The Top 6 Star Trek Stories Everyone Should Know About
Star Trek has been around since 1966 and spawned dozens of different movies, television shows, and other types of content.
But, what are the best and most important stories that have been told within this intricate universe? Let's go through the top Star Trek stories you'll want to make sure you know about.
1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
This 1982 film is a major milestone for the entire Star Trek franchise. In this film, Clark Terrell and Pavel Chekov are captured by Khan Noonien Singh while they search for a planet where they can test the Genesis device.
In short, The Genesis Device was meant to make dead worlds liveable again through terraforming. Khan then attacked the station where the device was being developed by David and Carol Marcus.
Captain Kirk and his crew went to rescue Terrell, Chekov, Carol, and David, when Khan activated the Genesis device by starting an overload in the device. The ensuing explosion would kill everyone in range, but Spock repaired the battle damaged Enterprise at the last second and the starship narrowly escaped. However, Spock died of radiation poisoning in the process.
2. The Trouble With Tribbles (Star Trek: The Original Series, Season 2, Episode 15)
"The Trouble With Tribbles" introduces the adorable species in one of the more comedic Star Trek plots. A trader named Cyrano Jones gives Lieutenant Uhura a tribble, who brings it back to the Enterprise with her. Unfortunately, tribbles tend to reproduce very quickly.
Eventually, there were so many tribbles that they consumed a grain shipment that the Enterprise was transporting. However, it turned out the grain may had been poisoned since eating the shipment killed many of the tribbles.
Kirk faced punishment by Baris, the undersecretary, until the tribbles reacted oddly to Baris's assistant, revealing him to be a Klingon who poisoned the grain. Spock then ordered Jones to remove all the tribbles or face charges for transporting them.
This episode was so popular that it spawned a sequel in Deep Space 9's Season 5, Episode 6 (Trials and Tribble-ations). And, it was parodied by a popular Futurama episode, "The Problem With Popplers."
3. The Best of Both Worlds (Season 3, Episode 26 and Season 4, Episode 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation)
While this Star Trek storyline was aired as two episodes originally, it was re-released as a feature film in 2013. This story begins when the Enterprise-D responds to a distress call at a Federation colony.
When they arrive, the colony had completely disappeared, and the ship assumed that the Borg was responsible. Starfleet Admiral Hanson and Lieutenant Commander Shelby joined the Enterprise crew to investigate the incident.
The Enterprise managed to catch up with another Borg cube, which demanded that Captain Picard give himself up. While Picard refused, the cube managed to catch up with the Enterprise and captures Picard anyway. Both the Enterprise and the cube started to move towards Earth.
When a rescue team boarded the cube and destroyed its power nodes, they found that Picard had been assimilated by the Borg and now called himself Locutus. Locutus deflected the Enterprise's continued attacks against the cube. Eventually, a rescue crew manageed to kidnap Locutus/Picard.
Then, Dr. Crusher and Data used Locutus to mentally link with the Borg. With some advice from Picard, they managed to destroy the cube and free Picard from the Borg's control.
4. What's Past Is Prologue (Star Trek: Discovery, Season 1, Episode 3)
The newer editions to the Star Trek universe also have some strong stories. Star Trek Discovery's "What's Past Is Prologue" is set during Gabriel Lorca's quest to become Emperor of the Terrran Empire (Also known as the "Mirror Universe"). Emperor Georgiou and Burnham work together to prevent him from grabbing power.
They made a deal with Lorca to spare the Discovery while setting up a plan to double-cross him. Georgiou killed Lorca and planned to sacrifice herself to save Burnham. At the last second, Burnham saved Georgiou. But, since they had been in the Mirror Universe, the new Mirror version of Georgiou would now be coming to the Prime Universe.
While trying to return home, the ship accidentally jumped nine months into the future, where they discovered that the Klingons had won the ongoing war. This episode set up a great story arc for the rest of the season and leaves you wanting more.
5. Blink of An Eye (Star Trek: Voyager, Season 6, Episode 12)
In this 2000 episode of Star Trek Voyager, when moving to examine a planet, the U.S.S Voyager gets caught in the planet's magnetic field. While trying trying to free themselves, Seven of Nine finds the ship is causing earthquakes on the surface of the planet.
It turned out that time passed much more quickly on the planet than it did on the ship. As time passed, the technology on the planet advanced, and the crew received a radio message from the planet. Since directly replying would violate the Prime Directive, they sent The Doctor to the surface impersonating one of the planets inhabitants
When he returnd a few minutes later, he reported that he'd been gone for three years and that seeing the ship encouraged the speed of technological growth on the planet's surface. The planet managed to send two astronauts to the ship, but the shock of the abrupt time change killed one of them.
The planet then began to attack the Voyager, and they sent the other astronaut back to beg the planet to stop the attack. A few minutes later,the planet sent spaceships to help get Voyager out of the planet's magnetic field, while the remaining astronaut watched from the surface of the planet.
6. Take Me Out To The Holosuite (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 7, Episode 4)
When Captain Solok's T'Kumbra stops at Deep Space Nine, he challenged Sisko and the rest of the DS9 bridge crew to a game of baseball in order to prove that Vulcans were superior athletes. But, only two members of Sisko's crew had ever played baseball before, and they only had two weeks to learn the game before the contest with the Vulcans.
Sisko took the matter far too seriously and eventually admited that he was going overboard because Solok beat Sisko in a wrestling match when they were still cadets at the Academy. When it was finally time for the game, Sisko got himself thrown out of the game quickly for attacking the umpire.
But, being reminded why he loved the game, Sisko let Rom play even though he was terrible at playing baseball. Rom accidentally allowed Nog to make it home, which gave the team their only point in the overwhelming loss against Solok's crew. The team then celebrated how much fun they had, even though they lost.
Learn More About Different Star Trek Stories Today
There's no shortage of fascinating Star Trek stories in the history of this franchise. But, these six tales, we feel. are some of the best. So, if you're new to the universe, we suggest that you start by exploring these.
Let us know if you agree with our picks or let us know your favorites in the comments below!
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