as Worf learned in "Nemesis".
%%* GenericistGovernment
* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: We see the full effects of DNA hacking during the Eugenics and Dominion wars.
** Bio-memetic gel, a key component of biogenic weapons. The actual ''effects'' of this gel are left up to the imagination; the Federation bans any and all weapons applications, so it must be pretty hairy.
** "In the Pale Moonlight" suggests that it can be used to create bombs that pass for organic matter.
** Some ExpandedUniverse sources imply that ''biogenic'' is the equivalent of ''weapon of mass destruction'' in current parlance. That is, this is a weapon you had DAMN well better not get caught actually using.
* GenericanEmpire: The United Federation of Planets, the Dominion.
* GenericFederationNamedEmpire: The United Federation of Planets vs. the Klingon Empire, Romulon Empire, and Cardassian Union among others. The Dominion is also named generically as an "evil counterpart" to the Federation while the MirrorUniverse Federation is the Terran Empire.
* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: The remastered Original Series and The Next Generation got a lot of "nip and tuck" regarding for the Hi-Def release (CBS aired some episodes before the actual Blu-Ray release came out). For the Original Series they strove to attain a visual look [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series?file=Comparison_TOS_original_remastered.jpg virtually identical but simply cleaned-up]]. They also included a couple of brand new clips that were intended for the original episode but unable to film at the time, such as an establishing shot of Starfleet Command on Earth. TNG had a similar process done, largely for some effects that simply didn't age as well like the Crystalline Entity. The whole thing was well regarded, in large part because they were supervised by Trek production legend Michael Okuda.
* GhostExtras: In the hundreds and thousands, given that TheMainCharactersDoEverything on every single ''Trek'' show. Occasionally one will be promoted to AscendedExtra, but more often they get "demoted" to RedShirt.
* AGodAmI: ironically, characters who have or obtain godlike powers usually do just the opposite, or merely posing as a god to fuck with people. But there are a few examples:
** Gary Mitchell gets powered up by the Galactic Barrier, declares himself to be a god and even forces Kirk to pray to him.
** Ransom does something similar in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E01StrangeEnergies after said energies empower him, and even tries to start his own religion based around pumping iron.
** To be a {{Terraform}}er in the Trek universe is to be very lordly, indeed. See the imperious Kurk Mandl in "Home Soil" (TNG), later one-upped by nine-time author (all autobiographies) Gideon Seytik in [=DS9=]'s "Second Sight". Something about creating planets gives scientists a god complex; Seytik's final words were even, "Let there be light!"
* GoodColorsEvilColors: When heroes on Trek use transporters, the visual effect appears blue. Alternatively, Klingons use a red effect. The Borg are green.
** Cardassians (and, by extension, the crew of ''[=DS9=]'') have yellow transporter beams.
* GoodOldWays: Captain Kirk in particular strongly reminisces about the time of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eXB1Yj05Fw wooden ships and iron men.]]
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Given its position on network TV, swearing is pretty much non-existent in early ''Trek''; it even escaped the movies until ''Generations'', in which a single four-letter word became the punchline to an entire subplot's worth of buildup. Subverted big time in current ''Trek'', where the freedom of streaming has led to a (comparatively) massive rise in expletive use.
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement: Used a couple of times in TNG and ''Deep Space Nine'', also used in the movie ''Insurrection''.
* GratuitousRape: TOS and TNG in particular have been called out for it, with Kirk being drugged somehow into kissing (or worse) at least four times, Uhura having to fight an attacker off, Tasha's backstory involving rape gangs, and Deanna Troi getting far too many MindRape plots.
* GrayingMorality: From series to series, at least for a while. TNG is grayer than the original series, and ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' is even grayer than that.
** The Prime Directive is often at the heart of this over the progression of the franchise, interestingly despite the fact that later series like ENT and the reboot movies chronologically predate TOS. As time has gone on, writers have increasingly treated the Prime Directive as an almost callous SocialDarwinist policy, to the extent that extinction of sapient species is considered preferable to the hypothetical negative consequences of "interference" in their cultures.
** As part of the DarkerAndEdgier nature of the reboot movies, Section 31, much earlier in its history than in the main timeline, is well past the MoralEventHorizon. They have gone from covert activities to defend the Federation to building super-warships and attempting to preemptively start interstellar wars to eradicate Federation enemies.
