Star Trek Viewing Order List

[Tiberius]

I've created a list of every single episode of Star Trek in order. There's an in-universe chronological order and a real-world release date order. I keep it regularly updated, and at the moment it covers every single episode and movie released.

I know that some of you will disagree with the order I've used and I welcome any and all discussion.

You can find the list HERE.

 

[brandnewfan]

Awesome! I have a running excel spreadsheet where I've been doing the same thing. I'm kind of obsessive about it, so I respect your organization and attention to detail here

The Trouble With Edward. The placement is admittedly vague, and open for interpretation. I have it placed after Q&A and was curious to know why you placed it after Discovery season 2? My thought was that Q&A sees Spock come aboard the Enterprise as its new science officer...and The Trouble With Edward sees Lynne Lucero leaving her post as science officer of the Enterprise. In my opinion, it makes sense to place these together as it seems Spock is replacing Lucero. But again, it's all very vague.

Aside from some differences in the 24th century shows, our lists are mostly spot on!

 

[Farscape One]

A well thought out and put together list! Fantastic job!

I only have one quibble... well, for 3 episodes.

VOYAGER: "PROJECTIONS", "ELOGIUM", and "TWISTED" take place in late 2371, which is how they were also produced. UPN was the one that moved them from season 1 to season 2, including "THE 37's", not Berman and company. Once they realized what UPN did that time, the last 4 from season 2 were produced for season 2, but their stardates would reflect being in season 3, which is exactly what happened... that's why there is no conflict there.

Also, my memory may be off, but wasn't Sisko on Earth for 3 months when "IMAGE IN THE SAND" started? "NIGHT" from VOYAGER had them in the starless void for 2 months. If my memory is not off, then "NIGHT" would be chronologically first, then "IMAGE IN THE SAND".

 

[Tiberius]

Awesome! I have a running excel spreadsheet where I've been doing the same thing. I'm kind of obsessive about it, so I respect your organization and attention to detail here

The Trouble With Edward. The placement is admittedly vague, and open for interpretation. I have it placed after Q&A and was curious to know why you placed it after Discovery season 2? My thought was that Q&A sees Spock come aboard the Enterprise as its new science officer...and The Trouble With Edward sees Lynne Lucero leaving her post as science officer of the Enterprise. In my opinion, it makes sense to place these together as it seems Spock is replacing Lucero. But again, it's all very vague.

Aside from some differences in the 24th century shows, our lists are mostly spot on!

In Q and A, Spock first comes aboard the Enterprise as an ensign. Lucero leaves the Enterprise because she is promoted to captain (or at the very least, commander, though she is wearing the same stripes as Pike at the beginning of the episode). I figured that Spock was coming aboard as a junior science officer, not taking the role of head science officer that Lucero was vacating.

 

[Tiberius]

A well thought out and put together list! Fantastic job!

I only have one quibble... well, for 3 episodes.

VOYAGER: "PROJECTIONS", "ELOGIUM", and "TWISTED" take place in late 2371, which is how they were also produced. UPN was the one that moved them from season 1 to season 2, including "THE 37's", not Berman and company. Once they realized what UPN did that time, the last 4 from season 2 were produced for season 2, but their stardates would reflect being in season 3, which is exactly what happened... that's why there is no conflict there.

I've pretty much ignored stardates when it comes to determining the best order. If I tried to keep stardate order, then Tasha would die in Skin of Evil (stardate 41601.3) and then come back to life for The Arsenal of Freedom (stardate 41798.2).

Also, my memory may be off, but wasn't Sisko on Earth for 3 months when "IMAGE IN THE SAND" started? "NIGHT" from VOYAGER had them in the starless void for 2 months. If my memory is not off, then "NIGHT" would be chronologically first, then "IMAGE IN THE SAND".

I'm going by the events we see in the episodes, not from when Sisko left the station/Voyager entered the void.

