4 ms·

I have always been interested in watching Star Trek, having watched some of Deep Space Nine with my dad and thinking it was okay when I was really young in addi

by lghh 11y ago

I have always been interested in watching Star Trek, having watched some of Deep Space Nine with my dad and thinking it was okay when I was really young in addition to enjoying the new movies. I figure now is a good time seeing as this is coming out in a little over a year. Any suggestions as to what order I should watch it in or if I should avoid any of the series?

roneesh 11y ago
There's no order to see it in or order to avoid seeing it in. The writing is strong for each series (though which one is best is debatable). Also every series's episodes largely work as standalone, though Deep Space 9 and Voyager have some overall stories (a war and getting home respectively). My advice is start with Next Generation, it's the best, and most any episode works on it's own. Voyager is my soft spot. Never saw the original, seeing it isn't necessary to enjoy the later ones. Dive in, have fun, my personal suggestion is any episode that deals with time travel or the mischievous life form called Q. You can't go wrong there.
oqnet 11y ago
DS9 needs to watched in sequential order, TOS doesn't, TNG to a certain extent should be watched in order, but doesn't have to be. Some major arch's rely on character points or what has happened with say the borg. Voyager and Enterprise aren't as sequential as DS9 but should be watched in order. There are a significant number of episodes in each you can drop from your watching order, but I couldn't tell you which ones. They both have very low points in my opinion. As for the movies I'm sure there's a watching order. Some of the movies are very meh. If you look online you might find a good order, but if you get really into just watch them in order.
- snerbles 11y ago
  For the original series movies... The Motion Picture (#1) is basically an elongated TOS episode. Doesn't really influence any of the other films. Some enjoy it, some find it dull. The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home (#2-4) form a trilogy and must be watched in order. The Final Frontier (#5)...I loved it when I was nine. Skippable otherwise. The Undiscovered Country (#6) should be watched after #2 through #4. It and The Wrath of Khan are typically tied for the favorite Trek film.
ramblerman 11y ago
This is a pretty loaded question and you will get very different answers. But imo, star trek TNG with Captain Picard is the best one. Deep space nine is good but is a bit slow, I think TNG is easier to watch. I'm from the mid eighties and can't watch the original, it's too dated for me. So take that for what it's worth.
maxerickson 11y ago
If you start with the first season of TNG and don't like it, perhaps check out a different season before giving up on it. They maybe hadn't quite found their footing yet.
- rileyteige 11y ago
  I'd second this suggestion. The first season definitely has some ups and downs - excellent writing but the cast hadn't found the chemistry that really brings the show to life in the later seasons.
- csixty4 11y ago
  A lot first season scripts were recycled TOS scripts or ideas for the abandoned "Star Trek Phase II" show. The later seasons' writing was geared more for the TNG characters & actors, which helped them feel more natural.
  - snerbles 11y ago
    Roddenberry meddling less was another factor in the improvement of TNG.
    - csixty4 11y ago
      Yeah. Sucks that his health went down the tubes like that, but the show benefitted from it.
bradleyjg 11y ago
The original series doesn't hold up very well from either a narrative perspective or a visual perspective, I'd skip them. The original series movies are a little better and may be worth watching. Other than that I'd start with The Next Generation and go in chronological order.
- asavadatti 11y ago
  I have to disagree. The production values might have been low for the original series but most of the episodes had good stories acting and narrative.
moomin 11y ago
The correct viewing order for Enterprise is: watch the last episode of Season 2 and continue from there. Pretend the first two seasons never happened. Also skip the last episode.
- JoshTriplett 11y ago
  Funny, I would have said the opposite; I hated the entire Xindi arc, which took the series from "meh" to "awful".
