All Star Trek Series Opening Credits Ranked

11

The Animated Series

The TAS opening sequence is much like an imitation of the one of TOS, only in animated form and with different yet similar music. There is not much special about it except for the peculiarity of the Enterprise that was lazily moved across the screen without a change of the perspective.

10

Picard

The intro of Picard, just like the one of Discovery, comes with elaborate but somehow undecided visuals. It features a calm but too low-key theme (actually the only one I couldn't whistle on request). These credits are technically excellent but they just don't give me Trek vibes. For season 2, the music was changed to sound more dramatic.

9

Discovery

Discovery abandons the theme of space exploration in its opening credits and shows props and graphics from the series with an odd palette that almost looks as if the colors were inverted. The music is subdued. This is all a bit indefinite, and doesn't really fit with the tone of the series either.

8

Strange New Worlds

The SNW opening has the classic Trek vibe. The visuals are spectacular. But the narration and the eight-note fanfare are shameless TOS knock-offs that prey for nostalgia where there ought to be none because it's a reboot. Also, there is little originality in the theme that essentially consists of the TOS melody with slightly different notes.

7

The Original Series

The classic opening credits of TOS appear old-fashioned today, even in the updated version for the remastered episodes. While the fly-by of the Enterprise is iconic, not to mention the music, the intro would and should be done differently for a modern series - like the one of SNW, for instance.

6

Prodigy

A bit like already the one of Lower Decks, the intro of Prodigy returns to "spacy" visuals and prominent music (that sounds a bit like an upbeat version of the DIS theme). The opening sequence is very dynamic and successfully relays the vastness of space, but I think there are still more memorable credits.

5

The Next Generation

TNG re-uses the title theme of the first Star Trek feature film, which perfectly suits the series with its unabashed optimism. On the visual side, it is much like an update of the TOS intro. I think it could be done somewhat better today, but it has grown on me.

4

Lower Decks

The whole continuity of Lower Decks is built upon the enormously successful Star Trek series of the 1990's, and its opening sequence reflects just that, featuring the ship's (awkward) journey through space and orchestral music for the first time after 25 years.

3

Deep Space Nine

DS9 was supposed to be a departure from TNG, and a toned down title theme was composed, orchestral but with less brass. The visuals illustrate the setting of the series on the station, and were later updated to include the Defiant and appear as more dynamic. An intro that has aged very well!

2

Voyager

Voyager's opening credits come with visuals that are impressive for its time and with one of the most recognizable themes. These credits are still a bit more memorable than those of DS9 and overall a worthy runner-up.

1

Enterprise

The montage about the history of space exploration, accompanied by "Faith of the Heart", is easily my favorite Star Trek series intro - despite or just because the bad rap of the song. This all perfectly illustrates the theme of Enterprise (although the series itself needed some time to live up to it).