Time, and the advent of the streaming age has benefited three Star Trek shows that were unfairly maligned on broadcast. Now that all of Star Trek is available to stream online, there's been a significant reappraisal of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. Each of these 21st century Trek shows were overshadowed by the huge success of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This struggle wasn't unique to these shows because even TNG struggled to emerge from the shadow of its predecessor during its first three seasons.
The jaw-dropping cliffhanger to the TNG season 3 finale "The Best of Both Worlds" is regarded at the moment the show finally hit the mainstream. TNG's popularity spawned three more Star Trek shows as Paramount were keen to capitalize on the huge success of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the USS Enterprise-D. While none of these spinoffs ever reached the populist heights of TNG, they pushed the franchise in new and interesting directions. As the decades have passed, each of TNG's Star Trek stablemates can now be judged on their own considerable merits.