  - moomin 11y ago
    It's a funny arc, especially since it goes from the start of the season "torture everything that moves!" 24 style, to more classic Star Trek "are we justified in doing this" by the end of the season.
- serge2k 11y ago
  Wait isn't season 3 the god awful xindi arc?
jcastro 11y ago
DS9 only really gets its legs starting in the third season with the introduction of The Dominion. The Dominion War has some of the best Trek episodes ever (In the Pale Moonlight), and some of the worst (The baseball episode), but overall the story arc is awesome.
snerbles 11y ago
The Original Series (TOS) has a level of camp that people either love or hate. The original films (1-6) don't rely too much on the series, though I do recommend watching the TOS episode "Space Seed" before The Wrath of Khan. If I recommend a single episode out of all of TOS, it would probably be "The City on the Edge of Forever". The Next Generation (TNG) took a few seasons to really hit its stride, some will recommend starting at season 3 - though I personally recommend suffering through the first two seasons at least once. Like TOS, TNG is highly episodic is mostly devoid of major story arcs. My favorite series, but probably more for nostalgia than anything else. "Best of Both Worlds" is a fan favorite episode, though I will recommend "The Inner Light" for anyone - even someone who has never even heard of Star Trek. Deep Space Nine was a bit controversial when it came out, as it moved away from Roddenberry's idealistic "Wagon Train to The Stars" model of a show and more into conflict and gritty geopolitics set in the same era as TNG. There's a story arc and the characters experience far more development throughout the show than the cast of TNG ever did. I've come to enjoy it more as an adult than when I first watched it on the air as a kid. As for Voyager or Enterprise, I haven't really watched either of them.
aidenn0 11y ago
The original series is probably worth watching all of, just because there aren't that many episodes, and a few of them are real gems; it also sets the stage for some other things that are worth watching. Read a summary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (actually if you can, read a summary of a summary, the pacing of the movie is so ponderous). The even numbered movies are the best, but it's probably worth watching the 3rd one as well for continuity. The majority of the fandom pretends that the fifth movie never happened, and is well worth skipping. The Next Generation (TNG) and Deep Space Nine (DS9) are the two that seem to have the strongest following with Voyager being a bit divisive among the fandom (depending on who you ask it either sucks or is good). You will have to suffer through the first season of TNG and just trust that it will get better. DS9 can stand on its own fairly well, but if you want continuity you can watch any time after season 5 of TNG. DS9 enters a fairly significant tone shift around season 4, and season 1, like TNG, is not necessarily representative of the entire series. [edit] Here's a super-short summary of the above: TOS Movies: 2,3,4,6 TNG: at least first 3 seasons, if you don't like after season 3, drop. If you're impatient, you can watch just the pilot than skip to season 3 and not miss too much. DS9: Seasons 4 and 5 of TNG develop some of the races that are prominent in DS9, so it's best if you wait until at least season 5 of TNG to watch, if you really didn't like season 3 of TNG, then this will stand on its own though. Voyager: It was not my cup of tea; some fans liked it though.
- gknoy 11y ago
  There are lists of episodes that hit the "classic" ones, but the original series was remarkably suitable to binge-watching on Netflix, partly because there were few seasons. Many of the episodes are retellings of classic tales, some are downright lame or campy. However, the main characters' development is good. There are some interesting discussions of ethics and philosophy in there, as well. There are certainly episodes that suck, but the better ones are things that you will find have informed our pop culture lexicon, and are referenced in many other things. Watch it for the characters, more than the individual shows, IMO.
  - aidenn0 11y ago
