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In the "Star Trek" episode "Plato's Stepchildren", Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) beam down to a nearby planet to investigate a distress call. They find no distress, but a species of ultra-powerful hedonists dressed in classical Greek garb. They drink wine, lounge about on couches, and call themselves Platonians. They also have eerie telepathic powers that allow them to manipulate others to their will. Over the years, the power has gone to their heads, and they now operate without morals, doing whatever they please, believing that they are like the philosopher kings Plato wrote about in "The Republic."

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy will immediately become enslaved by the Plantonians, notably their leader, an arrogant a-hole named Parmen (Liam Sullivan). The Platonians will, for their own amusement, psychically force the Enterprise crew to act against their will. They force Kirk to behave like a horse.

On "Star Trek," the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise is, by design, racially and ethnically diverse. Show creator Gene Roddenberry invented "Star Trek" partly as a reaction to the turbulent world of the mid-1960s, hoping to create a utopian counterpoint to the horrors of war he witnessed on the news every day. By Roddenberry's reasoning, the future would be better than the present, as war would be brought to an end thanks to a concerted effort on humanity's part to unite. There are no national or racial divisions in Roddenberry's future, just a multicultural crew working together in harmony. Roddenberry essentially listened to John Lennon's "Imagine" and imagined it.

"Star Trek" was infamously taken off the air in 1969 but became a hit in reruns, becoming a cult phenomenon in the early '70s. "Star Trek" conventions began to pop up in big cities, and Roddenberry would...

Gene Roddenberry and writer Harlan Ellison were reportedly in a lifelong feud after having creative differences over one of Star Trek’s best episodes, ‘The City on the Edge of Forever.’ Written by Ellison and later revised by Roddenberry, the episode sees Dr. McCoy altering the course of human history by traveling back in time and saving one person from death, and Captain Kirk and Spock following him to reverse the changes.

Ellison reportedly wrote a script that was extremely expensive to shoot, and the story was subject to multiple rewrites, with several writers and story editors taking a stab at it before Roddenberry himself wrote the final draft. The duo were friends before the whole ordeal, and Ellison was reportedly one of the first writers to be part of Star Trek. However, the episode led to a lifelong feud between them.

Harlan Ellison’s Initial Script for Star Trek...

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In the "Star Trek" episode "Miri", the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise beams down to a planet that, quite mysteriously, has the same continental layout as Earth. When Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) beam down to investigate, they find a burned-out, post-apocalyptic wasteland. The only survivors are children, and Kirk will eventually learn that all the planet's adults were wiped out by a fatal virus centuries before. The virus also turned the adults mad, and they turned to badgering, hunting, and harming the planet's uninfected children. The children remember this time, and have come to see all adults as sinister and untrustworthy, calling them "grups," short for "grown-ups."

The same virus, as a side effect, also slowed the aging of the children, so they have been kids for over 300 years,...

This article contains spoilers for the first two episodes of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" season 3.

Back in 2023, "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" closed out its second season with a cliffhanger, but the biggest surprise of that finale, "Hegemony," was the debut of future Enterprise chief engineer, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott. That character was played by James Doohan in the original "Star Trek" TV series and its spin-off films, and then by Simon Pegg in the Kelvin timeline "Star Trek" reboots.

In "Strange New Worlds," Scotty is played by newcomer Martin Quinn, the first actual Scottish actor to play Scotty. In "Strange New Worlds" season 3, Scotty/Quinn is now part of the main cast, but he's still not chief engineer just yet; that's his old professor Pelia's (Carol Kane) job. The second episode of season 3, "Wedding Bell Blues," revealed that's not the only thing that's different about this younger Scotty.

Fans took to social media to express their love for Star Trek: Tos’s remaster on Paramount+. Back in 2006, the studio undertook the responsibility to do an HD restoration of the three-season-long sci-fi show, replacing the original visual effects with newly made CGI that captured its essence, and restoring the background score and audio.

Fans were extremely impressed with the quality of the CGI in the show and how it blended in with the rest of the show. The streamer reportedly uploaded the remaster instead of the original series, and there were few to no complaints. A fan on Reddit said

I am impressed with the remastered Star Trek. They cleaned up the color and sharpness. They must have redone the soundtrack. They replaced the physical ship models with better computer graphics. The grainy images are gone.

The first restoration was done during th 40th anniversary of the show, during...

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Ethan Peck teases what's to come for Lieutenant Spock in the newest installment. The series acts as a prequel to the original Star Trek series, slowly introducing members of the familiar USS Enterprise crew as it progresses. Peck's version of Spock first appeared on Star Trek: Discovery before he joined the current series. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 will debut on July 17.