 

[Farscape One]

I will give the Berman era credit for keeping the stardates pretty consistent after season 1. It's actually pretty reliable after TNG season 1, which is why I keep that in mind.

Besides... look at the font on the episode credits of those 4 holdovers ("PROJECTIONS", "ELOGIUM", "TWISTED", "THE 37's"), and also look at the lighting of those episodes in comparison to other early season produced ones. ("INITIATIONS", "NON SEQUITUR", "PARTURITION", "PERSISTENCE OF VISION") It's clearly a different year.

 

[Tiberius]

I will give the Berman era credit for keeping the stardates pretty consistent after season 1. It's actually pretty reliable after TNG season 1, which is why I keep that in mind.

Besides... look at the font on the episode credits of those 4 holdovers ("PROJECTIONS", "ELOGIUM", "TWISTED", "THE 37's"), and also look at the lighting of those episodes in comparison to other early season produced ones. ("INITIATIONS", "NON SEQUITUR", "PARTURITION", "PERSISTENCE OF VISION") It's clearly a different year.

That may be, but I've used the airdate order as the prime determination. Those episodes were aired in that order and released as part of Season 2, so that's where I've placed them.

 

[Farscape One]

Fair enough.

It is still a huge accomplishment. I wasn't trying to rain on your parade.

 

[MAGolding]

For ToS, TAS, TNG, DS9, & VOY, there are several possible episode orders. Not listed in any particular order.

one) Airdate order.

two) Production order.

three) Stardate order for episodes with stardates.

four) By season order, and within each season by stardate order.

five) Stardate order, and production order for episodes without stardates.

six) Stardate order, and airdate order for episodes wtthout stardates.

seven) Season order, and within each season by stardate order, and production order for episodes without stardates.

eight) Season order, and within each season by stardate order, and airdate order for episodes wtthout stardates.

nine) By official episode number.

I note that each episode will have about one to two dozen stages of preproduciton, production, and postproduciton. Productio order usually means the order of what studios call production, filming scenes with actors, costuems, & props in sets or outdoors.. Theoretically some fans could order episodes by various stages of the production process, though not all episodes will have the same set of stages - numbers of script rewrites vary considerably, for example.

Then there are some goofy ways of ordering those episodes like:

Alphabetical order.

Reverse alphabetical order.

From best to worst (in one's opinion) episodes.

From worst to best (in one's opinion) episodes.

Reverse Stardate order.

Reverse airdate order.

reverse produciton order.

Etc.

Then there is the "Ephraim and Dot" order, which is no logical order at all. The Short Treks episode "Ephraim and Dot" shows scenes from several TOS episodes and movies that are not in any logical order that I can think of. In any ficitional universe where "Ephraim and Dot" is in the same canon as TOS and the TOS movies, the episodes and movies seen in "Ephraim and Dot" have to happen in their relative order seen in "Ephraim and Dot". Adn that means that all other TOS & TAS episodes can happen in any order without any apaprent logic or reason to it

Or possibly someone can think of a way to have the scenes in "Ephraim and Dot" happen in a different order than they are show in that epsiode. Which a lot of StarTrek Chronologists would like. But even if that is achieved, it will always seem possible that maybe there is no logical order to StarTrek episodes and moveis.

I think that I list more reasonable orders and unreasonable orders in this post than I have done in any earlier post. But I wonder if I have forgotten some orders which I have suggested earlier.

And of course I have suggested that most episodes of a Star Trek, or othe rlong lasting tv series, happen in alternate universes to all or almost all the other episodes. Of course putting the episodes in alternate universes will have little effect on theories of their relative dates.

 

[Tiberius]

For ToS, TAS, TNG, DS9, & VOY, there are several possible episode orders. Not listed in any particular order.

one) Airdate order.

two) Production order.

three) Stardate order for episodes with stardates.

four) By season order, and within each season by stardate order.

five) Stardate order, and production order for episodes without stardates.

six) Stardate order, and airdate order for episodes wtthout stardates.

seven) Season order, and within each season by stardate order, and production order for episodes without stardates.

eight) Season order, and within each season by stardate order, and airdate order for episodes wtthout stardates.

nine) By official episode number.

