http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/USS_Enterprise.jpg
[[caption-width:350:These are the voyages...]]
->''Space -- the final frontier...''

A long-running science-fiction franchise which is one of the most recognizable and influential fiction universes in television history, with five television series and eleven movies spanning three generations of characters and four decades of television.

The setting in every series is about an Earth-based intergalactic government called TheFederation and their fleet of starships, which form [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Starfleet]]. Every series dealt with a particular crew, mostly of various ships named ''[[LegacyCharacter Enterprise]].'' As originally envisioned by GeneRoddenberry, the science fiction nature of the series was just a method to address many social issues of the time that could not have been done in a normal drama. As such, it was not above being {{Anvilicious}} or engaging in thinly-veiled social satire, but considering its origin during the 60's SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped.

As a [[LongRunners long-running]] and highly popular franchise, StarTrek is one of largest TropeMakers on television, especially the original series, and it remains one of the canonical examples of SciFi in the minds of the general public. Especially compared to most other "hard" sci-fi, it was, for the most part, ''way'' on the happy end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism. But it still found some sort of balance between a Dystopia and a CrystalSpiresAndTogas future... in general it is a future you hope will come true. All series have sought to show that while you may think the world is falling apart and there is no chance of global unity, all this crap will eventually work itself out.

In the mainstream it is likely most famous for its geeky fans, "trekkies," who are [[AcceptableLifestyleTargets stereotyped]] as [[AlwaysMale male]] {{Basement Dweller}}s who have [[AManIsNotAVirgin never had sex]] and speak [[{{Fictionary}} Klingon]] (this has [[http://trekmovie.com/2006/09/24/the-myth-of-the-star-trek-fan/ almost no basis in fact]]). Either that or it's confused with ''StarWars''.

Television Series in the franchise include:
* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' "TOS" (1966 - 1969) Set from 2266-2269 -- The one [[FirstInstallmentWins everyone has heard of]]. Originally just ''Star Trek'', it suffered in the {{ratings}}, but gained a devoted fanbase. UnCancelled after the second season, and then [[{{Cancellation}} Cancelled]] again at the end of the third. It ''really'' picked up steam in syndication, which was about the time demographics came into play - and the RealLife moon landing happened a week after its last episode aired. Nowadays, it looks incredibly cheesy and dated, but the show's writing was above average, the cast had great chemistry and the characters themselves were very memorable, to the point of creating three new archetypes: TheKirk, TheSpock, and [[TheMcCoy The [=McCoy=]]].
* ''StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' "TAS" (1973 - 1975) The timeline was unidentified -- Used most of the original cast (and a few additions) to provide voices for the animated versions of their characters. The quality of the show was hit and miss, with some being mediocre cartoon fare while others (epecially those penned by TOS writer D.C. Fontana) were excellent. 22 episodes were produced, but the series got the franchise's first Emmy award. The official canonicity of this series has gone back and forth, but at least some elements have bled over into the rest of the franchise (most notably, identifying the "T" in James T. Kirk to stand for "Tiberius").
* ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' "TNG" (1987 - 1994) Set from 2364-2371 -- The best known one after the original. Takes place in the 24th century on the ''Enterprise-D'', with the same mission of exploration as the original. Introduced the holodeck, defined the Klingons as being a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy society of honor and war]], and really hit it home with creating the cybernetic alien race, the Borg. Is one of the most well respected television shows of all time and the only syndicated show to ever be nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series.
* ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' "[=DS9=]" (1993 - 1999) Set from 2369-2376 -- Takes place concurrently with the end of ''Next Generation'' and the lion's share of ''Voyager''. Set on a former Cardassian space station (Formerly Terok Nor, renamed Deep Space Nine) in a politically unstable part of space near the planet Bajor, with exclusive access to a rare stable wormhole that leads from the Alpha to the Gamma Quadrant. ''BabylonFive'' a la ''StarTrek'', featuring (from Season 3 onwards) a massive interstellar war between the Federation, Cardassians, Klingons, Romulans and the Dominion.
* ''StarTrekVoyager'' "VOY" (1995 - 2001) Set from 2371-2378 -- While searching for a group of rogue Starfleet people called the Maquis, both the title ship and a Maquis ship are flung across the galaxy and stranded in the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light years and seventy-five years' travel from home (''LostInSpace'' a la ''Star Trek''). Had the first main character female captain in the franchise. Infamous for the VillainDecay of the Borg, the obscene levels of TechnoBabble, and mashing the ResetButton after roughly every other episode. This is arguably the height of [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome theme music]] for the series though, considering...
* ''StarTrekEnterprise'' "ENT" (2001 - 2005) Set from 2151-2155 -- Prequel to the original series, first of the spinoff series to not go all seven seasons. A hundred years or so before Kirk, humans are just getting their space legs and the AppliedPhlebotinum is not so nigh-magical. Featured two retools, first with Season Three introducing an ambitious but lackluster season-spanning StoryArc (''TwentyFour'' a la ''Star Trek'')and the fourth and final season using several 2-3 episode story-arcs. Both were an attempt to add more interest to a very mild and relatively boring "Temporal Cold War" arc of the first two seasons. Infamous for the asinine [[RealSongThemeTune pop song]] in the opening credits and for not lasting the desired seven seasons.

