Summary
Once in a while,Star Trektakes a break from exploring strange new worlds to tell stories set on Earth and here are the 12 best.One popular Earth destination forStar Trekis San Francisco, the home of Starfleet Headquarters and Starfleet Academy.Star Trek: The Next Generation,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,Star Trek: Lower Decks, andStar Trek: Prodigyhave all visited either Starfleet HQ or Starfleet Academy at some point inStar Trek’s 24th century. The upcomingStar Trek: Starfleet Academyseries will be partially set on Earth in the 32nd century.
The bestStar Trekstories that are set on Earth rise to the challenge of keeping some elements ofStar Trekalive, even without sci-fi space action. Going to Earth provides a respite from starship battles after facing off against Klingons or Borg, and givesStar Trek’s starship captainsand Starfleet crew members the chance to turn inward. Most interestingly,Star Trekstories set on Earth provide a look into what life is like for residents of Earth inStar Trek, in either the future or the past, compared to Starfleet officers who spend their days on starships.
Star Trek’s 10 Most Important Earth Locations
Star Trek is about exploring strange new worlds throughout the galaxy, but many key locations on Earth are crucially important to the franchise.
12La Sirena’s Trip To 21st-Century Los Angeles
Star Trek: Picard Season 2
Star Trek: Picardseason 2weaves together disparate plot threads in 21st-century Los Angeles as the crew of La Sirena try to restore the timeline that a dying Q (John de Lancie) altered.Picardhas elements from earlier Earth-basedStar Trekstories, likeStar Trek: The Original Series’Supervisors, and nods toStar Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Sanctuary Districts. Humanity has progressed further than in our timeline, however, since Admiral Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) ancestor, Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell), is destined to take part in Earth’s first crewed mission to Europa in 2024.
11"Future’s End"
Star Trek: Voyager Season 3, Episodes 8 & 9
InStar Trek: Voyagerseason 3, episodes 8 & 9, “Future’s End”, the USS Voyager crew makes it to Earth, but they’re 300 years too early. On a mission from 29th-century timeship captain Braxton (Allan G. Royal) that takes Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and her crew back to mid-90s Earth, tech CEO Henry Starling (Ed Begley, Jr.) must be stopped from accidentally destroying the galaxy. The time may be wrong, but the place is right, andit’s fun to see the USS Voyager crew enjoy being on Earth again,even if “Future’s End” only gives them a brief taste of home.
“Future’s End” is one of the first hints that the so-called originalStar Trektimeline has been altered in some way, because the Eugenics Wars, said inStar Trek: The Original Seriesto take place in the 1990s, are nowhere in sight.
10"Grounded"
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 1
Star Trek: Lower Decksseason 3, episode 1,“Grounded” affirms what previousStar Trekseries showed about Earth inStar Trek’s 2380s, through Ensign Beckett Mariner’s (Tawny Newsome) tour ofStar Trek’s notable Earth locations. To collect the USS Cerritos' Warp Core Four, Mariner goes to Ensign Brad Boimler’s (Jack Quaid) raisin farm, Sisko’s Creole Kitchen restaurant, and the site of the first Warp flight in Bozeman, Montana.Bozeman is a kitschy theme park, where a replica of the Phoenix (topping out at warp 1) is a thrill ride for families, complete with a Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) hologram.
9"Pathfinder"
Star Trek: Voyager Season 6, Episode 10
Star Trek: Voyagerseason 6, episode 10, “Pathfinder” breaks the typicalVoyagerformat to show what’s been happening in the Alpha Quadrant while the USS Voyager has been stranded in the Delta Quadrant.Star Trek: The Next Generation’sLieutenant Reginald Barclay(Dwight Schultz) takes center stage in “Pathfinder”, having become singularly focused on the plight of the USS Voyager crew. Despite Counselor Deanna Troi’s (Marina Sirtis) concerns that Reg’s Voyager simulation is a relapse into holo-addiction,Barclay still finds a way to make contact with Voyager’s crew,and starts the process of bringing them home.
8“Assignment: Earth”
Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2, Episode 26
InStar Trek: The Original Seriesseason 2, episode 26, “Assignment: Earth”, theEnterprise crew inadvertently becomes part of the time-correcting mission of Gary Seven (Robert Lansing). Gary Seven is a Supervisor, a human raised by aliens and sent to Earth to keep humanity on the right track as a Supervisor. The curiously complex details and unexplored mysteries in Gary Seven’s backstory come from “Assignment: Earth” being a backdoor pilot for a failed Gene Roddenberry show, where Gary Seven would benevolently interfere in historical events on 1960s Earth.
