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word of advice : Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek : Lower Decks time of year 4 !
Summary
Since 1990 , manyStar Trekshows have been whereStar Trek : The Original Serieshas never gone before - into time of year 4 - but which fourth season is best?TOSwas canceled after its third season , and would take the in force part of a 10 to be resurrected as a movie franchise . In the 1990s , Star Trek : The Next Generationwas so immensely popular that it made it to time of year 4 and beyond , and spawned multiple spinoff shows . Each ofTNG ’s successors also dispatch the 4th time of year spot , withStar Trek : Enterprisesuccumbing toTOS ' fate at the end of its own time of year 4 .
WhenStar Trek : Discoveryrelaunched the TV franchisein 2017 , nobody could have believe it too would hit season 4 and beyond . The success ofDiscoveryspawned a direct spinoff ; the rooter - favourite showStar Trek : Strange New Worlds , and reinvigorated the dealership for a young generation . Of the modernStar Trekshows , onlyDiscoveryand the animated comedy seriesStar Trek : Lower Deckshave made it to season 4 . AsStrange New Worldsseason 3 begins product , it has a means to go until it reaches season 4 , and also has an impressive list of contender for the prize ofbestStar Trekseason 4 .
6Star Trek: Discovery Season 4
Broadcast between November 28, 2021 - March 18, 2022
Star Trek : Discoveryseason 4 had a dandy story that pushed the franchise into truly alien district by introducing the non - humanoid Species 10 - C. However , the tempo of the season could often feel leaden as instalment centered around various treatment over how to consider with the Dark Matter Anomaly . The raise lecture and political discussions dragged down what could have been a thrilling story that pushed the boundaries of Starfleet and the Federation ’s noesis of spirit in the universe . The three - part last was inventive and visually stunning , but it ’s hard to get away the fact that , as an overall narrative , Discoveryseason 4 sags dramatically in the mid - section .
5Star Trek: Voyager Season 4
Broadcast between September 3rd, 1997 - May 20th, 1998
Star Trek : Voyagerseason 4 said auf wiedersehen toJennifer Lien ’s Kesand introduced devotee - favorite character Seven of Nine ( Jeri Ryan ) . Opening with the finale to the thrilling time of year 3 finale , " Scorpion",Voyagerseason 4 contains some of the show ’s best - ever episodes . There ’s the epic two - parter " Year of Hell , " which tells a tremendously solid and sweeping news report that does n’t feel cheapened byVoyager ’s inclination to repair to time change of location to fix story problems . It ’s also a rareStar Trekseason in the sense thatVoyager ’s season 4 finale is flat related to the consequences of its season unfastener , as Captain Kathryn Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) is forced to face up to the consequences of her brief alliance with the Borg Collective .
However , amid Graeco-Roman episode like " surviving looker " and " Retrospect " , there are a lot of generic episode inStar Trek : Voyagerseason 4 . BecauseVoyagerwas always more episodic in nature thanStar Trek : Deep Space Nine , Seven ’s changeover from the Collective to living aboard Voyager is n’t as impactful as it could have been . There ’s also the two - part holodeck epic " The Killing Game " , which is entertaining enough , but its World War 2 setting and alien in Nazi uniforms feels like a derivative way to entice viewers during sweeps week .
4Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4
circularise between August 10th , 2004 - May 13th , 2005
DespiteStar Trek : initiative ’s hated coda , season 4 is an incredibly strong campaign of episodes for Scott Bakula ’s Captain Jonathan Archer and the gang of the Enterprise NX-01 . The love story between T’Pol ( Jolene Blalock ) and Commander Trip Tucker ( Connor Trineer ) is the beating heart ofEnterpriseseason 4 , and gives the show some literal emotional depth . There ’s also a brainsick Mirror Universe episode that ties into theStar Trek : The Original Seriesepisode " The Tholian Web . “Enterpriseseason 4 takes some grown swings , and they mostly pay off in some of its very best episodes overall .
