This site is NOT a chronology - it is a viewing guide that will assist you through watching the entire franchise in in-universe story order, all the way from the 21st to the 43rd centuries, while making adjustments as needed to ensure an enjoyable viewing experience. It is not rigid - some episodes are shifted in the order to keep things as clear and fun as possible. The guide is updated regularly to stay current with new episodes.
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 6 - Spectre of the Gun
As punishment for trespassing, Kirk and crew are forced to re-enact the shootout at the OK Corral.
Original airdate - October 25, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 13 - Elaan of Troyius
Kirk is distracted while the Enterprise is threatened.
Original airdate - December 20, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 3 - The Paradise Syndrome
Kirk loses his memory and begins a life in a native village.
Original airdate - October 4, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 2 - The Enterprise Incident
Disguised as a Romulan, Kirk steals a cloaking device.
Original airdate - September 27, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 4 - And the Children Shall Lead
A group of children are being controlled by an evil force.
Original airdate - October 11, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 1 - Spock’s Brain
Kirk pursues aliens who have taken Spock's brain.
Original airdate - September 20, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 5 - Is There in Truth No Beauty?
The sight of a Medusan ambassador causes insanity.
Original airdate - October 18, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 12 - The Empath
The landing party is used to test an empathic race.
Original airdate - December 6, 1968
In one of the more fun examples of the shows tying together, the next three episodes we watch consist of a TOS episode leading into two of the Enterprise episodes we skipped, PLUS we finally find out why the Discovery detected the USS Defiant in the Mirror Universe.
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 9 - The Tholian Web
Kirk is trapped in interphase, while the Enterprise is trapped by a powerful energy web.
Original airdate - November 15, 1968
Enterprise - Season 4, episode 18 - In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I
In the mirror universe, Commander Archer mutinies against Captain Forrest in order to capture a future Earth ship found in Tholian space.
Original airdate - April 22, 2005
Enterprise - Season 4, episode 19 - In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II
In the mirror universe, Archer commandeers the 23rd-century Defiant from the Tholians and uses it in a nefarious power grab.
Original airdate - April 29, 2005
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 8 - For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
An inhabited asteroid is on a collision course with a Federation planet
Original airdate - November 8, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 7 - Day of the Dove
A malevolent entity pits Klingons against the Enterprise crew.
Original airdate - November 1, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 10 - Plato’s Stepchildren
Platonians use psychokinetic power to toy with the crew.
Original airdate - November 22, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 11 - Wink of an Eye
Hyperaccelerated aliens, invisible to the naked eye, take over the Enterprise.
Original airdate - November 29, 1968
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 17 - That Which Survives
A deadly computer image protects a long dead outpost.
Original airdate - January 24, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 15 - Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
Two survivors of a devastated planet remain committed to destroying one another.
Original airdate - January 10, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 14 - Whom Gods Destroy
Kirk is confronted by one of his heroes, now criminally insane.
Original airdate - January 3, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 16 - The Mark of Gideon
Kirk is abducted by aliens who wish to use him to help solve their overpopulation problem.
Original airdate - January 17, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 18 - The Lights of Zetar
Zetarians threaten Lieutenant Mira Romaine.
Original airdate - January 31, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 21 - The Cloud Minders
Kirk is forced into negotiating peace on a planet with severe class inequities.
Original airdate - February 28, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 20 - The Way to Eden
A charismatic leader and his followers hijack the Enterprise in their search for "Eden".
Original airdate - February 21, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 19 - Requiem for Methuselah
Kirk and crew meet an immortal human named Flint.
Original airdate - February 14, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 22 - The Savage Curtain
Kirk and Spock are forced into a battle of good and evil.
Original airdate - March 7, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 23 - All Our Yesterdays
Kirk, Spock and McCoy enter a time portal and get stuck in the past on a planet about to be consumed by a nova.
Original airdate - March 14, 1969
The Original Series - Season 3, episode 24 - Turnabout Intruder
A woman from Kirk's past exchanges bodies with him and takes control of the ship.
Original airdate - June 3, 1969
We finish Kirk's Five-Year Mission with Star Trek: The Animated Series. Is TAS in continuity? Debatable. In later years, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry liked to say it was not, but later works in the franchise certainly seemed to disagree, with Enterprise’s Vulcan arc as well as the first of the Kelvin films borrowing heavily from Yesteryear, Robert April appearing in Strange New Worlds, numerous references in Lower Decks, etc., so I see no reason not to consider it as canon as everything else. Besides, “La mort de l'auteur” means we don’t have to listen to Gene.
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 1 - Beyond the Farthest Star
The Enterprise finds a deserted starship orbiting a dead star.
Original airdate - September 8, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 2 - Yesteryear
Spock travels back in time to prevent his death as a young Vulcan.
Original airdate - September 15, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 3 - One of Our Planets is Missing
A mysterious cloud destroys inhabited planets.
Original airdate - September 22, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 4 - The Lorelei Signal
A race of beautiful women remains immortal by stealing the life force of men.
Original airdate - September 29, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 5 - More Tribbles, More Troubles
Cyrano Jones introduces tribbles that cannot reproduce.
Original airdate - October 6, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 6 - The Survivor
The Enterprise finds a long-lost explorer.
Original airdate - October 13, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 7 - The Infinite Vulcan
A mad scientist has developed a race of intelligent plant life.
