A new ranking places six animated Star Trek series in order of quality, with Lower Decks topping the list as the strongest entry. The franchise's animated branch spans preschool adventures to adult comedy, offering diverse takes on its core themes since the 1970s. Published on January 22, 2026, the list highlights stylistic contrasts and varying quality among the shows.
The Star Trek franchise has produced six animated TV series, each bringing unique flavors to the universe's exploration of space and morality. According to a recent ranking, these shows range from preschool-friendly tales to irreverent comedies, with significant differences in tone and execution that can cause "tonal whiplash" when watched back-to-back.
At the bottom is Star Trek: Scouts, the most recent addition and a franchise first as a YouTube-first preschool series developed with Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. channel. It features PAW Patrol-style animation in three- to four-minute episodes where three toddlers affiliated with Starfleet solve simple space problems, such as asteroids resembling meatballs or boogers like green slime. Despite its low ranking due to its format and target audience, it introduces Star Trek to young children through cute pets and relatable stories, appealing to parents seeking franchise content for background viewing.
Next is Star Trek: Very Short Treks, a 2023 five-episode miniseries created by Casper Kelly. These brief, absurd episodes parody familiar tropes with gross humor, fourth-wall breaks, and cameos from veterans like George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Ethan Peck, and Gates McFadden. Alex Kurtzman specifically commissioned Kelly to experiment, ensuring it fits within canon while exploring how Star Trek could "go wrong."
Star Trek: Short Treks includes 10 episodes across two seasons, though most are live-action; only two Season 2 entries are animated. Highlights include "Ephraim and Dot," a Hanna-Barbera-style chase involving a tardigrade and a drone on the Enterprise, and "The Girl Who Made the Stars," a fable told by Mike Burnham to young Michael Burnham.
Ranking third is the classic Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1974, produced under Gene Roddenberry's oversight with returning voices like William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. It extends The Original Series with fewer budget constraints but features clunky mid-1970s animation. The show earned Star Trek's first Emmy after 13 nominations for the live-action predecessor, though its second season was truncated to six episodes.
Star Trek: Prodigy targets a younger audience with slick CGI and outlandish alien teen characters aboard the USS Protostar, guided by a hologram of Captain Janeway voiced by Kate Mulgrew. It favors ongoing narratives over episodic formats but faced cancellation by Paramount+ in 2023 after Season 2 renewal, halting further stories despite completion of the second season.
Topping the list is Star Trek: Lower Decks, an adult animated series focusing on low-ranking ensigns on the USS Cerritos. It embraces the franchise's goofiness with intelligent storytelling, drawing comparisons to Doctor Who. Characters like Brad Boimler and Beckett Mariner even crossover into live-action in Strange New Worlds Season 2. The show's fun writing and voice performances, including Jack Quaid and Tawny Newsome, make it a standout by laughing with Star Trek's oddities rather than at them.
