The sacrifice of a beloved character is just one of many highlights in Nemesis, the 10th feature in the lucrative Star Trek franchise. Enigmatically billed as the beginning of "A Generation's Final Journey," this richly plotted Next Generation adventure maintains the "even number rule" regarding Trek's feature quality, and it's one of the best in the series. It hits its brisk stride when Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his Enterprise-E crew encounter Shinzon (Tom Hardy), a younger clone of Picard, rejected by the Romulans as the human weapon of an abandoned conspiracy. Raised on the nocturnal Romulan sister planet Remus, Shinzon now plots revenge against Romulus and Earth but needs Picard's blood to carry out his scheme. A wedding, a childlike "duplicate" Data named B-4 (Brent Spiner), spectacular space battles, and uncommon acts of valor make this a tautly-paced action thriller, poised to pass the franchise (but not quite yet) to a new generation of Starfleet personnel. Die-hard Trekkers will not be disappointed. --Jeff Shannon

It's time to face one of the great questions of the television age: Is "The Trouble with Tribbles" really as good as everyone thinks it is? You bet. While the story might be a little slower than many of us remember, the episode is deservedly beloved for writer David Gerrold's witty, mildly acerbic script, and the way the cast took to heightened comic possibilities against network resistance. (Heavens! Comedy on a science fiction show?) Stanley Adams is delightful as the huckster Cyrano Jones, who gives a trilling furball called a tribble to Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), who brings it aboard the Enterprise and watches it reproduce... and reproduce... and reproduce. Soon, hundreds of tribbles are in every part of the ship, making Captain Kirk (William Shatner), already grouchy about guarding a mere grain shipment from Klingons, even grouchier. There's no question that Gerrold made a major contribution to Trek culture with this show, setting a tone that Star Trek has visited again and again, including the feature film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and sundry episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. --Tom Keogh

Watching "The Cage" is like visiting some parallel universe. That's the Star Trek theme song, and there's the Enterprise, and that's Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock... but wait--he's smiling and firing weapons. And who are the rest of these duds manning the controls? If this were any other series pilot, it would probably be laughed out of the galaxy with its wooden acting, silly costumes, and cheesy special effects. But this was Star Trek's dry run, and so it is a must-own collectible for every Trekker, as well as instructive viewing for anyone interested in the evolution of a TV show. Now, there are some who staunchly believe that Jeffrey Hunter's Christopher Pike was the Enterprise's best captain. Pike doesn't exactly inspire confidence in his leadership abilities; reflecting on a recent devastating battle, he anguishes, "I should have smelled trouble when I saw the swords and the armor." He is also "tired of being responsible for 203 lives" and is considering resigning his Starfleet commission. But Pike is roused from his ennui after the Enterprise answers a distress call on the planet Talos IV, and he is imprisoned by super-intelligent aliens with the telepathic power to manipulate memories. Susan Oliver guest-stars as Vina, whom the aliens select as Eve to his Adam. The lackluster (and virtually all-white) crew includes Marjel Barrett as a somber Number One and John Hoyt as Dr. Boyce, who dispenses martinis as well as advice. This episode never aired, but some scenes were used in the two-part original series episode The Menagerie. --Donald Liebenson

Even-numbered Star Trek movies tend to be better, and First Contact (#8 in the popular movie series) is no exception--an intelligently handled plot involving the galaxy-conquering Borg and their attempt to invade Earth's past, alter history, and "assimilate" the entire human race. Time travel, a dazzling new Enterprise, and capable direction by Next Generation alumnus Jonathan Frakes makes this one rank with the best of the bunch. Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his able crew travel back in time to Earth in the year 2063, where they hope to ensure that the inventor of warp drive (played by James Cromwell) will successfully carry out his pioneering warp-drive flight and precipitate Earth's "first contact" with an alien race. A seductive Borg queen (Alice Krige) holds Lt. Data (Brent Spiner) hostage in an effort to sabotage the Federation's preservation of history, and the captive android finds himself tempted by the queen's tantalizing sins of the flesh! Sharply conceived to fit snugly into the burgeoning Star Trek chronology, First Contact leads to a surprise revelation that marks an important historical chapter in the ongoing mission "to boldly go where no one has gone before." --Jeff Shannon

