With three new seasons of Star Trek content, 2023 was a great year for the franchise, with some truly phenomenal episodes that will join the ranks of past Trek classics. The first new Trek of the year came in February 2023 with the premiere of Star Trek: Picard season 3. Picard season 3 not only felt more reminiscent of classic Trek than the show’s first two seasons, but it also reunited the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation on the rebuilt USS Enterprise-D.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds dropped ten new episodes over the summer, including Trek’s first live-action/animated crossover, as well as the first-ever Star Trek musical. With its sophomore season, Strange New Worlds has established itself as Star Trek’s best new show. Then in September, Star Trek: Lower Decks had its best season yet with season 4, which revealed even more connections to TNG than ever. All three of these Star Trek series added some great new episodes to the franchise, making 2023 one of the best years for Trek fans.
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15 Best New Star Trek Characters Introduced In 2023
Star Trek on Paramount+’s shows successfully introduced many new and exciting characters with significant stories over 2023, but which were the best?
10 “Twovix” – Star Trek: Lower Decks
Season 4, Episode 1
Much of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 focuses on Lt. Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and her tumultuous relationship with Starfleet, but the season premiere gives all of the lower deckers a chance to shine. While Lower Decks is always full of references to previous Trek, “Twovix” focuses specifically on Star Trek: Voyager. As the USS Cerritos escorts Voyager to Earth, Commander Billips (Paul Scheer) and Dr. T’Ana (Gillian Vigman) find themselves merged together – or Tuvixed – just like Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips) in one of Voyager’s most talked-about episodes, “Tuvix.” Not only does this season premiere set up the season-long plot and character arcs, but it’s also a hilarious love letter to Voyager and a must-watch episode of Lower Decks.
9 “Seventeen Seconds” – Star Trek: Picard
Season 3, Episode 3
“Seventeen Seconds” progresses several different storylines, but the real highlight of the episode is the conversation between Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) in the USS Titan’s sickbay. After the shocking reveal that Beverly’s son Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) is Picard’s son as well, the two former lovers have a long-awaited heart-to-heart. Gates McFadden and Patrick Stewart both knock this scene out of the park, delivering nuanced and captivating performances as Beverly explains her reasoning for keeping Jack from Picard. The scene ends with the two at an impasse as the situation with the USS Titan and the Shrike goes from bad to worse.
8 “Old Friends, New Planets” – Star Trek: Lower Decks
Season 4, Episode 10
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 finale wonderfully resolves all of the plot threads of the season in a way that ties in nicely with Mariner’s character arc. “Old Friends, New Planets” begins with a flashback to Nick Locarno’s (Robert Duncan McNeill) Starfleet Academy days, just before the accident that killed his fellow cadet and got Locarno kicked out of Starfleet. Back in the present, Nick mistakenly believes that Mariner will join him (since they attended the Academy together), but she instead starts working to stop him. With all the usual shout-outs to previous Star Trek projects and wonderful character development for Mariner in particular, “Old Friends, New Planets” brings Lower Decks’ best season yet to a close with a bang.
7 “Under The Cloak Of War” – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Season 2, Episode 8
In its two seasons so far, Strange New Worlds has embraced the wonder of Star Trek, telling stories reminiscent of the best episodes of TOS and TNG. But “Under The Cloak Of War” takes a page out of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s book to tell a darker story that examines the lasting effects of war. When Klingon Ambassador Dak’Rah (Robert Wisdom) visits the USS Enterprise, the crew members who fought in the Klingon/Federation War question the former War General’s motives. Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) steals the episode as he struggles with his past and his PTSD, ultimately making a shocking decision that stands directly at odds with the philosophy of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).
6 “The Inner Fight” – Star Trek: Lower Decks
Season 4, Episode 9
The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 brings the focus back to Mariner, nicely building on everything that came before to reveal more about her backstory. The big reveal connects Mariner to the TNG episode where Lower Decks got its name and the death of Enterprise-D Ensign Sito Jaxa. Stranded on the planet Sherbal V, Mariner has a heart-to-heart with a Klingon warrior before being kidnapped by disgraced former Starfleet cadet Nick Locarno, who is revealed to be the season’s big bad. A lot happens in “The Inner Fight,” but it still has all the usual trappings of Lower Decks – numerous references to past Trek and lots of humor and heart.