However , Star Trek : Enterpriseseason 4 does tie itself in knots slenderly by accost canyon incompatibility like Klingon forehead ridges , and the legacy of Khan Noonien - Singh ( Ricardo Montalban ) . However , it ’s capital to seeEnterprisegiven the chance to tell big narrative across multiple episodes . It ’s a innate progression from the well - received Xindi War arc inEnterpriseseason 3 , and it ’s exciting to ponder where that approach would have ingest them next . lamentably , the cancelation mean thatEnterprise ’s recollective route was snub dead short , with the hastily cobble together stopping point leaving a bitter appreciation in fan ’s mouths .
HadStar Trek : Enterprisebeen renewed for time of year 5 , TV audience would have seen the lineage of the Federation in more contingent , as well as the start of the Earth - Romulan War .
3Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4
Broadcast between September 7th - November 2nd 2023
Star Trek : Lower Decks ' good seasonis the show at its most positive , and it ’s a joyfulness to lay eyes on . Creator Mike McMahan and the writers ' room have become implausibly good at juggling funniness , fan Robert William Service , and " serious " sci - fi to make some of the very bestStar Trekin yr . Lower Decksseason 4 sees it properly graduate from being aStar Trekcomedy to beingStar Trekwith joke in . There could be no fine testament to the trust rate inLower Decksthat it ’s allowed to expand theStar Trekcanon in some huge ways in time of year 4 .
Star Trek : Lower Decksseason 4 reveals more about the Orions in less then 30 bit than in the entire 57 - year account of the franchise . It also depicts the historic agreement between Ferenginar and the Federation , and has a sequel to theStar Trek : The Next Generationepisode " The First Duty " that is more thrilling than most recentTrekmovies . It ’s a show that is perfectly firing on all cylinders , and it seems likeLower Decksseason 5 will go from military capability to strength .
2Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 4
Broadcast between September 24th 1990 - June 17th 1991
After the game commute cliffhanger ending toStar Trek : The Next Generationseason 3 , the show goes from metier to effectiveness in season 4 . From the groundbreakingTNGepisode " Family"to the thrilling time of year finis " Redemption”,TNGseason 4 established a smashing deal of what was to fare forStar Trekin the 1990s and beyond . " The offend " first introduced the Cardassians in an episode that put Chief Miles O’Brien ( Colm Meaney ) center leg , in the end leading to his function inStar Trek : Deep Space Nine . It also introduced Sela ( Denise Crosby ) the half - human half - Romulan daughter of Lt . Tasha Yar .
Sela ’s initiation was an early example of the arc - based storytelling that would come to defineStar Trek : Deep Space Nine . Her coming into court was sow in theStar Trek : The Next Generationepisode " The Mind ’s Eye " , in which Lt . Geordi La Forge ( LeVar Burton ) was used as a sleeper agent by Romulan Intelligence . There are one or two weaker episodes inTNGseason 4 , such as the badly dated Geordi and Leah Brahms ( Susan Gibney ) episode " Galaxy ’s Child " , or the more or less silly " Devil ’s Due . " However , TNGseason 4 is an implausibly strongStar Trekseason that sees Captain Jean - Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) and the bunch at the height of their powers and popularity .
1Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 4
Broadcast between October 10th, 1995 - June 17th, 1996
Riker ’s whiskers is a shorthand for the second thatStar Trek : The Next Generationhit its stride . Given how it changedStar Trek : Deep Space Nineforever , time of year 4 may as well be look up to as Sisko ’s face fungus or , but , Worf . DS9season 4 is good thanTNGseason 4 purely by the great number of high tone installment diffuse between 1995 and 1996 . It gets off to a powerful start with the Klingon smash hit " The Way of the Warrior " before moving directly into the more emotionally nuanced " The Visitor " , one of thebestDS9episodes for Captain Benjamin Sisko(Avery Brooks ) .
Star Trek : Deep Space Nineseason 4 is the perfect example of the wildly different narration that the enfranchisement is equal to of telling . There ’s the two - part political thriller " Homefront / Paradise Lost " which question how far the Federation is unforced to go to protect Earth from the Changeling scourge . On the complete diametric end of the spectrum is " Our Man Bashir " , aJames Bondparody in which the entireDS9cast gammon it up as spy movie archetypes . The best ofStar Trekcan be anything it wants to be from incisive political commentary to laugh - out - loud comedy , andDS9season 4 utterly sum this up .
EachStar Trekseason 4 is available to stream on Paramount+ .
