Every Animated Star Trek TV Show, Ranked

The "Star Trek" franchise is known for venturing into new and often unexpected places. Its credo of boldly going where no one has gone before may not apply verbatim to every theme, but the spirit is still very much present. After all, from "The Original Series" to "Strange New Worlds," the live-action shows have all had their own distinct flavors. The same is true of the animation branch of the franchise, which has reliably delivered interesting — and on occasion extremely experimental — takes on the franchise's core tenets since the 1970s. 

There are currently six animated shows flying the "Star Trek" flag, and while they all sit comfortably under the United Federation of Planets umbrella, they're also so different from each other that watching any two of them back to back can cause tonal whiplash. Beyond their massive stylistic contrasts, the quality gap between these shows can be significant, making a ranking inevitable. Here is every animated "Star Trek" series, ranked from worst to best. 

The most recent member of the animated "Star Trek" family is also a franchise first. The YouTube-first preschool series "Star Trek: Scouts" was developed with Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. channel and features "PAW Patrol"-style animation. "Scouts" delivers fun little "Star Trek" stories in bite-sized three to four minute chunks, in which three toddlers who either are or aspire to be affiliated with Starfleet attempt to solve simple, audience-appropriate space problems — think impending asteroids that resemble meatballs, or boogers that look a lot like Nickelodeon's signature green slime. 

Given its format, target audience, and recent arrival, it's easy to see why "Scouts" lands at the bottom of the ranking. Still, its placement here doesn't mean it's an unworthy addition to the franchise. Preschoolers are a previously untapped "Star Trek" audience, and the titular Starfleet scouts (and their cute pets) are a perfect way to get children interested in the show. Besides, Trekkie moms and dads of young children are inevitably going to spend their time with one kids' show or another in the background — isn't it great to finally have a "Star Trek" option for that?

"Star Trek: Very Short Treks" often looks like the classic "Star Trek: The Animated Series," but the superficial similarities end within seconds of pushing the play button. Casper Kelly ("Too Many Cooks"), a veteran of oddball cartoon fare, created the five-episode 2023 miniseries. It consists of brief and absurd episodes that last mere minutes, their brief runtime packed with the kind of stuff you'd never find on a more conventional "Star Trek" show. 

Gross, fourth-wall-breaking, and often laugh-out-loud funny, "Very Short Treks" takes familiar "Star Trek" tropes and pushes them to their logical extremes and beyond. Here, holodecks become layer cakes that combine nearly every animated "Star Trek" show on this list and more. Dramatic captain's speeches become exercises in awkwardness, and close encounters with new alien species become extended gross-out scenarios. 

It's not always the kind of show you'd want to watch while eating, but it'll definitely make the viewer think about the many ways "Star Trek" could go wrong. Don't think for a second that the old guard considers it sacrilegious, either — "Star Trek" main man Alex Kurtzman, a fan of Kelly's work, specifically wanted him to get strange with "Very Short Treks," and the episodes feature franchise veterans from George Takei and Jonathan Frakes to Ethan Peck and Gates McFadden voicing their famous characters.  

"Star Trek: Short Treks" consists of two seasons and a total of 10 episodes, which all run longer than anything "Scouts" or "Very Short Treks" has on offer but still shorter than your average cartoon episode. There is a caveat, however: most episodes are live-action, and only two Season 2 entries qualify as animated. Still, their creativity and quality earn the show a place on this list. 

Every "Short Treks" story focuses on certain, familiar "Star Trek" locations, characters, and concepts, but presents them in a different setting than usual, often as prequels, sequels, or small side stories that would have gone unnoticed by the main characters of the show in question. The tales are usually fairly simple and self-explanatory — think Spock's (Ethan Peck) first day as an ensign — but the animated episodes dare to soar. "Ephraim and Dot" is a Hanna-Barbera chase that revolves around a humble tardigrade sneaking around the Enterprise and clashing with a service drone, while various events from "The Original Series" and its movies play out around them. Meanwhile, "The Girl Who Made The Stars" is a charming fable Mike Burnham (Kenric Green) tells young Michael Burnham (Kyrie McAlpin) as a bedtime story. 

