The Star Trek universe kicked off in 1966 with the original series, created by science fiction visionary Gene Roddenberry, and later exploded into a massive film and TV juggernaut.
While the original series, which starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nemoy as Mr. Spock, saw only three seasons, it made an indelible impression on the sci-fi genre. Live-action TV follow-up Star Trek: The Next Generation, with Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard leading an ensemble cast, captivated viewers from 1987–1994 and inspired three more series that would air within the next decade: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise.
Starting with 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Paramount Pictures has been regularly cranking out Trek films with the original series and Next Generation casts, as well as a rebooted version in 2009 with Chris Pine as Starfleet Academy cadet James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as young Spock. (See our Star Trek film “Total Recall” here.)
In 2017, Trek returned to small screens with season 1 of CBS All Access streaming title Star Trek: Discovery, set during a tumultuous wartime era about a decade before the original and starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Michelle Yeoh, Doug Jones, and Jason Isaacs. The new series marked a TV franchise reboot by Alex Kurtzman, writer on the 2009 Star Trek film and its sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.
RELATED: Patrick Stewart and the Star Trek: Picard Crew on Why the World Needs Jean-Luc Now More Than Ever
The year 2020 gave fans a celebration of one of its most iconic characters with the January premiere of Star Trek: Picard, with Stewart reprising his role in the new CBS All Access streaming series that also stars franchise newcomers Isa Briones, Alison Pill, Evan Evagora, Harry Treadaway, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, as well as returning veterans Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Del Arco, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner.
Then in August, the TV franchise introduced animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks, about the misfit support crew on one of Starfleet’s least-important ships.
But which of the TV and streaming series is best? Have a look below to find out which TV title scored highest with critics in our Trek TV by Tomatometer list. (For completists, The Animated Series, which ran for two seasons in the early 1970s and has a 94% score on 16 reviews of its first season, isn’t included here because of the low number of eligible reviews.)
Disagree with the results? Tell us in the comments which series you think should have been ranked higher (or lower).