Although Star Trek: The Motion Picture had been a box-office hit, it was by no means a unanimous success with Star Trek fans, who responded much more favorably to the "classic Trek" scenario of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Inspired by the "Space Seed" episode of the original TV series, the film reunites newly promoted Admiral Kirk with his nemesis from the earlier episode--the genetically superior Khan (Ricardo Montalban)--who is now seeking revenge upon Kirk for having been imprisoned on a desolated planet. Their battle ensues over control of the Genesis device, a top-secret Starfleet project enabling entire planets to be transformed into life-supporting worlds, pioneered by the mother (Bibi Besch) of Kirk's estranged and now-adult son. While Mr. Spock mentors the young Vulcan Lt. Saavik (then-newcomer Kirstie Alley), Kirk must battle Khan to the bitter end, through a climactic starship chase and an unexpected crisis that will cost the life of Kirk's closest friend. This was the kind of character-based Trek that fans were waiting for, boosted by spectacular special effects, a great villain (thanks to Montalban's splendidly melodramatic performance), and a deft combination of humor, excitement, and wondrous imagination. Director Nicholas Meyer (who would play a substantial role in the success of future Trek features) handles the film as a combination of Moby Dick, Shakespearean tragedy, World War II submarine thriller, and dazzling science fiction, setting the successful tone for the Trek films that followed. --Jeff Shannon

As if guided by the frugal wisdom of schlockmeister producer-director Roger Corman, Trek creator Gene Roddenberry found a clever way of using, instead of losing, extensive and costly footage from the then-unseen, discarded Star Trek pilot, "The Cage." Roddenberry's solution was to integrate pieces of "The Cage" into a whole new story context, and the fascinating and surprisingly moving result was the two-part drama "The Menagerie." First, a bit of background: "The Cage" starred film actor Jeffrey Hunter (King of Kings, The Searchers) as Christopher Pike, the original captain of the Enterprise. Among Hunter's costars was Leonard Nimoy as Science Officer Spock, who eventually carried over, of course, into the reconfigured series starring William Shatner. Rather than write off "The Cage," Roddenberry conceived of a story line in which Captain Pike would reappear on the show in a badly disfigured, paralyzed, and mute form--the result of a terrible accident in which the character saved a number of lives but took a pounding in the process. In "The Menagerie," Spock hijacks the Enterprise to transport Pike to a secret destination. During court-martial proceedings for this crime, Spock's defense is presented via archival footage of an old, pre-Kirk mission aboard the Enterprise. That footage, of course, is a reedited "Cage." A must-see for Star Trek fans, "The Menagerie" is a stellar example of Roddenberry thinking on his feet. --Tom Keogh

"Shore Leave" was written by a literary giant in science fiction, Theodore Sturgeon. The story concerns a break in the action for the Enterprise crew, nearly all of whom beam down to the surface of an Eden-like planet for shore leave, where they find that everyone's wish comes true. Individuals from crew members' pasts turn up, fantasies of romance or heroism are instantly realized--and if it all seems too good to be true, it is. In time, the dark side of this dream shows itself when people start getting killed. This episode emerges from the trippier side of Star Trek and very cleverly sheds light on the personalities of the show's major characters by making their dreams manifest. --Tom Keogh

Teleplay writer Oliver Crawford says "The Galileo Seven" was inspired by his viewing of a 1939 film called Five Came Back. (A catty footnote: David Gerrold, scribe of the famous "Trouble with Tribbles" episode, called "The Galileo Seven" a rip-off of the Jimmy Stewart film The Flight of the Phoenix. Meow.) Five Came Back concerned a plane crash in the Andes and the survivors who faced the constant threat of surrounding headhunters. Crawford toyed with the idea and came up with a story line in which Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and a couple of other crew members crash on the surface of a hostile planet during a shuttle mission. With communication between the small craft and the Enterprise disrupted by quasar activity, Spock and the others must defend themselves against a formidable threat with only primitive, handmade weapons. That's the scenario, but the real drama is in the rising conflict between the half-Vulcan Spock's coldly logical approach to survival and the passions of his human crew, who soon come to regard him as a hateful, unfeeling monster. This is an interesting episode, both as a taut action piece and, somewhat indirectly, as a portrait of intolerance (specifically, an intolerance of individual differences) developing under stress. --Tom Keogh

