Now is a great time to be a Star Trek fan and watch all of the Star Trek movies in sequence. With three active TV series (Discovery Picard Lower decks) and three more in the works (section 31, Prodigy, Strange new worlds), more Star Trek adventures are airing now than ever since the mid-1990s.
While Star Trek TV shows have been coming and going since the 1960s, Star Trek movies have maintained a fairly consistent release schedule between 1979 and 2016. On average, we got a new movie once every three years. But with the The Star Trek reboot franchise’s fourth move would have been canceled, we can wait a long time to see the USS Enterprise on the big screen again.
Yet one piece of the puzzle is still missing: where are all the Star Trek movies? As opposed to watching the Star Wars Movies in Sequence, you can’t see every Trek movie on the same service.
In the meantime, there are thirteen Star Trek movies to watch (or rewatch), either on DVD or on your favorite streaming services. I personally have the Blu-ray collections so that I wouldn’t be at the mercy of changing streaming schedules, but if you prefer a fully digital experience, these movies are almost always available somewhere online.
Star Trek movies in order of release date
For the most part, watching the Star Trek movies in order of release is exactly the same as watching the Star Trek movies in chronological order. (There’s some time travel here and there, but the later movies still “follow” the earlier ones.) There are 13 movies. The first came out in 1979; the latest came out in 2016.
The only problem is that they are spread across a number of different subscription services. 10 out of 13 can be found on Amazon Prime Video, and seven of them are also on Hulu. FX Now and Fubo each have one Star Trek movie apiece, with each movie being exclusive to streaming (otherwise you would have to buy or rent to watch). And then CBS All Access (soon Paramount Plus) and Pluto have one more movie.
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): On Prime Video
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek: Generations (1994): On Prime Video
- Star Trek: First Contact (1996): On Prime Video
- Star Trek: Insurrection (1998): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek: Nemesis (2002): On CBS All Access / Paramount Plus and Pluto
- Star Trek (2009): On Fubo
- Star Trek Into Darkness (2013): Now on FX
- Star Trek Beyond (2016): On Hulu and Prime Video
Star Trek is just one of the many great things to watch Hulu In addition to acclaimed originals like High Fidelity and Shrill, Hulu streams next day broadcasts of current TV shows and library content from FX.View deal
Amazon Prime Video has a huge library that goes beyond Star Trek movies. Not only do they have a ton of top movies and TV shows, they also have a range of acclaimed originals. They have everything from Fleabag to Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to The Expanse to Jack Ryan. View deal
Fubo.TV One of the streaming services you need to complete the Star Trek movies in sequence, Fubo has all the right network channels too. Who Needs Cable? No Fubo subscribers. It has a 7-day free trial so you don’t have to pay in advance.View deal
One Year Paramount Plus: was $ 99 or $ 59, now $ 49 or $ 29
Signing up a little less than a month before Paramount Plus launches will save you $ 30 to $ 50 off the annual price. The higher rate applies to the ad-free version. Paramount Plus includes everything from Yellowstone to SpongeBob SquarePants, The Real Criminal MInds and more.View deal
On top of the fact that there isn’t one house for all movies, however, there are a few small wrinkles in this plan. First, the Star Trek movies don’t stand alone. They need some knowledge of what happened in the Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation TV shows to get full green.
Moreover, the 13 films do not tell one continuous story. Rather, they are based on three separate iterations of the long-running franchise.
Star Trek Movies by Series
Like the Star Trek TV shows, the Star Trek movies don’t all focus on the same characters and settings. While there is a little bit of crossover (which we’ll discuss below), the movies generally fall into three categories.
The first category is based on Star Trek: The Original Series. This is your dad’s Star Trek, complete with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, the original USS Enterprise, and Scotty people punching up. If you’ve ever heard about “KHAAAAN!” or “the one with the whales” or “Shakespeare in the original Klingon”, this is where they come from.
They are all available on Prime Video and almost all (The Voyage Home is missing) are also on Hulu.
Star Trek: The Original Series Movies
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): On Prime Video
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991): On Hulu and Prime Video
Then there are the Next Generation movies. This is Gen X / Elder Millennial Star Trek, featuring Picard, Data, Worf and the crew. The films start with the Enterprise-D, but transition to the more streamlined Enterprise-E in First Contact. Generations has a crossover with some of the original crew members, but the rest put the TNG cast to the fore, with the occasional Deep Space Nine and Voyager cameo.
You need at least two streaming services to watch them all.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Movies
- Star Trek: Generations (1994): On Prime Video
- Star Trek: First Contact (1996): On Prime Video
- Star Trek: Insurrection (1998): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek: Nemesis (2002): On CBS All Access / Paramount Plus and Pluto
Finally, there are the “reboot” Star Trek movies, also known as the “Kelvin timeline” movies. Kirk, Spock and McCoy take center stage again, but this time in an alternate reality, where events take place differently. This is Star Trek for the cool kids, complete with fast spaceships, heart-pounding action and soundtracks populated by the Beastie Boys. (It’s not as mindless as it sounds – except maybe Into Darkness.) For the most part, these movies don’t require previous Star Trek knowledge. But they do pick up where Nemesis left off, more or less, before turning back the clock.
This set is more splintered on services than any other.
Star Trek reboots movies
- Star Trek (2009): On Fubo
- Star Trek Into Darkness (2013): Now on FX
- Star Trek Beyond (2016): On Hulu and Prime Video
Star Trek episodes to watch first
Acronyms from the Star Trek series
TOS: The Original Series
TNG: The Next Generation
ENT: Enterprise
Watching the Star Trek movies is an extremely easy process, but they can be a little incomprehensible unless you have at least some of the TV series(I. looked at the entire franchise, but that may not be practical for you.) The Motion Picture continues after The Original Series ends; the same goes for Generations and The Next Generation.
That’s why here are some episodes you should watch when you dive into the movie. In general, the films are self-contained, but it can help to learn about some of the supporting characters and subplots:
Episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series Movies
- Space Seed (TOS, S1, E22): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Errand of Mercy (TOS: S1, E26): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Journey to Babel (TOS: S2, E10): On Hulu and Prime Video
Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Movies
- Q Who (TNG: S2, E16): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Best of Both Worlds, Parts I and II (TNG: S3, E26 / S4, E1): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Family (TNG: S4, E2): On Hulu and Prime Video
Episodes for Star Trek reboot movies
- Unification, Parts I & II (TNG: S5, E7 & E8): On Hulu and Prime Video
- First flight (ENT: S2, E24): On Hulu and Prime Video
- The Xindi (ENT: S3, E1): On Hulu and Prime Video
Which Star Trek movies are good?
If you watch all 13 Star Trek movies, sign up for about 26 hours of screen time. That’s more than a regular fan would want to invest. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), A Star Trek movie was never made the same way. Fans have long believed that the even movies were good, while the odd movies were bad. However, that trend seems to have reversed with the recent reboot movies: the odd is good, while the even is, well, not.
If you want to at least start with the movies that are really worth your time, here are they:
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): On Prime Video
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991): On Hulu and Prime Video
- Star Trek: First Contact (1996): On Prime Video
- Star Trek (2009): On Fubo
Personally, I quite like some of the others (Nemesis is better than you remember, and Generations has quite a few moving moments), but those should be a good starting point at the very least.
And once you’re done with that, you can move on to Galaxy Quest: The Best Star Trek Movie That Is Not Actually a Star Trek Movie.