I note that each episode will have about one to two dozen stages of preproduciton, production, and postproduciton. Productio order usually means the order of what studios call production, filming scenes with actors, costuems, & props in sets or outdoors.. Theoretically some fans could order episodes by various stages of the production process, though not all episodes will have the same set of stages - numbers of script rewrites vary considerably, for example.

Then there are some goofy ways of ordering those episodes like:

Alphabetical order.

Reverse alphabetical order.

From best to worst (in one's opinion) episodes.

From worst to best (in one's opinion) episodes.

Reverse Stardate order.

Reverse airdate order.

reverse produciton order.

Etc.

Then there is the "Ephraim and Dot" order, which is no logical order at all. The Short Treks episode "Ephraim and Dot" shows scenes from several TOS episodes and movies that are not in any logical order that I can think of. In any ficitional universe where "Ephraim and Dot" is in the same canon as TOS and the TOS movies, the episodes and movies seen in "Ephraim and Dot" have to happen in their relative order seen in "Ephraim and Dot". Adn that means that all other TOS & TAS episodes can happen in any order without any apaprent logic or reason to it

Or possibly someone can think of a way to have the scenes in "Ephraim and Dot" happen in a different order than they are show in that epsiode. Which a lot of StarTrek Chronologists would like. But even if that is achieved, it will always seem possible that maybe there is no logical order to StarTrek episodes and moveis.

I think that I list more reasonable orders and unreasonable orders in this post than I have done in any earlier post. But I wonder if I have forgotten some orders which I have suggested earlier.

And of course I have suggested that most episodes of a Star Trek, or othe rlong lasting tv series, happen in alternate universes to all or almost all the other episodes. Of course putting the episodes in alternate universes will have little effect on theories of their relative dates.

I know exactly what you mean about Ephraim and Dot.

I placed it just after ST3 so that by the time you get to it, you've forgotten the exact order of the other events in it, and all you get is a chance to say, "Oh yeah, I remember that bit. And that!"

 

[brandnewfan]

For Ephraim and Dot, the most “recent” scene in the episode takes place during Star Trek III so it has to be placed there for a proper viewing order.

 

[dupersuper]

I've created a list of every single episode of Star Trek in order. There's an in-universe chronological order and a real-world release date order. I keep it regularly updated, and at the moment it covers every single episode and movie released.

I know that some of you will disagree with the order I've used and I welcome any and all discussion.

You can find the list HERE.

I could quibble over the details, but it looks great. The color coding is very handy. I have a list, but it's just on wordpad. I also included a bunch of comics, novels, video games, fan productions, etc, so...it's a lot.

 

[Tosk]

Personally, I'd switch DS9's Past Prologue and A Man Alone. Despite their airing order, it's pretty obvious that A Man Alone is set first. For one thing, just look at Nerys' hair get progressively shorter in the first three episodes.

 

[Qonundrum]

Extremely comprehensive, nice work!

(IMHO) The 1979-91 movies were pivotal for the Trek universe, especially 1982's solidifying the fanbase (even if box office returns were slightly less than TMP's so not as many saw it on release, with home video being in infancy as well...) But 1986's movie ensured TNG would get development because the franchise was hot to trot. Prior to 1987, only Kirk's era existed and everything else sprung - albeit indirectly at times - from it.

 

[Tiberius]

I could quibble over the details, but it looks great. The color coding is very handy. I have a list, but it's just on wordpad. I also included a bunch of comics, novels, video games, fan productions, etc, so...it's a lot.

Including the comics, novels and fan productions would make the whole thing insanely complicated, I think! Well done for managing to do it!