The animated episodes are indeed short as promised, and they're clear highlights of "Short Treks." As such, they make for a quick, fun watch for everyone who wants to experience "Star Trek" from a slightly different angle than usual. 

For anyone shocked to see the second-ever "Star Trek" series only barely cracking the top three, it's worth noting that every entry from this point on is fully animated and genuinely strong. As such, placing the legendary "Star Trek: The Animated Series" at the number three spot is largely a matter of semantics and personal preference. 

The only animated series produced under Gene Roddenberry's oversight, "The Animated Series" essentially functions as "The Original Series" with fewer budget limitations. Since William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, and the gang return to reprise their roles and the (admittedly simplistic) characters do a decent job at approximating their likeness, the show really does feel like the genuine old-school "Star Trek" show that it is.

On a less positive note, the show ran for two seasons in 1974, and the sophomore one was a truncated six-episode wonder. While the art style is very nice and crisp, the show's actual animation is also exactly as clunky as you'd imagine from a mid-1970s show, which might prevent the modern viewer from getting into it. Even so, "The Animated Series" remains a key part of "Star Trek" lore and earned the franchise its first Emmy Award after "The Original Series'" 13 winless nominations.   

"Star Trek: Prodigy" is aimed at a younger audience than most shows, though not quite as young as "Scouts." It sports a distinct, slick CGI style that sets it apart from its peers, and its character design is considerably more outlandish than the franchise usually goes for. The exaggerated look of the five central alien teens brings other sci-fi franchises — including the common comparison point "Star Wars" – to mind far more than they do "Star Trek." This is especially notable when the most direct connection to the classic "Trek" lore, a fairly realistic hologram of the esteemed Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), introduces herself. Playing the mentor role, Hologram Janeway guides the quintet as they commandeer the abandoned USS Protostar, escape their prison planet in the Delta Quadrant, and start an arduous journey toward the safety of Federation-controlled space.  

As this premise implies, "Prodigy" eschews the episodic case-of-the-week nature of many "Star Wars" shows in favor of a grander, ongoing narrative that's not afraid to switch gears when the plot so demands. The sophomore season even changes the status quo and the group's mission completely. However, the show's difficult production history has overshadowed its storytelling, as Paramount+ unexpectedly canceled "Star Trek: Prodigy" in 2023 despite renewing it for Season 2. The cancellation didn't stop the second season from being completed, but unfortunately, it did stop the ambitious story from proceeding beyond that. 

"Star Trek" is often compared to "Star Wars," but in a way, its DNA is much closer to British sci-fi stalwart "Doctor Who." After all, both shows prioritize nonviolent solutions whenever possible and aren't afraid to pair moments of extreme goofiness with genuinely intelligent storytelling. This is why the "Star Trek" universe — perhaps alone among major sci-fi franchises — can support a show as charmingly bonkers as "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and even integrate it into live action, with Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) and Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) appearing in the "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Season 2 episode "Those Old Scientists."

"Star Trek: Lower Decks" is a show about Starfleet grunts. Here, charismatic captains and flashy first officers take the backseat in favor of Starfleet workers on the other end of the USS Cerritos chain of command. The heroes are low-ranking ensigns still learning how to boldly go, often held back by inexperience or attitude. This framing turns them into underdogs within an already underdog-heavy franchise, allowing familiar "Star Trek" tropes to be experienced from a fresh angle. 

After a fortunately brief foray into Seth McFarlane-style riffing, "Lower Decks" found its niche by embracing the inherent unseriousness of the "Star Trek" franchise. By laughing with the franchise's oddities rather than at them, the show established itself as an entity that could embrace all the trappings of an adult animated series while still being a fully-fledged "Star Trek" show. Combine this with its genuinely fun writing and amazing voice performances across the board, and "Lower Decks" brings more than enough to the table to take the number one spot on the list.