Star Trek: Captain Picard is back on board the Enterprise

This feels like just the right time and age for Captain Picard to show up again, portrayed by Patrick Stewart. The always proper ambassador of peace is underway in outer space, searching for new forms of life and a society in which every living being has equal rights. Of course he will fight evil again, because even peaceful galaxies have villains who prefer power over peaceful coexistence.

Gene Roddenberry is the man who invented Star Trek in the mid-1960s, and he had the vision of a peaceful universe at a time when both the US and the Soviet Union were trying to seize control of space. Roddenberry placed a multicultural crew on the good ship Enterprise, including a Japanese, a Russian and an Afro-American communications officer.

Leonard Nimoy (left) played the Vulcan Spock, the first extraterrestrial on board a spaceship from Earth. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) was commander on board in the first Enterprise series. He and Spock were a dream team that straightened up outer space from 1966 to 1969. The story came to an end three seasons and 69 episodes later.

Before Captain Kirk headed into space, the crew of the USS Enterprise was commanded by a Captain Pike in a pilot to the series, titled "The Cage." The film turned out to be too intellectual, and it was open-ended. Pike nevertheless reappeared in one of the Enterprise episodes, and his story was finally wrapped up.

The TV series also inspired several movies. In the 1994 "Star Trek Generations" — the seventh feature film — Kirk passed the baton to Jean-Luc Picard. Through a leap in time, Kirk and Picard end up in a kind of parallel universe, where they join forces to fight the bad guy. On TV, "The Next Generation" series starring Captain Picard has been running successfully since 1987.

The story of the USS Enterprise continues a good 100 years after Kirk's era. Picard's crew includes numerous aliens, among them a Klingon by the name of Worf and the ship's psychologist Troi (left) from the planet Betazed.

Data (right), a friendly android who shoots with deadly precision and has all too human features, has cult status in "The next Generation." He adores his tomcat Spot, and takes the feline on every Enterprise journey.

This is where the Star Trek creators made their first leap in time: 100 years before Captain James T. Kirk launched into space, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) was chief on the bridge of the Enterprise. "Star Trek: Enterprise" ran from 2001 to 2005, but despite its almost 100 episodes, it never managed to convince as many fans as other Star Trek series.

There are 13 Star Trek movies to date. The rebooted series stars Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) — as young men. In the 11th Star Trek movie from 2009, the reckless young Kirk enjoys racing through the desert to the sound of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" — until he and Spock embark on their first adventure. The film was directed by J.J. Abrams, best known as a Star Wars filmmaker.

In 2017, Netflix launched "Discovery," the next Star Trek series. This time, the captain and the first officer were female. Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) is portrayed as an ambivalent character who repeatedly caused surprises throughout the series.

Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) returned in season 2 of the Netflix series. The story takes place 10 years before Kirk takes over; the USS Enterprise is just being built. Like in the Star Wars saga, the makers of Star Trek extended the timelines of the various series, allowing them to produce more spin-offs and sequels.

A woman was at the helm in one of the successful spin-off series. From 1995-2001, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) led the crew on the Voyager. Janeway even met Jean-Luc Picard in the 10th Star Trek movie, the 2002 "Nemesis," where the two captains communicated via their screens. The series about the "Deep Space Nine" space station (1993-99) was another spin-off.

Trekkies look forward to the "Star Trek: Picard" series because "Jean-Luc" is the most popular of all Starfleet captains. Above all, they want him to be the captain everyone remembers — a hope they've been promoting on Twitter with the hashtag #bethemanweremember. Old friends accompany Picard, including Number One Riker (above), Data, Troi, Guinan and a newcomer: the Borg beauty Seven of Nine.