Star Trek Watch Order - 23rd Century
Hello my friends, and welcome back to my blog.
Today I wanted to do a follow up to a previous Watch Order I published. As one of my first Watch Orders I did an essential Watch Order for the 24th Century series of Star Trek, especially The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. However there are several Star Trek series set outside of the 24th Century that I haven't touched yet, and there are several good reasons why that is the case.
Firstly is the fact that for a lot of its initial run, what we would think of as the canon of Star Trek: The Original Series was very much in flux, with stardates being notoriously inconsistent, the Federation and Starfleet not being consistently named, and various other issues as the show came together. There is also an incredible variation in the quality of episodes, especially in the third season.
The second issue is that several modern series have stories set in this era, in seasons that are incredibly serialised, and that we are still getting new episodes for, in many cases laying groundwork for more classical episodes of the series.
And finally is the issue of trying to find the best Watch Order for all of this. Obviously there can be arguments made for watching the episodes of the Original Series, for the most part, in the Order that they released, however due to the inconsistencies and quality issues I mentioned above this may not in fact be the most satisfying way to watch these shows. So we could instead use the stardates given in the episodes as a guide, allowing us to order the show in a bit of a better way, as well as overlap the Original and Animated series. However this can create its own issues as it can be irritating to alternate every episode, as I have mentioned in blogs discussing previous Watch Orders.
So as a result this blog will be slightly different to the standard. While I will be providing a general Watch Order, and providing my usual comments on the episodes I think are essential or can be freely skipped over, I will also be putting notes for the timeline at play here, as unlike the previous Star Trek Watch Order there can be gaps of several years between some of these episodes. There are also some other things I may comment on as we go.
So let's get started, shall we?
The Pilot
The original pilot for Star Trek, featuring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike of the starship Enterprise, is set in 2254, and is probably the best place to start, as while the story is nothing fantastic it will be referenced later and you may be a little lost if you haven't seen it. Overall not a bad episode, but not one of the best either.
- Listed as the first episode of Star Trek The Original Series on Paramount+
Discovery
Season 1 of Discovery begins in 2256, two years after The Cage, and details a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Season is incredibly serialised, with each episode leading into the next, and so it isn't really possible to skip any, however I do recommend watching Discovery anyway. While this season especially is much darker in tone than most things existing in Star Trek, I do think the series overall is well worth a watch for its fantastic characters and enduring spirit of hope. The season also consists roughly of three main storyarcs. Firstly 101 The Vulcan Hello and 102 Battle of the Binary Stars act almost as a feature-length pilot for the series, with only a couple of the main cast members being present. The next seven episodes then introduce the USS Discovery, and place main character Michael Burnham on board. The final six episodes of the series bring many elements of the story to a close, and are generally much better than the first half of the series, before bringing the war to a conclusion in 2257.
Following the end of Season 1 you can begin Season 2, also in 2257, which sees Christopher Pike join the crew to investigate a series of mysterious signals, but I would not recommend going beyond the fifth episode at this point.
Short Treks
Short Treks, as it sounds, is a collection of shorts released in two seasons in between other major Staf Tek releases, and the first season of it especially has a couple of episodes that play key moments in later episodes of Season 2 of Discovery, and so I would recommend watching them here. Although one of the episodes is a flashback, taking place in 2239, 18 years before the current events of Discovery, I do believe that it is genuinely better being watched here due to it featuring the character of Saru, who is undergoing significant development this season.
- Actually takes place over a thousand years in the future, but is part of the first series of Short Treks. Plays more of a factor into the end of Discovery.
- Takes place in 2239
- A Season 2 episode that actually takes place in 2233, with Burnham as a child, I would say this fits best here due to the references to Burnham's youth in this season of Discovery.
Discovery
The rest of Season 2 takes place here, as Pike and Burnham continue to search for Spock, and due to events in the finale this will be the end of Discovery's entries in this timeline, however several characters will continue to appear in Strange New Worlds. Most of the season takes place in 2257, but the finale takes place in early 2258. Sudden year changes like this are a bit of a trope in Star Trek, so clearly celebrating New Year isn't something that the Federation does.
- Acts as a direct follow-up to The Cage
- This episode, perhaps more than any other, is absolutely essential if you are planning on watching Strange New Worlds, as it has a huge moment for Pike that influences so much of his character going forwards.
Short Treks
Season 2 of Short Treks seems to exist to serve as a series of backdoor pilots for Strange New Worlds, with several of the episodes featuring Pike, Spock or Number One, and it is those episodes that should really be watched here.
- Actually set in 2253 when Spock comes to the Enterprise
Strange New Worlds
Strange New Worlds has so far aired two seasons, with the third due to debut later this year, and includes Pike leading a cast of characters filled with characters who became iconic in the Original Series of Star Trek, such as Christine Chapel, Uhura, James T. Kirk, and of course, Spock. Both seasons take place during 2259, however one episode does begin a lot later, for a very interesting reason.