In an interview with TV Insider, Peck teases Spock's arc in season 3. Peck states that Spock will continue to explore his human half and will be "put in uncomfortable situations" throughout the season. As Spock inches closer to the iconic Leonard Nimoy version, he will have to "use his human qualities to his advantage." Check out his quote below:

He will continue to explore his humanness and grow and develop in that way. That’s sort of a theme of...

Turns out one Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character has an actual connection to royalty, and it's an actor you'd likely never expect!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Morn, Mark Allen Shepherd is related to both Queen Elizabeth And DeForest Kelley from Star Trek. Oh, and Jane Wyatt and Gene Roddenberry and Denise Crosby, too. What are the odds of that? And we are not kidding. The actor, who portrayed the beloved Lurian character -- and the talkative-but-never-heard barfly at Quark’s -- on DS9, really is related to England’s late queen, Star Trek: The Original Series’ first Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, Star Trek’s creator, and the actresses who played Spock’s mother and Tasha Yar, respectively!

Back in 2017, Shepherd penned a guest blog for StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek site. He explained that his 11th great-grandfather, Stephen Hopkins, joined his family aboard the Mayflower and arrived with them in 19620 at Plymouth,...

Star Trek characters were known for some wild injuries on the show, but few fans realized one actor hid a real war wound on set!

Star Trek was a show of the 1960s set in the future, but it was clear that, like scores of TV shows of that decade, it carried the weight of World War II. That was evident in "Patterns of Force" when the Enterprise discovers that an Earth historian modeled an alien society after Nazi Germany. There were also themes that carried over to every Star Trek show, paralleling World War II.

It made sense as so many in the cast and crew had come of age during the conflict, and a few even had experience with it. DeForest Kelley was a radio operator, Gene Roddenberry and Gene Coon both served in the Pacific while artist Matt Jefferies was a B-52 bomber pilot.

However, one cast...

Star Trek may have a minor presence at Universal Studios but it once had a much bigger experience for fans!

It’s a bit surprising Star Trek doesn’t have much presence at theme parks. You’d think an attraction based on one of the biggest sci-fi franchises of all time would be natural, yet somehow it hasn’t happened. Maybe it’s due to rights issues or getting the right type of attraction right.

Universal Studios has been integrating it with the recent Red Alert tour/show as part of their annual Hallowen Horror Nights spectacular. It’s not bad, putting guests in the roles of tourists on the Enterprise when a mysterious entity causes chaos. However, there was a time when Universal gave Trek fans a chance to truly live out the Trek experience!

The fantastic Star Trek Adventure show

Universal Studios pioneered the “studio tour” concept, mostly...

John Wayne became arguably the biggest star of Hollywood's Golden Age via his mythic portrayals of Western heroes. In the 1920s and 1930s, the genre was the stuff of serials and programmers (some of which featured the Duke), but they were transformed into pure cinema when John Ford made Wayne the co-lead of "Stagecoach" opposite Claire Trevor. The unfussy yet undeniably magnetic actor went on to make a string of Western classics that included "Red River," "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," "Rio Bravo," "The Searchers," and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." There was no one bigger or more iconic.

Almost to a tee, the rise and decline of Wayne's career follows the trajectory of the traditional Hollywood Western. When audiences got a taste for the luridness of Spaghetti Westerns and the revisionism of filmmakers like Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellmman, Wayne, who looked a good ten years older than...

When it comes to the villains of Star Trek, the original series, the show’s writers provided a diverse range of antagonists, from Klingons to Romulans and other unusual aliens, such as the Talosians. However, they also drew on human history to create foes for Captain Kirk and his crew to encounter, so let’s revisit a few that stepped from the pages of history and into the final frontier.

1. Jack the Ripper

In “Wolf in the Fold” (S02E14), Scotty's shore leave on the planet Argelius turns into a whodunit when he’s accused of murdering a dancer. Scotty claims to have blacked out during the murder, and two more take place before a disembodied spirit reveals itself as Redjac—another name for Jack the Ripper.

The idea of a serial killer spirit traveling into space is ahead of its time and might have even inspired movies where outer...

Walter Koenig wishes supporting characters like Mr. Chekov were given more to do in Star Trek: The Original Series. Koenig portrayed Ensign Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series seasons 2 and 3, and in seven Star Trek movies. Walter now reviews episodes of classic 1960s Star Trek, providing his invaluable memories and insight on The 7th Rule podcast hosted by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk.

