Star Trek: Discovery, Picard & Lower Decks' First Episodes are Now on YouTube

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The debut episodes of the three current Star Trek shows, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks, have been released for a limited time on YouTube. The shows are being made available as part of a promotional push for Paramount+, the streaming service formerly known as CBS All Access, which launched on March 4th with a considerably expanded library of content.

Front and center among that content is Star Trek. The streamer made a big splash in 2017 with Star Trek: Discovery, a prequel taking place about a decade before the era of Kirk and Spock aboard the Enterprise. The series was a hit, and the next installment would rather shockingly bring Patrick Stewart back to the role that made him famous as the titular character of Star Trek: Picard, which picks up two decades after the last story to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard has been a huge hit for the streaming service, boosting its subscription numbers considerably and becoming its most-watched new series. The animated Star Trek: Lower Decks followed, a fun and irreverent sendup of the final frontier that the fandom has largely embraced.

Now all three series' premiere episodes can be seen on Paramount+'s YouTube page. Michael Burnham begins her Klingon conflict with "The Vulcan Hello," Jean-Luc Picard is forced to unfold the mystery of Dahj Asha in "Remembrance," and Brad Boimler has a very rough day in "Second Contact."

Paramount+ are betting big on Star Trek. Beyond just Picard, Discovery, and Lower Decks, they've also begun production on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, a spinoff of Discovery showcasing Captain Christopher Pike and Lieutenant Spock on the Enterprise years before Captain Kirk took over command. There's also the animated, family-aimed Star Trek: Prodigy, which chronicles a ragtag group of alien kids who steal a starship and somehow have a connection to Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Despite the fact Star Trek is the backbone of Paramount+, it might be a bit of a wait for new Trek. Lower Decks should debut its second season in the back half of 2021, with Star Trek: Prodigy also debuting near the end of this year. Production on all three live-action shows was delayed during the pandemic; Picard, Strange New Worlds, and Discovery are only just now getting underway on their new seasons. Even if 2021 is something of a lull, it shouldn't be too long before there's new Star Trek year-round on Paramount+.