Producer Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek series recounts the adventures of a crew of humans and aliens as they explore the galaxy aboard the starship Enterprise.

Since it's 1966 debut, the original series has inspired four major spin-offs on televison and eleven feature films.

The show is regarded as an integral part of American culture and is also well known worldwide.

In 2009, a new movie featuring the original characters was directed by J J Abrams, the creator of Lost. Critics and fans considered this a successful reboot of the series, and future films featuring Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock are expected.http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/movies/08trek.html

Star Trek was the most influential science fiction series in television history. Phrases from the television show such as "Scotty, beam me up!", "I'm a doctor, not a (insert career here)", and "He's dead, Jim" have entered popular culture. The characters are well-known even among non-science fiction fans.

The first space shuttle ever built was named after the Enterprise. Several astronauts have cited the show as the influence that caused them to pursue their goals, and Mae Jemison, the first female African-American astronaut, specifically cites the character Nyota Uhura as a role model.

Gene Roddenberry felt that in the early 1960s, audiences were looking for television series with an action-adventure theme instead of the realistic theme broadly aired at that time. Using popular Westerns as a basis, he proposed a "Wagon Train to the stars". Desilu agreed to produce the pilot in 1964. This pilot featured a racially integrated crew (startling in an era when segregation was still strong throughout the South), a female first officer (women in this period had just begun battling with the "glass ceiling", and the alien Mr. Spock, who network executives thought looked like Satan. The network were excited by the premise, but wanted a series that had more action and was less cerebral, and requested a second pilot.

1. Star Trek The Animated Series
2. Star Trek The Next Generation
3. Star Trek Deep Space Nine
4. Star Trek Voyager
5. Star Trek Enterprise