Best PS3 Themes

Monster Magnet
Monster Magnet live in Hungary, 2008
Background information
Origin	Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Stoner rock space rock hard rock
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Circuit Glitterhouse Caroline Atypeek A&M SPV Napalm
Members	Dave Wyndorf Garrett Sweeny Phil Caivano Bob Pantella Alec Morton
Past members	Ed Mundell Joe Calandra Jon Kleiman Michael Wildwood John McBain Tim Cronin Jim Baglino Chris Kosnik

Monster Magnet is an American rock band, founded in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1989 by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (guitar) and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums). The band has since gone through several lineup changes, leaving Wyndorf as the only constant member. Monster Magnet has released ten studio albums to date, and are best known for their 1990s hits "Negasonic Teenage Warhead" and "Space Lord". The band has also been credited for developing and popularizing the stoner rock genre, along with Masters of Reality, Kyuss, Fu Manchu and Sleep.^[1][2][3]

Career[edit]

Beginnings and Spine of God (1989–1992)[edit]

Original names for the band were Dog of Mystery, Airport 75, Triple Bad Acid and King Fuzz before finally settling on Monster Magnet, taken from the name of a 1960s toy made by Wham-O, which Wyndorf liked when he was a child.^[4]

In 1989, Monster Magnet released two demo cassettes: Forget About Life, I'm High on Dope and I'm Stoned, What Ya Gonna Do About It?. The band's first "official" release was a single "Lizard Johnny/Freakshop USA" on Long Island-based Circuit Records. The first demo and single were recorded as a three piece (McBain, bass, Wyndorf, guitar and vocals, Cronin, drums and vocals). Before the second demo Tom Diello joined on drums, McBain and Cronin switched to guitar and bass respectively. Thus the lineup was composed of McBain on guitar, Wyndorf on guitar and vocals, Cronin on bass and vocals, and Diello on drums. The EP Monster Magnet followed, on Glitterhouse Records of Germany, containing the songs "Snake Dance" and "Nod Scene", (both of which would appear again on Spine of God), and "Tractor", (which would be re-recorded later for Powertrip).

In 1990 the band signed with Caroline Records and released a single "Murder/Tractor". Cronin left shortly after; although he would remain in the background- particularly at live shows- contributing to auditory effects, lights, and visuals, for many years, after Cronin's departure, Joe Calandra joined on bass. In 1991 they released their first full-length album, the cult classic Spine of God on the labels Go Get Organized/Atypeek Music, Primo Scree, Glitterhouse Records, Caroline Records, shortly after, drummer Tom Diello left the band and was replaced by Jon Kleiman. The album is hailed as one of the classics of the stoner rock genre ranking 28th on Heavy Planet's "Top 50 of All Time". The album contained the single "Medicine" (which would be re-recorded ten years later on God Says No), which was also the band's first music video. The band followed with a tour alongside rising grunge band Soundgarden.^[5] The tour helped the band get a recording contract with major record label A&M Records.

Their final release with Caroline Records was an EP titled Tab which included, among two other marathon-length songs, a 32-minute track called "Tab...". The Tab EP was recorded before Spine of God, yet released after it. McBain quit the band soon after and was replaced by Atomic Bitchwax guitarist Ed Mundell.^[5]

A&M Records-era and popularity (1992–2002)[edit]

In 1992, Monster Magnet was signed to A&M Records, and their first album on the label, Superjudge, was released the following year. Despite being released on a major label, it fared poorly commercially. The songs "Twin Earth" and "Face Down" were released as singles (with accompanying videos), but it did little to help promote the album.

Dopes to Infinity (1995), the follow-up record, had a hit single, "Negasonic Teenage Warhead", which benefitted from a music video that received regular rotation on MTV. Still, the album was not as successful as the band had hoped.