    TOS is definitely YMMV; my wife flat-out can't stand it, while she will watch TNG with me. And as you point out there just weren't that many episodes, and they establish a base that all of the other series refer back to, so I agree it's worth watching all of for all but the most minimal run-through of Star Trek.
pakled_engineer 11y ago
DS9 doesn't get good until Sisko has the goatee, much like how beardless Riker episodes were terribad in TNG.
- serge2k 11y ago
  I actually liked the bajoran arc in season 1/2. Real problem is the standalone episodes were not good
bgilroy26 11y ago
For all of Star Trek, this is one discussion on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/wiki/where_should_i_start https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/wiki/where_should_i_start For DS9 in particular, this link was helpful for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepSpaceNine/comments/1fkijc/ive_made_a_list_of_all_the_ds9_episodes_that_are/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepSpaceNine/comments/1fkijc/ive_m... There are 3 episode lists in there and a user named Algernon_Asimov has a "Hmph!" comment with a link to detailed episode lists for TNG + DS9
JoshTriplett 11y ago
You can start almost anywhere; all of the continuities are self-contained. I personally find The Original Series hit-or-miss, but there are a few must-watch episodes; worth seeing, but don't let the quality of the "average" episode put you off from the franchise. Next Generation starts out rough but gets quite good later on; worth watching all the way through. DS9 is exceptional, particularly for marathon watching; it has more story arcs with continuity, and more long-term character development. Voyager is a bit more "anomaly of the week", but it has some particularly good episodes, and it's worth watching all the way through as well. Enterprise is...Enterprise; personally I skipped most of it. For movies: see the Original Series movies Star Trek II, IV, and VI (watching the series first not required), see Generations once (watch some of TNG first), see First Contact (watch most of TNG first), see Insurrection (surprisingly good), skip Nemesis entirely. If you have to pick one series to start with, I'd say either DS9 (as a marathon) or TNG. Note that you'll get a very different flavor from both; TNG presents a lovely idyllic future with occasional hiccups, while DS9 presents a darker and grittier 24th century, for better or worse.
VLM 11y ago
I will attempt to analyze the multiple series from a hard/soft sci fi perspective. Enterprise is probably the hardest. Very RPG-like how they operate to their self made rules in what compared to later series is extreme limitations. Life is a lot different when the fastest transport ship flys at warp 1 and everything isn't deus ex machina away with AI or technobabble. On the other hand they overdo the "wooden ships and iron men" thing a little and there is too much "pew pew" action. Next up is DS9. Some technobabble for dramatic license but still reads like a paper and pencil RPG fiction (which is good). Some "crewman of the week" cheesy soft filler episodes but mostly hard science fiction story. Has a reasonably hard science overall story arc. Arguably the best overall series. Has the best "hard" written "soft" character in all of trek, the Cardassian "tailor". He's not really a tailor, hope this isn't too much of a spoiler. Best sci fi on TV, maybe. TOS is all over the map. Sometimes they did a good job of both hard and soft sci fi at the same time. Then there's "space hippies" or "spocks brain" or "spock needs to get laid" which we'll pretend never happened. There is an unrealistic (by hard sci fi standards) fixation on alien planets being the wild west desert. You NEED to watch certain individual episodes, like the doomsday machine. TNG is the softest series, its General Hospital soap opera, on a space ship. Toward the middle either its a short story arc, sometimes halfway decent, or "crewmember of the week special story". The Wesley character is kind of the series Jar-Jar and you'd do best to skip episodes where he is "crewman of the month". Also the romance episodes read like fanfic from /r9k/. The alien civilizations are bad caricatures. Generally across all the series from a hard sci fi viewpoint if an episode involves space nazis, time travel, Ferengi, romance, or a holodeck accident, it can be ignored with little to no loss with very few exceptions.

