Summary
- Star Trek in 2023 delivered memorable dialogue and quotable lines that may become iconic like “Live Long and prosper” or “Make it so.”
- The new seasons of Star Trek: Picard, Strange New Worlds, and Lower Decks introduced incredible characters and reinvented classic icons.
- Each Star Trek show in 2023 had meaningful dialogue, with Lower Decks being the most quotable, offering self-referential humor and memorable one-liners.
Star Trek in 2023 delivered tons of quotable lines of dialogue, and perhaps some may one day reach the level of popularity of “Live Long and prosper” or “Make it so.” With new seasons for Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Star Trek: Lower Decks, 2023 was a great year to be a Trek fan. These three new Star Trek shows have introduced some incredible characters to the franchise, in addition to reinventing some classic icons. The writers of modern Star Trek are fans themselves as well as talented scribes who gave the Starfleet officers of the USS Enterprise, USS Titan-A, and USS Cerritos great lines of dialogue.
Star Trek: Picard season 3 reunited the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generationfor one last galaxy-saving adventure, resulting in lots of tears and laughter. Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and the USS Enterprise crew on Strange New Worlds continued boldly going, delivering some Trek episodes that will go down as classics. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4 may be the most quotable Star Trek, as the crew of the USS Cerritos continued their zany exploits. From heartwarming reunion speeches to sarcastic quips, all of the Star Trek shows of 2023 delivered meaningful dialogue and many quotable moments.
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10 LT. BECKETT MARINER: “Wait, is everyone getting weird all of a sudden? Why am I yelling?” LT. T’LYN: “This crew is always weird and yelling.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 5 (“Empathalogical Fallacies”)
With its self-referential humor and quippy one-liners, Star Trek: Lower Decks has plenty of quotable moments in every episode. This particular exchange, however, perfectly sums up the crew of the USS Cerritos, as well as how Lower Decks differs from the live-action Star Trek shows. It’s also funny because it’s true. The Cerritos crew does always act weird and somebody is always yelling. The lower deckers get involved in weird situations all the time, and Lieutentant Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome) and Lieutenant Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), in particular, do seem to yell more than most. In this particular instance, Mariner notices things are even weirder than normal thanks to the emotional projections of Lt. T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz). Still, T’Lyn’s observation isn’t wrong and Ruiz always nails her perfectly Vulcan line delivery.
9 GENERAL GARKOG: “Gonna draw your last breath at the end of our Mek’Leths. Your eternal torture is every Klingon’s dream.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 9 (“Subspace Rhapsody”)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds first-ever musical episode is an incredibly fun hour of television, with well-written and insightful song lyrics. While there are certainly more profound quotes that could have been included on this list, the Klingon K-pop-inspired moment is truly hilarious. Bruce Horak (who portrayed Lt. Hemmer in Strange New Worlds season 1) is unrecognizable as the Klingon General Garkog, and this brief interlude is the perfect addition to the episode’s grand finale. It’s so unexpected to see a group of Klingon warriors sing and dance to a catchy pop tune, that everyone on the Enterprise bridge pauses for a second before they can continue their final ensemble number.
8 LT. SAM RUTHERFORD: “He looks like Tom Paris.” LT. BRAD BOIMLER: “I don’t see it.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 10 (“Old Friends, New Planets”)
Star Trek: Lower Decks regularly references past events in the Star Trek timeline, but sometimes the show makes meta references to the Trek fandom. In “Old Friends, New Planets,” disgraced Starfleet cadet Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) broadcasts his message of liberation to everyone in the Alpha Quadrant. As Captain Carol Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) and the Cerritos crew look on, Lt. Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) notices Locarno looks an awful lot like Star Trek: Voyager‘s Lt. Tom Paris, but Boimler says he simply doesn’t see it. This is, of course, a hilarious shout-out to the fact that Robert Duncan McNeill portrays both characters. Rutherford and Boimler’s commentary throughout Locarno’s speech also serves to hilariously undercut everything Nick’s saying.