DuringThe 7th Rule's review of Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 15, "The Trouble With Tribbles," Walter Koenig highlighted the winning performances of Tos' supporting characters, especially James Doohan as Scotty and Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura. Koenig noted how "The Trouble With Tribbles" let the USS Enterprise' supporting characters be a "valuable part" of its comedic romp, and proved they were "more than just furniture." Read Koenig's quote and watch the video below:

The one thing this episode showed,...

It’s a question that’s been debated for nearly 60 years: What’s the saddest moment in all of Star Trek? Everyone has an opinion and, in the spirit of Idic -- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations -- we’ll say that there is no wrong answer. But we at Redshirts Always Die, or more specifically, I, here at my desk, have an opinion.

Let’s explore some of the options. We cried when Kirk came upon a dying Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The line, “I have been, and always shall be, your friend,” still reduces me to mush. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy sold it so well, paying off what was then nearly two decades of the bromance between the characters. Jean-Luc Picard and Q sharing a hug in “Farewell,” the Star Trek: Picard season 2 finale, also rewards years of a different kind of bromance.

The original 1966 Star Trektelevision series is now a beloved classic that spawned several generations of fans and multiple TV shows, but the series was ultimately canceled after three seasons. Star Trek, set in the 23rd century, followed the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, led by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), and his faithful crew, which included Pavel Chekov, played by Walter Koenig in the second and third seasons of Star Trek.

Koenig has now revealed that he left the cast of Star Trek during its third season, but “nobody really cared” because everyone involved with the show thought it would be canceled. Per Screen Rant, Koenig, appearing in an episode of The 7th Rulepodcast hosted by Ryan T. Husk and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine alum Cirroc Lofton, explained his absence in the third season of Star Trek, saying he left in part to preserve his “dignity.

As Star Trek: The Original Series entered its third and final season, one of the USS Enterprise's crew members took a leave of absence...and nobody cared. Walter Koenig, who played youthful Russian navigator Pavel Chekov on the show, departed to do a play, knowing that the show was on its last legs, anyway. Koenig recently discussed it on The 7th Rule podcast.

The 7th Rule is a Star Trek podcast hosted by Cirroc Lofton, who starred as Jake Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and producer Ryan T. Husk. Koenig guests on the show monthly to review Star Trek episodes, and in a recent episode, he talked about leaving the show for a time: "I left the show. Nobody thought it was going to be picked up anyway, so nobody really cared. I left for a month and I did a play outside of Chicago with Jackie Coogan,...

Walter Koenig reveals he took a break from filmingStar Trek: The Original Series in season 3, but that "nobody really cared" since everyone in the production felt the show would be canceled. Koenig portrayed Ensign Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series seasons 2 and 3, and he reprised Chekov in seven Star Trek movies, including Star Trek Generations. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Koenig voiced Chekov's descendant, Anton Chekov, President of the United Federation of Planets.

Every month on The 7th Rule podcast, Walter Koenig joins hosts Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk to review episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. During their rundown of the classic Star Trek season 2 episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles," Walter explained why he left the show during season 3, which was Star Trek: Tos' final season. Read Koenig's quote and watch The 7th Rule video below:

I left Star Trek in the third season. I left the show.

Sometimes, even the most hardcore fanboys need to be reminded that certain facets of their own beloved sci-fi franchise actually exist. "Star Wars" fans, for instance, often need to be reminded that there are 16 movies in the series, and not just the nine that have Roman numerals in them. 

(To quickly provide a list, the 16 movies include "Star Wars," "The Star Wars Holiday Special," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," "Caravan of Courage," "The Battle for Endor," "The Great Heep," "The Phantom Menace," "Attack of the Clones," "Revenge of the Sith," "The Clone Wars," "The Force Awakens," "Rogue One," "The Last Jedi," "Solo," and "The Rise of Skywalker." 16. I will hear no further arguments.)

Likewise, many Trekkies have to be reminded about the sheer volume of TV shows that the franchise has produced since its inception in 1966. As of this writing, there have been 13 "Star Trek" TV shows,...

The Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is located in the northern part of Los Angeles County, about a 45-minute drive from Hollywood proper (depending on traffic). They are a popular tourist destination because the layered rock formations jut out of the ground at strange, wild angles, giving them an alien look. They were named after Tiburcio Vásquez, a notoriously clever Mexican bandit who hid out among the rocks while eluding the cops back in the 1870s. Hikers have been hiding out among the rocks ever since, admiring their otherworldly beauty. 

Vasquez Rocks has been a popular shooting destination for dozens of major films and TV shows, largely because they're such a short drive from all the production offices in Los Angeles. It's easy to bundle the cast of "Star Trek" into a van, dress three stuntman as a Gorn character, and go to the Rocks to film actors pretend-fight each other.

