Star Trek fans: what is the best series to start with

[Himu]

I grew up watching The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager with my dad every week. My favorite was Deep Space Nine.

What series should I start with? TNG is fucking boring me, but I can't skip ahead because I forgot all the characters and all the story lines aside from Borg.

[Stoney Mason]

Are you rewatching them or something?

TNG generation is sucky the first few years but then gets good.
My favorite is TOS but that may be due simply to age and that being a big part of my childhood but I think it still has some amazing episodes.
Deep Space Nine has a lot of internet backers. Boogie likes it a lot I seem to remember from back in the gaf days. I think it starts off shitty also but everybody says it get better and stronger as it goes on.

After that I tuned out of Trek as it seemed like the rest of the series were shitty. I tried watching Voyager but every episode I saw seemed wretched. One day I will drag myself through it. By the time Enterprise came out it was all played out to me.

Why not try Babylon 5 if  you haven't seen that already. It also starts shitty but gets really good.

[Himu]

Well, I don't remember anything about the shows except the basic stuff. I don't remember character pasts, plot lines, arcs, or anything. I remember TOS because I watched that a year ago, and I didn't grow up watching it.

[Stoney Mason]

Well, I don't remember anything about the shows except the basic stuff. I don't remember character pasts, plot lines, arcs, or anything. I remember TOS because I watched that a year ago, and I didn't grow up watching it.

Well if you are rewatching to just rewatch, TNG definitely is not so hot at first. There are some good episodes but the show really finds its legs as it goes on versus getting it right the first time. A lot of the characters are either annoying or just not well characterized early on but that gets better. But like I said if you want something outside the Star Trek cannon I think both Babylon 5 and FarScape are worthy. Babylon 5 having the higher highs.

I miss having a sci-fi show to watch.  :'( I never did watch that Star Gate stuff so I suppose I could start digging into that one day.

[Himu]

I liked Farscape more than any Star Trek I ever saw. It was a favorite when I was a teen. But right now I'm in the mood of revisiting Trek. I like the idea of Star Trek and liked the original series a lot.

[Himu]

I miss having a sci-fi show to watch.  :'(

You have my blaster. I feel the same way. Going is tough for us sci-fi space geeks, but I'm sensing a rebound, what with Total Recall, Prometheus, et al out within just a few months.

[Mandark]

Friend and I watched TNG early this year.  He was a trooper and did every episode in order, starting with the pilot.  I basically skipped the first season and then picked my episodes.

DS9's the best actual show, but it's also the least "Star Trek".  Very little exploration and discovering new, mysterious, and allegorical life forms.  A lot more character stuff, interplanetary politics and long term plot arcs.  Really ramps up as you get towards the end.  If you're going to watch everything, I'd say save DS9 for last.

[Himu]

I'll have to grow a pair and do TNG in order it seems.

[Stoney Mason]

Any Star Trek thread deserves the greatest skit of all time

[brawndolicious]

DS9 is probably the best. Been a long time since I watched it.

Honestly, I liked Voyager too. But that was mostly because of The Doctor and Seven of Nine.

[cool breeze]

I've been meaning to watch TNG (and what came after) myself.  Netflix has everything but it's a huge time investment to get caught up in.  TNG alone is around 8 or 9 seasons(?).

The 2009 movie was my first real exposure to Star Trek and I quite enjoyed it.  Since then I've seen a few of the movies and random TOS episodes and enjoyed them all too.  I can't add much to this thread other than to say TOS episodes are slooooooooooooow. 

[Himu]

TNG is 7 seasons

[etiolate]

Weird/Sexy Sci-Fi channel with Farscape and Lexx >>>>>>>>>> SyFy Channel

[benjipwns]

If TNG is boring you and you're in season three or later, than DS9 is basically the only other option. Voyager is TNG with worse plots and characters plus a psychopath as the captain. (Which may make it more interesting.) I like Enterprise way more than most people but I'm not sure how well it does considering how hard it tries and fails at fan service. Though it doesn't recycle TNG plots as much as Voyager, and actually, in my opinion does a better job of doing a "small ship alone exploring" show than Voyager. Even if so so many of them fall apart in the last act.

TOS -> TNG -> ENT -> VOY -> DS9 is an interesting order I've seen suggested.

