What No DOCTOR WHO and No STAR TREK Means For Sci-Fi

⚡ Quick Take

• Both Doctor Who and Star Trek off the air for the first time in 60 years
• What does that mean for science fiction?

If the sci-fi world sounds empty to you right now, echoey and cavernous, there’s a reason for that. We now live at an unprecedented time (and space). Earlier this year, all Star Trek series ceased production with no movies in the immediate future. This week, we learned that the BBC put Doctor Who on blocks with no production until, per sources, at least 2028. This one-two punch to fans bestows 2026 with a dubious honor: it is now the first year without a Doctor Who or Star Trek thing in production since 1963. That’s 63 years, people.

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Doctor Who premiered November 23, 1963. It was on the air for 26 seasons before its extended hiatus (e.g. the BBC quietly canceled it) on December 9, 1989. After a single TV movie in 1996 and another long break, it returned March 26, 2005. It then went on for 20 full years.

Star Trek debuted initially on September 8, 1966. After 79 episodes, it went off the air in June of 1969. After a super underrated animated series from 1973 to 1974, the franchise turned to movies, making six from 1979 to 1991. In the meantime, Star Trek: The Next Generation began its seven-year run in September 1987. That started an extended period of overlapping TV series production. TNG went on from ’89 to ’94. Deep Space Nine went from 1993 to 1999; Voyager from ’95 to ’01; and Enterprise from 2001 to 2005. Then, beginning with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, the Paramount+-era had many different series all going on at once. The final two seasons of Strange New Worlds are yet to air, but their production wrapped.

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The ’80s and ’90s Star Trek TV shows almost exactly filled in the period when Doctor Who was off the air. In fact, the revived Who began only two months before Enterprise ended. These are perennial science fiction properties that for the first time since before they started are both in a holding pattern.

I have full faith both Star Trek and Doctor Who will return at some point, be it 2028 or later. But to realize we have neither creating new stories in the present day is weirdly devastating. Now all we have is Star Wars of the big three…and, let’s just say we need more than that.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

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