After the Dopes to Infinity tour, Wyndorf moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in order to begin working on Powertrip (1998), a breakthrough hit that finally earned the band a gold record. Guitarist Phil Caivano joined the band in 1998.^[5] "Space Lord", the first single, was a major radio hit and the band went on tour with successful bands Aerosmith, Metallica and Rob Zombie. The band also toured as one of the opening acts of the bands Hole and Marilyn Manson co-headlined Beautiful Monsters Tour.^[6] Following the well-publicized falling out between the outspoken vocalists of Hole and Marilyn Manson, Monster Magnet continued touring with Manson and opened the first three shows of his Rock is Dead Tour.^[7] The songs "Powertrip", "Temple of Your Dreams", and "See You In Hell" also received airplay on rock radio stations. The album charted at No. 97 on the Billboard 200.

After a two-year tour supporting Powertrip, the band released God Says No (2001), charting at No. 153 on Billboard. However, it failed to match the commercial success of the band's previous release. After the release, Joe Calandra and Jon Kleiman left the band. They would be replaced by Jim Baglino and Michael Wildwood who recorded Monolithic Baby! and, after a short stint, Wildwood was replaced by former Love Among Freaks drummer Bob Pantella, respectively. The band also left A&M Records during this period.

Following the split from A&M Records, Monster Magnet wrote and performed "Live For The Moment", which was the former entrance theme of WWE wrestler Matt Hardy from 2002 to 2010. The song also appeared on the WWF Forceable Entry compilation.

Monolithic Baby! and 4-Way Diablo (2003–2008)[edit]

In 2003, Monster Magnet released Greatest Hits, a double album featuring their best songs, some rarities, and music videos from their time with A&M. They then signed to the European label SPV, and in early 2004 released Monolithic Baby! throughout Europe. The US release followed in May on SPV America. The band had a minor hit with the song "Unbroken (Hotel Baby)".

In March 2005, Caivano departed after seven years service in a split described as amicable by Wyndorf. A followup to Monolithic Baby! was expected in March 2006, to coincide with their European tour, along with re-releases of Spine of God and Tab, both featuring new artwork and liner notes; however the tour and album releases failed to materialize.

On February 27, 2006, Dave Wyndorf overdosed on prescription drugs and was hospitalized.^[8]

In 2007, it was announced that Monster Magnet would release a new album, 4-Way Diablo, which had been put back for a year because of Wyndorf's overdose. It was released later that year. Later in 2007, another greatest hits collection, 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Monster Magnet, was released. "Powertrip" was used as the official theme song for the WWE pay-per-view event No Way Out 2007.

Prior to Monster Magnet's 2008 European tour, Caivano returned to the band.

Mastermind, Last Patrol and Mindfucker (2009–2019)[edit]

On November 24, 2009, it was announced that Monster Magnet had signed a new deal with Napalm Records. The band also announced that they would enter the studio in January 2010 to record a new album for a summer release.^[9] According to Wyndorf, the band is very pleased with the label, which is "doing a good job".^[10]

The new album, Mastermind, was released in October 2010. The band embarked on a massive European tour, in August and then in November–December 2010, to promote their new album. After the tour, Ed Mundell left the band after 18 years "to collaborate with other musicians and producers", forming The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic. Wyndorf stated that Garrett Sweeny (Riotgod) replaced Ed on the tour.^[11]

In the fall of 2011, Monster Magnet toured and performed the seminal Dopes to Infinity record in its entirety throughout Europe. One year later they did the same thing with their 1992 album Spine of God.

Last Patrol was released in North America on October 15, 2013. Monster Magnet's website also announced a North American tour for the album, their first in ten years. However, the remaining shows in mid-December got cancelled because of Wyndorf's influenza. The tour resumed in Europe in January and continued through February. Wyndorf stated that the band would play at each show the entire Last Patrol.^[12]

In November 2014 a reworked version of "Last Patrol" called Milking the Stars: A Re-Imagining of Last Patrol was released, and in October 2015, a reworked version of "Mastermind" called Cobras and Fire (The Mastermind Redux) was released. Featuring re-recordings and new arrangements, they contained a less polished, psychedelic production. In 2016, the band reissued the A&M era LPs with bonus content via Spinefarm Records. They toured Europe again.