In addition to these, ''Star Trek: Phase II'' was a series concept designed as the cornerstone of a Paramount Pictures-based network in 1976. A continuation of the original series and featuring a second five-year mission, it would have introduced a number of new characters in conjunction with the original crew. When the network project died and the insane success of ''StarWars'' made sci-fi films profitable again, Paramount elaborated the series pilot into TheMovie, which ultimately led to a whole new line of movies:

* ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' (1979) (2271) -- Kirk rallies the old crew back together to intercept a technological CosmicHorror heading towards Earth.
* ''StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' (1982) (2285) -- Khan from TheOriginalSeries returns intending to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* ''StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' (1984) (2285) -- The crew find that for Vulcans, DeathIsCheap. Kirk and crew risk everything to get Spock back.
* ''StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' (1986) (2285/1986) -- To save Earth from a destructive, silent alien probe, Kirk and crew TimeTravel to TheEighties. HilarityEnsues.
* ''StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' (1989) (2286) -- After a botched attempt to rescue hostages, the ''Enterprise'' is commandeered by a radical Vulcan with intents to find God.
* ''StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'' (1991) (2293) -- Klingons sue for peace in a near perfect recreation of the Cold War finale.
* ''StarTrekGenerations'' (1994) (2294, then 2371) -- A MadScientist seeks to destroy billions to reach a NegativeSpaceWedgie that allows [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny Kirk to meet Picard.]]
* ''StarTrekFirstContact'' (1996) (2373/2063) -- The Borg attempt to assimilate Earth in the past, with Picard slowly becoming Captain Ahab against them.
* ''StarTrekInsurrection'' (1998) (2375) -- Finding that TheFederation intends to pillage a [[PlanetOfHats Shangri-La planet]], Picard actively rebels to save them.
* ''StarTrekNemesis'' (2002) (2379) -- The forever secretive Romulans make a surprising effort for peace, but their leader has much more devious intentions.
* ''[[Film/StarTrek Star Trek]]'' (2009) (2233 -- 2258) -- A mixture of ContinuityReboot and BroadStrokes with new actors showing that the TheOriginalSeries characters [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether went to school together]].

Many of the concepts from ''Phase II'' made their way into ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and the series itself is considered ''[[{{canon}} deuterocanon]]'' - not "true" canon, because it never made it to the screen, but allowed in BroadStrokes to fill a gap in Trek chronology (notice the fictional length of time between ''The Motion Picture'' and ''The Wrath of Khan'').

In total, to watch every minute of "canon" Star Trek (series and movies) would require [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lengths_of_science_fiction_film_and_television_series 22 days, 19 hours and 3 minutes of your time]], and that doesn't include 8 hours and 4 minutes of the Animated Series. Of Science Fiction franchises, only DoctorWho and its various canon spinoffs are even within a week.

After the high ratings ''of StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Star Trek began to decline in ratings through ''Deep Space 9'' and ''Voyager'' before finally hitting bottom in ''Enterprise''. Many people have tried to figure out the reasons why (with some more [[SnarkBait cynical than others]]), but a common phrase passed around was "Franchise Fatigue" - at least one StarTrek series had been on television for eighteen years. New and fresh stories were harder to find and ''Enterprise'' wasn't able to hold on to viewers. The fact that rival science fiction shows like ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'' and ''[[StargateSG1 Stargate SG-1]]'' were finally able to be successful on their own put Trek in serious competition for the first time as well.