In Jonathan Frakes' 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact," the Borg -- an invading force of malevolent cyborgs -- had formed an attack plan against Earth, and boy howdy, was it complicated. At first, they tried a frontal assault in one of their cube-shaped ships, but Starfleet fought them off. That, however, was only Plan A. 

Plan B: While their ship was exploding, a miniature Borg envoy fled the scene and opened a time portal to the year 2063 (!). That was a year, Trekkies can tell you, when Earth was still recovering from a vicious World War, but also a year when a man named Zefram Cochran (James Cromwell) was building the planet's very first faster-than-light spacecraft. According to "Star Trek" history, Cochran would attract the attention of some passing Vulcans while testing his ship for the first time, causing them to land and greet humans. The first contact with an alien...

Jonathan Frakes has directed many episodes in the Star Trek franchise, but he got his start as an actor. Tng’s William Riker was the resident Casanova, with his one-liners and quips, almost like a proxy Captain Kirk. He was the perfect companion to Patrick Stewart’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who was a lot more diplomatic and introspective.

Frakes has all the love for his show, but he did mention that Tng fell short of the original series in one aspect. Tos had a lot of banter between William Shatner’s Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy’s Spock, and DeForest Kelley’s Dr. Leonard McCoy. This holy trinity of sorts was missing in Tng as it did not center around any one protagonist.

Jonathan Frakes has a valid reason for feeling Tng fell short of the brilliance of the original series Jonathan Frakes in Star Trek: The Next Generation | Credits: Paramount...

There’s nothing trivial about the connection between Star Trek and the popular board game, Trivial Pursuit. The franchise and the game crossed paths several times over the years.

Back in 1992, Hasbro -- which owned Trivial Pursuit after Selchow and Righter and also Coleco Industries -- introduced Trivial Pursuit, which they supported with a major television advertising campaign that included a spot featuring DeForest Kelley. In it, a woman asks the following question from the Science and Nature category: How many chambers are there in a human heart? Viewers then see and hear a loud wipe cut, which gives way to a familiar door whooshing sound. And out steps a cantankerous DeForest Kelley, sporting blue medical scrubs and grousing, “How should I know. I’m an actor, not a doctor.” That, of course, is a spin on Kelley's beloved Star Trek: The Original Series character, Dr. McCoy, and the moody medic's trademark gripe.

Star Trek has a long history with a Starfleet Academy idea that's long overdue!

Star Trek fans are buzzing over the planned Starfleet Academy series that's set to premiere either later in 2025 or 2026. It picks up from the ending of Discovery, set in the 32nd century, with the first graduating Starfleet class in a century ready for their first missions.

However, this is hardly the first time Paramount and Star Trek have tried this type of project, as the attempts at a Starfleet Academy movie or show have been around for longer than many may think!

Star Trek: Year One

The first attempt dates back to 1991. The film franchise had faltered with the disaster of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and the producers facing up to the reality that the actors were aging too much. They thus believed a fresh start was needed for the films. 

With the 25th...

The recent teaser trailer for Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is not only exciting, but it also reminds us that Strange New Worlds is very much a prequel to the original Star Trek from 1966. With that comes a lot of overlap in characters between the two shows, with numerous Tos characters appearing in the main cast or as guest stars on Snw.

There are so many Tos characters across its 79 official episodes, however, that there is plenty of room to explore even more. While obvious untapped characters to feature might be the likes of Chekov, Sulu, or Dr. McCoy, it would be exciting to see some other characters from Tos appear. Perhaps some who have not received as much attention over the past 60 years.

Janice Rand

When Star Trek first started in 1966, Yeoman Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) was initially presented as a fairly major character. Early advertisements for...

Some of the most successful shows in television history forged their own legacy as spin-offs from preexisting series. In many cases, these spin-offs are more popular and enduring than the shows they originated from in the first place. Spin-offs can be continuations, side stories, or revivals of an original property, completely reinvigorating a franchise as it expands it. And virtually every genre and format has seen its fair share of thriving spin-offs, from crime procedurals and sitcoms to animated series and talk shows.

In some instances, a spin-off builds directly off its originating show while in other instances, some successful spin-offs require no prior knowledge of the previous series. No matter what form they come in or how connected they are to other shows, audiences love spin-offs, making them a staple in the industry for decades. With all that in mind, here are the 12 best television spin-offs of all time.