5 “No Win Scenario” – Star Trek: Picard
Season 3, Episode 4
As the USS Titan sinks into the gravity well of a nebula, Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick), Picard, and the rest of the crew grapple with their impending deaths, while desperately searching for solutions. Every main character gets something to do in “No Win Scenario,” and all of the stories come together well. Jean-Luc seeks to spend some time with the son he didn’t know he had, Commander Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) works to uncover a Changeling in disguise, and Dr. Crusher discovers a pattern in the electrical waves buffeting the ship. Everyone comes together to pull off the plan that saves the Titan, and the reveal that the nebula is full of bio-electrical lifeforms feels very Star Trek in the best way.
4 “Ad Astra Per Aspera” – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Season 2, Episode 2
Since the early days of Star Trek: The Original Series, the franchise has always loved a good courtroom drama, and Strange New Worlds season 2’s trial episode is of the best. Strange New Worlds season 1 ended with Number One (Rebecca Romijn) being taken into custody for lying on her Starfleet Academy application about being a genetically enhanced Illyrian. “Ad Astra Per Aspera” follows up on that cliffhanger by showing Una’s trial. With her childhood friend Neera Ketoul (played beautifully by Yetide Badaki) as her defense lawyer, Una passionately explains why she joined Starfleet. With solid performances from everyone involved, “Ad Astra Per Aspera” feels like classic Star Trek at its best, a celebration of hope, diversity, and humanity.
3 “Those Old Scientists” – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Season 2, Episode 7
The Strange New Worlds / Lower Decks crossover is pure joy from start to finish. When Ensign Boimler travels through a portal, he finds himself in the past with the crew of the USS Enterprise (“NCC-1701 dash… nothing”), much to his delight. As Captain Pike and his crew try to figure out how to get Boimler back to his time, Ensign Mariner comes through the portal to join him. Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome both brilliantly bring their characters to live action, and their interactions with the Enterprise crew are truly hilarious and sometimes heartwarming. “Those Old Scientists” will go down as one of Star Trek’s best episodes, as it wonderfully celebrates the excitement and joy of traveling through the galaxy for a living.
2 “The Last Generation” – Star Trek: Picard
Season 3, Episode 10
Star Trek: Picard season 3 fully embraced nostalgia, bringing together the crew of the USS Enterprise-D and concluding a story that began over thirty years ago. TNG already had one perfect finale in “All Good Things…” and “The Last Generation” acknowledges that with its final scene of the core TNG crew sitting down for a game of poker. The conclusion to the season’s storyline works well, but it’s almost beside the point.
It’s the characters and their reunion on the Enterprise-D, their connections with one another, that makes “The Last Generation” work as well as it does. From the message sent out by Federation President Anton Chekov (voiced by Walter Koenig) to Data’s (Brent Spiner) excitement at piloting the Enterprise through the Borg cube to Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) psychically tracking her Imzadi, “The Last Generation” is a nostalgic tour-de-force that ends the story of the crew of the Enterprise-D on a high note.
1 “Subspace Rhapsody” – Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Season 2, Episode 9
Star Trek’s first-ever musical has no right to be as amazing as it is, but everything about this episode just works. From the opening number that has everyone singing their status updates to Spock’s soulful break-up song to the Klingon K-pop interlude, “Subspace Rhapsody” is hilarious while remaining true to the characters. The musical numbers and spot-on lyrics allow the characters to reveal things about themselves they would normally keep hidden. This makes for great character development, and many of the revelations in this episode have lasting repercussions.
Every cast member sounds great (with Celia Rose Gooding and Christina Chong as particular standouts), and everything about the episode makes it clear how well the writers understand the characters. “Subspace Rhapsody” is unabashedly a musical extravaganza, but it’s also just a phenomenal episode of Star Trek. The scientific explanation for the whole scenario does not really matter, as it’s the characters that make Star Trek’s first musical a resounding success and the best Trek episode of 2023.
Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are available to stream on Paramount+.