There were only two ways for "classic Trek" cast members to appear in a movie with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation: either Capt. Kirk and his contemporaries would have to be very, very old, or there would be some time travel involved in the plot. Since geriatric heroes aren't very exciting (despite a welcomed cameo appearance by the aged Dr. McCoy), Star Trek: Generations unites Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in a time-jumping race to stop a madman's quest for heavenly contentment. When a mysterious energy coil called the Nexus nearly destroys the newly christened U.S.S. Enterprise-B, the just-retired Capt. Kirk is lost and presumed dead. But he's actually been happily trapped in the timeless purgatory of the Nexus--an idyllic state of being described by the mystical Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) as "pure joy." Picard must convince Kirk to leave this artificial comfort zone and confront Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), the madman who will threaten billions of lives to be reunited with the addictive pleasure of the Nexus. With subplots involving the android Data's unpredictable "emotion chip" and the spectacular crash-landing of the starship Enterprise, this crossover movie not only satisfied Trek fans, but it also gave them something they'd never had to confront before: the heroic and truly final death of a beloved Star Trek character. Passing the torch to the Next Generation with dignity and entertaining adventure, the movie isn't going to please everyone with its somewhat hokey plot, but it still ranks as a worthy big-screen launch for Picard and his stalwart crew. --Jeff Shannon

The delightful episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is a time-travel story with an infectious blend of suspense and humor. After dropping into a black hole, the Enterprise ends up orbiting the Earth in the late 1960s and is spotted by U.S. Air Force captain Christopher (Roger Perry), who happens to be flying by in his jet. Inadvertently giving poor Christopher an unwanted glimpse into the future, and wrecking his jet with an overpowering tractor beam, Capt. Kirk (William Shatner), not having a good day, beams him aboard the Federation starship. The collision of sensibilities and reference points between characters born several centuries apart has a fresh, urgent tone that subsequent Star Trek series have never captured (though Deep Space Nine came close with its dazzling episode "Trials and Tribble-ations"). The problem, of course, is what to do about Christopher now that he knows what he knows, and history demands that he stay put in his own world: the pilot's unborn son, it seems, will one day make a space flight of historic importance. Terrifically entertaining and something of a precedent-setter for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the theatrical feature set in contemporary San Francisco), "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is Trek at its best. --Tom Keogh

The Enterprise prepares for the evacuation of doomed planet Sarpeidon, but Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) find that all inhabitants have left via a time-travel device that has sent them to different periods of their own choosing. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy accidentally pass through the device, with the captain landing in the middle of an 18th-century-style witch-hunt while Spock and McCoy travel back 6,000 years to the Ice Age.

The script, by UCLA librarian and spec writer Jean Lisette Aroeste (who also wrote "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" for the original series), gives the episode a special charge with its dual story lines set in the past. The dramatic weight of the story, however, is clearly with Spock, who regresses into the savage emotions of his prehistoric ancestors--eating meat, choosing another transportee (Mariette Hartley) as a mate, and nearly killing McCoy when the good doctor insults him. This is a favorite among some Trekkers, made all the more enjoyable by the anxious, White Rabbit-like performance of Ian Wolfe as a Sarpeidon librarian in charge of the time-travel facility. --Tom Keogh

A nifty idea: the Greek god Apollo turns out to be quite real, a powerful extraterrestrial (Michael Forest) waiting some 5,000 years for the human race to develop enough to meet him out in the cosmos. Catching sight of the Enterprise, he immobilizes the ship and demands that the members of a landing party--Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Scott (James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig), and antiquities specialist Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish)--bow before him and prepare to spend the rest of their lives being cherished through his insistent love. A doubting Kirk recruits his people to secretly find the mechanical source of Apollo's power to throw lightning bolts, become a giant, and punish his naughty Enterprise children by tossing them around like rag dolls. The stern god gives Kirk a sword, so to speak, by falling for Lt. Palamas, setting the stage for some stormy drama late in the game. Written by television veteran and Greek myth aficionado Gilbert Ralston (with a polish by producer Gene L. Coon that enhanced the story's relationships), and directed by Marc Daniels, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is one of those classic Trek episodes that lingers in the memory for the creative incongruity of its story line (starships and Olympians) and principal set (an Athenian temple with a few trees, shrubs, and confused Starfleet personnel). Wonderful stuff. A subplot involving Scotty's big-time crush on Palamas provides a rare glimpse into the emotional life of one of the supporting players--even if his gallant efforts to save her from Apollo's wooing result in a concussion or two. --Tom Keogh