Monster Magnet's first studio album in five years, Mindfucker, was released on March 23, 2018.^[13]

A Better Dystopia (2020–present)[edit]

By December 2020, Monster Magnet had been working on their eleventh studio album. That same month, Loudwire included it in their "88 of 2021's Most Anticipated Rock + Metal Albums" list.^[14] The band released the first single of the album A Better Dystopia, a collection of song covers, on March 23, 2021: "Mr. Destroyer", a cover of the Poobah song. A Better Dystopia was released two months later.^[15][16]

Musical style and influences[edit]

Monster Magnet is noted for having a "heavy and spacy sound".^[17] They have been described as a "space-metal outfit [that] helped codify the stoner-rock template with their landmark efforts in the early 1990s".^[18] The album Superjudge, according to Metal Injection, "helped forge a sound that crafted a band and a genre."^[19] Their sound has been described as "heady heavy metal".^[20] Additionally, Monster Magnet is regarded as space rock,^[21] hard rock,^[22] "psychedelic metal",^[23] and as part of the first wave of alternative metal.^[24] Their style is heavily influenced by 1970s space rock bands such as Hawkwind,^[25] psychedelia^[24] and early metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Öyster Cult and Sir Lord Baltimore.

In addition to recording covers such as Black Sabbath's "Into the Void" (Master of Reality, 1971) and Hawkwind's "Brainstorm" (Doremi Fasol Latido, 1972), Wyndorf sometimes incorporated elements of space rock staples into his own songs. For instance, the Dopes to Infinity title track borrows some of its lyrics from "Lord of Light" (ibid.), and Superjudge's "Twin Earth" is a reinterpretation of Captain Beyond's "Mesmerization Eclipse" (Captain Beyond, 1972). The main guitar riff to the track Dopes To Infinity is lifted from The Sir Lord Baltimore song "Woman Tamer" (Sir Lord Baltimore, 1971). The band has cited the British band Depeche Mode as an influence on its music. They covered Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration" for For the Masses, a 1998 Depeche Mode tribute album.

Wyndorf is a fan of 1960s comic books, particularly ones by Jack Kirby. He mentions Kirby in the song "Melt" from God Says No. He also mentions Marvel Comics characters MODOK (on "Baby Götterdämmerung" from Powertrip) and Ego the Living Planet (on "Ego, The Living Planet" from Dopes to Infinity). "Mindless Ones" from the album "Last Patrol" has references to the race of the same name, Dormammu, Great Vishanti and The Ancient One from Marvel's 'Doctor Strange'. "All Shook Out" from God Says No has a reference to "Children of the Atom" which is a reference to X-Men, also from Marvel Comics. Additionally, Marvel's Fantastic Four is referenced in the song "The Titan Who Cried Like a Baby" on their Mastermind album.

In other media[edit]

Television[edit]

The television drama series Sons of Anarchy uses Monster Magnet tracks frequently. Those featured include "Monolithic" in season 1 (episode 10), "Radiation Day", "Slut Machine" and "Freeze and Pixelate" in season 2 (episodes 1, 4 and 13), and "100 Million Miles" in season 3 (episode 12).

Tracks from the 2001 album God Says No have been used in television series, including the sci-fi TV series Alphas ("Heads Explode"), and The Shield, which featured the track "God Says No" in an early episode.

The reality series Viva La Bam also used several tracks from Monolithic Baby!, such as 'Slut Machine', 'Supercruel', and 'Unbroken' during multiple episodes.

Film[edit]

Tracks from the 1995 album Dopes to Infinity were included on the soundtrack for The Matrix ("Look to Your Orb for the Warning") and The Girl Next Door ("Dopes to Infinity"). The soundtrack of the 1994 movie S.F.W. features an early, otherwise-unreleased version of a song originally from Dopes to Infinity, "Negasonic Teenage Warhead".^[26] The 1999 film Beowulf features the track "Lord 13" from Monster Magnet's early 1990s EP Tab during its end credits. The film Boys (1996) features the track "The Secret".