by lghh 11y ago

roneesh 11y ago

There's no order to see it in or order to avoid seeing it in. The writing is strong for each series (though which one is best is debatable). Also every series's episodes largely work as standalone, though Deep Space 9 and Voyager have some overall stories (a war and getting home respectively). My advice is start with Next Generation, it's the best, and most any episode works on it's own. Voyager is my soft spot. Never saw the original, seeing it isn't necessary to enjoy the later ones. Dive in, have fun, my personal suggestion is any episode that deals with time travel or the mischievous life form called Q. You can't go wrong there.

oqnet 11y ago

DS9 needs to watched in sequential order, TOS doesn't, TNG to a certain extent should be watched in order, but doesn't have to be. Some major arch's rely on character points or what has happened with say the borg. Voyager and Enterprise aren't as sequential as DS9 but should be watched in order. There are a significant number of episodes in each you can drop from your watching order, but I couldn't tell you which ones. They both have very low points in my opinion. As for the movies I'm sure there's a watching order. Some of the movies are very meh. If you look online you might find a good order, but if you get really into just watch them in order.

snerbles 11y ago
For the original series movies... The Motion Picture (#1) is basically an elongated TOS episode. Doesn't really influence any of the other films. Some enjoy it, some find it dull. The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home (#2-4) form a trilogy and must be watched in order. The Final Frontier (#5)...I loved it when I was nine. Skippable otherwise. The Undiscovered Country (#6) should be watched after #2 through #4. It and The Wrath of Khan are typically tied for the favorite Trek film.

ramblerman 11y ago

This is a pretty loaded question and you will get very different answers. But imo, star trek TNG with Captain Picard is the best one. Deep space nine is good but is a bit slow, I think TNG is easier to watch. I'm from the mid eighties and can't watch the original, it's too dated for me. So take that for what it's worth.

maxerickson 11y ago

If you start with the first season of TNG and don't like it, perhaps check out a different season before giving up on it. They maybe hadn't quite found their footing yet.

rileyteige 11y ago
I'd second this suggestion. The first season definitely has some ups and downs - excellent writing but the cast hadn't found the chemistry that really brings the show to life in the later seasons.
csixty4 11y ago
A lot first season scripts were recycled TOS scripts or ideas for the abandoned "Star Trek Phase II" show. The later seasons' writing was geared more for the TNG characters & actors, which helped them feel more natural.
- snerbles 11y ago
  Roddenberry meddling less was another factor in the improvement of TNG.
  - csixty4 11y ago
    Yeah. Sucks that his health went down the tubes like that, but the show benefitted from it.

bradleyjg 11y ago

The original series doesn't hold up very well from either a narrative perspective or a visual perspective, I'd skip them. The original series movies are a little better and may be worth watching. Other than that I'd start with The Next Generation and go in chronological order.

asavadatti 11y ago
I have to disagree. The production values might have been low for the original series but most of the episodes had good stories acting and narrative.

moomin 11y ago

The correct viewing order for Enterprise is: watch the last episode of Season 2 and continue from there. Pretend the first two seasons never happened. Also skip the last episode.

JoshTriplett 11y ago
Funny, I would have said the opposite; I hated the entire Xindi arc, which took the series from "meh" to "awful".
- moomin 11y ago
  It's a funny arc, especially since it goes from the start of the season "torture everything that moves!" 24 style, to more classic Star Trek "are we justified in doing this" by the end of the season.
serge2k 11y ago
Wait isn't season 3 the god awful xindi arc?

jcastro 11y ago

DS9 only really gets its legs starting in the third season with the introduction of The Dominion. The Dominion War has some of the best Trek episodes ever (In the Pale Moonlight), and some of the worst (The baseball episode), but overall the story arc is awesome.

snerbles 11y ago

The Original Series (TOS) has a level of camp that people either love or hate. The original films (1-6) don't rely too much on the series, though I do recommend watching the TOS episode "Space Seed" before The Wrath of Khan. If I recommend a single episode out of all of TOS, it would probably be "The City on the Edge of Forever". The Next Generation (TNG) took a few seasons to really hit its stride, some will recommend starting at season 3 - though I personally recommend suffering through the first two seasons at least once. Like TOS, TNG is highly episodic is mostly devoid of major story arcs. My favorite series, but probably more for nostalgia than anything else. "Best of Both Worlds" is a fan favorite episode, though I will recommend "The Inner Light" for anyone - even someone who has never even heard of Star Trek. Deep Space Nine was a bit controversial when it came out, as it moved away from Roddenberry's idealistic "Wagon Train to The Stars" model of a show and more into conflict and gritty geopolitics set in the same era as TNG. There's a story arc and the characters experience far more development throughout the show than the cast of TNG ever did. I've come to enjoy it more as an adult than when I first watched it on the air as a kid. As for Voyager or Enterprise, I haven't really watched either of them.

