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Summary

  • Watching the entire Star Trek franchise may seem daunting, but it's actually possible to do in a little over a month.
  • The entirety of the franchise totals an astonishing 837.5 hours or 34.9 days with all series and films combined.
  • As the franchise continues to expand, so will the amount of time required to watch Star Trek in its entirety.

Over the five decades since its inception, the Star Trek universe continues to inspire new generations of Trekkies. The original series that began in the mid-1960s has spawned countless spinoffs in television shows, as well as animation and feature films, some of which are still under production.

Someone new to this massive franchise may be wondering just how long it will take to watch all of Star Trek. With so many series and films in the catalog, catching up on everything may seem like a daunting task. Even some diehard fans have no idea just how many episodes of Star Trek there are. This list will divide the franchise into different categories to show just how long it takes to watch them. This way, consuming the entire Star Trek saga won't seem so intimidating after all.

Updated by Sage Ashford on December 31, 2023: This list has been updated to include more information on all of the Star Trek series.

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13 The Original Series Introduces Viewers to the Cast and Universe of Star Trek

Star Trek the Original Series featuring the cast behind the Enterprise
Star Trek: The Original Series
TV-PG

In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.

Release Date
September 8, 1966
Creator
Gene Roddenberry
Cast
William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , Deforest Kelley , Nicollette Sheridan
Main Genre
Sci-Fi
Seasons
3
Sequel
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Number of Episodes
79
Network
NBC
Franchise(s)
Star Trek

Episode Length:

50 Minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

3950 Minutes

Full Series in Hours:

65.8 Hours

This is the one that started it all. For a series with so much significance in television and pop culture history, it's surprising to find out that Star Trek: The Original Series lasted for just 79 episodes over three seasons.

Each TOS episode lasts around 50 minutes for a total of 3,950 minutes, meaning it will take just under 66 hours to watch them all uninterrupted. In other words, The Original Series can be finished in less than a week with constant binging. Even those who don't have that much time can finish watching the show in under a month.

12 The Next Generation Found an Audience Starved for Science Fiction

Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: TNG (1987)
Star Trek: The Next Generation
TV-PG
Sci-Fi
Action
Adventure
Drama

Set almost 100 years after Captain Kirk's 5-year mission, a new generation of Starfleet officers sets off in the U.S.S. Enterprise-D on its own mission to go where no one has gone before.

Release Date
September 26, 1987
Cast
Patrick Stewart , Brent Spiner , Jonathan Frakes , LeVar Burton , Marina Sirtis , Michael Dorn , Gates McFadden , Majel Barrett
Main Genre
Sci-Fi
Seasons
7

Episode Length:

44 Minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

7832 Minutes

Full Series in Hours:

130.5 Hours

Star Trek: The Next Generation was so successful during its seven-season run that it's arguably more popular today than The Original Series. The Next Generation's episode count topped its predecessor by almost a hundred for a total of 178 episodes, each with an approximately 44-minute runtime.

That adds up to a series total of 7,832 minutes or 130.5 hours — just under five and half days. If the viewer is free from work for about two weeks, The Next Generation series can be completed with ease.

11 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Proved There Was Room for Multiple Star Trek Series

The cast of Star Trek- Deep Space Nine posing on the official poster.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Science Fiction

In the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to the far side of the galaxy.

Release Date
January 3, 1993
Cast
Avery Brooks , Rene Auberjonois , Alexander Siddig , Terry Farrell , Cirroc Lofton , Colm Meaney
Seasons
7
Number of Episodes
176

Episode Length:

45 Minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

7920 Minutes

Full Series in Hours:

132 Hours

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Near the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation's run, Paramount created another series that could run alongside it. The new series broke from Star Trek tradition by being set on a space station, Deep Space Nine, that connected the Federation to the Milky Way galaxy.

Another breakout success, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ran for another seven seasons from 1993 to 1999. In those seven seasons, there are 176 episodes, each running 45 minutes. That's a grand total of 7920 minutes or exactly 132 hours. People willing to watch five episodes a night could likely finish it within a month's time.

10 Star Trek Voyager Continued To Break From Traditions

The Cast in a Star Trek Voyager Promo
Star Trek Voyager
TV-PG
Science Fiction
Action
Adventure

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

Release Date
January 16, 1995
Creator
Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor
Cast
Kate Mulgrew , Robert Picardo , Roxann Dawson , Jeri Ryan , Robert Duncan McNeill , Tim Russ , Garrett Wang , Jennifer Lien , Ethan Phillips , Majel Barrett
Main Genre
Science Fiction
Seasons
7
Number of Episodes
168

Episode Length:

45 Minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

7,740 Minutes

Full Series in Hours:

129 Hours

Star Trek: Voyager took over after Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, ensuring there were still two Star Trek series on the air. The series went back to setting the series on the starship Voyager. The Voyager is run by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the first female lead, who aims to get her people home after being stranded.

