Star Trek is the only project on IMDB’s Top 250 TV Shows list

Point your phaser in any direction in the Star Trek universe and you’re likely to reach peak sci-fi-themed entertainment that doesn’t necessarily have the same captain at the helm. From the original Star Trek series to Star Trek: Discovery, every chapter in this universe has ever featured a memorable and beloved segment of the Star Trek universe, making it one of the greatest franchises of all time. But while that other Star-based franchise could have a few spots filled IMDb’s 250 Best Moviesthere are no adventures aboard the Enterprise that have broken through the shields of the website’s special selection of movies. However, Star Trek began on the small screen, not the big screen, and luckily for IMDb’s 250 Best TV Shows, one iconic entry in the franchise’s history actually made the cut, and it came with a hot cup of Earl Gray tea.

At the time of writing, Star Trek: The Next Generation is ranked 108th, and is the only Trek series to earn this level of recognition on the Internet Movie Database. The Adventures of Enterprise-D, which debuted in 1987 and ran until 1994, managed to carry the legacy of the original series and boldly go and deliver perhaps even more than its predecessor. In the ranking of every episode of Star Trek.“Star Trek: The Next Generation” is considered the best, which is not a bad thing considering that even the host of the series did not believe in it initially.

In 2023, Patrick Stewart admitted that he didn’t expect his time aboard the Enterprise as Captain Jean Luc-Picard to be so long, given the reputation of what came before. In appearance on The Late Show with James Corden Stewart recalled how, after signing a six-year contract for the role, his agent assured him that the show would never go that far. “My agent said, ‘Look, you know you can’t revive an iconic show. You can’t. It won’t work, so just come here. Do a dozen episodes, maybe less, and make some money for the first time in your life and go home,” explained Stewart. “For me, that was the forecast – six months, no more.”

Of course, he wouldn’t just put it out there as Picard would become one of the the best captains in star trek but he and the rest of the Enterprise crew returned for four films and the final Picard series. While the show that put Jean-Luc back in the chair didn’t reach the lofty heights of The Next Generation, the fact that it did was thanks to the benchmark set by the show that first brought them into the Star Trek universe. “. No one would have thought that the original Star Trek series could win, but history and IMDb ratings prove that The Next Generation made it so.