aidenn0 11y ago

The original series is probably worth watching all of, just because there aren't that many episodes, and a few of them are real gems; it also sets the stage for some other things that are worth watching. Read a summary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (actually if you can, read a summary of a summary, the pacing of the movie is so ponderous). The even numbered movies are the best, but it's probably worth watching the 3rd one as well for continuity. The majority of the fandom pretends that the fifth movie never happened, and is well worth skipping. The Next Generation (TNG) and Deep Space Nine (DS9) are the two that seem to have the strongest following with Voyager being a bit divisive among the fandom (depending on who you ask it either sucks or is good). You will have to suffer through the first season of TNG and just trust that it will get better. DS9 can stand on its own fairly well, but if you want continuity you can watch any time after season 5 of TNG. DS9 enters a fairly significant tone shift around season 4, and season 1, like TNG, is not necessarily representative of the entire series. [edit] Here's a super-short summary of the above: TOS Movies: 2,3,4,6 TNG: at least first 3 seasons, if you don't like after season 3, drop. If you're impatient, you can watch just the pilot than skip to season 3 and not miss too much. DS9: Seasons 4 and 5 of TNG develop some of the races that are prominent in DS9, so it's best if you wait until at least season 5 of TNG to watch, if you really didn't like season 3 of TNG, then this will stand on its own though. Voyager: It was not my cup of tea; some fans liked it though.

gknoy 11y ago
There are lists of episodes that hit the "classic" ones, but the original series was remarkably suitable to binge-watching on Netflix, partly because there were few seasons. Many of the episodes are retellings of classic tales, some are downright lame or campy. However, the main characters' development is good. There are some interesting discussions of ethics and philosophy in there, as well. There are certainly episodes that suck, but the better ones are things that you will find have informed our pop culture lexicon, and are referenced in many other things. Watch it for the characters, more than the individual shows, IMO.
- aidenn0 11y ago
  TOS is definitely YMMV; my wife flat-out can't stand it, while she will watch TNG with me. And as you point out there just weren't that many episodes, and they establish a base that all of the other series refer back to, so I agree it's worth watching all of for all but the most minimal run-through of Star Trek.

pakled_engineer 11y ago

DS9 doesn't get good until Sisko has the goatee, much like how beardless Riker episodes were terribad in TNG.

serge2k 11y ago
I actually liked the bajoran arc in season 1/2. Real problem is the standalone episodes were not good

bgilroy26 11y ago

For all of Star Trek, this is one discussion on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/wiki/where_should_i_start https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/wiki/where_should_i_start For DS9 in particular, this link was helpful for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepSpaceNine/comments/1fkijc/ive_made_a_list_of_all_the_ds9_episodes_that_are/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepSpaceNine/comments/1fkijc/ive_m... There are 3 episode lists in there and a user named Algernon_Asimov has a "Hmph!" comment with a link to detailed episode lists for TNG + DS9

JoshTriplett 11y ago

You can start almost anywhere; all of the continuities are self-contained. I personally find The Original Series hit-or-miss, but there are a few must-watch episodes; worth seeing, but don't let the quality of the "average" episode put you off from the franchise. Next Generation starts out rough but gets quite good later on; worth watching all the way through. DS9 is exceptional, particularly for marathon watching; it has more story arcs with continuity, and more long-term character development. Voyager is a bit more "anomaly of the week", but it has some particularly good episodes, and it's worth watching all the way through as well. Enterprise is...Enterprise; personally I skipped most of it. For movies: see the Original Series movies Star Trek II, IV, and VI (watching the series first not required), see Generations once (watch some of TNG first), see First Contact (watch most of TNG first), see Insurrection (surprisingly good), skip Nemesis entirely. If you have to pick one series to start with, I'd say either DS9 (as a marathon) or TNG. Note that you'll get a very different flavor from both; TNG presents a lovely idyllic future with occasional hiccups, while DS9 presents a darker and grittier 24th century, for better or worse.

VLM 11y ago

I will attempt to analyze the multiple series from a hard/soft sci fi perspective. Enterprise is probably the hardest. Very RPG-like how they operate to their self made rules in what compared to later series is extreme limitations. