--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Star Trek image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34982057c73616bf/69869f33f983e760bf04f32d/t100_tv_startrek11.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 12, 2014 # _Star Trek_ by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Everett For a show that was set hundreds of years in the future, _Star Trek_ was very 1960s: not just the miniskirts, but the war and race allegories that creator Gene Roddenberry wrote into the series. Capt. James T. Kirk led a crew of all colors (and ear shapes) across the universe to follow the Prime Directive and defuse conflicts. Though the sci-fi show was colored by its troubled times, it also had a genuine postwar optimism, believing that technology, science and cooperation could actually lead humanity to unity and progress. Dated as the original _Trek_ can look—with Kirk chasing galactic babes and space hippies—its first-rate sci-fi plots still hold up, as does the hope that hundreds of years from now we might be still boldly going. [Get This TV Series](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VDDDY6/?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103826/star-trek/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103826/star-trek/"},"headline":"Star Trek","datePublished":"2014-08-12T15:34:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:01:54.057Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103826/star-trek/","keywords":["Star Trek","drama","Science fiction"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34982057c73616bf/69869f33f983e760bf04f32d/t100_tv_startrek11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34982057c73616bf/69869f33f983e760bf04f32d/t100_tv_startrek11.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103826/star-trek/","name":"Star Trek"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Star Trek","description":"Dated as the original Trek can look¿with Kirk chasing galactic babes and space hippies¿its first-rate sci-fi plots still hold up, as does the hope that hundreds of years from now we might be still boldly going.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/rsi6l9ad/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2007-09-05T13:54:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/rsi6l9ad.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103826/star-trek/","duration":"PT35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/all-time-100-tv-shows/3103826/star-trek/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```