Several tracks from the 1998 Monster Magnet album Powertrip have been featured in film soundtracks, including "See You in Hell" in Bride of Chucky (1998), "Powertrip" in Soldier (1998), "Crop Circle" in Urban Legend (1998), and "Space Lord" in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006). "Big God", the bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album (and also B-side to "Space Lord"), appears in The Crow: Salvation (2000).

Tracks from the 2001 album God Says No have also been used in films. Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) includes "Silver Future"; Made (2001) includes "Down in the Jungle";^[27] and Dracula 2000 (2000) includes "Heads Explode", and part of the music video for "Heads Explode" is also shown in Dracula 2000. The 2004 mountain bike film New World Disorder V - Disorderly Conduct features "Radiation Day" and "Slut Machine" on its soundtrack.

Monster Magnet contributed a cover of the MC5 song "Kick Out the Jams" to the Varsity Blues soundtrack. They also performed their track "Master of Light" from Monolithic Baby! live in a scene in the movie Torque.

The Marvel Comics character Negasonic Teenage Warhead, featured in the 2016 film Deadpool and its sequel, is named after the song of the same name from the band's album Dopes to Infinity.

Video games[edit]

• Sony Computer Entertainment's 2007 PlayStation 3 release MotorStorm featured "Powertrip" from Powertrip.
• Electronic Arts's early 90s release Road Rash featured "Dinosaur Vacume" from Superjudge.
• Activision Value's 2006^[28] release American Chopper featured "Space Lord".
• MercurySteam's 2017 release "Raiders of the Broken Planet", later renamed to "Spacelords", featured "Space lord" as the opening theme

Promotional use[edit]

• The Crusty Demons Freestyle Motocross series has used both "Powertrip" from Powertrip and "Melt" from God Says No.
• "Live for the Moment" was the theme song of WWE wrestler Matt Hardy, and was featured on WWF Forceable Entry.
• "Space Lord" is used in a commercial for the Swedish chain store JC (jeans and clothes).
• "Powertrip" from Powertrip was the official theme song for No Way Out 2007 for WWE.

Band members[edit]

Timeline[edit]

Members' other projects[edit]

As teenagers, Wyndorf and Caivano played in punk/power pop band Shrapnel from the late 1970s until 1985. The band was managed by Legs McNeil, put out two indie singles and an EP on Elektra Records, played with the Ramones at CBGB, featured guitar from future producer Daniel Rey, and appeared both on the Uncle Floyd Show and in a Frank Miller issue of Amazing Spider-Man.

Founding member John McBain joined the psychedelic/ garage influenced bands Hater, Wellwater Conspiracy and Devilhead after quitting Monster Magnet, playing along members of Soundgarden, Malfunkshun, The Walkabouts, Pearl Jam, and other well-known Seattle bands and releasing several albums until the early 2000s. He also contributed to projects like The Desert Sessions and The Freeks, and released the solo album The In-Flight Feature in 2006 with guest appearances by Cronin on guitar and Kleiman on drums.

Since the mid-1990s, Cronin and Kleiman have fronted The Ribeye Bros. In 2003, Pantella mixed and plays bass on The Glasspack's Bridgeburner album. Mundell also played lead guitar on The Glasspack's track "Peepshow". The album was released on Small Stone Records in May 2004.^[29]

In 2010, Ed Mundell left Monster Magnet to collaborate with new musicians and producers. In 2011 he formed The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, and has contributed to albums for Sasquatch, Abrahma, 9 Chambers. His solo album "Space Time Employment Agency" is slated for 2013.

In 2007 Pantella joined The Atomic Bitchwax. Also in 2007, Pantella and Baglino formed RIOTGOD, along with Garrett Sweeny (of Psycho Daisy), and Mark Sunshine.