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In 1843, a Scottish surgeon named James Braid published a book with the fun-to-say title of "Neurypnology," which is often cited as the earliest known instance of modern-day hypnosis used for medical purposes. The practice and terminology of hypnosis began to spread through the psychology community through the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th, and it was used openly during wartime as a valuable psychological tool for combatting Ptsd. By the 1950s, hypnosis was has found mainstream approval around the world. 

Of course, the mainstreaming of hypnosis caused some people to freak out a little. The thought that a hypnotist could put you to sleep and implant mental suggestions they could control, effectively making you their slave, frightened some people who didn't fully understand its medical applications. It didn't help that hypnosis had also proliferated as a popular form of stage entertainment,...

In Nicholas Meyer's 1991 film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the crew of the Enterprise are investigating an elaborate mystery. The Enterprise was seemingly framed for firing upon a Klingon vessel during a vital diplomatic mission, and two officers from the Starfleet ship beamed over afterward and assassinated a Klingon chancellor. No one knows the identity of the assassins, nor how the Enterprise could have fired on the Klingon ship when they still have a full complement of torpedoes.

Regardless, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are arrested and sent to a remote Klingon prison planet, requiring Spock to find the evidence to exonerate them (as they are clearly innocent). During his investigation, Spock logically dictates to the Enterprise's crew that, "An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains -- however improbable -– must be the truth.

Star Trek had a score of great episodes, but there’s an interesting reason why one in particular is William Shatner’s favorite!

While it took a few years after its cancellation for Star Trek to become a beloved cult favorite, it was still popular in its early airings. The first season is often regarded as the best with some great storylines and the characters winning over fans, especially William Shatner’s James T. Kirk.

Naturally, Shatner has been asked numerous times just what his favorite episode of the series is. It’s interesting that Shatner claims he doesn’t watch himself in reruns of Star Trek or most of his other TV shows.

However, when it comes to “The Devil in the Dark,” Shatner has no problem citing this as his favorite episode of the series, and the reason for it is striking.

A recap of “The Devil in...

Who needed communicators, anyway? Way back in 1993, the full cast of Star Trek: The Original Series acted in a commercial for McI Friends & Family Long Distance. Yes, this crew that beamed up, flew at warp 10, made first contact with aliens, and used communicators to, well, communicate, participated in a 20th century phone commercial. Joining them oh-so-briefly and to great comedic effect, was Jonathan Frakes, who at the time was playing Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the first live-action television series since Tos.

The minute-long spot opens with a pair of employees at an McI Friends & Family call center, with one of them, Chris, explaining that the other, Anna, started a friends and family calling circle. She then reveals that a group of friends “wanted to get back in touch.” Cut to a series of close-ups of the Tos cast interspersed with their images coming up on a video...

For all the awe and wonder in its sci-fi depiction of the future, the "Star Trek" franchise also can be absolutely heartbreaking at times. Both the numerous "Star Trek" shows and movies have their fair share of tearjerker scenes, with fan-favorite characters often overcome with grief or committing heroic sacrifices. There are entire episodes of "Star Trek" that are full-on meditations on melancholic emotions, guaranteed to make even the most stoic fan misty-eyed. Simply put, "Star Trek" can be just as emotionally fraught as any grounded drama, and that's been true of the franchise since the beginning.

The sad scenes throughout "Star Trek" history are a testament to writing, but also how effectively the actors have brought their beloved characters to life. That helps make these raw, bittersweet sequences all the more resonant, especially given how well-composed "Star Trek" characters usually are. Here are the 15 saddest moments in the "Star Trek" franchise,...

An all-new Star Trekscripted audio series is on the horizon in 2025. Recording for Star Trek: Khan, which was announced last year, has officially wrapped, per a release via CBS. But, the cast remained a mystery until now.

A former Lostcast member and a star of the Apple TV+ series For All Mankindwill lead the voice cast for Star Trek: Khan. CBS announced on Feb. 27 that Naveen Andrews, who played Sayid Jarrah on Lost, will voice Kahn Noonien Singh. Wrenn Schmidt, known as Margo Madison on For All Mankind, will play Marla McGivers, a former Starfleet lieutenant who followed Khan into exile and became his wife.

In the new audio drama, Star Trek: Khan, the life of the titular character will be explored in a way that has never been done before, and the rest of his story will be told. The audio drama is based on a story by Nicholas Meyer,...

Star Trek: The Original Series didn't focus much on the characters' personal lives. At the time, the show was about the science fiction and the drama taking place in space. People wanted to see the new aliens and planets the Enterprise visited, and most were okay with not knowing Dr. McCoy's [DeForest Kelley] ex-wife's name or other little details about the characters.