- Part of this story involves it jumping to an alternate 2266, 7 years from this point in the timeline, echoing events we will see in more detail later on.
- Involves time travel to 2022 which reveals something incredibly interesting, suggesting that the results of time travel in Star Trek is moving events in the fictional past, meaning that newer series like Strange New Worlds and Discovery are actually taking place in a slightly changed present to the Original Series et al.
- This actually starts in the 24th Century, specifically 2381, as the characters of Star Trek: Lower Decks find themselves time-travelling back to 2259 to crossover with the Enterprise crew.
- Has scenes set during the Klingon War from Season 1 of Discovery.
- Ending on a cliffhanger designed to lead into Season 3, which will likely take place in 2260.
The Original and Animated Series
So as I said in my introduction for this blog the original run of Star Trek, as well as its sequel Animated Series, has issues. At best it has a lot of inconsistencies, and at worst its quality drastically dips, making it very dated for how forward thinking of a show it was at the time, and that's without even getting into the budget cuts in the later seasons, or the ridiculously cheap practices of Filmation on the Animated Series. Part of it is also due to the way it was made, as unlike the shows that followed it in the franchise that were very much ensemble affairs, the Original Series was a pulp adventure show focused around a main character and his sidekicks, in this case the core trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. As a result while so much of Star Trek is classic, foundational and beloved sci-fi, full of moments that have become influential and well-known elements of all of pop-culture for the past sixty years, it is also a very different show than everything else in the franchise.
Now the simplest way to address not just the inconsistencies, but also the varying quality, is to re-order the series, and there are several ways to do that, with stardates being the most obvious solution, although as I have said that will mean jumping between episodes, which can be incredibly annoying for the viewer. For me as long as a cluster of episodes is generally all in the same place I don't think they have to be in exactly the same order, and even the first season of The Next Generation was similarly wildly inconsistent with its own stardates.
So in my opinion the best way is going to be by looking at the episodes that have to exist in a certain order, and working from there to construct the best Watch Order I can for the show. Where I can this means that I will be trying to create blocks of episodes, however just as with my previous Star Wars Watch Order the inconsistencies make this almost an anthology of sorts, meaning occasionally some episodes will be singled out.
Unlike with my previous Star Trek Watch Order, I will be listing below every episode of these seasons, but I will be marking some as Classic, meaning that in my opinion these are some of the best episodes that this era of Star Trek has to offer, and in many cases have been referenced in subsequent series, and I highly recommend watching them at least once.
In addition to my usual three digit season and episode signifier, I will also have either TOS or TAS for each episode, standing for The Original Series and The Animated Series respectively. I'm going to add that I am taking my numbers for the episodes from Paramount+, as even the number ordering can be inconsistent between releases.
In terms of timeline, Kirk's five year mission takes place between 2365 and 2370
TOS 104 Where No Man Has Gone Before
- This is the second pilot for Star Trek after The Cage, and features the same uniforms from that episode, however with more elements that become standard going forward. As such it is best watched first.
- This episode has to be here specifically because of the character of Janice Rand, as it is clear this is her first episode due to Kirk's reaction to her.
- The return of the character of Harry Mudd, who previously appeared in Discovery and Short Treks.
- An episode focusing on Christine Chapel and her fiancé, who will be appearing in the upcoming third season of Strange New Worlds.
- The first appearance of the Vulcan mind-meld in classic Star Trek.
- An episode written by Walter Keonig, the only member of the cast who was not invited back for TAS.
- An episode that explains a foundational moment of Kirk's past.
- CLASSIC. The first appearance of the Romulans, and overall just one of the best directed episodes of Star Trek ever. This is the episode that A Quality of Mercy from Strange New Worlds jumped forward to.
- A planet that makes thoughts come alive. Not a classic but it is very good.
- CLASSIC. Some great character moments in this one.
- CLASSIC. The appearance of Trelane, previously hinted at in Those Old Scientists, and a predecessor of sorts to Q from The Next Generation.
- The first episode Walter Koenig filmed in his role as Pavel Chekov.
- Harry Mudd returns again.
- Introduces Zephram Cochrane, the human inventor of warp drive.
- CLASSIC. Kirk battles the Gorn in a fight to the death.
- The Enterprise has accidentally time-travelled back to 1969 using a method that they will use again in the future for similar trips.
- One of the first big courtroom episodes, a common Star Trek trope.
- Star Trek does the Purge. Also referenced in the first episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
- CLASSIC. The episode that introduces us to Khan, one of the most influential characters in the history of Star Trek. This episode suggest Khan was active on Earth in the 1990s, but obviously Strange New Worlds addressed the changes to the timeline of Khan above in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, but none of that detracts from this incredible episode.