In 2010, Pantella appeared on LadyKiller's debut self-titled release. He is credited as having played drums on 13 of the 16 songs, in addition to having tracked more than half of the album at his recording studio in Sayerville, New Jersey.

In 2010, the first single "American Dream" was released on One Voice by Capricorn, a band formed by Phil Caivano, Todd Youth (of Murphy's Law, Danzig, Ace Frehley, Glen Campbell and The Chelsea Smiles) and Karl Rosqvist (of Danzig, The Chelsea Smiles and Michael Monroe).^[30]

Chris Kosnik has played in The Atomic Bitchwax since its formation in 1993.

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

Star Trek
Logo for the first Star Trek series, now known as Star Trek: The Original Series
Created by	Gene Roddenberry
Original work	Star Trek: The Original Series
Owner	Paramount Global
Years	1966–present
Print publications
Book(s)	List of fictional works List of reference books List of technical manuals
Novel(s)	List of novels
Comics	List of comics
Magazine(s)	Star Trek Explorer[a] Star Trek: The Magazine
Films and television
Film(s)	List of films
Television series	List of television series
Games
Traditional	List of games
Miscellaneous
Theme park attraction(s)	Star Trek: The Experience
Exhibits	Star Trek: The Exhibition
Official website
startrek.com

Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. Since its creation, the franchise has expanded into various films, television series, video games, novels, and comic books, and it has become one of the most recognizable and highest-grossing media franchises of all time.^[1][2][3]

The franchise began with Star Trek: The Original Series, which debuted in the US on September 8, 1966, and aired for three seasons on NBC. It was first broadcast on September 6, 1966, on Canada's CTV network.^[4] The series followed the voyages of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise, a space exploration vessel built by the United Federation of Planets in the 23rd century, on a mission "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before". In creating Star Trek, Roddenberry was inspired by C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series of novels, Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel Gulliver's Travels, the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, and television westerns such as Wagon Train.

The Star Trek canon includes the Original Series, 11 spin-off television series, and a film franchise; further adaptations also exist in several media. After the conclusion of the Original Series, the adventures of its characters continued in the 22-episode Star Trek: The Animated Series and six feature films. A television revival beginning in the 1980s saw three sequel series and a prequel: The Next Generation, following the crew of a new starship Enterprise a century after the original series; Deep Space Nine and Voyager, set in the same era as the Next Generation; and Enterprise, set before the original series in the early days of human interstellar travel. The adventures of the Next Generation crew continued in four additional feature films. In 2009, the film franchise underwent a reboot, creating an alternate continuity known as the Kelvin timeline; three films have been set in this continuity. The newest Star Trek television revival, beginning in 2017, includes the series Discovery, Picard, Short Treks, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds, streaming on digital platforms.

Star Trek has been a cult phenomenon for decades.^[5] Fans of the franchise are called "Trekkies" or "Trekkers". The franchise spans a wide range of spin-offs including games, figurines, novels, toys, and comics. From 1998 to 2008, there was a Star Trek–themed attraction in Las Vegas. At least two museum exhibits of props travel the world. The constructed language Klingon was created for the franchise. Several Star Trek parodies have been made, and viewers have produced several fan productions.

Star Trek is noted for its cultural influence beyond works of science fiction.^[6] The franchise is also notable for its progressive civil-rights stances.^[7] The Original Series included one of the first multiracial casts on US television.

Conception and setting[edit]

As early as 1964, Gene Roddenberry drafted a proposal for the science fiction series that would become Star Trek. Although he publicly marketed it as a Western in outer space—a so-called "Wagon Train to the stars"—he privately told friends that he was modeling it on Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, intending each episode to act on two levels: as a suspenseful adventure story and as a morality tale.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Most Star Trek stories depict the adventures of humans and aliens who serve in Starfleet, the space-borne humanitarian and peacekeeping armada of the United Federation of Planets. The protagonists have altruistic values, and must apply these ideals to difficult dilemmas.