Original airdate - October 20, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 8 - The Magicks of Megas-tu
At the center of the galaxy, the Enterprise discovers a race of powerful aliens.
Original airdate - October 27, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 9 - Once Upon a Planet
Upon returning to the Amusement Park planet, the Enterpise crew finds that the caretaker has died and the computer has taken over creating havoc.
Original airdate - November 3, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 10 - Mudd's Passion
Space con artist Harry Mudd returns, selling a fake love potion.
Original airdate - November 10, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 11 - The Terratin Incident
The Enterprise crew begins to shrink after radiation exposure.
Original airdate - November 17, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 12 - The Time Trap
The Enterprise crew must work with Klingons to escape from a pocket universe.
Original airdate - November 24, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 13 - The Ambergris Element
Kirk and Spock transform while exploring the planet Argo.
Original airdate - December 1, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 14 - The Slaver Weapon
Spock, Sulu and Uhura are taken captive.
Original airdate - December 15, 1973
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 15 - The Eye of the Beholder
Telepathic aliens put Kirk, Spock and McCoy in a zoo.
Original airdate - January 5, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 1, episode 16 - The Jihad
Kirk leads a group trying to recover a stolen religious relic.
Original airdate - January 12, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 2, episode 1 - The Pirates of Orion
The medicine required for Spock who has contracted a fatal disease is stolen by Orionian pirates.
Original airdate - September 7, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 2, episode 2 - Bem
The Enterprise crew is being observed as their suitability to meet with advanced civilizations.
Original airdate - September 14, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 2, episode 3 - The Practical Joker
The computer of the Enterprise gains partial sentience and starts playing practical jokes on the crew.
Original airdate - September 21, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 2, episode 4 - Albatross
Dr. McCoy is arrested and charged with causing an alien plague.
Original airdate - September 28, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 2, episode 5 - How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth
The Enterprise runs into a being that once visited Earth and influenced the Mayan culture.
Original airdate - October 5, 1974
The Animated Series - Season 2, episode 6 - The Counterclock Incident
The Enterprise tries to save an unidentified ship plunging into a supernova but is dragged into a universe where time runs backwards.
Original airdate - October 12, 1974
Movie time! Some background here. Paramount was planning on making a new network, and intended a new Star Trek series, "Star Trek Phase II", to anchor it. Scripts were written, sets were built, and actors cast. When network plans fell through, and Star Wars became a hit, they decided to take one of those scripts and streeeeeeeeeetch it out into a movie.
So…. Is it way too long for the amount of plot it has? Yes, though it has its charms. And isn’t it basically a retread of Nomad from the episode "The Changeling" anyway? It is. And hey, isn’t that the pedophile Dad from 7th Heaven? mm-hmm. Anyway, if you have access to it I recommend the Director’s Cut, in which pacing is much improved and some particularly flawed effects are redone, but either version works story-wise.
Movie - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Admiral James T. Kirk leads the crew of the USS Enterprise to stop a mysterious alien cloud from destroying Earth.
Original release - December 7, 1979
Following The Motion Picture, the franchise underwent a significant transformation with the release of the next film, adopting a different style and tone that were controversial at the time, but resulted in a film that many, including the author of this guide, now believe resulted in the best Star Trek movie to date.
Movie - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The Federation Starship U.S.S. Enterprise is on routine training maneuvers and Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned to the fact that this inspection may well be the last space mission of his career. But Khan is back...
Original release - June 4, 1982
Movie - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Admiral Kirk’s defeat of Khan and the creation of the Genesis planet are empty victories. A surprise visit from Sarek, Spock’s father, provides a startling revelation.
Original release - June 1, 1984
Ephraim and Dot ’s continuity really makes no sense anywhere, but it’s cute so who cares. Anyway, this seemed the BEST place to put it.
Short Treks - Season 1, episode 9 - Ephraim and Dot
Ephraim, a humble tardigrade, is flying through the mycelial network when an unexpected encounter takes her on a bewildering adventure through space.
Original airdate - December 1, 2019
Movie - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
A mysterious alien power is threatening Earth by evaporating the oceans and destroying the atmosphere. In a frantic attempt to save mankind, Kirk and his crew must time travel back to 1986 San Francisco where they find a world of punk, pizza and exact-change buses that are as alien as anything they've ever encountered in the far reaches of the galaxy.
Original release - November 26, 1986
Or, to use the all-but-official secondary title, “The One With The Whales”
Movie - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
The crew of the Federation starship Enterprise is called to Nimbus III, the Planet of Intergalactic Peace. They are to negotiate in a case of kidnapping only to find out that the kidnapper is a relative of Spock.
Original release - June 9, 1989
A criminally underrated film.
Movie - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
After years of war, the Federation and the Klingon empire find themselves on the brink of a peace summit when a Klingon ship is nearly destroyed by an apparent attack from the Enterprise. Both worlds brace for what may be their deadliest encounter.
Original release - December 6, 1991
Sidenote: The opening sequence of the film. Star Trek: Generations takes place this year, a few months after The Undiscovered Country. I very much do not expect people to watch things in pieces, but as there IS a clear delineation in the film, you can, optionally, watch the beginning of Generations and stop when the “78 years later” caption comes up. Or you can just not worry about it, and watch the whole film in one sitting when we reach 2371.
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