Although the spinoff never got made,Star Trekhasn’t forgotten the Supervisors.Star Trek: Picardseason 2 features Tallinn (Orla Brady), a Romulan Supervisor quietly pulling historical strings in Earth’s 21st century, with a lot of the same equipment Gary Seven had inTOS. The Supervisors also get a shout-out inStar Trek: Prodigy.
7“Carbon Creek”
Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2, Episode 2
Star Trek: Enterpriseseason 2, episode 2, “Carbon Creek” is great for its Vulcan perspective on Earth’s past. AsSubcommander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock)tells it, her foremother, T’Mir (also Jolene Blalock) crash-landed on Earth in the 1950s with a survey team. The team must navigate humans' curious social customs in order to blend in and get the parts they need to fix their ship. Instead of showing anything new about 22nd century Earth,T’Pol uses T’Mir’s story to reveal more about herselfwithout having to actually spell it out: a fascination with humans runs in T’Pol’s family, and T’Pol kind of likes being on Enterprise.
6“The First Duty”
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5, Episode 19
Star Trek: The Next Generationseason 5, episode 19, “The First Duty”, takes viewers to Starfleet Academy, where Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) is a cadet. Wesley’s Nova Squadron flight team must face a hearing after the accidental death of one of their own members is covered up by fellowCadet Nick Locarno(Robert Duncan McNeill). Though Wesley is on Earth and far from the Enterprise,life at Starfleet Academy still challenges Wesley with opportunities to grow, from the hearing itself to the sage advice from Groundskeeper Boothby (Ray Walston), who had once been Captain Picard’s mentor.
Starfleet Academy lore first established in “The First Duty” reappears inStar Trek: Voyagerseason 5, episode 4, “In the Flesh”, in which Species 8472 recreates a version of Starfleet Academy to better understand their enemy.
5"Family"
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4, Episode 2
Star Trek: The Next Generationseason 4, episode 2, “Family”, is a rare example of sequential storytelling inTNG,since it deals with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) processing the world-shaking weight of being assimilated by the Borg. After being de-assimilated, Picard is unsure whether to stay in Starfleet, so Jean-Luc visits his brother, Robert (Jeremy Kemp), at the Picard family estate. Humanity may be united on many things onStar Trek’s Earth, butRobert’s distaste for Starfleet shows that tension and division among family members still exist.That tension is, of course, exactly what Jean-Luc needs to confirm that Picard’s heart is among the stars.
4“Past Tense”
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 3, Episodes 11 & 12
InStar Trek: Deep Space Nineseason 3, episodes 11 & 12, “Past Tense”, a transporter accident takes Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig), and Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) to 2024 San Francisco,days before the historical Bell Riots.While Dax sees how the ultrarich live, courtesy of tech bro billionaire Chris Brynner (Jim Metzler), Sisko and Bashir get a first-hand account of life in San Francisco’s Sanctuary District.
Gabriel Bell is the man who lights the spark to start the fires of change, but when Bell is killed prematurely,Sisko must step in to ensure humanity takes the road to the Federation’s development. With a glimpse at this pivotal turning point in Earth’s history, “Past Tense” shows that our present society is, in fact, capable of getting on the road to theStar Trekfuture, if those in power are willing to hear the stories of the less-fortunate, and take action to change.
3Star Trek: First Contact
Welcome to Bozeman, Montana - June 30, 2025
Captain Picard’s USS Enterprise-E time travels to Earth circa 2063 inStar Trek: First Contact, the best of theStar Trek: The Next Generationmovies. Although half of the film is set aboard the Enterprise, which Captain Picard defends from an infestation led by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), the second half takes place in Bozeman, Montana. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) leads an away team that mustensure Dr. Zephram Cochrane (James Cromwell) launches his historic first warp flight.
Star Trek: First Contact’s Earthbound moments deliver crucial levity.
Star Trek: First Contactdepicts the fallout of World War III on the literal eve before meeting the Vulcans changes the course of humanity for the better. Riker, Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and their crew arefish out of water in Montana, befuddled by Cochrane’s drunken reluctance to be the beacon of the future.Star Trek: First Contact’s Earthbound moments deliver crucial levity versus the anti-Borg violence aboard the Enterprise, and Cochrane’s First Contact with the Vulcans is a rousing and inspirational moment marking theorigin ofStar Trekitself.
