History YMMV / StarTrek

* SlidingScaleOfSocialSatisfaction: Categorized as "True Neutral".

** The films are famous for going back and forth (see StarTrekMovieCurse.) The series, however, follow a much more consistent path. ''The Original Series'' was something of an uneven novelty, thanks to inconsistent writing. ''Next Generation'' was considered an EvenBetterSequel. ''Deep Space Nine'' was [[SomethingCompletelyDifferent "different, but still good."]] ''Voyager'' is where the franchise started to unravel, and ''Enterprise'' is where it finally came apart.

* ArchivePanic: This franchise is VAST, comprising seven live action series and three animated series totalling 834 episodes of television, 13 feature films across two separate continuities, and two seasons of short episodes. Just getting through the canonical material will take you a total, as of March 2022, of nearly 629 hours, which is over ''26 days''. And that's not counting the 129 video games (of which ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' alone is vast enough to have its own wiki), 865 novels, and innumerable comics.

* ArchivePanic: This franchise is VAST, comprising seven live action series and three animated series totalling 797 episodes of television, 13 feature films across two separate continuities, and two seasons of short episodes. Just getting through the canonical material will take you a total, as of March 2022, of nearly 629 hours, which is over ''26 days''. And that's not counting the 129 video games (of which ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' alone is vast enough to have its own wiki), 865 novels, and innumerable comics.

* ArchivePanic: This franchise is VAST, comprising seven live action series and three animated series totalling 797 episodes of television, 13 feature films across two separate continuities, and two seasons of short episodes. Just getting through the canonical material will take you a total, as of January 2021, of 608 hours, which is over ''25 days''. And that's not counting the 129 video games (of which ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' alone is vast enough to have its own wiki), 865 novels, and innumerable comics.

** WebSite/SFDebris believes that Roddenberry's vision of Trek seems to be that in the future, Earth is a Marxist dystopia ruled by Pod-People. Stardestroyer.net has a [[http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Trek-Marxism.html similar argument]] in a bit more depth.
*** While it is true that the series (focused as they are on Starfleet) do not show much of civilian lifestyles in the Federation, what we ''do'' see actually implies a rather high standard of living, and quite a diversity of lifestyles, especially when the colonies are factored in. For example, Beverly Crusher's grandmother lived on a colony where everyone was basically doing {{LARP}} of life in the pre-industrial Scottish Highlands (with hidden technology maintaining things like the weather). So there is a definite absence of stereotypical Marxist conformity. If anything, people appear to cluster in "lifestyle communities" that meet their personal preferences.

* ArchivePanic: This franchise is VAST, comprising seven live action series and two animated series totalling 797 episodes of television, 13 feature films across two separate continuities, and two seasons of short episodes. Just getting through the canonical material will take you a total, as of January 2021, of 608 hours, which is over ''25 days''. And that's not counting the 129 video games (of which ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' alone is vast enough to have its own wiki), 865 novels, and innumerable comics.

--> '''Dan''': So Star Trek and Next Gen are about a resource rich society that is in such a creative rut they will send the Enterprise, humanity's ''finest'' ship out to unexplored corners of space just to find new life and new civilizations. ''Novelty'' is the most precious commodity there is! This is a profoundly bored people, so jaded, that they will load up their children and women onto a heavily armed warship and send it just out... just go! Just go ''somewhere'' and find me ''something'' interesting and tell me about it?!

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Various theme songs (plus all the live-action series -- with the exception of the original -- have either been nominated for or won music Emmys, and there's [[http://www.startreksoundtracks.com/ an entire website]] and [[http://reelmusic.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/the-music-of-star-trek-profiles-in-style-jeff-bond/ book]] about the music.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped/StarTrek has its own page]]. Gene Roddenberry was progressive and forward-thinking; he was ''not'' subtle.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames and NoProblemWithLicensedGames: [[VideoGame/StarTrek Has its own page now.]]

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: [[VideoGame/StarTrek Has its own page now.]]

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Star Trek has been notoriously variable with the quality of its forays into interactive entertainment - partially because distilling the essence of the best episodes of the series into a truly interactive format is goddamn hard. The "best" Trek games to date have been somewhat more combat-focused than many of the shows really were. Of course, the fact that the license keeps bouncing between hands and developers (unlike Creator/LucasArts, who've been refining their Star Wars offerings for the better part of two decades now) has not helped matters in the slightest.
** The two genres which are widely considered to have been ''most'' adaptable are [[RealTimeStrategy strategy games]] (''VideoGame/StarTrekBridgeCommander'', ''VideoGame/StarTrekArmada'', et al) for the combat elements, and [[PointAndClick point and click adventures]] (''VideoGame/StarTrek25thAnniversary'', ''VideoGame/JudgmentRites'', ''VideoGame/AFinalUnity'') for their episodic nature and ability to explore some of Trek's more ponderous aspects. ''25th Anniversary'' and ''A Final Unity'' in particular are often held up as being the closest you can get to actually playing interactive episodes of their respective television series, complete with the complete original casts providing the in-game voices of their characters (which helps a '''lot''' with the atmosphere).