- CLASSIC. This is one of my favourite episodes, so I am slightly biased, but I genuinely think this is a great episode.
- CLASSIC. The original introduction of the Klingons, led here by Kor, who goes on to recur in Deep Space Nine. Almost sees a new war break out.
- CLASSIC. One of the best episodes for Kirk's development as a character in my opinion.
- Jack the Ripper in Space! A very interesting one.
- CLASSIC. One of the most iconic episodes ever made, featuring the debut of tribbles, and later revisited in Deep Space Nine for the 30th anniversary of the franchise.
- A very memorable episode, but not necessarily a classic.
- CLASSIC. Gangsters in space and one of the best "parallel Earth" style stories the original series ever did.
- CLASSIC. The crew experience a virus that makes them act drunk, leading to some of the most iconic character moments that Spock, Chapel and Sulu are known for.
- Kirk is divided into two, and one version attacks Janice Rand. She only appeared in a few episodes, and I think this makes the best time for her to leave. I'm not marking it as classic due to some sexist attitudes and apologia that may have flown at the time but are incredibly outdated today.
- CLASSIC. Originally this episode was created to allow the studio to use the footage made for The Cage as part of the show in order to reduce costs, however the appearance of Captain Pike here became an iconic image for the show, and the lengths Spock will go to to help his former friend is extraordinary.
- CLASSIC. One of the most important episodes for Spock, T'Pring, and the Vulcans, and a hugely impactful episode on pop-culture.
- CLASSIC. Enterprise encounters a Greek God. Ancient Aliens stole all its ideas from here.
- CLASSIC. The very first Mirror Universe episode, something which we have already seen in this Watch Order in Discovery, and goes on to reappear in Deep Space Nine and Enterprise.
- CLASSIC. A fantastically tense and high stakes episode featuring an unstoppable vessel and the PTSD stricken Commodore Decker, who takes over the Enterprise.
- CLASSIC. Perhaps the single most famous episode of the classic series, as Kirk and Spock end up travelling back to the 1930s, meeting Joan Collins' Edith Keeler, a woman who steals Kirk's heart, but needs to die to retore the timeline. Also introduces the Guardian of Forever.
- The final episode of the first season and the return of Kirk's brother.
- CLASSIC. The appearance of Spock's parents Sarek and Amanda in the classic series, with some interesting character bits that I feel are even more rewarding with the new series earlier in this Watch Order
- CLASSIC. This episode features the Kzinti, a race actually created by Larry Niven for his Known Space novels, and was actually adapted by Niven himself from one of his stories, making for a very satisfying entry of the Animated Series.
- First of two appearances for M'Benga in the classic series, and the episode that features the Mugato. Also works really well as allegory for things happening at the time in the Cold War.
- A sequel to Shore Leave
- Harry Mudd returns for the final time.
- CLASSIC. The best episode of TAS and it isn't even close. Features the Guardian of Forever, Sarek, a look at Spock's childhood, and was written by D.C. Fontana who was responsible for many of the best Spock centred episodes of these classic shows.
- The appearance of Kang, who goes on to reappear in both Deep Space Nine and Voyager.
- One of three pitch scripts for the second pilot, but not a great episode.
- CLASSIC. One of the more iconic "computer gone rogue" episodes.
- Using time travel this episode takes place wholly in the past, and was designed to serve as a backdoor pilot for a spin-off show featuring the character of Gary Seven. It was unsuccessful, but modern shows Picard and Prodigy picked up elements of Gary Seven's backstory and connected it to other elements of Star Trek's mythos.
- A classic for the wrong reasons, as this is one of the most infamous episodes among fans and not generally liked, but for me this is far from the worst episode of the series.
- The return of the Romulans, and in my opinion a highlight of a rather rough third season.
- CLASSIC. The best allegory on the futility of racial supremacy that definitely Star Trek, if not sci-fi as a whole, has achieved, and the best episode of this season by far.
- A particularly fun and creepy episode.
- Cyrano Jones returns with more tribbles.
- The Vendorians from this episode return in a prominent role in an episode of Lower Decks.
- CLASSIC. Coming to help the stricken USS Defiant, the Enterprise finds itself under attack by the deadly Tholians. This episode becomes especially important for a plot element in Enterprise.
- Abraham Lincoln teams up with Kirk and Spock to fight some of history's greatest villains. A mission in Star Trek Online works as a sequel, of sorts, to this.
- Possibly the most inconsistent and incredibly dated episode in Star Trek, as sexism reveals that there are apparently no female captains in Starfleet. Fortunately the previous series in this Watch Order disprove this. I'd skip this episode entirely to be honest.
- Another episode that will be heavily referenced in Lower Decks.