Star Trek Voyager was another success for Paramount and their new network UPN, running for seven seasons. Like the prior show, each episode ran 45 minutes. At 172 episodes, that places the full series runtime at 7,740 minutes or 129 hours. This is another series that would require roughly a month of binging to get through.

9 Star Trek: Enterprise Is Star Trek's Last TV Series for Over a Decade

Star Trek: Enterprise
TV-PG

A century before Captain Kirk's five-year mission, Jonathan Archer captains the United Earth ship Enterprise during the early years of Starfleet, leading up to the Earth-Romulan War and the formation of the Federation.

Release Date
September 26, 2001
Creator
Rick Berman and Brannon Braga
Cast
Scott Bakula , John Billingsley , Jolene Blalock , Dominic Keating , Anthony Montgomery , Linda Park , Connor Trinneer , Solomon Burke Jr.
Main Genre
Sci-Fi
Franchise(s)
Star Trek

Episode Length:

42 Minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

4,116 Minutes

Full Series in Hours:

68.6 Hours

2:39
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After running multiple Star Trek television series throughout the '90s, the franchise was gradually beginning to cool off. Finally, Paramount launched one more series, Star Trek: Enterprise. Unlike the others, Enterprise was intended as a prequel even to the original series. It followed Earth's first attempt at trying to make First Contact with other alien races.

Star Trek: Enterprise didn't quite have the same popularity that the other series did. Instead, it ran for four seasons and only 98 episodes. At 42 minutes an episode, that adds up to 4116 minutes, or 68.6 hours.

8 Short Treks Offers Mini Side Stories

Number Of Episodes:

10

Episode Length:

8-18 minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

150 minutes

Full Series In Hours:

2.5 hours.

Some stories within the Star Trek universe don't need a full forty or fifty minutes to reach a satisfying conclusion. With that in mind, Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman launched Star Trek: Short Treks. Running alongside Star Trek: Discovery, Short Treks gives viewers a chance for smaller stories to check out.

The project began back in 2018 with a season of four episodes, while a second season launched a year later with six episodes. The shows run from 8 to 18 minutes, and with only ten episodes, there are only 150 minutes so far. Fans can check that out in a single weekend.

7 Star Trek: Picard Revisits Many of the Ideas From TNG

Star Trek Picard Poster
Star Trek: Picard
TV-MA
Sci-Fi

Follow-up series to Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) that centers on Jean-Luc Picard in the next chapter of his life.

Release Date
January 23, 2020
Cast
Patrick Stewart , Alison Pill , Michelle Hurd , Santiago Cabrera
Main Genre
Sci-Fi
Seasons
3

Episode Length:

39-62 Minutes

Full Series in Minutes:

1,350 Minutes

Full Series in Hours:

22.5 Hours

After years of fans watching stories about new characters, the new era of Star Trek finally decided to revisit an older era. In 2020, Star Trek: Picard decided to tell the first new story with Admiral Jean-Luc Picard since the Star Trek: The Next Generation films. Initially, Picard worked with a new cast that wasn't connected to the original series, but across the show, more of the classic characters were gradually added back in.

Star Trek: Picard ran for three seasons from 2020 to 2023, with ten episodes in each season for a total of thirty episodes. Episode lengths varied wildly since the series was on CBS All Access and could go from 39 minutes to 62 minutes. The full minute count, though, is 1350 minutes, or 22.5 hours. That's basically one solid day of marathoning or a week of leisurely watching episodes.

6 Animated Star Trek Series Have Become an Important Part of Star Trek

The Cast of Star Trek Lower Decks in Promo
Star Trek: Lower Decks
TV-14
Comedy
Science Fiction
Animation
Action
Adventure
9
10

The support crew serving on one of Starfleet's least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, have to keep up with their duties, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.

Release Date
August 6, 2020
Creator
Mike McMahan
Cast
Tawny Newsome , Jack Quaid , Noel Wells , Eugene Cordero , dawnn lewis , Jerry O'Connell , Fred Tatasciore , Gillian Vigman

Series:

Length:

Star Trek: The Animated Series

528 Minutes

Star Trek: Lower Decks

1000 Minutes

Total Runtime:

1528 Minutes

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Star Trek: The Animated Series only lasted for two seasons in the early 1970s, releasing 22 episodes that were each 24 minutes long. As such, The Animated Series is only 528 minutes long or just under 9 hours. The whole series can be watched in just a single day.