Many of the conflicts and political dimensions of Star Trek are allegories of contemporary cultural realities. The Original Series addressed issues of the 1960s, just as later spin-offs have tackled issues of their respective decades.^[12] Issues depicted in the various series include war and peace, the value of personal loyalty, authoritarianism, imperialism, class warfare, economics, racism, religion, human rights, sexism, feminism, and the role of technology.^[13]: 57 Roddenberry stated: "[By creating] a new world with new rules, I could make statements about sex, religion, Vietnam, politics, and intercontinental missiles. Indeed, we did make them on Star Trek: we were sending messages and fortunately they all got by the network.^[13]: 79 If you talked about purple people on a far off planet, they (the television network) never really caught on. They were more concerned about cleavage. They actually would send a censor down to the set to measure a woman's cleavage to make sure too much of her breast wasn't showing."^[14]

Roddenberry intended the show to have a progressive political agenda reflective of the emerging counter-culture of the youth movement, though he was not fully forthcoming to the networks about this. He wanted Star Trek to show what humanity might develop into, if it would learn from the lessons of the past, most specifically by ending violence. An extreme example is the alien species known as the Vulcans, who had a violent past but learned to control their emotions. Roddenberry also gave Star Trek an anti-war message and depicted the United Federation of Planets as an ideal, optimistic version of the United Nations.^[15] His efforts were opposed by the network because of concerns over marketability, e.g., they opposed Roddenberry's insistence that Enterprise have a racially diverse crew.^[16]

History and production[edit]

Timeline[edit]

The Original Series era (1965–1969)[edit]

In early 1964, Roddenberry presented a brief treatment for a television series to Desilu Productions, calling it "a Wagon Train to the stars".^[17] Desilu studio head Lucille Ball was instrumental in approving production of the series.^[18] The studio worked with Roddenberry to develop the treatment into a script, which was then pitched to NBC.^[19]

NBC paid to make a pilot, "The Cage", starring Jeffrey Hunter as Enterprise Captain Christopher Pike. NBC rejected "The Cage", but the executives were still impressed with the concept, and made the unusual decision to commission a second pilot: "Where No Man Has Gone Before".^[19]

While the show initially enjoyed high ratings, the average rating of the show at the end of its first season dropped to 52nd out of 94 programs. Unhappy with the show's ratings, NBC threatened to cancel the show during its second season.^[20] The show's fan base, led by Bjo Trimble, conducted an unprecedented letter-writing campaign, petitioning the network to keep the show on the air.^[20][21] NBC renewed the show, but moved it from primetime to the "Friday night death slot", and substantially reduced its budget.^[22] In protest, Roddenberry resigned as producer and reduced his direct involvement in Star Trek, which led to Fred Freiberger becoming producer for the show's third and final season.^[b] Despite another letter-writing campaign, NBC canceled the series after three seasons and 79 episodes.^[19]

Post–Original Series rebirth (1969–1991)[edit]

After the original series was canceled, Desilu, which by then had been renamed Paramount Television, licensed the broadcast syndication rights to help recoup the production losses. Reruns began in late 1969, and by the late 1970s the series aired in over 150 domestic and 60 international markets.^{[citation needed]} This helped Star Trek develop a cult following among Trekkies greater than during its original run;^[23] by 1976, the cast described Star Trek as "the most popular series in the world".^[24]

One sign of the series' growing popularity was the first Star Trek convention, which occurred on January 21–23, 1972 in New York City. Although the original expectation was that a few hundred fans would attend, several thousand turned up. Fans continue to attend similar conventions worldwide.^[25]

The series' newfound success led to the idea of reviving the franchise.^[26] Filmation with Paramount Television produced the first post–original series show, Star Trek: The Animated Series, featuring the cast of the original series reprising their roles. It ran on NBC for 22 half-hour episodes over two seasons on Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1974.^[27]: 208 Although short-lived, typical for animated productions in that time slot during that period, the series garnered the franchise's only Emmy Award in a "Best Series" category—specifically Outstanding Entertainment Children's Series; later Emmy awards for the franchise would be in technical categories. Paramount Pictures and Roddenberry began developing a new series, Star Trek: Phase II, in May 1975 in response to the franchise's newfound popularity. Work on the series ended when the proposed Paramount Television Service folded.^[28]