Just because I'm being a Trekkie (or is it Trekker?) the movies are II -> III -> IV -> VI -> First Contact -> Nemesis. The Slow-Motion Picture in the newer directors cut is a better movie, but it's still molasses. V is too amazing to watch and has the greatest line in movie history. (Great with Rifftrax!) Generations is the secret worst movie, but people are blinded by Kirk being Kirk to realize just how bad it is. (Solid with Rifftrax!) Insurrection is just a higher budget season five or six TNG episode stretched to 90 minutes. If you read Michael Piller's Fade In you can see how it went from a stupid idea to a good idea to what we got, with the same core plot never really changing.

Star Trek 2009 is just a worse version of Nemesis with time travel thrown in and no redeeming space battle or Tom Hardy hamming it up.

Elite Force and Elite Force II are kewl gamez. Expansion for the first one lets you wander around the decks of Voyager. Sadly probably the only good non-strategy Trek games. Although I seem to remember an older DOS point and click game that was solid.

Also EGA Trek was one of the best games of the DOS era, fucking Mongols.

I can't add much to this thread other than to say TOS episodes are slooooooooooooow. 

Poor budget (so much of the tech tied to the series lore is because of this), one of the first real mainstream sci-fi series. TNG suffers early on and also drags like crazy because it's really retreading all the ground again. A lot of the syndicated/cable sci-fi explosion had the advantage of seeing how TNG did it, even though they had nothing like the budgets.

[benjipwns]

Weird/Sexy Sci-Fi channel with Farscape and Lexx >>>>>>>>>> SyFy Channel

Oh, so you just want to not know about all these haunted locations around America to avoid? Or who wins SmackDown this week?

[Human Snorenado]

I don't really have anything to add other than that I agree DS9 is the best actual show, I have fond, nostalgia addled memories of TNG because I watched it during my youth and haven't ever rewatched it because I don't want to be disappointed, and everything else is a flaming piece of shit that's unwatchable, unless you're Manabyte of course, but then if that was the case you're probably too busy playing with your Disney dollies to notice you have comparable taste to a furry.

[benjipwns]

TNG actually holds up surprisingly well once you get to season three. Maybe a couple years back WGN was showing them late night for a year or so (they did a full cycle from Farpoint to All Good Things...*) and it's really hard to get through the first season and a lot of the second season. After that the production values go up and they weed out a lot of the poor random actors to have better guests and focus on the ensemble.

The new remasters coming look pretty amazing. TOS looked out of place because of the rest of the show/sets/etc.

*Random aside, they were writing All Good Things... and Generations at the same time. And Ron Moore claims they would get the plots confused somehow. One of them is the best finale and one of the best episodes ever, the other is abhorrent garbage.

Of course Generations also had like 15 pages of studio stipulations or something insane. Had to include a holodeck scene, time for Whoopi, Kirk, etc.

[Mandark]

TNG is totally the sci-fi Barney Miller.  In a lot of ways it's not actually that good, but it's got a likable ensemble cast and an endearingly ham-handed approach to teaching social lessons.

[Himu]

Yeah, I like the cast enough even though I'm seeing them go through average plots. It just kind of works.

[Cheebo]

The Original Series is by far the best. It has aged really well too. Watched the remastered TOS (it's on Netflix Instant Watch). It's an incredible show.

The City on the Edge of Forever is my favorite hour of any television, ever.

[Momo]

TNG > DS9

Ignore all else.

[benjipwns]

TNG > DS9

Ignore all else.

NO NO NO NONONONONONONONONONO

[Momo]

TNG > DS9

Ignore all else.

NO NO NO NONONONONONONONONONO

[benjipwns]

I CAN LIVE WITH IT

[benjipwns]

That First Contact scene is still epic.

[Joe Molotov]

TOS on Blu-Ray

[Momo]

TOS is too cartoony and cheesy for my taste, I can never go back to watching it. Voyager, Enterprise = pure shit, avoid.

Farscape and Lexx love

[Eric P]

I enjoyed TOS when I went through it during the initial airings of the remasters
tried to watch some TNG and just couldn't do it
tried to watch DS9 but couldn't make it out of the first 4 episodes

[Joe Molotov]

Best way to watch TNG is to cherry pick the best episodes. There's no continuity, so it's not like you're missing out on any story line. Just watch all the ones where Data's learning about what it means to be human or Picard's doing something awesome or the Borg or Q are there.

