I’m a zoomer and thought I’d check It out since all of the moderns stuff is kinda nihilistic and dumbed down dialogue and plot wise. If anyone’s got any recommends I’d like to hear them.
TNG. The first season is watchable, and later seasons are some of the best television ever made.
I don’t recommend watching the entirety of TOS, since most episodes are fairly weak. But it’s worthwhile to look up a “top ten best episodes of Star Trek The Original Series” and watch a handful of those that sound interesting. They will also give you the background you need if you decide to watch the Stark Trek movies, which are a mixed bag, but enjoyable.
DS9 is the next best series, and a lot of it is on par with TNG. But it’s less episodic, and not a great entry point in the series.
VOY and ENT are a mixed bag. There’s some genuinely great stuff in here, but I don’t think you should seek them out until you get really into Star Trek.
New trek stuff is not worth watching, except for Lower Decks, which is a comedy, but also good Sci Fi.
Galaxy Quest and The Orville are comedy parodies of Star Trek that also happen to be surprisingly earnest Sci Fi. Worth watching after you finish TNG. Kind of a running theme of Star Trek is that the comedy parodies of it are great.
The Orville is some of the best Trek, i wouldnt even call it a parody, its definitely trying to be its own thing. Heavily inspired by Trek for sure, but by season 3 its amazing.
Voyager is the only Star Trek I’ve ever seen and I thought it was enjoyable enough scifi slop. It has its, uh, glaring flaws. But it’s overall fun.
Voyager is largely fine outside of unc Neelix being incredibly posessive / jealous of his 2 year old girlfriend.
Really hope we get more Orville
Don’t. Either you won’t like it and it’s a waste of time, or you like it and you’ll be a star trek fan. There’s no winning either way!
Honestly start wherever. TNG will probably grab you better than TOS or TAS, so try there. Just torrent the whole series and enjoy. There are a couple of bad episodes in the first season of TNG, but everything after that kicks ass.
If it hooks you, DS9, VOY, and ENT will also be enjoyable.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
The part where that gate takes them to a technologically advanced ancient Egypt was pretty cool.
Don’t forget the shiny chrome robots with red eyes chasing them around. My fracking gods!
Having seen it, I consider myself a trekkie now.
TNG is peak, but its first season is weak.
Got you covered! I’m a lifelong trekkie, but I am the first to admit that there’s also a lot of bad and mid trek too.
TNG, it starts pretty weak tho.
Kinda ended weak too tbh. Season 7 feels like ghost/possesion of the week.
They were running out of steam and working on pre production for a movie and voyager. Cant blame em. There are some bangers still and the finale is perfect.
I’ll take season 7 TNG over almost any other sci-fi TV of the era anyday. And “All Good Things” is an incredibly high note to go out on.
I wouldnt cause both DS9 and Babylon 5 existed at the time and X Files was pretty good. If anything 1994 was a great year for TV sci fi
I was thinking the 1990s in general. The highs were high, but there were some low lows as well.
The Berman Era is where it’s at, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and that’s it. Star Trek died. There is no more.
Gonna be that guy and say the TOS movies are pretty good, and easier to commit to watching than say, all of TOS
Next Generation then Deep Space 9, they’re definitely the best (other than Lower Decks but you need to watch everything else for that) If you fall in love with trek after those two watch order doesn’t really matter.
I love Lower Decks. Not just for the references but for simply being good trek. I think Mariner’s conversation in that cave late in season 4 is an all-time-high in all of Trek. It’s such fantastic meta-commentary. I want for Trek what Mariner wants for Starfleet.
I agree Lower Decks is great trek and is written well enough it could stand on its own but to truly appreciate it the more familiar you are with the rest of universe the better it is.
I had never seen an episode til September 2024 I watched the DS9 that took place in the “past” on that day, about the horrific conditions of 21st century western society, and was instantly hooked. It doesn’t shy away from glorifying former “terrorists”, even putting one character into a prominent leadership position after her former days of resistance activity. It’s hella woke.
There are episodes about time-travel and different timelines so I feel like the order you watch isn’t the most important, DS9 is probably the grittiest and has a lot of plots about conflict, rebellion, spy/intrigue. TNG is more optimistic, Patrick Stewart is great in it, especially after the first season when they really get into the flow of it. Everything up to the end of the “TNG” era I felt had a better tone and writing than the Netflix era but I haven’t really watched much of those series.
It doesn’t shy away from glorifying former “terrorists”, even putting one character into a prominent leadership position after her former days of resistance activity.
easy pre-9/11 media win. there’s even two back to back terrorism episodes of tng and i think we’re still behind that mentality from like 1991
Totally, you could see the shift so distinctly in Enterprise. I was sort of baffled how much it became like a 24 with Jack Bauer in space, the primary mission being protecting Earth from some mysterious foreign threat, with ‘enhanced interrogation’ and all.
I’d say TNG. Everyone always says the first season is bad, but it’s fine imo.
Also while it’s quite distinct from mainline Trek, I’d recommend Lower Decks as by far the best modern Trek series.
While I agree that season 1 isn’t as bad as popular opinion would lead you to believe, it really does have some stinkers. Code of Honor remains the most racist episode of Star Trek of all time.
i’ll add that there was a writer’s strike during season 2 of the next generation and that resulted in a few of the worst episodes of television ever, so feel free to skip past most of that. seasons 3-6 are where it shines the most.
One user here says TNG season 2 onward is best television ever made, and you are saying that TNG season 2 is the worst television ever made
the last episode of season 2 was especially bad, even natopedia makes note of it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shades_of_Gray_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)
It was the final episode written by Maurice Hurley, who originated the idea and wrote the first draft of the script… “Shades of Gray” is widely regarded as the worst episode of the series, with critics calling it “god-awful” and a “travesty”;[1] even Hurley referred to it negatively.
I would say start with TNG but uhh maybe watch the first 2 episodes then skip most of season 1 at least at first, most of the first season uses scripts from TOS and some of them are going to give you side eye. Most Trek series have relatively mid first seasons but it gets much better when the writers start writing original scripts for TNG. If you follow this probably skip everything below 3 * and then come back to it if you’re vibing with the show.
https://startrekguide.com/2019/05/02/tng-episode-guide-season-1
Doesnt the Traveler make an appearance in the first season? I cant remember, theres definitely a few episodes to watch or else some later episodes wont make sense
Yeah that one is worth watching, also has what should have been standard uniforms
Yes, in “Where No One Has Gone Before”, very early on.
Maybe a couple episodes of TOS for lore, but TOS really goes downhill after season 1. TNG & DS9 for sure.
TNG is the Federation doing their exploration of the galaxy. DS9 is what happens when a planet actually joins the Federation.