* GreatOffscreenWar:
** The Eugenics Wars (augmented superhumans vs. everybody else) and, to a lesser extent, WorldWarIII, all taking place on Earth and concerning only humanity. Both are mentioned across multiple shows and films and have lasting effects (humans have banned genetic engineering, for one).
** The Earth-Romulan War, which was first mentioned all the way back in TOS's first season. ENT was building up to it but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen sadly got cancelled first]].
** The Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon" [[CanonImmigrant imports]] Creator/LarryNiven's Kzinti, and claims that Earth fought and won ''four separate wars'' with them a full two hundred years ago.
** The Next Generation has the war between the Federation and the Cardassians, which was responsible for creating the Anti-Federation confederates known as the Maquis; and "brutal border wars" against the Talarians and the Tzenkethi, which happened at some point between TOS and TNG.
** ''Discovery'' season three mentions the Temporal Wars, involving troops from multiple universes and "weaponizing time itself". It's not clear who fought whom or why, only that it was terrible. So terrible, in fact, that all forms of time travel tech have been outlawed throughout the galaxy, and the Federation's black ops division won't risk even touching it over 100 years later.
* GroupIdentifyingFeature:
** Betazoids look just like humans, only with black irises.
** Bajorans look a lot like humans, but with ridges on their noses. The majority of them also wear an earring on their right ear.
** Uniforms:
*** In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', red is the "generic" Starfleet uniform colour, while the command crew wear gold. In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', and ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', it's the other way round. In all of those series, science officers wear blue. Additionally, in ''The Original Series'', women wear dresses while men wear black pants.
*** In ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', Starfleet officers wear matching dark blue boiler suits. You can tell someone's division by a stripe pattern that goes around the shoulders. Like in ''The Original Series'', gold stands for command, blue stands for science, and red is generic. Starfleet officers also wear an embroidered patch of their ship and its name on their upper sleeves.
*** In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', most people wear matching dark blue outfits (in some cases jumpsuits similar to the ''Enterprise'' uniforms and in other cases shirts and pants). However, the doctors wear white jumpsuits instead of blue.
** You can tell what rank someone is in ''Next Generation'', ''Deep Space Nine'', and ''Voyager'' by the golden dots they have on their collars, which are known as "pips" or "rank insignia". Cadets don't have any, ensigns have one, junior-grade lieutenants have one, plus one hollowed-out one, regular lieutenants have two, lieutenant-commanders have two and one hollowed-out one, commanders have three, captains have four, and admirals have six (three on either side).
** Romulans can be distinguished from Vulcans by the V-shaped ridge on their heads.
** Trills look like humans, but with spots going all the way down their sides.
** Aenar can be distinguished from Andorians by their white skin.
** Orions look just like humans, except for their green skin, and seeing as they're a seductive race, a female Orion is a literal GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe.
* GunboatDiplomacy: TheFederation definitely believes in "carrying a big [[CoolStarship ship]]" to negotiations. They don't usually push their self-interest too hard with this show of force, but it still makes three things clear. "We are strong". "We are rich". "You ''don't'' start fights when we're trying to negotiate".
[[/folder]]
[[folder:H]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: Spock, Deanna Troi, B'Elanna Torres, [[spoiler:Sisko]].
* HamAndDeadpanDuo: Kick (definitive Ham) and Spock (contrasting Deadpan)
* HandmadeIsBetter: It's something of a RunningGag across the various series that "real" food (i.e. food that was grown rather than replicated) somehow tastes better, at least to those who aren't used to eating the replicated stuff.
* HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday: Klingons tend to do this a lot; Worf is only the most prominent example.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: It is implied through the various ''Star Trek'' shows that the sort of adventures the ''[[CoolStarship Enterprise]]'' and her crew get in is just the far side of typical. {{Lampshaded}} by Captain Janeway when she stated in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' that "Weird is part of the job".
* HighlyConspicuousUniform: Worf once justified this by claiming Starfleet duds are suited for a wide variety of climates, due to the special material or somesuch. ("Let He Who is Without Sin"). It also spared the makeup department from showing us what Klingons look like in swim trunks, but that's just coincidental.
