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mindbleach ,

Episodic television from the linear broadcast era means you can jump in damn near wherever and it’ll be an okay time. Usually. Deep Space 9 has more ongoing storylines and every series has some episodes people just haaate. The Next Generation has half of its what-were-they-thinking episodes in the first season. Nonetheless I’d recommend TNG as the starting point, because it has the right mix of grandeur and restraint.

The Original Series is technicolor sci-fi horror dressed as episodic space exploration. It’s campy and melodramatic and by god does it know it. Some episodes were blatantly “what’s available on the back-lot next month?” and are a coin toss between stupid and incredible.

TOS had some movies (roman numerals) and they range from “what if an episode was three hours long” to “modern-day San Francisco zoo heist.” At their best they’re fun and at their worst they’re even more fun.

The Next Generation is high-concept ethical debate framed as the experiences of naval officers. The cast is seriously talented and the writing is usually excellent.

TNG had some movies (bald guy on the poster) and they were written by people who didn’t like the show for people who didn’t watch the show. You have to turn your brain off, but they’re well-directed.

Deep Space 9 was a direct response to Babylon 5. it’s heavy on other species criticizing the openly optimistic and quietly human-centric Federation. It never goes full “revisionist western,” but it gets dark in places. It was also a deeply indulgent excuse to explore characters and cultures from prior Trek.

Voyager did the opposite, by yeeting a ship to the ass end of the galaxy, where nobody’s heard of the Federation. They’re just trying to keep it together and beeline back toward home. It’s the same formula as most TOS / TNG episodes, but with fresh character dynamics and new rubber-forehead aliens.

Enterprise is an origin story starring the guy from Quantum Leap, and the tone is just… weird. It’s not awful, but I’m not personally a fan. Apparently it had an ending even more disappointing than Quantum Leap, which is fucking saying something.

JJ Abrams did some reboot movies replacing The Original Series, and they’re everything you expect when reading “JJ Abrams did some reboot movies.” Great casting, though.

Discovery sounded like it got up its own ass a bit. There’s a point in any long-running franchise where the people making it grew up as fans of it, and it takes strenuous effort not to create a feedback loop of shallow fanfiction stupidity. See: RTD-era Doctor Who, numbered Star Wars sequels.

Picard sounds like season one was written exactly like the TNG movies, which is pretty far from a compliment. Season two is apparently more of a 1990s Trek reunion and I still can’t care.

Strange New Worlds sounds like it’s doing everything right, as a revival of TOS-era “wagon train to the stars” problem-of-the-week storytelling. The universe is big and weird and terrifying and we’re out there pencling in the map. Plus they pulled off a musical episode. That’s always a good sign.

Honorable mentions to Galaxy Quest, an aliens-abduct-actors comedy that is accidentally one of the better Star Trek movies, and The Orville, Seth MacFarlane’s extremely Seth MacFarlane love letter that’s honestly a pretty solid realization of the formula and absolutely knows it. Also neatly illustrating the difference between parody and satire.

lowvisnitpicker ,

TNG had some movies (bald guy on the poster) and they were written by people who didn’t like the show for people who didn’t watch the show. You have to turn your brain off, but they’re well-directed.

LOL I’m stealing this to use as my IRL description of those films. I wish it wasn’t true, but it is.

ValueSubtracted ,
@ValueSubtracted@startrek.website avatar

We do have some thoughts on this.

xkforce ,

I would reccommend starting with TNG or TOS.

iamjackflack ,

If you start with the new it will be hard to go back to the old. If you are not Trekkie / nerdy person, start with voyager and go newer. If you like well written intelligent shows and don’t mind it sometimes being slower, next generation is definitely the best starting point and go forward.

I’m gonna get flamed for this but I would personally skip deep space nine. Everyone loves it but I couldn’t get into it. Requires numerous episodes to be watched to latch on potentially.

Newer shows aren’t bad, but they lose alot of what made the originals great. Strange new worlds is good. Picard is ok, way different than the other shows but good. Discovery is new age and just not that great, it’s really odd after watching all the others.

Enterprise is forgettable but worth watching.

