10 Times Star Trek Dared To Be Different

5. The Dark Arcs

Serialisation is a relatively new phenomenon in television. Before streaming, before DVR, and even with VCR, miss an episode, miss an arc (unless you caught the marathon or the omnibus). For Star Trek of the 1990s, serialisation was practically a dirty word. As Star Trek: Deep Space Nine executive producer Ira Steven Behr noted on the DVD extra The Birth of the Dominion and Beyond:

The Adversary was the first one where we really knew that we were going to be starting to get the 'S-word' — serialised — [whispers] just a tad, in spite of all the finger-wagging and knowing we weren't supposed to.

You couldn't blame the higher-ups for being wary. Trek had found great success in syndication, which thrived on being able to show episodes in whatever order it pleased. Deep Space Nine really did have to dare to be different to do even a partially serialised narrative arc. With the Dominion War, it also did its arc more darkly than any Trek before it.

Deep Space Nine broke the mould. Star Trek: Enterprise said, 'take your serialisation and hold my tambourine'. The Xindi arc was a thematic 180 with dystopian overtones, and the first time Star Trek had explored a single narrative over an entire season. Star Trek: Discovery — the first direct to streaming — would make serialisation a standard. In live action, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds then dared to differ from its genitor through a return to largely episodic form.