** The Klingons are the lords of this trope. At least the Romulans can claim a degree of urban camo with their checkered outfits. The Klingons are all about plate metal, spikes, and gauntlets that would make [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Shredder]] envious. And don't forget the steel-toed, spiked boots for kicking your enemy's skull in.
** The Cardassians favor big, bulky chestplates, along with a wide neckline for the snake-like hoods on their neck. It doesn't look very comfortable or maneuverable.
* HollywoodEvolution: The franchise is guilty of promulgating virtually every sub-trope of this into public consciousness, undoing the work of biology teachers everywhere. In particular, GoalOrientedEvolution is extremely popular with the writers, who often incorporate the idea that the evolutionary future of any species can be predicted with comparative ease and surprising accuracy. This often forms the backbone of rationalizations of how the Prime Directive is interpreted in a given episode, with characters taking the stance that the evolution of a given species is "supposed" to go down a certain path (which may include extinction if the species is unfortunate enough to be pre-warp).
* HollywoodTactics: Fairly common in most of the series, particularly in firefights, where humans and aliens alike frequently fail to use cover or take evasive action. Could be partly due to early special effects limitations, as it's hard to draw phaser beams when the actors are moving around. Later shows were better about this, particularly Enterprise, which introduced actual military personnel who fought more convincingly.
* {{Hologram}}: Starting in [=TNG=], recreational holodecks were standard, with "hard light" holograms made of projections and forcefields. Later series also added the Emergency Medical Hologram.
* HumanOutsideAlienInside: While most of the species that are encountered look fairly humanoid, many of them turn out to have truly [[BizarreAlienBiology bizarre biological differences]].
* HumansAreDiplomats: Especially during [=TOS=] and early TNG. Gene Roddenberry opposed the idea of a military Starfleet.
* HumansAreSpecial: The Federation is a vast, multi-species, space nation -- that is overwhelmingly run by humans and HumanAliens. Aliens are a definite minority in Starfleet. Many alien species use "The Federation" and "Starfleet" to explicitly refer to "humanity" and "Earth".
** Particularly noteworthy in crew of the Federation Flagships. In TOS and TNG, the majority of the main cast was human. The remainders? Spock, a half-Human half-Vulcan. Troi, a half-Betazed half-Human. Data, an android designed by a human, with a personal goal of becoming more like a human (Not like humanoids or other biological lifeforms, but specifically human). And Worf, a full blooded Klingon, who was raised by Humans. Ironically, the one Enterprise which would have an excuse to have only humans on it, the Pre-Federation Earth vessel captained by Archer, had two alien main cast members with no particular tie to humanity.
** Notably, only two species have been shown to put the lie to the Borg's claim that ResistanceIsFutile: One borders on nearly StarfishAliens physiology and hail from an alternate dimension so far outside the context the Borg are familiar with their technology ''simply doesn't work'' against them. The other is the human-dominated Federation which, despite the Borg Queen's observation about humanity's biological and technological inferiority bordering on PunyEarthlings, have stopped every attempt by the Borg to assimilate the Federation cold. Notably, it was ''humans'' who figured out how to make Borg nanoprobes work against the other species.
* HumansAreWarriors: As much as Starfleet may protest that their primary purpose is one of exploration, one of their most famous captains (Kirk) was legendary even among the Klingons for his prowess in battle. The Federation may prefer to speak softly, but they are ''more'' than willing to swing the stick if left with no other choice. They were the center of the resistance against the Dominion, and are the only species (other than near-StarfishAliens from outside the universe) that have routinely managed to give the Borg a black eye.
-->'''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Quark]]:''' Let me tell you something about Hew-mons, Nephew. They're a wonderful, friendly people, as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those same friendly, intelligent, wonderful people... will become as nasty and as violent as the most bloodthirsty Klingon. You don't believe me? Look at those faces. Look in their eyes.
* HumorlessAliens: Vulcans allegedly have no sense of humor, but they all seem to be {{Deadpan Snarker}}s anyway.
** This is a bit of FridgeBrilliance. Humor is usually about the incongruity between logic and reality. So, basically, Vulcans have spent hundreds of years watching every other race act like clowns, and they get the joke. They may not guffaw, but their sense of humor is finely honed.
** Sulu tells a young Tuvok once, "Don't tell me Vulcans don't have a sense of humor, because I know better." True enough!
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