But some of the actors themselves wanted more for their characters. They wanted them to grow and become more well-known to the audience. Perhaps in doing so, the characters would become more three-dimensional and necessary in the scripts.

One particular actor who lobbied for such changes was George Takei. He wanted Lt. Sulu to have a family. In a 2010 interview with Startrek.com, Takei talked about how he suggested a family for Sulu, someone for him to connect with. "I suggested Sulu having a family that he connects with.

Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek" may take place in a post-capitalist utopia wherein no character longs for wealth, but here in our society, its actors cannot live with that luxury. 

Trekkies will be able to tell you that "Star Trek" wasn't a huge hit when it first aired from 1966 to 1969. It definitely had a small and passionate cluster of fans, and the show was saved from cancelation at least once thanks to a concerted letter-writing campaign, but it was never a top-10 type of show in the ratings. "Star Trek" wouldn't become a cultural phenomenon until it began airing in reruns in the mid-1970s. By then, it was more widely accessible, new superfans emerged, and "Star Trek" conventions became a thing. Gene Roddenberry appeared at these conventions, and he began to relitigate his own show, with fan encouragement, realizing that he had indeed created a utopian text. 

The stars of "Star Trek,...

One Star Trek myth is not at all true, and another is as true as ever. Captain Kirk never actually uttered a phrase widely considered to be part and parcel of Star Trek lore: “Beam me up, Scotty.” However, Dr. McCoy did declare, “I’m a doctor, not a…” on multiple occasions. And by Dr. McCoy, we mean both the Og ship’s medic, DeForest Kelley, and the Kelvin timeline’s iteration, Karl Urban.

Here are three of our favorite instances of McCoy barking “I’m a doctor, not a…” Please note that we are not including variations of the line from The Original Series, like “What am I, a doctor or a moon shuttle conductor?” (from “The Corbomite Maneuver”) or “I’m not a magician, Spock, just an old country doctor” (from “The Deadly Years”).

McCoy, in “The Devil in the Dark,” expressed exasperation at being ordered to “Help it.

One of the most enduring heroes in all of science fiction is James Tiberius Kirk, protagonist of "Star Trek: The Original Series" and its accompanying films. Iconically played by William Shatner for much of the character's history, Kirk's legacy has spread into subsequent "Star Trek" shows and movies. While actors like "Star Trek" 2009's Chris Pine and "Star Trek: Discovery" cast member Paul Wesley have provided their own modern depictions of Kirk, Shatner's confidently assured captain is still the gold standard for the character. As the captain of the USS Enterprise, Kirk leads his crew to explore the galaxy and spread the United Federation of Planets' ethos of peaceful coexistence.

For the foundations of what makes Kirk such an effective sci-fi character, there are plenty of "Tos" episodes highlighting his qualities and Shatner's performance. These range from showing the more action-ready side of the venerable Starfleet officer to his more vulnerable and compassionate moments.

Despite being nominated for three Academy Awards, Star Trek: The Motion Picture wasn't a fan favorite film. Though the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series were reunited onscreen for the first time in ten years, the movie wasn't the best it could have been for some fans. There were criticisms about the characters and how most of their time was spent staring at a screen. That was a concern for the actors, too.

In The Fifty Year Mission The First Twenty-Five Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, DeForest Kelley was quoted as saying "the characterizations were not there." He was worried about what this would mean to the film, and so were William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. So the actors chose to intervene.

Kelley said "We had to put up a great fight. I think anyone will tell you that if the actors hadn't fought like hell to reestablish those relationships,...

Master Replicas, a UK-based toy company, has, per Trek Core, announced a new licensing deal with Paramount Consumer Products that enables the company to bring the modern Star Trekera to fans in the form of action figures and accessories. Master Replicas tends to be a more affordable option than high-end Exo-6 museum grade replica collectibles.

Also announced, along with the deal, is a whole new line of 4.5” action figures - the same size as the popular Playmates figures from the ‘90s. Master Replicas’ new licensing agreement includes current and past Paramount Trek shows like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy and the new Star Trek: Section 31 Paramount+ film, as well as the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy show.

RelatedStar Trek: Strange New Worlds & Lower Decks Crossover's Live-Action Boimler Figure Up for Pre-Order

Museum-quality Exo-6 figures will feature Bradward Boimler from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds...

Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek became a pop cultural phenomenon upon release back in the ‘60s. Despite only lasting three seasons, the story of space exploration in the future and diplomatic missions became extremely engaging to fans and the core cast like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy became legends.

