When I watch something where the timeline of events are different from the official release order, I make a chronological list.
What is the "Roddenberry Timeline"?
The "Roddenberry Timeline" means all Star Trek produced within the same in-universe continuity that started with Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek series. For other Star Trek media, see my "Modern Timeline" list. For the reboot movies, see my "Kelvin Timeline" list.
- The order of this list revolves around the given stardate for an episode or movie. The calendar date given is extrapolated based on production order and the differences between stardates.
- Most of The Animated Series episodes are using their revised stardates from the novelizations of those episodes. This corrects a large number of chronological issues.
- If an episode or movie's calendar date and stardate is listed out of order, a justification is given in the notes for those episodes. Sometimes the canon dates are simply wrong.
(This list also includes the fan production Star Trek Continues because it is the highest quality and most period-faithful Star Trek fan series ever produced and because it fills in an important time gap between The Animated Series and The Motion Picture. This is just my personal preference, not official canon. If you disagree, you can simply skip those episodes without missing any important information. You should give them a try, though.)
