Star Trek is a cult show. The Original Series was created by Gene Roddenberry beginning with the 1960s series. It became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. Since the original series, Star Trek has expanded into films, other television series, video games, novels, comic books, and more. Many of the shows like Star Trek are actually sequels and other Star Trek series.
Star Trek: The Original Series, debuted in the US on September 8, 1966. It aired for only three seasons on NBC, following the voyage of the starship USS Enterprise. The space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century was on a mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no man has gone before.
Roddenberry was inspired by C.S Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series of novels for creating Star Trek, but also Jonathan Swift and his 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels.
In the past few years, we have seen many new shows like Star Trek. For starters, the franchise has its own new series, Star Trek Discovery, now in the fourth season.
To this day, Star Trek remains a cult phenomenon for decades. Fans are called Trekkies or Trekkers. Actors like Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner remain legends because of Star Trek. Shatner was the first Captain Kirk. Let’s take a look at some other science fiction best shows like Star Trek.
Farscape
The show is about an astronaut from Earth who finds himself aboard the living spaceship Moya. The ship and its crew fight to escape a fascist military operation known as the Peacekeepers.
The show tried to capture audiences who were losing interest in Star Trek. But there is one huge difference. The central crew isn’t always upstanding citizens.
The dynamic between John Crichton, played by Ben Browder, and Aeryn Sun, played by Claudia Black is a big appeal of the show.
Babylon 5
If you love sci-fi shows, you have to watch Babylon 5. The TV show is set aboard the titular space station. Some say it is a space opera show, focusing on what happens when humans and aliens have to work together to bring peace to the galaxy.
There is no hold back on the horrors of war. But at the same time, the show touches on humanity’s darker aspects with plotlines like Xenophobic groups. The impact of political and religious influence is mentioned as well.
Parts of the show are quite similar to Star Trek Deep Space Nine, which is why Trek fans love it.
Stargate
This show is now a sprawling franchise based on the Roland Emmerich film. It begins with Stargate SG-1, debuting in the late 1990s. It has become a favorite among science fiction genre fans.
The main premise continues to revolve around Earth’s discovery of a Stargate. It is a cosmic portal that can ferry humans across vast distances.
But as in most cases with humans, they try to exploit the discovery for potential resources. It results in humanity battling aliens.
Star Trek Enterprise
Sometimes the TV show is titled just Enterprise. The series aired from September 2001 to May 2005. It is the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise, serving as a prequel to the original series.
Enterprise is set in the 22nd century, hundred years before the events of The Original Series. The show follows the adventures of Enterprise, the first flagship capable of traveling at warp five as it explores the galaxy.
Rick Berman and Brannon Braga made the show, and they decided to set it in an earlier period. It broke the Star Trek convention in many aspects, mainly by dropping the Star Trek prefix and using a different song as its theme.
Enterprise was filmed on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles California. The first two seasons explored topics like humanity’s relationship with the Vulcan population, the Klingon population, and the Andorian population.
Star Trek Picard
The first season of Picard was released in 2020 as part of the plan by Alex Kurtzman to expand the Star Trek Universe. It is the eighth Star Trek series in the Star Trek franchise.
The show focuses on Jean Luc Picard. The former commander has been deeply affected by the death of Data in the movie Star Trek Nemesis and the destruction of the planet Romulus.
Patrick Stewart returns to portray Picard and also serves as executive producer on the show. Many other former Star Trek actors return, including Jeri Ryan, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Michelle Hurd, and more.
Star Trek Discovery
The American television series by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman for CBS All Access was released in 2017. It was the seventh Star Trek series in the franchise and the first since Star Trek Enterprise concluded in 2005. Star Trek fans waited for more than 10 years for a new TV show about space and exploration.
The show is set a decade before Star Trek: The Original Series. But at the end of the second season, Discovery travels centuries into its future, which sets the show for subsequent seasons.
Sonequa Martin-Green portrays the main character, Michael Burnham, who eventually becomes captain.
The Orville
If you want a comedic and funny take on Star Trek, watch The Orville. The show has such a nice fan following. And decent rating.
The Orville is a science fiction comedy-drama series starring Seth MacFarlane as the protagonist Ed Mercer. He is an officer in the Planetary Union’s line of exploratory space vessels in the 25th century.
It was inspired by The Original Series and Star Trek Next Generation. The Orville heavily parodies the shows and pays homage to them at the same time.
Mission: Impossible
No, this is not the Mission Impossible movie franchise with Tom Cruise. It is an American television series created and initially produced by Bruce Geller.
The show chronicles the exploits of a small team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Mission Force. They are used for covert missions against hostile governments, evil organizations, crime lords, and third-world dictators.
Andromeda
If you are looking for the best shows like Star Trek, this one has to be on your list. After all, the space opera television series was based on unused material by Gene Roddenberry. His widow, Majel Barrett produced the show.
Kevin Sorbo stars as High Guard Captain Dylan Hunt. The show lasted for five seasons from 2000 to 2005.
It is one of two shows based on concepts Roddenberry created in the early 1960s and 1970s. He died in 1991, nine years before the premiere of Andromeda.
Firefly
Firefly is quite similar to Star Trek, but also different. It is a space Western drama, created by Joss Whedon. Set in the year 2517, following the arrival of humans in a new star system, the show follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity.
It is a Firefly-class spaceship. When he pitched the show, Whedon did it as “nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things”.
Firefly explores the lives of the group of people who fought on the losing side of a civil war. The show has won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2003 for Outstanding Special Visual Effects.
The Mandalorian
The show is more like Star Wars than Star Trek, but there is one element that connects the two franchises. The world exploring of The Mandalorian. During the first two seasons of the TV show, we saw quite a few new worlds we haven’t seen before or explored deeply in Star Wars movies.
The Mandalorian has everything that Star Trek fans love: aliens, betrayal, new and unconventional bonds, scheming villains, and perfect acting on top of it.
The visual style is unique, and will definitely make you crave for more.
Battlestar Galactica
If you are a Trekkie, you have this show on your watchlist for sure. It is a reboot of the 1970s show, set aboard the titular spaceship.
The fleet carrying the last remaining humans in the universe is guided by Admiral Adama, who oversees a crew consisting of many fan-favorite characters.
He has a destination in mind, but his fleet has to battle old enemies to get there.
Futurama
Let’s finish off the list of shows like Star Trek with an animated series. The science fiction sitcom, created by Matt Groening, aired on Fox from 1999 to 2003 and then on Comedy Central from 2008 to 2013.
The series follows the adventures of Philip J. Fry, as he finds work at an interplanetary delivery company. He works alongside Leela, the Robot Bender, and more characters.
Groening came up with the idea while working on The Simpsons. Over its run, Futurama has received 12 Emmy Award nominations, winning six of them.