The final broadcast episode of Star Trek's second season was this clever and funny story in which the Enterprise travels back in time to 1968 (the year this program aired) to discover how the nuclear arms race came to an end. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) encounters a strange fellow named Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), who claims to have been trained by extraterrestrials in sabotaging the escalating nuclear threat. With the ambivalent aid of a nervous secretary (Teri Garr), Seven (yes, there was a Trek character with that name before Voyager) attempts to carry out his assignment, but Kirk isn't sure if he can be trusted.

Lansing's droll and somewhat imperious performance is nicely counterpointed by Garr's cute confusion, and the eerie presence of his familiar--a black cat named Isis--adds a hint of hoodoo exotica. (Don't blink at the end or you'll miss the really exotic creature Isis briefly turns into.) "Assignment: Earth" was actually the pilot for an intended Gene Roddenberry-produced TV series that never happened. Too bad... But speaking of eerie, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) at one point refers to an important assassination that will soon take place. A week after this episode's original airdate, Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered. --Tom Keogh

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" saved the original Star Trek series even before it launched. It was actually the second Trek pilot produced by Gene Roddenberry after NBC rejected "The Cage" (now a subject of cult fascination). A retooled cast now included William Shatner as Captain James R. Kirk (the middle initial T came later), Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, George Takei as Ensign Sulu, and James Doohan as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. (DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig signed on in subsequent episodes.) A lot of thought went into scriptwriter Samuel L. Peeples's story about a crewman named Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood) who has a close relationship with Kirk and some natural ESP abilities. When the Enterprise approaches an energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy, Mitchell metamorphoses into a godlike being with silver eyes, awesome psychic abilities, and a rapidly developing ego. As Mitchell becomes an increasing threat to the ship, Kirk is faced with making a terrible choice to save his crew. --Tom Keogh

While on the planet Gamma Hydra IV, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Scotty (James Doohan) are infected with an unknown disease that causes rapid aging. The only member of the party unaffected is Chekov (Walter Koenig), who becomes McCoy's guinea pig while searching for a cure back on the Enterprise. A nifty idea with some poignant overtones, the story by David P. Harmon startles a viewer with the sight of these familiar folks rapidly graying, wrinkling, weakening, and suffering memory loss. At the same time, Harmon is careful to age each character as a unique individual, as in real life. Kirk slows down more than the longer- lived Spock, while McCoy remains mentally keen if physically brittle. As for poor Scotty, well...the dramatic subtext in "The Deadly Years" concerns the perennial conflict over when and how to decide that someone has become too old to carry out crucial responsibilities. In that sense, this episode feels constantly relevant and uniquely entertaining: Let's just say that some of these actors play "old" a little better than others. (Director Joseph Pevney has reported that there was a lot of conflict over who was stealing old-guy moves from whom.) With all this going on, one might not notice that guest star Charles Drake is a truly familiar face, having appeared in such classic films as The Maltese Falcon and Now, Voyager. --Tom Keogh

"Arena" was based on a script by Trek producer Gene L. Coon, the other indispensable figure (besides Gene Roddenberry) in making Star Trek what it was. After writing what he believed was an original teleplay about a one-on-one battle between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the reptilian commander of an enemy vessel, Coon realized he had probably been subconsciously inspired by a similar short story written by Fredric Brown (who was promptly credited and paid). The concept of a human-and-alien duel to the death in primitive terrain, however, was slightly ubiquitous in the 1960s (see "Fun and Games," a masterpiece from the original Outer Limits TV show) and was revisited in the '80s via the Arnold Schwarzenegger feature Predator. But under Coon's guidance and direction by Joseph Pevney, "Arena" stands on its own as a particularly strong story of what battle does to one's humanity. Shatner is in great form for this one. --Tom Keogh