** While everyone knows ''what'' Data's name is, some people think "dah-tuh" is an acceptable pronunciation, which he debunks in an episode.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Cracked had a blast pointing out the [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18398_why-star-trek-universe-secretly-horrifying.html horrifying undertones to Federation Society]].

** This may very well be a case of TruthInTelevision though. A common argument floated by anti-''Trek'' commentators is that this future society is so bored and jaded that they have nothing better to do than live out fantasies in holodecks rather than going out and doing anything interesting themselves. However, in real life, early 21st Century America, many millions of people obsess over television (''[[HypocriticalHumor ahem]]''), movies and the internet. People fixate on watching sports they do not actually play themselves, immerse themselves in fictional media, or (for those seeking a little more verisimilitude), turn to so-called "reality TV" to watch other people who apparently have more interesting lives than the viewer does.

** WebSite/SFDebris believes that Roddenberry's vision of Trek seems to be that in the future, Earth is a Marxist dystopia ruled by Pod-People. Stardestroyer.net has a [[http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Trek-Marxism.html similar argument]] in a bit more depth.
*** While it is true that the series (focused as they are on Starfleet) do not show much of civilian lifestyles in the Federation, what we ''do'' see actually implies a rather high standard of living, and quite a diversity of lifestyles, especially when the colonies are factored in. For example, Beverly Crusher's grandmother lived on a colony where everyone was basically doing {{LARP}} of life in the pre-industrial Scottish Highlands (with hidden technology maintaining things like the weather). So there is a definite absence of stereotypical Marxist conformity. If anything, people appear to cluster in "lifestyle communities" that meet their personal preferences.

** Heterosexuality is virtually universal. Exceptions to this are rare and ''always'' involve alien species in some way. Even bodiless EnergyBeings seem to have gender identities and are depicted as heterosexual. [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith Q]] jokes about appearing to Picard as a woman, but never does so (although he appears in nonhuman forms several times). He also has a long-term (billion year) Q "girlfriend", with whom he has a son -- a stereotypical heterosexual horny teenager that is obsessed with females even from the "lesser" species. While InterspeciesRomance is quite common to the point of being expected, any deviation from heterosexuality is definitively explained by BizarreAlienBiology. The only episodes which depict ordinary humanoid characters being other than straight in an ordinary way are those set in the MirrorUniverse whose whole set-up is "evil is dominant" (and the depictions often tend to shallow GirlOnGirlIsHot pseudo-lesbian fluff to titillate fanboys). Arguably, stuff like this was done to get past the censors, where they could get away with showing gay stuff as long as aliens are involved and not humans (Gene Roddenberry always wanted to show gay humans, but was always thwarted [[ExecutiveMeddling for obvious reasons]]). This topic has been much discussed, including on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexuality_in_Star_Trek#LGBT_in_Star_Trek Other Wiki]], Star Trek's own [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sexuality Memory Alpha]], as well as [[http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/homosexuality.htm other essays]] and [[http://www.wired.com/2013/05/star-trek-lgbt-gay-characters/ articles]]. This was finally averted in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' where it's revealed that in this timeline, Sulu is gay and has both a husband and a daughter[[note]]Although that one has its own problems, in that the writers said they did it out of homage to noted gay icon Creator/GeorgeTakei... who decried it as CharacterDerailment, as he and Roddenberry discussed the matter and Takei agreed to play the character as straight[[/note]] and averted more definitively in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' where astromycologist Lt. Paul Stamets and ship's physician Dr. Hugh Culber are in a relationship with each other.

*** CTV Sci-Fi also airs ''Star Trek: Discovery'', ''Star Trek: Picard'', and ''Star Trek: Lower Decks'' first-run, making Canada the only country in the world where these shows can be legally seen without signing up for a streaming service. In fact, given the lack of an international distributor for ''Lower Decks'', Canada is the only other country in the world where the show can be seen legally ''full stop''. CTV Sci-Fi was also the only known international buyer of the ''Short Treks'' vignettes.

* CommonKnowledge: Transporters are frequently cited as FridgeHorror because they vaporize and create a perfect copy of you, spawning tons of discussion on whether this is actually suiciding and a clone taking your place. Transporters actually convert your mass into energy, send it to your destination, and turn it back into physical form, so regardless of one's views on the TheseusShipParadox it doesn't apply here - people who have been transported are still made up of the exact same matter.