''Star Trek'' was considered ground-breaking for its time, due to Roddenberry's bright and optimistic vision of the future; amongst other things, he fought hard for a diverse and racially-integrated cast, resulting in only two white American males amongst seven characters and a [[TwoferTokenMinority black woman]] in a position of authority... not to mention what was widely (mis)reported as the first black-on-white on-screen kiss (It was the first fictional depiction, but Sammy Davis Jr. and Nancy Sinatra shared a brief peck on TV earlier). Its influence is such that two pioneering RealLife spacecraft (the prototype for the Space Shuttle and the first ship in Virgin Galactic's space-tourism fleet) have been named after the Starship ''Enterprise''. With all this notoriety, ''StarTrek'' has also been the target of more satires than one can count, particularly ''GalaxyQuest'', which has jokingly been declared "the best ''StarTrek'' movie ever made" and the ''{{CSI}}'' episode "A Space Oddity".

Also notable: ''[[http://startreknewvoyages.com/ Star Trek: Phase II]]'' (formerly ''Star Trek: New Voyages''), a non-profit FanFilm series with new, unknown actors playing Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the original crew. BetterThanItSounds, due to the talent and enthusiasm of the cast and the involvement of actors and other personnel from the original series, including Walter Koenig (Chekov) and George Takei (Sulu) appearing as older versions of their characters.

Oh, and it also happens to be the most TropeOverdosed series in TVTropes history, beating out DoctorWho by a few hundred pages.
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!!'''Tropes common across all series (See all the tropes with an asterisk below? ''StarTrek'' is the TropeNamer for ''all'' of them.)''''