[Verdigris Murder]

Watch First Contact, then pretend Star Trek never existed (obv. apart from FM Abrahms masterful reimaginies) then watch Babylon 5.

[Eric P]

(obv. apart from FM Abrahms masterful reimaginies)

what

[Verdigris Murder]

I know !

Look inside your heart Eric P. You know its right, but shouldn't be.

[Mandark]

Best way to watch TNG is to cherry pick the best episodes. There's no continuity, so it's not like you're missing out on any story line. Just watch all the ones where Data's learning about what it means to be human or Picard's doing something awesome or the Borg or Q are there.

Pretty much. I used the TV.com episode guide to see what other people had rated highly and watched those. That way I missed on what my friend calls the "I Guess Riker's Gonna Fuck That Alien" episodes.

Eric P: I'd say give DS9 another shot. At least by cherry-picking popular episodes and seeing if that does anything for you. 

benji: Man, they liked giving O'Brien some existential nightmare to deal with. What gives?

[benjipwns]

benji: Man, they liked giving O'Brien some existential nightmare to deal with. What gives?

It's because they felt he was the most relateable and "normal character" so he was the one to use for those. Sisko was the emissary, Bashir is a genius, Jake is a kid, everyone else is alien. O'Brien is just some enlisted dude trying to make a living, let's torture him, kill him and bring him back from the future, throw in prison, etc.

Voyager did this same kind of stuff to Harry Kim for similar reasons.

Best way to watch TNG is to cherry pick the best episodes. There's no continuity, so it's not like you're missing out on any story line. Just watch all the ones where Data's learning about what it means to be human or Picard's doing something awesome or the Borg or Q are there.

But you can't miss the episode where Beverly masturbates to a ghost!

I can still reduce Brannon to shudders when I go into his office and say, 'I can travel on the power transfer beam'. But the cast loved it. Every woman on the lot who read it was coming up to Brannon and patting him. Ultimately I think it was worth doing because it was campy fun and the production values were wonderful. The sets look great and everybody threw themselves into it. Gates did a wonderful job. It just got bigger and broader and to the point of grandmother leaping out of the grave. Just having Beverly basically writhing around having an orgasm at 6 o'clock on family TV was great. For that alone it was worth doing. We got away with murder.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

TOS rules.

[benjipwns]

Or the ones where Worf gets rejected:


Or beaten up:

[Joe Molotov]

But you can't miss the episode where Beverly masturbates to a ghost!

Truly a great moment in television history.

[bork]

TNG By jandrewedits is the best Star Trek.

[bork]

[Himu]

Please tell me that "To be or not to be" Patrick Stewart clip is not from TNG or I may stop watching

[benjipwns]

TNG By jandrewedits is the best Star Trek.

Also this:

[Great Rumbler]

What's the best thing about TNG? Gazorra's edited episodes:









Edit: Bork laseeeeeeeeeeeeeer

Please tell me that "To be or not to be" Patrick Stewart clip is not from TNG or I may stop watching

It's from Sesame Street.

[Himu]

thank god

[Yeti]

Deep Space Nine is my favorite, and it isn't due to nostalgia. I hadn't seen any Star Trek episodes except for a few of the original series but decided to watch them all after seeing the Abrams movie. I'm currently on season 3 of Voyager, I'm not as enthused about watching it as I was with DS9, but it's all right.

TNG was annoying to me to watch because it seemed like there were A LOT of episodes just about the holodeck malfunctioning. Like every other episode. Shit got tedious. I also didn't care for Data too much, his naivite about human emotions was so overdone that it was obnoxious. I had to imagine he was just trolling everyone to stomach it.

[Groogrux]

Why does nobody like Enterprise?  I watched it from start to finish and I loved the series. 

I haven't watched all of TNG, but I will at some point.  I only remember some images from the reruns of DS9 that used to play on my local Fox station.  I can't stand TOS though.

[Yeti]

I've heard Enterprise is awful, I'm debating if I should bother watching it after I finish Voyager. You say it's good though?

[Groogrux]

I loved it.  It was like a cross between Star Trek and Firefly for me.  I know some hard-core fans didn't like it because they said it wasn't a part of the original cannon, but I thought it was an awesome prequel for the rest of the series.