Star Trek: Lower Decks premiered its first season in 2020 with 10 episodes. Each episode is 25 minutes long, totaling 250 minutes, meaning that the entire first season can be watched in just over four hours. Seasons 2 through 4 of Lower Decks also have 10 episodes each, making the total runtime around 1000 minutes. Very Short Treks is the most recent animated Star Trek series with five episodes, each running about 10-15 minutes long. All three animated series combined would take just under 1600 minutes or just under 27 hours.

5 Currently Active Star Trek Series Continue To Expand Star Trek's Universe

Series:

Length:

Star Trek: Discovery

2,475 Minutes

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

1,100 Minutes

Star Trek: Prodigy

240 Minutes

Total Runtime:

13,815 Minutes

At present, there are only three Star Trek series that are still running: Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The first ten episodes of Prodigy are already out, amounting to a total of 240 minutes or 4 hours.

Finally, Strange New Worlds has two seasons with ten episodes in each. Discovery has 55 episodes in four seasons, with each episode averaging around 45 minutes, meaning it will take just under 41 hours and 15 minutes to catch up.

4 Star Trek: TOS Films Gave The Original Series Cast a Comeback

Movie:

Runtime:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

132 Minutes

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

113 Minutes

Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

105 Minutes

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

122 Minutes

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

106 Minutes

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

110 Minutes

Total Runtime:

688 Minutes

Ten years following the end of The Original Series, the adventures of Captain Kirk continued on the big screen in the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which has a run time of 132 minutes. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, universally considered the best film in the franchise, is 113 minutes long. The Leonard Nimoy-directed Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is 105 minutes, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is 122 minutes.

Finally, William Shatner's Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is 106 minutes, and Nicholas Meyer's The Undiscovered Country has a 110-minute running time. Overall, the original film series clocks in at a total of 688 minutes, which equals 11 hours and 28 minutes.

3 Star Trek: TNG Movies Offer a Sense of Scale to the New Era

Movie:

Runtime:

Star Trek: Generations

118 Minutes

Star Trek: First Contact

111 Minutes

Star Trek: Insurrection

103 Minutes

Star Trek: Nemesis

116 Minutes

Total Runtime:

448 Minutes

The Next Generation did not have the same big-screen success as the original series but made four films, including two that were released following the end of the show. The first film, Star Trek Generations, featured both Picard and Kirk and is 118 minutes long.

The best-reviewed of the films, Star Trek: First Contact, clocks in at 111 minutes, Star Trek: Insurrection is shorter at 103 minutes, and the last film, Star Trek: Nemesis, is 116 minutes long. The four Next Generation films combined run at a total of 448 minutes, equaling 7 hours and 28 minutes. Binging all four movies can be done within the span of a single day.

2 The Kelvin Timeline Movie Series Press the Reset Button on the Series

Movie:

Runtime:

Star Trek (2009)

127 Minutes

Star Trek Into Darkness

132 Minutes

Star Trek Beyond

122 Minutes

Total Runtime:

381 Minutes

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How Star Trek Connected the Kelvin Timeline to the Prime Universe
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The most recent movie series, known as The Kelvin Timeline films, takes place in an alternate reality featuring the crew from The Original Series. The Kelvin movie franchise consists of three films, with each film varying in length.

2009's Star Trek runs 127 minutes, the 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness is just five minutes longer at 132, and the latest film, Star Trek Beyond, is actually the shortest at 122 minutes. The film trilogy totals 381 minutes, or 6 hours and 21 minutes. New Trekkies can finish this trilogy very quickly.

1 How Many Hours of Star Trek Are There?

All 13 Star Trek films have a combined total of 25 hours and 28 minutes, or just over a full day. Every single television series, both currently airing and retired, totals up to around 48,700 minutes, which is approximately 812 hours or 33.8 days. Every series and movie combined totals 837.5 hours, meaning it will take 34.9 days to watch them all uninterrupted.

Obviously, watching them all consecutively is impossible, but realistically, watching everything in the Star Trek franchise could take less than half a year. This doesn't even include upcoming movies like Star Trek 4 and new seasons for existing series. For those who believe this beloved universe is worth investing over 50,200 minutes of their life, it's time to boldly go where only true diehard Trekkies have gone before.