There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

Ramin_HAL9001 , (edited )

I would recommend The Next Generation or Deep Space 9 first.

The Original Series is pretty campy and low-budget. I don’t think Star Trek really became Star Trek (as we know it) until Roddenberry had a second crack at it, which was The Next Generation. Be warned, both of these series start out pretty rough.

The first 2 seasons of TNG is a little corny, although they have some very good episodes, like one planet they visit which is a matriarchal society, and they show the male-female gender roles reversed. In my opinion, their 1940s nostalgia episodes (played out in the holodeck) really did not age well, fortunately they stopped doing that in season 2. Dr. Polanski gets a lot of hate, but I thought she was a fine character. I think season 3 of TNG was by far the best, with some of their boldest political statements. One episode, Picard is accidentally seen as a God by a pre-industrial society, in another, Commander Data is judged by Starfleet to be a person of a race of a single individual, and is granted personhood. In yet another episode, Mr. Data creates a child for himself which Starfleet deems to be their property, and results in one of my favorite Picard quotes of all time: “Hold your ground Mr. Data. (To the admiral) Order a man to turn his child over to the state? Not while I’m captain.” By season 6 and 7 they clearly start running out of ideas though.

In my opinion, Deep Space 9 was the hardest to start, but probably the best series of all I have seen. The first 17 episodes were so boring I could barely get through it. But starting with Season 1 episode 18 (titled “Duet”) and every single episode after it was consistently very good. They also, I think, make many more, and much bolder, political statements than The Next Generation ever did.

SinningStromgald , (edited )

Start anywhere you want. Not every show or movie clicks with everyone. The shows do inform the movies so maybe try and watch a TV series first? But anyways a little breakdown follows.

OG Star Trek, Star Trek: TNG, DS9 and Voyager are the beating heart of Star Trek as far as shows. They are all worth watching but OG Star Trek certainly wears the colors of its time. Just keep that in mind.

After that is Enterprise, Picard, Strange New World’s and Discovery for live action and Lower Decks and Prodigy for animated. I only have opinions on Enterprise and Prodigy. Enterprise completly skippable. Prodigy seems good but haven’t gotten through much of it yet.

For movies there are six movies that take place in the OG Star Trek era (I like all the originals personally but some are unliked by fans).

Then there are four movies in the Star Trek: TNG era but Insurrection and Nemesis, the last two, are generally not well liked, but views could have changed with time. (I enjoyed all these as well)

(All ten of the above Star Trek movies were my childhood and therefore I have a lot of nostalgia for them. So my views are skewed.)

After that you have the reboot movies which are completely skippable (my recommendation). I watched the first one and was so nonplussed I never bothered with the others. Also, J.J. Abrams is involved in them so if you like what he does you may like the movies. Personally he’s on my shit list with M. Night and avoid any projects involving them.

Edit: Because I clearly hadn’t said enough so I said more.

KazuyaDarklight ,
@KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world avatar

Do what you want, except don’t watch the very last episode of Enterprise. And make sure you end with “Lower Decks”, so you can enjoy all the juicy easter eggs with your fresh Trek knowledge.

xusontha ,

Yes-waiting to watch LD is the best move, even if it is one of the best shows (at least that’s what I think)

You must resist the call of the siren

DarkMetatron ,

There is a much better novel adaptation/interpretation of the last episode of Enterprise named “The Good That Men Do”. I can only recommend reading that instead of watching the episode.

PlutoniumAcid ,
@PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world avatar

What’s the last episode of Enterprise? I might have seen it on TV decades ago, or maybe not. What’s the problem with it?

KazuyaDarklight ,
@KazuyaDarklight@lemmy.world avatar

TLDR; It time jumps forward, proceeds to establish some very controversial and unnecessary changes among the crew, and frames it all as being part of a holodeck program Riker is running for guidance on making a decision. While it is NOT the actual implication of the episode, I feel the holodeck aspect falls a little “extra” flat by ending the series with “it was all a dream/simulation” vibes, IMHO anyway.

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”.

The_Picard_Maneuver ,
@The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website avatar

If you find old shows charming, start with the original series and just roll with it. The original series is iconic, and it’s fun to see where it all came from.

