The famous "to boldly go" speech is an instantly recognizable part of Star Trek's intro, but many shows in the franchise leave it out? Starting with Star Trek: The Original Series in 1966, Captain Kirk's (William Shatner) memorable speech during the show's introduction invoked images of exploration and set the mood for the exciting hour of sci-fi television ahead. However, as the franchise went on, other shows in the series either used the intro or completely ignored the famous words for one reason or another. Though most Trek shows have eschewed the monologue, it is still inseparable from the legacy.

Though 12 people have said the Star Trek line, Shatner's performance as Captain Kirk started the franchise on the right foot and set the standard for all future captains to follow. The brief speech not only introduced the concepts of the show in general, but it also used verbose and exciting language to elicit an emotional response from the viewer and lend a certain grandiosity to the Enterprise's epic adventures. Captain Picard would later utter a slightly modified version of the monologue in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it would be mysteriously retired until the premiere of Strange New Worlds in 2022.

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Other Star Trek Shows Didn't Use The Speech Because It Didn't Fit

The crew of Voyager look on

Starting with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the speech was taken out of the intro of the show and replaced with a simple instrumental. This can be attributed to the fact that DS9 was more about relationships and character development and less about exploration as the speech suggests. Star Trek: Voyager followed close behind, but its theme of a ship lost on the other side of the galaxy made the show more about survival than any of the intro's ideals. Enterprise was unique from the original Trek shows in that it took place before the foundation of the Federation, and the ideas expressed in the speech weren't common practice yet.

Discovery reignited the Star Trek television franchise, but its focus on an ongoing narrative would have been incongruous with the utopian message of the original Trek speech. Picard focused on the titular character and Jean-Luc wasn't given a lot of time to explore the galaxy while he was tangled in the complicated plot of the show. On the other side of the coin, Star Trek: Lower Decks was from the perspective of average crew members, and the uplifting message of the speech wouldn't gel with the show's humor. Similarly, Star Trek: Prodigy was outside the Federation entirely and had little to do with the utopian sci-fi ideals in the speech.

Strange New Worlds Brought The Speech Back Because Of Its Time Period

Captain Pike looks on intently from Strange New Worlds

After decades without it, Strange New Worlds finally resurrected the speech with the updated wording that was used in The Next Generation. Other than the easy nostalgic effect the speech had for the show, the intro actually makes sense in the context of Strange New Worlds' time period. Taking place a few short years before Kirk and company set out on their five-year mission, the adventures of Captain Pike and his Enterprise crew fit right in with the ideals expressed in the introduction. Pike's personal morals gel better with the words than Kirk's "cowboy diplomacy" and it makes sense that Pike originated the Star Trek monologue in the first place.

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