Help with Star Trek

[Willozewisp]

Hi guys,

I want to dive into the Star Trek TV series.
Which one should I start with?
Which one is the best?
Which order would be the best to watch them all?

Thanks for your help !

[DailyRich]

Watch them in the order they were released.

Stop after Deep Space Nine.

[metalprof]

Which one should I start with?
Which one is the best?
Which order would be the best to watch them all?

I agree with DailyRich, you should just watch them in the order they came out. You don't want to bias yourself against the original series by getting jaded by the slicker look and effects of the later series.

I like the original and Next Generation best, but there's good and bad about each series. TNG has several episodes that are very powerful, which the original series doesn't really have (the exception being City on the Edge of Forever). On the other hand, the original series was, to me, just "more fun" - and it did have many episodes dealing with relevant social themes, some ham-handed, and others well done. Deep Space 9 has a good long term story arc and a lot more politics in the background. Voyager had ... well, it had boobs. That's about all I can remember about it now

Ken

[DailyRich]

Also, steel yourself for the first two seasons of Next Generation. They're pretty rocky, especially the second season, which was hampered by a writers strike and had to use scripts that were laying around from the first attempt to bring the show back to the air (which end up as the first movie).

[Majuss]

Watch them in the order they were released.

Stop after Deep Space Nine.

Not at all, but you can safely skip Voyager. Star Trek Enterprise was quite enjoyable.

[DailyRich]

Enterprise irks me on general principle. It's Berman re-writing Trek to make his input the source of everything important in the lore of the show.

[jordanlanni]

The original series and TNG are by far the best, though DS9 has some good stuff too - it brought a lot of new territory into the Star Trek universe. The first season of the original series gets far more complex after the Menagerie, and the second season is my favourite of the three. TNG seasons 3-7 are great.

Watch them in order, and do stay away from Voyager and Enterprise, I don't even consider those canon. :X

[Blacula]

Voyager has lots of interesting episodes especially in last seasons.

But yeah the best way to look at it is TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and then even ENT.

What I found interesting about "Enterprise" is how they immediately found their "voice" which was not the case in any of the Star Trek spin-offs. Even TNG's first episodes are terrible if not unwatchable. Although they did ruin the "Enterprise" after 2nd season.

But when it comes to Star Trek movies it's not necessary to watch them but after you watch whole TNG you can watch "The first contact" because there are some references to it in Voyager.

[DailyRich]

It is absolutely necessary to watch Wrath of Khan. It's not just a good Trek movie, it's a good movie period.

[psikeyhackr]

I started creating a MUST SEE Trek episodes list long ago but people on Trek sites were not interested. They say you must watch everything.

I think watching the entire original series is only for die hard Trek fans. It is aggravatingly dated unless you can ignore the primitive and cheap TV technology of the 60s and focus on the stories. I tell people I am a sci-fi fan not a Star Trek fan. But these are the original Star Trek episodes that I think anyone trying to get into the franchise should watch:

========== Star Trek Original Series ==========

The Cage
The 1st pilot, gives an idea what Roddenberry really intended but never aired in its original form until the 80s.

Where No Man Has Gone Before
The 2nd pilot, real start of show and not as good as 1st.

The Menagerie
Criminal Spock merged with The Cage, Pike used in last movie

Balance of Terror
Romulans first introduced

The Galileo Seven
Shows Vulcan management style aggravating humans, LOL

Space Seed
Kahn, movie prequel and Augments relevant to 2 Enterprise episodes
Relevant to the real world in that genetic engineering is beginning to be used as in terminator seeds.

The City on the Edge of Forever
THE Universally acknowledged Best Original Trek episode

Amok Time
Vulcan home world and pon farr, Spock's wife

Mirror, Mirror
Mirror universe, used in DS9 & Enterprise, great episode with Mirror Spock

Journey to Babel
Spock's parents are introduced.

The Trouble With Tribbles
DS9 episode link, a fave episode, Trek humor

The Ultimate Computer
demonstrating relevance of sci-fi to reality in technology

The Enterprise Incident
demonstrating relevance of sci-fi to reality in politics (Pueblo Incident)

The Tholian Web
added to Mirror universe in Enterprise, though I never thought the episode was all that good.

The Doomsday Machine
great episode and used in alternate Trek fan series

So that is 15 out of 78 episode.

I consider Deep Space 9 to be the best Trek series but that is because it was stolen from JMS' Babylon 5 series which is better than Star Trek.

There are good episodes in Voyager and Enterprise but both series did things that ticked me off and made me stop watching while they aired. Voyager had aliens taking over the ship and playing NAZIs on the holodeck. Enterprise had some Xendi TERRORISTS attack Earth that made it too much like 9/11.

They don't annoy me as much now and I have gone back to watch stuff via the net.

psik

[Willozewisp]

Thanks guys !

I think I'll start with the original series then.

[Jeroen]

I suggest you can watch the original Star Trek (TOS) 'till you get the general idea. If you like it, by all means finish it.

The first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation are not so good, but the later stuff is great! They reinvented the ST universe in those seasons, and the later series built on that.

ST: DS9 and ST:Voyager further deepen the universe created in the later Next Generation seasons and if you liked Next Gen, you'll probably like DS9 and Voyager.

ST: Enterprise I would ignore. It is more of the same and not so good.

As for the movies, there is the general rule that the even numbers are better than the uneven. These are, in my opinion, the good ones:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star trek IV: The Voyage Home (Nr. III and IV are actually sequels to Wrath of Khan)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek VIII: First Contact

[manephelien]

Watch it all and make up your own mind. People have such varied preferences that if you listen to someone else, you may end up giving something a miss that you might actually like. Although IMO there are a precious few good episodes in the third season of TOS, and some quite horrid ones, such as Spock's Brain and Turnabout Intruder (bad ep, execrable season finale and quite unforgivable show finale).

I love Enterprise, even the third season, with the notable exception of the last scenes of the season finale...

Could a mod please move this topic to Other Media?

[steve04]

With reference to your xcellent knowledge of Star Trek, I have query ... awhile ago, there was a episode in which a majority of the view is of the inside of a small spaceship, which had only a light brown interior, walls etc
The spaceship incharge or the plot maybe involved it destroying planets without consideration.
I cannot recall which show, and would like your input.

[psikeyhackr]

The only Star Trek episode that I recall which involved destroying planets is

The Doomday Machine

It is an Original Series episode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doo...inal_Series%29

psik