- Another Pandronian will return in, you guessed it, Lower Decks.
- From a personal standpoint I really enjoy this episode, and so I definitely recommend it as one of the better offerings in TAS.
- Star Trek's 100 episode, and memorable for that alone, but again another episode I think is a highlight of the Animated Series.
- This episode sees Robert April, seen as an Admiral in Strange New Worlds, aboard the Enterprise. There is a very obvious physical discrepancy between the two portrayals of the character, which will just have to be ignored as best as you can.
The Films
After the success of Star Trek: The Original Series in syndication it was only a matter of time before it returned, and besides the Animated Series there was a sequel show originally planned, before that pitch eventually morphed into the first Star Trek film. A modest success, it eventually led to further films, which all continued to build and gradually led to the franchise's return to television with The Next Generation. The first six films featured the cast of the Original Series returning to their roles, as well as several of their own ongoing elements, and they are set in their own points in the timeline.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Set in approximately 2273. This features the now Admiral Kirk taking over the Enterprise to stop a mysterious new threat. The character of Will Decker is supposed to be the son of Commodore Decker from The Doomsday Machine, but this isn't clear in the film. This film may not be great, but I do think its worth a watch at least once.
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
- A contender for the best Star Trek movie, and an essential watch. The sequel to Space Seed, featuring the return of Khan who wants revenge on Kirk. Introduces Kirk's estranged partner Carol Marcus and his now adult son David, creators of the incredible Genesis Device, as well as Spock's protégé Saavik. Set in 2285. Elements in its final act lead directly into the next film in the series.
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
- In my opinion this film is often maligned as a part of the "even films good, odd films bad" rule that many fans apply to the Star Trek films, as while this is not as good as the two films it is sandwiched between, it does very competently work as a middle chapter in this loose trilogy, and ties up many of the open plot threads from the previous film in a very satisfying way. Features the return of Sarek and the introduction of new Klingon villain Kruge, played brilliantly by Christopher Lloyd.
Short Treks
There is one final Short Trek that needs to be watched, and it can only fit here, for reasons I don't necessarily want to spoil if you haven't seen Search For Spock. However it also serves as a nice callback to some events that have gotten us this far, such as the events of Trouble With Tribbles, The Doomsday Machine, and more.
204 Ephraim and Dot
Films
And so we come to the end of the film series, and almost to the end of all of the 23rd Century entries.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- For a long time the most profitable Star Trek film, as this very fun comedy film that managed to pull in general audiences. Essentially the end of a trilogy, as some plot threads from the previous film are resolved in the final act, but for the most part a time travel story as the crew travel back three hundred years to 1986.
- Probably one of the worst Star Trek films, but I do think there are some very fun things happening here, especially with the main characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy who all get some great scenes. Set a few months after the previous film.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Set in 2293, several years after the previous film, and features the final journey of this crew, as the Klingon Empire and Federation's Cold War comes to an end. A strong contender for one of the best films in the franchise in my opinion.
- Closing out the 23rd Century we have the opening of Generations, which will bring us back to the 24th Century, but begins a short time after the final scenes of the last film.
So that's it for the 23rd Century right? Well not quite. There is one more modern entry in the franchise that should really be watched as part of this era, but it takes place in an alternate timeline.
Kelvin Timeline
The Kelvin Timeline consists of a trilogy of films released between 2009 and 2016, and creates a new timeline by diverging the timeline in a drastic way during Kirk's birth in 2233. The films then act as a reboot of sorts of the characters from the Original Series, with Pike, Kirk, Spock, Uhura, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty, Khan, Carol Marcus and Sarek all in prominent roles, but the films also incorporated elements introduced in later series like Deep Space Nine and Enterprise as it continued, creating a very interesting alternate world.
Star Trek
- Set in 2258 for the majority of its main events, and introduces the changes to the timeline in a thrilling and very well-paced adventure.
Star Trek Into Darknes
- Set in 2259. A film that reinvents a lot of elements from Wrath of Khan, for better or worse, but does introduce ideas like Section 31 in ways that make sense with this new timeline.
Star Trek Beyond
- Set in 2263. Jumps ahead a few years into the five year mission, but is still set years before The Original Series, and sets the crew against the new threat of Krall, who has a surprising link to the Federation. I personally think this is an extremely underrated film, full of incredible setpieces and some fantastic performances from all of the main cast.
And so that is everything from this era, in as accurate an order as I possibly can make it.
There are some Star Trek series I have yet to cover in a Watch Order, most notably Enterprise, which I think deserves a similar approach to the 24th Century shows to find the most essential episodes as a lot of it can vary quite drastically in quality, but that is a task for another time.
Until then, and as always I hope that you all take the very best care of your physical and mental health that you can, and I look forward to speaking to you all again soon.
Bye for now
Garhdo
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