If you want a little more substance, start with Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s peak Trek in many ways (in terms of the whole Trek philosophy and world building).

Corgana ,
@Corgana@startrek.website avatar

This is what I usually recommend, too. Also I ususally say don’t feel bad about skipping most of TNG Seasons 1&2 if it’s not hooking you right away. Algernon_Asimov had a good guide at Daystrom ranking which episodes could be more or less skippable.

zkfcfbzr ,

Easy. Start with The Orville, then watch Galaxy Quest.

OurTragicUniverse ,
@OurTragicUniverse@kbin.social avatar

And if you're still a fan after that but want something more serious, watch Babylon 5.

sehqlr ,

medium.com/…/star-trek-the-next-generation-in-40-… I’d start with this!

mindbleach ,

This depiction of the future feels impossible in 2015.

Hey good news, buddy, that cynicism is about to get extremely vindicated.

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.

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.

ipacialsection , (edited )
@ipacialsection@startrek.website avatar

You can start anywhere you want! I often recommend starting with Star Trek: The Next Generation, since it’s aged a little better than the original series. You might prefer to jump ahead to season 2 or 3 to get to the really good stuff, but even season 1 is worth watching.

Up until Enterprise season 3 it’s pretty much all episodic (or in DS9’s case, mostly episodic with a subset of the episodes forming a series-long story arc), so you can pick a random episode or movie with a cool-sounding description and start there if you want. That’s how I got into Trek, just picking random TNG and Voyager episodes.

antlion ,
@antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Blasphemy warning…

I’d probably start with Strange New Worlds. Then go back for TNG, DS9, and Voyager.

DerisionConsulting ,

Not blasphemy at all.

ToS isn’t good. It was decent for the time, but it’s not good.
TAS, see above but for kids. Think the Scooby-doo show from the 60’s.
I liked Enterprise when I watched it on tv, but not a lot of people liked it.

Other than SNW the new Trek shows aren’t really “core trek” either. They each have their own style which appeals to different people.
I wanted to like Discovery, but it seems to want to be a CW show about 3/4 of the time. We made it through the first two seasons and stopped.
Picard: I also wanted to like it. He’s my husband’s favourite captain after all. I burst out laughing when Dahj is jumping around like a superhero in the first episode That’s as far as I got.
Lower Decks: Not a fan of the adult-comedy-cartoon genre.
Prodigy: I am not in the right age demographic.

Corgana ,
@Corgana@startrek.website avatar

So I don’t want to “well ackchually” you but I was curious about your claim about TOS so I looked it up and you were wrong, it’s actually really good.

DerisionConsulting ,

Opinions will differ.

almar_quigley ,

Some are wrong. TOS is a very good show. It’s a genre you have to enjoy though. Not liking something is completely different than it being bad.

HardlightCereal ,

Kirk flirted with a little girl. Because that was normal in the 60s.

IonAddis ,
@IonAddis@lemmy.world avatar

For a new watcher, especially a young one, Strange New Worlds is probably the best start. It has a lot of the classic “Trek” philosophy going on, but paired with modern production and special effects, and also paired with more modern treatment of female characters.

I love The Next Generation, that’s “my Trek”, but certain things haven’t aged well.

I’ve been watching Babylon 5 for the first time (didn’t see it when it was actively airing), and while it’s not Trek, it was produced in the same era as TNG, Voyager, etc. and I find myself jarred by certain ways they portray characters, esp. female ones, and that same sort of stuff is present in older Trek too. Like, Crusher and Troi got absolutely cheated when it came to great arcs and such. Strange New Worlds handles its female characters much, much, MUCH better.

antlion ,
@antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

The Orville feels like a very good update of TNG at times. They deal with a lot of cultural drama with analogs to our current society. And upping the humor a bit helps.

HardlightCereal ,

Yeah but then Kelly gets kidnapped by the superstitious aliens who believe in starsigns, and Seth’s immediate reaction is to fly down to the planet and call them stupid for believing in religion. Because that’s totally how you solve diplomatic problems while displaying respect for diverse cultures.

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. ♥️

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • [email protected]
  • lifeLocal
  • goranko
  • All magazines
    •