 

[Sakonna]

Then there is the "Ephraim and Dot" order, which is no logical order at all. The Short Treks episode "Ephraim and Dot" shows scenes from several TOS episodes and movies that are not in any logical order that I can think of. In any ficitional universe where "Ephraim and Dot" is in the same canon as TOS and the TOS movies, the episodes and movies seen in "Ephraim and Dot" have to happen in their relative order seen in "Ephraim and Dot". Adn that means that all other TOS & TAS episodes can happen in any order without any apaprent logic or reason to it

Or possibly someone can think of a way to have the scenes in "Ephraim and Dot" happen in a different order than they are show in that epsiode. Which a lot of StarTrek Chronologists would like. But even if that is achieved, it will always seem possible that maybe there is no logical order to StarTrek episodes and moveis.

Aren't they hopping back and fourth in time in "Ephraim And Dot"? So the events can be shown in any order because they can skip any direction on the timeline via the mycellial network. That's always what I thought was happening in that one.

Personally, I'd switch DS9's Past Prologue and A Man Alone. Despite their airing order, it's pretty obvious that A Man Alone is set first. For one thing, just look at Nerys' hair get progressively shorter in the first three episodes.

So true, it really plays better with "A Man Alone" first.

The other swap I think really helps is when "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" precedes "Badda-bing, Badda-bang", as produced and as originally intended to air. You want the holodeck adventure as the least beat before the final arc begins.

 

[shapeshifter]

You can find the list HERE.

Yours is the most updated of all my links to other lists. <deletes others> Thanks!

 

[Smiley]

If I need an integrated reference, I go to Star Trek Reading Order. It's got all the shows, movies, comics, books, and other media through about Season 3 of Discovery (and will update once they finish the rebuilding of the Marvel Comics side of the site).

For a well thought out chronology, 2006's Voyages of Imagination has an excellent timeline.

 

[MAGolding]

Including the comics, novels and fan productions would make the whole thing insanely complicated, I think! Well done for managing to do it!

And there was a least one attempt by a fan to do that starting a few decades ago. What was his name? Anyway, he was very, very, committed to what he called the "Star Trek Technical Fandom Chronlogy".

He was a fanatic about his chosen chrology but had a lot of knowledge about Star trek Chorolology.

As for me I would be content to make a chronology which statisfies all the data in the various Star Trek productions without any inconisistencies - if possible - and let other people try to work out how the other Memory Beta type stuff fits into the chronology deduced form the peisodes and movies..

 

[MAGolding]

I've pretty much ignored stardates when it comes to determining the best order. If I tried to keep stardate order, then Tasha would die in Skin of Evil (stardate 41601.3) and then come back to life for The Arsenal of Freedom (stardate 41798.2).



I'm going by the events we see in the episodes, not from when Sisko left the station/Voyager entered the void.

If "Skin of Evil" and "Arsenal of Freedom" happen n alternate universes, Tasha can still be alive in "Arsenal of Freedom" because she was never killed. Pesumably all of the episodes after those two, epiodes where Tasha is not seen, could be sequels to "Skin of Evil" or happen alternate universes where Tasha was never on the Enterprise D.

You should also consider the possbility that stardate units might not have fixed relation to palnetary time periods. Possibly the number of Earth hours in a stardate could increase or decrease over periods of time. And maybe sometimes stardate numbers could decrease over time instead of always increasing.

It is possible that a stardate might correlate to the strength of a factor which influences how rapid warp travel is.

Thus it is possible that as stardates increase, the speeds of various warp factors will increase, and the travel times decreease. Or possibly as stardates increase, the speeeds of varius warp factors will decrease, and the travel times will increase.

Either way,knowng the stardate would indicated how much the basic warp factor would have to b emulitplied or divided to get the actual travel speed and trave time.

And possibly the strength of the unknown factor which influences the speed of warp travel would vary over time according to a complex wave pattern, so that if someone knew the formula for that wave funciton they could calculate past and future occurances of that strength of the unknown factor, and thus when the stardate corresponding to that would occur in thepast and in the future.