* ArcNumber (47, from the middle of ''Next Generation'' on)
* BadassArmy: The Klingons wish they were these but they are more of a subversion.
* BeamMeUpScotty*
* BoldlyComing*
* BluntMetaphorsTrauma (Data, Spock, and most Vulcans)
* CaptainsLog*
* TheChainsOfCommanding
* ClassicallyTrainedExtra (Patrick Stewart, most famously. He even said that he considered it training ''for'' his role as Picard. But the franchise is famous for casting many stage actors over regular TV guest actors.)
* ClipShow (The two-part TOS episode ''The Menagerie'' showed us most of the original pilot episode ''The Cage'')
* ClothesMakeTheLegend (The black and primary color uniform scheme. Only the original series films and ''Enterprise'' didn't follow this.)
* CoolButInefficient
* CollectibleCardGame
* ComingInHot (In Star Trek V)
* CommandRoster (StarTrek is likely the TropeMaker or at least set the standard of how this trope is used.)
* CoolGate
* CreatorWorship (GeneRoddenberry himself. Rick Berman, Ronald Moore and J. J. Abrams are a bit lower on the hierarchy. Brannon Braga is, unfortunately, often villainized for what happened with ''Voyager''.)
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome (The theme songs for ''TOS'' and ''TNG'' are iconic. ''DS9'' and ''VOY'''s music were decidedly more epic and considered the high point of the series, despite not being nearly as well-known. ENT's is much-reviled.)
* DeflectorShields
* DestructoNookie (Klingons)
* DroppedABridgeOnHim*
* DueToTheDead (A good number of funeral customs, at that.)
* DyingAlone
* EmotionsVsStoicism (Romulans vs. Vulcans)
* EverythingSensor (EVERY scanner is like this)
* ExpositionBeam - Vulcan Mind Melds are essentially this, along with a host of other AppliedPhlebotinum uses.
* FanOfThePast (Too many to name)
* FantasyCounterpartCulture (While not fantasy, most of the major alien species have some connection to Real World counterparts)
** Earth Starfleet- United States of America
*** The Federation- United Nations (The nature of the Federation was established better in ''The Next Generation'' as an alliance instead of a single government system. Which also explains why humans are the primary officers on Starfleet ships.)
** Vulcans- Great Britain (Not a perfect match-up, but ''{{Enterprise}}'' depicted them as a regional superpower who eventually lose much of their realm of control as Earth increases theirs.)
** Klingons- Soviet Russia (Agressive people who... hell, just watch ''StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''.)
*** Klingons also had some similarity to post-Soviet Russia in ''The Next Generation'' in terms of politics. But as part of GeneRoddenberry's plan to not make them evil and a race of "black hats", they turned into... vikings.
** Romulans- Communist China (Secretive government who you aren't quite sure what they're up to.)
*** Starting in TheNextGeneration, the Romulans also started to become a bit like Iran, for similar reasons.
** Cardassians- Nazi Germany (Mostly in regards to their Occupation of Bajor. But in some regards it is what would have happened if WW2 was a stalemate instead of an allied victory.)
*** Bajorans- Jewish/ Palestinian (Specifically the very religious people suffering through an oppressive military force. Though Cardassians are certainly never, ever Israeli)
** Orions- The Mafia/ Criminal Underground
** Nausicaans- Gang Leaders
* FasterThanLightTravel (Rather hard to imagine the series without it)
* TheFederation*
* FirstInstallmentWins - How most people remember Star Trek. "That's the one with *Vulcan handsignal*, right?"
* ForgotTheCall
* GoodOldWays
* GovernmentDrugEnforcement (used a couple of times in TNG and DS9, also used in the movie ''Insurrection'')
* GreenEggs - Romulan Ale is blue.
* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe*
* HalfHumanHybrid* (Spock, Deanna Troi, B'Elanna Torres)
* HesDeadJim*
* HighlyConspicuousUniform
* HolodeckMalfunction*
* {{Hologram}}
* {{HoYay}} - In fact, Kirk/Spock (or [[PortmanteauCoupleName Spirk]]) is the original {{Slash}} pairing.
** Wait, wouldn't it be Ko--oh.
*** Yes, it's [[IncrediblyLamePun a little ''too'' obvious]]. Or possibly '''''too AWESOME.'''''
* IfYouTauntHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim
* ImADoctorNotATrope*
* InertialDampening*
* JabbaTableManners (The Klingons of the ''StarTrek'' universe universally gulp and slurp down food like slobs. In their case, it is to show how tough and free of pretentious "good manners" and straightforward and honest their society is, not to show how "evil" they are.)
* JeannieCut
* TheKhan*
* TheKirk*
* KirksRock*
* KirkSummation*
* TheKobayashiMaru*
* LifeImitatesArt (take the sliding doors, for one thing.)
* LetterMotif
* LogicBomb (Though there were precedents in pulp SF, Kirk did this to no fewer than three computers.)
* LongRunners (the second longest running sci-fi show in the world, beaten only by ''DoctorWho'' - and Star Trek has more total hours (as stated earlier.)
* LoveIsInTheAir (Several episodes in the different series.)
* LowerDeckEpisode*
* LuddWasRight, by means of SpaceAmish
* MadeOfPhlebotinum
* MagicalSecurityCam (Happens so often and so early in the setting that it can be considered a technological standard. At this point, anything else would be a deviation from canon.)
* MagneticPlotDevice (The various starships. The Holodeck. The Bajoran wormhole in DS9. The Temporal Cold War in {{Enterprise}}.)
* TheManBehindTheMonsters
* MarySuetopia Roddenberry's vision for Trek, but especially the first season of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Needless to say, the series finally found its legs after he was removed from any serious degree of creative control.
* TheMcCoy*