Following the success of the science fiction movies Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Paramount adapted the planned pilot episode of Phase II into the feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The film opened in North America on December 7, 1979, with mixed reviews from critics. The film earned $139 million worldwide, below expectations but enough for Paramount to create a sequel. The studio forced Roddenberry to relinquish creative control of future sequels.^[29]

The success of the sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, reversed the fortunes of the franchise. While the sequel grossed less than the first movie, The Wrath of Khan's lower production costs made it net more profit. Paramount produced six Star Trek feature films between 1979 and 1991, each featuring the Original Series cast in their original roles.^[30]

In 1987, Paramount responded to the popularity of Star Trek feature films by bringing the franchise back to television with Star Trek: The Next Generation. Paramount chose to distribute the new series as a first-run syndication show rather than a network program.^[10] The series was set a century after the original, following the adventures of a new starship Enterprise with a new crew.^[31]

Post-Roddenberry television era (1991–2005)[edit]

Following Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Roddenberry's role was changed from producer to creative consultant, with minimal input to the films, while being heavily involved with the creation of The Next Generation. Roddenberry died on October 24, 1991, giving executive producer Rick Berman control of the franchise.^{[13]: 268 [10]: 591–593} Star Trek had become known to those within Paramount as "the franchise", because of its great success and recurring role as a tent pole for the studio when other projects failed.^[32] The Next Generation had the highest ratings of any Star Trek series and became the most syndicated show during the last years of its original seven-season run.^[33] In response to the Next Generation's success, Paramount released a spin-off series, Deep Space Nine, in 1993. While never as popular as the Next Generation, the series had sufficient ratings for it to last seven seasons.

In January 1995, a few months after the Next Generation ended, Paramount released a fourth television series, Voyager. Star Trek production reached a peak in the mid-1990s with Deep Space Nine and Voyager airing concurrently and three of the four Next Generation-based feature films released in 1994, 1996, and 1998. By 1998, Star Trek was Paramount's most important property and the profits of "the franchise" funded a significant portion of the studio's operations.^[34] Voyager became the flagship show of the new United Paramount Network (UPN) and thus the first major network Star Trek series since the original.^[35]

After Voyager ended, UPN produced Enterprise, a prequel series. Enterprise did not enjoy the high ratings of its predecessors and UPN threatened to cancel it after the series' third season. Fans launched a campaign reminiscent of the one that saved the third season of the Original Series. Paramount renewed Enterprise for a fourth season, but moved it to the Friday night death slot.^[36] Like the Original Series, Enterprise's ratings dropped during this time slot, and UPN canceled Enterprise at the end of its fourth season. Enterprise aired its final episode on May 13, 2005.^[37] A fan group, "Save Enterprise", attempted to save the series and tried to raise $30 million to privately finance a fifth season of Enterprise.^[38] Though the effort garnered considerable press, the fan drive failed to save the series. The cancellation of Enterprise ended an eighteen-year continuous production run of Star Trek programming on television. The poor box office performance in 2002 of the film Nemesis cast an uncertain light upon the future of the franchise. Paramount relieved Berman, the franchise producer, of control of Star Trek.