The original series is really only for the die hards at this point.

hallettj ,
@hallettj@beehaw.org avatar

Deep Space 9 is a different animal. It’s fantastic if you like a political drama. There is less space adventure than the other series.

iamjackflack ,

See that’s the thing. Political drama isn’t bad. Take Andor for example. That was a slower heavy politically infused and that show was amazing. I think it was extremely well written, not to say that ds9 is badly written, it’s not. It’s just missing something in my eyes to keep me captivated, can’t quite put my finger on it.

lulztard ,

Sadly Star Trek ended with Voyager, but you'll still enjoy it. Especially TNG and the Babylon 5 clone, Deep Space 9, which are both pretty slowstarters, but switch to Warp10 after a season.

HardlightCereal ,

If you’re a kid, start with Prodigy. If you have a tiny attention span, start with Lower Decks. If you’re used to mainstream modern TV, start with Strange New Worlds. If you can tolerate 90s TV, start with TNG season 2. If you love old TV, start with TOS.

The best entry point is going to depend on who you are. There’s lots of diverse Trek for different kinds of people.

tpihkal ,

I’d say just watch Star Trek: Enterprise and call it good.

grayman ,

This is definitely the most approachable for a non trekkie.

CeruleanRuin ,

But also the least representative of what Trek as a whole is like. Enterprise is on its own frequency.

ClarkDoom ,

This person definitely has faith of the heart.

HardlightCereal ,

OP said they want to watch a progressive Star Trek

PutangInaMo ,

This was my start:

Strange new worlds (best) Picard Deep Space 9 Voyager (not a fan) The next generation (good) Back to ds9 (favorite)

CarlsIII ,

Alternate suggestion to what you might be getting: if you have an antenna for your tv, check the local antenna channels. We have one that does a block of episode of each of the first 5 live action Star Treks. Pluto TV also has a Star Trek channel that alternates between the different series. Most Star Trek is serialized so you can watch episodes out of order and not be lost.

lemmie689 ,
@lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Voyager, TNG, DS9 Have watched these dozens of times. TOS for the history of it. ST - The Animated Series and Lower Decks.

bionicjoey ,

Why did you put them out of order? TNG -> DS9 -> Voyager

lemmie689 ,
@lemmie689@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Just my preference.

EmpathicVagrant ,

TOS, TNG, VOY, ENT, DS9 is the way I went

Mr_Buscemi ,
@Mr_Buscemi@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Watch Next Generation or a few episodes of OG Star Trek & then seeing Wrath of Khan movie.

Starting with Next Generation isn’t a bad option I think. The beginning is rough at parts but has some really good episodes in it. The series got much better after season 2. You could follow a skip list to skip over the episode that are deemed horrible on your first watch to make it all easier. It’s worth going back later to watch them though.

Deep space nine follows up an event that occured in Next Generation, so that show might be confusing till you watch NG.

Voyager is pretty much self-contained since that’s a big part of the story lol. Only thing that could be confusing would be a character that’s sorta important later on that is from NG. It isn’t much but just something to state if stuff like that bothers you.

Enterprise is a pretty okay show I think. It’s the earliest show in the timeline and mankind’s first exploration. People don’t like it for some reasons that are completely justified but it’s never been anything to stop me from enjoying it. Might be best to watch this after others because it is different.

OG Star Trek is a fun series to watch. Really episodic so you can find some of the best episodes and try just watching those. Watch 3/4 of the best (including the one was Khan) and then watch the movie “Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan”.

julianh ,

The original series or next generation depending on your taste. Although be warned that TNG’s first season is rough, so if you’re not committed to watching everything, maybe pick a few episodes to try first.

Personally I watched through the entirety of TNG and then moved on to DS9, and I really enjoyed both shows. DS9 is also a direct follow up to TNG in a few ways so they make a good pair. I wouldn’t recommend watching DS9 first though since it’s so different from “normal” star trek.

Facebones ,

Anywhere, really. I didn’t like Enterprise and I don’t think alot of trek fans did.

Strange New Worlds is the new mainline series, just wrapped up S2. Can follow Lower Decks as well if you’re down for an “adult cartoon,” they actually do a crossover episode between the two.

If you enjoy that, there’s no real need to watch series X before Y past personal preference. Of old trek TOS and TNG are excellent of course but I watched Voyager as it came out and have a soft spot for Janeway. ♥️

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