After over two decades, Star Trek fans are getting one of the best treats ever on streaming. Created by Gene Roddenberry, the iconic sci-fi franchise began with the series of the same name, which follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew. The show premiered on September 6, 1966, on Canada’s CTV network before debuting in the U.S. two days later on NBC. In the years that followed, the franchise expanded into a cultural phenomenon, spawning dozens of TV shows, blockbuster films, animated projects, and streaming originals that have introduced generations of viewers to its extraordinary multiverse.
Now, while Trekkies keep enjoying the most recent ongoing franchise entries, streaming reports confirm that a couple of classic favorites have recently been made free to watch, giving longtime fans and newcomers alike the perfect opportunity to experience a defining chapter in Star Trek history. That said, all four films in The Next Generation era have landed on Plex as of this month to stream for free. The films include Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis (which features one of Tom Hardy‘s earliest performances), with the first two often regarded as the best franchise movies ever made.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
How Well Do You Remember The Next Generation?
Star Trek’s The Next Generation launched after the television show of the same name, which originally aired in syndication from September 28, 1987, to May 23, 1994, spanning 178 episodes over seven seasons. As the third series overall in the Star Trek franchise, it became one of the most beloved entries in the saga. Later that same year, Generations was released on November 18, 1994, as the first film set in The Next Generation era and the seventh feature film in the franchise overall. Directed by David Carson and written by Ronald D. Mooreand Brannon Braga, the movie brought together the casts of Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation while giving fans the historic meeting between Patrick Stewart‘sJean-Luc Picard and William Shatner‘sJames T. Kirk.
First Contact, widely regarded as the strongest of the four Next Generation films by both critics and audiences, followed on November 22, 1996. Jonathan Frakes served as director, a role he would reprise for Insurrection. Moore and Braga also returned to write First Contact, but were not involved in the final two films of The Next Generation. Those films, Insurrection and Nemesis, were released on December 11, 1998, and December 13, 2002, respectively. Both received mixed-to-negative reviews, with Nemesis in particular underperforming at the box office. Together, they marked the end of an era for Star Trek movies until the franchise was rebooted by J. J. Abrams in 2009.
All four films in Star Trek’s The Next Generation are streaming on Plex.