Reboot (Kelvin timeline) film series (2009–2016)[edit]

In 2007, Paramount hired a new creative team to reinvigorate the franchise on the big screen. Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and producer J. J. Abrams had the freedom to reinvent the feel of the franchise. The team created the franchise's eleventh film, Star Trek, releasing it in May 2009. The film featured a new cast portraying the crew of the original show. Star Trek was a prequel of the original series set in an alternate timeline, later named the Kelvin Timeline. This gave the film and sequels freedom from the need to conform to the franchise's canonical timeline and minimized the impact these films would have on CBS's portion of the franchise. The eleventh Star Trek film's marketing campaign targeted non-fans, stating in the film's advertisements that "this is not your father's Star Trek".^[39]

The film earned considerable critical and financial success, grossing (in inflation-adjusted dollars) more box office sales than any previous Star Trek film.^[40] The plaudits include the franchise's first Academy Award (for makeup). Two sequels were released. The first sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, premiered in the spring of 2013.^[c][41] While the film did not earn as much in the North American box office as its predecessor, internationally, in terms of box office receipts, Into Darkness is the most successful of the franchise.^[42] The thirteenth film, Star Trek Beyond, was released on July 22, 2016.^[43] The film had many pre-production problems and its script went through several rewrites. While receiving positive reviews, Star Trek Beyond disappointed in the box office.^[44]

Expansion of the Star Trek Universe (2017–present)[edit]

CBS turned down several proposals in the mid-2000s to restart the franchise on the small screen. Proposals included pitches from film director Bryan Singer, Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, and Trek actors Jonathan Frakes and William Shatner.^[45][46][47] While CBS was not creating new Star Trek for network television, the ease of access to Star Trek content on new streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video introduced a new set of fans to the franchise. CBS eventually sought to capitalize on this trend, and brought the franchise back to the small screen with the series Star Trek: Discovery to help launch and draw subscribers to its streaming service CBS All Access.^[48] Discovery's first season premiered on September 24, 2017.^[49] While Discovery is shown in the United States exclusively on Paramount+ (formerly CBS All Access), for its first three seasons, Netflix, in exchange for funding the production costs of the show, owned the international screening rights for the show.^[50] This Netflix distribution and production deal ended right before the fourth season premiere of Discovery in November 2021.^[51] Discovery has since been exclusive to Paramount Global owned platforms.

In June 2018, after becoming sole showrunner of Discovery, Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series.^[52] Kurtzman wanted to "open this world up" and create multiple series set in the same universe but with their own "unique storytelling and distinct cinematic feel",^[53] an approach that he compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.^[54] However, the franchise would not tell a single story across multiple series, allowing audiences to watch each series without having to see all of the others.^[55] CBS and Kurtzman refer to this expanded franchise as the Star Trek Universe.^[56]

The second series of the expansion of the Star Trek Universe, Star Trek: Picard, features Patrick Stewart reprising the character Jean-Luc Picard from The Next Generation. Picard premiered on CBS All Access on January 23, 2020. Unlike Discovery, Amazon Prime Video streams Picard internationally.^[57] CBS has also released two seasons of Star Trek: Short Treks, a series of standalone mini-episodes which air between Discovery and Picard seasons. A new live-action series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a spinoff of the second season of Discovery and prequel to the original series, premiered on May 5, 2022. Lower Decks, an animated adult comedy series, was released on August 6, 2020, on CBS All Access. Another animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy, premiered on the rebranded service Paramount+ first on October 28, 2021, and on December 17, 2021, on Nickelodeon.^[58] Prodigy is the first Star Trek series to specifically target younger audiences, and is the franchise's first fully computer animated series. Star Trek saturation would hit a new peak in 2022, with five Star Trek series airing in the same year.^[d]

The Star Trek: Picard series finale aired in April 2023.^[59] Discovery's final season will air early 2024.^[60] A Star Trek: Starfleet Academy series is in pre-production to take the place of one of these series.^[61] Star Trek: Prodigy was removed from Paramount+ in June 2023.^[62] The series was picked up by Netflix, and season 1 was made available on December 25, 2023. A new second season will air later in 2024.^[63]

Paramount is also planning to create television films for Paramount+ every two years.^[64] The first of these movies, Section 31, will star Michelle Yeoh, reprising her role as Empress Georgiou from Discovery.^[65]

Television series[edit]

Twelve television series make up the Star Trek franchise: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Short Treks, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds. All series in total amount to 930 episodes across 48 seasons of television.^[e]