10 TV Shows That Wanted To Be Star Trek

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery - Star Trek must have been VERY flattered here.

The Orville
Fuzzy Door

The shows on this list both draw inspiration from and out and out borrow from, Star Trek's many iterations through the years. With so many episodes to draw from, from the Original Series onward, there is simply so much material out there that serves as the template for so much of what followed. Each decade seemingly has another contender for the newest Trek-inspired show.

From the time it was released, Star Trek was inspiring other franchises to do their best to capture the magic of the Enterprise, even though the Original Series lasted a paltry three seasons, often outperformed in the ratings by contemporaries like Lost In Space.

Yet, Roddenberry's vision was so clear that in the years that followed, other writers and producers would look to his show as a template for their own. Whether that meant traveling the stars through a wormhole, or finding themselves lost thousands of years in the future, these picks both honour, and occasionally outright steal, the building blocks that made Star Trek what it was.

They may not be part of the official canon, but some of these examples could easily be a part of the Federation - albeit, a little bit farther away than even Voyager was flung.

10. Space Precinct

The Orville
Gerry Anderson Productions

Space Precinct was a Gerry Anderson production from the early '90s. Anderson had made previous series like Space: 1999, Captain Scarlet, Stingray, and Thunderbirds. This however was a live-action sci-fi mixed with a police procedural. Anderson had created shows in the past that were primarily targeted at a younger audience, which is where the problems began for Space Precinct.

The network didn't know what to do with it. It was popular in Europe, but not so much in America. Despite the outlandish make-up and prosthetics, which were nothing short of impressive, the show aimed at dealing with adult-oriented storylines. Taking its cue from Star Trek, it tried to paint a fantastical future with as much realism as it could, thoroughly confusing the networks.

It then suffered the fate of Star Trek The Original Series' third season. Unsure how to market the show, the networks scheduled it to air either late at night or early in the morning. This led to a low viewership, which in turn led to the show's cancellation after just one season.

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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick