Star Trek Fans Need To Watch This Underrated Sci-Fi Series On Peacock

If you're reading this article, there's a decent chance that you're a "Star Trek" fan. Perhaps you've already seen every "Star Trek" series from worst to best. After binging "The Original Series," "The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine," "Voyager," "Enterprise," "Discovery," "Picard," and "Strange New Worlds," you may also have gone through the various animated "Star Trek" shows out there. In this case, there's a decent chance that you may be on the lookout for other, "Star Trek"-style shows that will help you to boldly go while waiting for new series and seasons to arrive.

Should that be the case, one particular show might very well have your back. Consider tuning to Peacock, where the fine but extremely underrated space-faring Syfy series "The Ark" is now available for streaming. Created by Dean Devlin ("The Librarian," "Leverage"), the show focuses on a gigantic colony space ship known as Ark One, which is transporting a significant chunk of humanity to its new home world of Proxima Centauri B. However, a disaster kills almost every person who knows how to accomplish the mission and keep the ship operational. Only three junior officers and a handful of grunt staff survive, and they now have to figure out how to keep the Ark on track with extremely limited supplies and skills.

With its heavy space exploration themes, ample focus on the characters and their dynamics, and plenty of mystery-solving about the nature of their predicament, "The Ark" has the soul of a "Star Trek" show. As such, it's easy to recommend the series to any Trekkie willing to experiment.

The key draw of "The Ark" is its setting — the eye-popping Ark One spaceship that's full of interesting characters, all of whom want to escape the ruined Earth for their own reasons. In true "Star Trek" style, the interaction of these people and the way they work together under pressure forms the backbone of the show. There are also other elements a "Star Trek" fan will find familiar: Scrounging for resources to fix MacGuffins, alternate universes, faster-than-light travel, mystery encounters in space, rescue missions, enemies aboard the ship ...  It's all there, in one form or another. There's even a nod of sorts to the many versions of the USS Enterprise "Star Trek" has featured over time, courtesy of the Ark Program's various Ark vessels.

Of course, none of this is done to explicitly copy "Star Trek." Despite the aforementioned similarities, "The Ark" is its own beast, and nowhere is this more evident than with its central cast. The handful of remaining, desperate Ark One crew members are led by Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2"), a measly lieutenant. Apart from the acting captain, many other survivors also have to figure out jobs they're wildly unqualified for if they hope to survive ... all the while dealing with the fact that the vast ark ship is operating virtually without resources. "The Ark" turns space into more than just the final frontier — here, it's an unfeeling force that's constantly threatening to kill everyone aboard. In this show, every day is a battle for survival, whether there are actual enemies to confront or not.

"The Ark" is available for streaming on Peacock.