* FandomRivalry: Famously, with ''Franchise/StarWars'', pretty much from the moment the latter debuted. Both are similar in name, popularity and influence, while frequently differing wildly in tone, making comparisons almost inevitable; each franchise also frequently [[PopularityPolynomial resurges in popularity]] around the same time the other [[DeaderThanDisco reaches a period of decline]], leading to perceptions that the one has stolen the other's thunder. Although an official crossover has never happened (yet), entire fandom sub-groups such as Website/StarDestroyerDotNet have been dedicated to exploring the possibilities of the two universes colliding, as have numerous fanfiction, and the eternal battle between fans has been explored in media like ''{{Film/Fanboys}}''. All that being said, the two have influenced each other quite a bit (again, pretty much from the start- George Lucas has admitted to enjoying ''Trek'' when it began, and the huge success of ''Wars'' led directly to the series' return in the form of ''[[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture The Motion Picture]]''), frequently pay tribute to each other, and there are certainly plenty of those who are big fans of both, making it - if not precisely FriendlyFandoms ([[SeriousBusiness never!]]) - perhaps something closer to a WorthyOpponent.

** Kirk/Spock (or [[PortmanteauCoupleName Spirk]]) is what gave the "{{Slash}}" concept its trope name.

** In the 30th anniversary special, there is a skit featuring the cast of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' serving on the USS ''Voyager'' under Janeway. At one point, a Klingon beams aboard with the dog, which had been digging up azalea bushes on the Klingon homeworld. Janeway remarks, "Now you see why we shouldn't have [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise pets on starships]]".
** It was long established in secondary material, and confirmed by Gene Roddenberry' letters during his lifetime, that the star the planet Vulcan orbited is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_Eridani 40 Eriadni A]]. Fast forward to 2018, [[https://www.sciencealert.com/star-trek-vulcan-exoplanet-40-eridani-a-hd-26965-super-earth-dharma-planet-survey and it turns out there's actually a Super Earth orbiting that same star within its Habitable Zone]].

** Kirk/Spock (or [[PortmanteauCoupleName Spirk]]) is the original {{Slash}} pairing.

* SequelGap: There was a four year hiatus between 1998's ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'' and 2002's ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'', and an even longer seven year hiatus between ''Nemesis'' and ''Film/StarTrek2009'' (which is technically a sequel despite also being a ContinuityReboot), plus another four-year gap between that one and 2013's ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness''.

** Heterosexuality is virtually universal. Exceptions to this are rare and ''always'' involve alien species in some way. Even bodiless EnergyBeings seem to have gender identities and are depicted as heterosexual. [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith Q]] jokes about appearing to Picard as a woman, but never does so (although he appears in nonhuman forms several times). He also has a long-term (billion year) Q "girlfriend", with whom he has a son who is a stereotypical heterosexual horny teenager that is obsessed with females even from the "lesser" species. While InterspeciesRomance is quite common to the point of being expected, any deviation from heterosexuality is definitively explained by BizarreAlienBiology. The only episodes which depict ordinary humanoid characters being other than straight in an ordinary way are those set in the MirrorUniverse whose whole set-up is "evil is dominant" (and the depictions often tend to shallow GirlOnGirlIsHot pseudo-lesbian fluff to titillate fanboys). Arguably, stuff like this were done to get past the censors, where they could get away with showing gay stuff as long as aliens are involved and not humans (Gene Roddenberry always wanted to show gay humans, but was always thwarted [[ExecutiveMeddling for obvious reasons]]). This topic has been much discussed, including on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexuality_in_Star_Trek#LGBT_in_Star_Trek Other Wiki]], Star Trek's own [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sexuality Memory Alpha]], as well as [[http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/homosexuality.htm other essays]] [[http://www.wired.com/2013/05/star-trek-lgbt-gay-characters/ and articles]]. This is finally averted in ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' where it's revealed that in this timeline, Sulu is gay and has both a husband and a daughter,[[note]]Although that one has its own problems, in that the writers said they did it out of homage to Creator/GeorgeTakei... who always said he played the character as being straight.[[/note]] and averted more definitively in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' where astromycologist Lt. Paul Stamets and ship's physician Dr. Hugh Culber are in a relationship with each other.

*** The [[UsefulNotes/CanadianMultichannelNetworks Canadian multichannel network]] SPACE, which began transmitting in 1997, is often facetiously called "the ''Star Trek'' channel" for its incessant reruns of all the shows, despite the lack of any "[=CanCon=]" quota which might otherwise explain its ubiquity.[[note]]To make a ''very'' long story short, "[=CanCon=]" rules require all broadcast networks and cable channels to air a percentage of shows on their schedule which involve Canadians in their production - whether the show itself is produced in Canada, is written by Canadians, or stars Canadians. ''Series/StargateSG1'', produced in Vancouver and co-starring Canadian Creator/AmandaTapping, fulfills these requirements in spades, which is one reason it is ''also'' ubiquitous on the channel.[[/note]] This continues to the present day (the channel has since been rebranded as "CTV Sci-Fi").