The original series had always been a story of three: Shatner’s Kirk, Nimoy’s Spock, and DeForest Kelley’s McCoy. The latter reportedly faced the brunt of the stardom as he only got typecast in McCoy-esque roles after his tenure in Star Trek. The actor mentioned that he was taken by surprise as he felt he had the most human character in the series.

Actor DeForest Kelley regretted one thing about being a Star Trek actor A still from Star Trek | Credits: Paramount

William Shatner has been in multiple shows such as T.J. Hooker, The Practice, and its spinoff show Boston Legal.

Star Trek: The Next Generation had some notable guest stars over its seven season run, including Dwayne Johnson, Teri Hatcher, Mick Fleetwood, and Seth MacFarlane. Star Trek: The Original Series actor DeForest Kelley even put in an appearance in the pilot episode "Encounter at Far Point" before three other iconic characters from The Original Series made their debuts. Mark Lenard [Sarek], Jimmy Doohan [Scotty], and Leonard Nimoy [Spock] were all part of the series, with Nimoy in a two-part episode.

Not all of the actors on The Next Generation had the opportunity to work with the actors from The Original Series, and for Marina Sirtis, she was very hurt, according to an interview in the August/September 1997 edition of Star Trek Communication, The Magazine of The Official Star Trek Fan Club, that she never got to work with Leonard Nimoy.

Sirtis filmed a scene with Doohan that was deleted, and she...

Star Trek: The Original Series had a formula that worked for it at the time. The main focus of the show was on Captain James T. Kirk [William Shatner] leading the Enterprise into space battles with Mr. Spock [Leonard Nimoy] being the voice of reason and the font of scientific knowledge. Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy [DeForest Kelley] was usually part of the three, playing wonderfully off Spock's irritating logic. But in the three years the series was on the air, we never really got to know the characters.

Their pasts came out in bits and pieces, with the exception of Bones, who we never really got to know at all. DeForest Kelley said essentially the same thing in an interview with Dan Madsen in the July/August 1995 edition of Star Trek Communicator, the magazine of Star Trek: The Official Fan Club. "I never felt that he [Bones] was utilized to his fullest,...

In the "Star Trek" episode "The Empath", Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are on an away mission when they are abruptly kidnapped by off-screen aliens and deposited in a mysterious, blackened chamber somewhere beneath the planet's surface. While trapped, they encounter a mute woman in purple whom McCoy names Gem (Kathryn Hays). Gem, they find, has an extraordinary superpower. When someone is injured, Gem can heal them by absorbing their wounds into herself. She feels an equal amount of pain. The wound is then healed rapidly.

Gem ends up having plenty of opportunities to use her superpowers as the four characters are repeatedly tortured by evil, large-skulled aliens called Vians (played by Alan Bergmann and Willard Sage). The Vians spend the bulk of the episode tormenting and injuring the Enterprise crew members, sometimes while Gem watches. Gem, meanwhile, offers to heal them each time,...

With the Paramount+ streaming movie Star Trek: Section 31 premiering on January 24th, anticipation for an exciting new addition to the Star Trek universe is high. Academy award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh as Philippa Georgiou heads the cast as leader of the Terran Empire from the Mirror Universe. Yeoh is reprising her role as the complicated, battle-ready leader who was introduced in the series Star Trek: Discovery. Section 31 refers to a covert intelligence organization that carries out shadow missions outside the jurisdiction of the United Federation of Planets, that has been in existence since the beginning of Starfleet in the 22nd Century.

According to Inverse, Section 31 will occur in the 24th Century. It will reveal where the intrepid mirror Georgiou ended up after stepping through the Guardian of Forever in Season 3 of Discovery. This standalone movie was originally slated to be produced as a television series, but it’s my bet...

Star Trek has only hinted at the events of Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the USS Enterprise's "lost years". In Star Trek's timeline, the 5-year mission of Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise seen in Star Trek: The Original Series took place from 2265-2269. Star Trek: The Motion Picture picked up in the 2270s, and the rest of the Star Trek: The Original Series movies follow a relatively tight chronology from 2285-2293, when Kirk and his Enterprise crew permanently go their separate ways.

Star Trek's 23rd century is well-documented overall. Although the events of the first four and a half decades of the 23rd century are largely unrecorded, between Star Trek: Discovery seasons 1 and 2, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: The Original Series, and the first six Star Trek movies, there is a clear picture from the mid-2250s to 2293. However, in...

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has introduced a classic legacy character in both of its season finales thus far, so who should appear in season 3? Set years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, Strange New Worlds follows the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise. Eventually, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) will take over command of this iconic starship from Captain Pike. Strange New Worlds' season 1 finale introduced Paul Wesley as an alternate future version of Captain Kirk and as Lt. James T. Kirk in a photo.