Lt. Tom Paris of Star Trek: Voyager was based on Nick Locarno. Although both had a troubled history with Starfleet, the producers didn’t just bring Locarno over to Voyager because his actions were considered irredeemable. It’s appropriate then, that Locarno ultimately became a villain on Lower Decks.
7 LT. BECKETT MARINER: “Starfleet is supposed to be about puzzling together the mysteries of life, not fighting wars.”
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4, Episode 9 (“The Inner Fight”)
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 4, episode 9, “The Inner Fight”, finally reveals why Lt. Beckett Mariner behaves the way she does. When Mariner finds herself trapped in a cave with the Klingon Captain Ma’ah (Jon Curry), she opens up to him about a tragedy that deeply affected her. Mariner befriended Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill) while attending Starfleet Academy, and she was devastated when Sito was killed on one of her first missions. Mariner never wants to be the officer who sends ensigns to their deaths, so she has spent her life self-sabotaging her own career to avoid being promoted. Mariner also makes a good point – Starfleet is meant to be about exploring the galaxy, but too often it becomes about defense and weapons and war.
6 CAPTAIN LIAM SHAW: “Forgive me. At some point, a**hole became a substitute for charm.”
Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 4 (“No Win Scenario”)
In Star Trek: Picard season 3, episode 4, “No Win Scenario,” the USS Titan is dead in space, sinking into a gravity well with little hope of rescue. Captain Liam Shaw (Todd Stashwick) and many of the crew gather on the holodeck, where Shaw interrupts Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) to deliver a scathing speech about his experience at the devastating Battle of Wolf 359. When everyone in the holodeck stares at Shaw, he delivers the above quote, and “charming a**hole” makes a great descriptor for his character. Shaw’s speech about his experience at the Battle of Wolf 359 not only proved Stashwick’s skill as an actor, but also recontextualized Shaw as a character.
Todd Stashwick’s Captain Shaw became a breakout fan-favorite character in Star Trek: Picard season 3, and his sarcastic one-liners could fill up their own entire list.
5 LT. SPOCK: “My mother is the most resilient, compassionate, tolerant person I have known.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 5 (“Charades”)
By the time of Star Trek: The Original Series, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has fully embraced his Vulcan side, but the Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) of Strange New Worlds is a bit more open with his feelings. In Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 5, “Charades,” Spock becomes even more emotional as he mistakenly gets turned into a full human by an alien entity. As a human, Spock must perform the many complicated steps of a Vulcan engagement ritual with his fiancee, T’Pring (Gia Sandhu), and T’Pring’s parents. With his mother, Amanda (Mia Kirshner), by his side, Spock makes it through the dinner, dealing with multiple insults directed at his humanity. Finally, Spock hits his breaking point and stands up not just for himself, but also for his mother.
4 ADMIRAL JEAN-LUC PICARD: “Jack, I realize, you are the part of me that I never knew was missing.”
Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 10 (“The Last Generation”)
The first two seasons of Star Trek: Picard were all about Jean-Luc’s journey to confront his past traumas and allow people into his life. In Picard season 3, Jean-Luc not only reunites with his friends from the USS Enterprise-D but also discovers that he has a son. Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) had her reasons for keeping Jack Crusher from Picard for much of his life, but Picard now wants to get to know his son. After Jack gets assimilated by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), Picard joins him, confronting his fear of the Borg. Picard opens up to Jack, telling him how he found a family in Starfleet, but still kept a barrier between them. With Jack and Beverly, Picard now has the chance for a real family, but it remains to be seen whether we’ll see any more stories about the Picard/Crusher clan.
3 COMMODORE GEORDI LA FORGE: “Data, you made me better. You did. You made me a better man, a better father, better friend.”
Star Trek: Picard Season 3, Episode 7 (“Dominion”)
The friendship between Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) became one of the best things about Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the two finally reunited in Star Trek: Picard season 3. After the Daystrom Android M-5-10 android is rescued from Daystrom Station, the personalities of Data and his evil twin Lore compete for control. Although Lore temporarily takes over, Data eventually prevails, thanks to all of the connections he made throughout his life and encouragement from his best friend. Geordi goes on to say that Data’s death in Star Trek: Nemesis broke him, and it was the memories Geordi had of his friend that put him back together.
