8 Sci-Fi Space Opera Series That Are Better Than 'Star Trek'

Star Trek is a landmark of television, and I’m not here to tear it down. I’ve spent a long time watching it – all of it, the good, the truly great, and the stretches that test your patience like nothing else. The Original Series still holds up in ways that surprise me. The Next Generation peaked somewhere in its third season and stayed there for years. Deep Space Nine remains the most underrated entry in the franchise. But somewhere around the late 2010s, when every new Star Trek show seemed locked in a race to outrun the last one, I found myself returning to one question: What does space opera look like when the weight of a 60-year-old franchise isn’t sitting on its shoulders?