* MilitaryMaverick (almost expected of Starfleet captains, it would seem. Picard, for all he's careful, deliberate, and knows the regulations backwards, forwards, and sideways, has many moments of this, and the others even more. One gets the impression that, away from central planets and main trade routes, the captain ''is'' the Federation, with all the discretion '''and''' responsibility that implies.)
** Considering that the original concept for the series was Hornblower in deep space, and that ship captains during the WoodenShipsAndIronMen era usually were their respective country's highest representative in any area where they were stationed...
** Janeway in {{Voyager}} once made a comment about how strongly she had to hold onto Starfleet regulations so far from home, but also admired the gung-ho attitude of [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries earlier Starfleet captains]] ("I would have loved to ride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that!").
* MirrorUniverse*
* MoreHeroThanThou
* NegativeSpaceWedgie (from a well-known parody.)
* TheNeutralZone* (The Cardassian and the Romulan ones are the most known; a Klingon one exists during the movies.)
* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer
* NowDoItAgainBackwards
* OfficerAndAGentleman and/or CulturedWarrior (To some degree, almost all Starfleet personnel are one or the other of these. Even the CloserToEarth types have scientific and literary interests. Many enemies are WickedCultured as well.)
* PardonMyKlingon*
* PerfectPacifistPeople (Several species in the various works exhibit this trope)
* PlanetOfHats
* PrimeDirective*
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy (The original series had the Klingons as being mostly warlike with few redeeming traits. GeneRoddenberry didn't like them being the "Black Hats" of the saga so in ''TheNextGeneration'' he made a Klingon a regular cast member and quickly established the "honor" aspect to their society.)
* RayGun (phasers and disruptors.)
* RedShirt*
* TheRoddenberryLine*
* RubberForeheadAliens*
* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale
* ShoutOutToShakespeare
* SlowElectricity (The console displays always go on/off in sequence around the bridge. If there's a shipwide outage, expect an outside shot of windows lighting up/going out one at a time.)
* SpaceWhaleAesop*
* TheSpock*
* SpockSpeak*
* StandardSciFiSetting (Trekkies might imagine ''StarTrek'' [[TropeCodifier created the standard]], but the StandardSciFiSetting has been evolving since Doc Smith wrote the first ''{{Lensman}}'' stories. The original ''Star Trek'' concept was imported almost entirely from ''ForbiddenPlanet,'' with other bits and pieces cribbed from sources like ''[[ArthurCClarke Childhood's End]]'' and ''StrangerInAStrangeLand.'')
* StandardTimeUnits (Stardates)
* StarTrekShake*
* StateSec (Romulans and Cardassians both got their own little versions in the form of the Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order respectively. Arguably Starfleet's Section 31. The Ferengi's FCA might also qualify given their cultural bias.)
* StealthInSpace
* StrawVulcan*
* SubspaceAnsible (except when the plot demands its absence)
* TalkingAnimal (Lt. M'Ress, the felinoid alien from the AnimatedSeries)
* {{Technobabble}} (More or less the TropeCodifier. In the script it would be labeled as [TECH] and they had a seperate writer to put in whatever seemed appropriate.)
* TechnologyPorn
* TeleporterAccident
* TheissTitillationTheory* (named for the costume designer on ''The Original Series''.)
* TheVerse ([[TrekVerse Widely recognized as quite possibly the most coherent, internally consistent fictional universe ever created]])
* TooMuchOfAGoodThing
* UnpleasableFanbase (Stay away from discussion forums about what is or isn't canon if you fear InternetBackdraft!)
* VisualEffectsOfAwesome (Watching a later StarTrek episode is almost like watching a movie in television show form. The best examples would likely be ''The Best of Both Worlds'' (TNG), ''The Way of the Warrior'' (DS9), ''Scorpion'' (VOY) and ''Twilight'' (ENT)
* WagonTrainToTheStars*
* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill (also from a famous parody)
* WeWillNotHavePocketsInTheFuture
* WhatTheHellHero (Every Captain. In every series. And not infrequently either. Either them at the crew for their crap, or the crew to themselves for their own crap)
* WillNotTellALie (Vulcans, allegedly - something of an InformedAttribute.)
* TheWorfEffect*
* XMeetsY ([[SeinfeldIsUnfunny Hidden]] by the influence of Trek on later productions, but the original premise was then novel at least for television, and could easily be described as "HoratioHornblower meets TheOuterLimits".)
* YouLookFamiliar (Numerous times. But in this case [[RubberForeheadAliens putting a different alien makeup]] helps a lot in distinguishing characters played by the same actor.)
** Mark Lenard waves "Hello".
** Jeffery Combs, Vaughn Armstrong and J. G. Hertzler have set records for portraying no less than five alien species over the course of the "next generation" series of shows.
** From Voyager, Tim Russ (Tuvok) and Robert Duncan [=McNeill=] (Tom Paris) both played villains in episodes of TheNextGenerations. In fact, [=McNeill=] was supposed to reprise his role originally, before it was re-writen as Tom Paris. Both are notable because there's practically no makeup involved between the two roles (Russ only gained pointy ears). Ethan Phillips (Neelix) appears as an hologram who tries to talk to the Borg in First Contact.
* ZeeRust (A given for the original series because of general budget restrictions of the time. Caused no shortage of FanDumb with ''Enterprise'' and the 2009 ''Star Trek'' movie because of an attempt to update. ''Next Generation'' mostly averts this even though it is over 20 years old now, mostly due to having an excellent visual designer in Michael Okuda.)
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