The only thing I didn't like about the show was the opening theme, which instead of orchestrated music, they went with an actual song.  I just didn't like the song, even when they remixed it in season 4.

[Momo]

Why does nobody like Enterprise?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Time travelling Green Men bullshit + Scott Shitcula. As much as I love watching T'paul (whoever you spell this) get rubbed down in no way will I put up with the rest of the bullshit

[close]

[Momo]

I finish Voyager

Man, if you have the stomach to watch Voyager then Enterprise will be a cakewalk for you

[Groogrux]

I watched it for a lot of reasons, but I really like the character development of T'Pol.

Plus, Shran was a badass guy and that can't be overlooked.  I genuinely grew attached to his character.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[chronovore]

I really like that actor. It's the same guy who played Weyoun in DS9, and has appeared in a MESS of HP Lovecraft film adaptations, including From Beyond and Re-Animator.

[Eric P]

just watch the Animated Series

[demi]

YETI CHECK YER PMS CUNT

[Yeti]

I finish Voyager

Man, if you have the stomach to watch Voyager then Enterprise will be a cakewalk for you

It helps when I only watch like two episodes a week. 

I did watch a really sad episode last night where the holographic doctor made a holographic family. Then the engineer made them more realistic and his holographic daughter died.  :'(

[Great Rumbler]

I watched most of Voyage back when it was airing new episodes.

[Boogie]

Deep Space Nine has a lot of internet backers. Boogie likes it a lot I seem to remember from back in the gaf days. I think it starts off shitty also but everybody says it get better and stronger as it goes on.

I skimmed this thread earlier, and was going to leave it alone, but since I got a shout-out, I guess I should give my spiel.

Short version:  Yes, DS9 rocks.       But I also loved TNG.

Long version:  I'm a very strange Trek fan.  As a young kid, I was 8 or 9, and my dad rented STIV: The Voyage Home.  Then I watched Wrath of Khan, and then I got into TNG.

So I am (was) an uber Trek nerd who never really watched the Original Series.  To this day, I've probably only watched 7 or 8 full episodes of TOS.  Of course, being the nerd that I am (owning the Star Trek Encyclopedia and Episode Guide) I have read everything about every TOS episode anyway.

But yeah, I grew up originally on TNG and the original movies.  I think TNG was lightning in a bottle, in so far as it was perfect sci-fi for someone to be exposed to in their formative years.  Without a doubt, I owe my "geekdom" to TNG more than any other work of fiction.   Does that mean it would stand up in quality in 2012 to someone who's just getting into Star Trek?  I'm not sure.  But it's still worth a recommendation.

As for the original series movies, they're all worth watching.  1, 2, 4, and 6 on their own merits, 3 just because it bridges 2 and 4, and five, because, well, as benji said:



Next came DS9.  And yeah, as Stoney suggested, I think it kicks ass.  Some of the best character work in 90s television.  Sisko is a badass.  Garak remains one of the best characters in sci-fi.  (seriously, in the Pale Moonlight is a classic for these two).  It stole the best from B5 when it comes to arc'd storytelling.

Voyager.  Voyager was near-complete shit.  I watched it straight through season 4, and then more or less dropped it.  And for context, up to this point, I watched Trek religiously.  EVERY episode of TNG, DS9, and Voyager.  But sometime after season 4, I came to realize.....this show wasn't really any good.  It was a chore to watch.  Voyager does have some good episodes.  Maybe a dozen or so.  But apart from that.....Voyager is what started to end my love affair with Trek.

Enterprise.  I watched about a season and a bit of Enterprise before I realized that it was even worse than Voyager.  Then I watched a few episodes in season 4 because everyone was saying the show had turned around under Manny Cotto, and they were sort of right.  But other than that, the show was completely worthless.   For Groo to say he "loved" the series is totally incomprehensible to me, and I can only assume it is nearly the only Trek that he has watched, and that all of the Trek that came before should blow his mind compared to Enterprise.

[Great Rumbler]

Star Trek had some really great intros, just so iconic:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

 

[close]

[Himu]

Yeah, I loved the intros so much. Still going through TNG. I'm seeing episode I remember watching as a kid and it's starting to come back.