With a more substantial role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, Paul Wesley has made the character of James Kirk his own, while still honoring the actors who played the role before him. Ethan Peck's Lieutenant Spock was introduced in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 and remains central to Strange New Worlds.

Star Trek: The Original Series can be viewed in two different orders, but which one is best? With its premiere in 1966, Star Trek: The Original Series launched a franchise that is still going strong nearly 60 years later. Following the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise, Star Trek introduced the world to Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision for the future. Captain Kirk, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) quickly became a beloved and iconic trio who left their mark on popular culture.

Whereas heavily serialized, binge-worthy shows dominate the television landscape today, this was not the case during the 1960s. Television shows of that era were episodic, meaning each episode followed its own self-contained story. Star Trek: The Original Series followed this model, making the viewing order ultimately less important than it is for many modern shows. Still, some...

Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) served as the Chief Medical Officer on the USS Enterprise-d for six out of Star Trek: The Next Generation's seven seasons, but her Starfleet rank was rarely mentioned. Introduced in Tng's first episode, Gates McFadden was a Star Trek: The Next Generation series regular. Dr. Crusher was one of the original crew members of the Enterprise-d, serving under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Crusher and Picard had romantic feelings for one another, although they didn't officially embark on a romance on screen. Crusher lived on the Enterprise with her child-prodigy teenage son, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton).

Throughout her six seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Beverly Crusher treated the injuries and illnesses of the USS Enterprise-d's crew. Dr. Crusher was a skilled scientist who helped investigate strange phenomena and helped find cures for alien ailments that infected the Enterprise. On...

With its premiere in 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture launched the Star Trek franchise into a new era of big-screen adventures for Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew. In the opening sequence of director Robert Wise's special effects extravaganza, a massive space cloud easily destroys three Klingon vessels before continuing its course to Earth. When the Starfleet monitoring station, Epsilon IX, informs Starfleet Command of this approaching cloud, they assign the newly retrofitted USS Enterprise to intercept the entity before it reaches Earth.

With its stunning visuals and quintessentially Star Trek story, Star Trek: The Motion Picture set box office records at the time of its release. However, the film was met with mixed reviews, with some critiquing its slow pacing and reliance on visual effects. Still, Star Trek: The Motion Picture remains beloved by many fans, and it remains a crucial part of Star Trek's timeline.

Star Trek's Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) was not always a great father to his son, Spock (Leonard Nimoy), but he became one of the most influential Vulcans of all time. Despite Sarek's rigid adherence to Vulcan logic, he fell in love with and married a human woman named Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt). With a Vulcan father and a human mother, Spock felt caught between two worlds on Star Trek: The Original Series. Ambassador Sarek wanted his son to embrace his Vulcan side and reject human emotion, but this did not come naturally to Spock.

Sarek and Amanda first appeared in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 10, "Journey to Babel," when they traveled to a conference aboard the USS Enterprise of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). Throughout his long career as a Vulcan Ambassador, Sarek helped negotiate numerous treaties and aided in the initial peace talks between the...

Star Trek: The Original Series had three core characters that most of the episodes were based around—Captain James T. Kirk [William Shatner], Mr. Spock [Leonard Nimoy], and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy [DeForest Kelley]. The remaining cast were supporting characters that were offered little in the way of character arcs.

To one Star Trek: Enterprise actor, Anthony Montogmery, who portrayed Travis Mayweather for four seasons, Enterprise became just like The Original Series. In an interview Montgomery gave Trekmovie, when asked if they [his fellow actors Connor Trinneer, John Billingsley, and Dominic Keating] had any knowledge about the potential plans for their charactes had the series been renewed for a fifth season, he said he would have liked to have learned more about his character. He followed that desire with a statement of how things had unfolded on Enterprise, "You guys saw Enterprise, our series became likeThe Original Series. It was about the captain,...

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), considered by many to be the best of the Star Trek films, is taking its place in history by being one of the latest films to be added to the National Film Registry for Preservation by the Library of Congress. Per TrekMovie, the Library of Congress announced that The Wrath of Khan will be one of 25 films added to the National Film Registry for 2024.

The movie’s director, Nicholas Meyer, took to Threads to express his thoughts on the honor. “I am greatly surprised and gratified by this honor, but I feel bound to say in the same breath that Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan, stands on the shoulders of many who contributed to the film as well as those who have gone before."

The movie follows the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise as they encounter the villain known as Khan,...