2 CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER PIKE: “Sometimes, hope is a choice.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 10 (“Hegemony”)
Ever the optimist, Captain Pike tries to keep a positive outlook even when the odds are stacked against him. When it comes to the Gorn, even Pike struggles to maintain his hope. When he tells Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) that “hope is a choice,” she responds that he’s told her that before. Pike then replies: “Maybe I’m just saying it ’cause I need to hear it.” With his girlfriend, Captain Marie Batel, (Melanie Scrofano) unaccounted for on a plant full of Gorn, Pike makes the hard choice to hope, even when the situation looks bleak. Even beyond the specific situation with the Gorn, this quote wonderfully sums up Pike’s entire philosophy. This is the man who learned about his tragic fate and still continued to command the Enterprise with hope and optimism.
1 NUMBER ONE: “If all those people from all those worlds can work together, side by side, maybe I could, too. Maybe I could be a part of something bigger than myself.”
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2, Episode 2 (“Ad Astra Per Aspera”)
With “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” Strange New Worlds delivers a phenomenal courtroom episode that celebrates the good in humanity and what Starfleet is supposed to be. Number One (Rebecca Romijn) was taken into custody at the end of Strange New Worlds season 1 for lying on her Starfleet application about being a genetically enhanced Illyrian. Throughout her trial in “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” Una delivers several meaningful quotes as she explains her childhood and why she joined Starfleet in the first place.
As her friend and lawyer, Neera Ketoul (Yetide Badaki), puts it: “Through her hardships, Una saw the stars.” Una wanted nothing more than to escape her past and explore the stars. In the end, the court rules in Una’s favor, granting her asylum in Starfleet. While their verdict does not fix all of Starfleet’s issues, it highlights the good people within the organization and represents a step toward a brighter Star Trek future.
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Star Trek: Strange New WorldsRelease Date: 2022-05-05
Cast: Melissa Navia, Babs Olusanmokun, Ethan Peck, Jess Bush, Celia Rose Gooding, Rebecca Romijn, Bruce Horak, Anson Mount, Christina Chong
Genres: Adventure, Sci-Fi, Action
Seasons: 2
Story By: Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet
Writers: Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet
Streaming Service(s): Paramount+
Franchise(s): Star Trek
Directors: Chris Fisher, Amanda Row
Showrunner: Henry Alonso Myers, Akiva Goldsman
Season List: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 1, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season 2
- Star Trek: Picard
Summary: After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).
Release Date: 2020-01-23
Cast: Santiago Cabrera, Alison Pill, Orla Brady, Michelle Hurd, Jeri Ryan, Brent Spiner, Harry Treadaway, Rebecca Wisocky, Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Patrick Stewart
Genres: Sci-Fi, Drama, Action, Adventure
Seasons: 3
Story By: Akiva Goldsman; Michael Chabon; Kirsten Beyer; Alex Kurtzman
Writers: Terry Matalas
Network: Paramount
Streaming Service(s): Paramount+
Franchise(s): Star Trek
Directors: Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, michael dorn
Showrunner: Michael Chabon
Season List: Star Trek: Picard – Season 1, Star Trek: Picard – Season 2, Star Trek: Picard – Season 3
- Star Trek Lower Decks
Summary: The animated comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least significant ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, in 2380. Ensigns Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and Tendi (Noël Wells) have to keep up with their duties and their social lives often. At the same time, the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies.
Release Date: 2020-08-06
Cast: Jack Quaid, Gillian Vigman, dawnn lewis, Noel Wells, Eugene Cordero, Fred Tatasciore, Jerry O’Connell, Tawny Newsome
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Action
Seasons: 3
Story By: gene roddenbury
Writers: Gene Roddenberry
Network: Paramount
Streaming Service(s): Paramount+
Franchise(s): Star Trek
Season List: Star Trek Lower Decks – Season 1, Star Trek Lower Decks – Season 2, Star Trek Lower Decks – Season 3, Star Trek Lower Decks – Season 4
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Star Trek: Picard
Star Trek Lower Decks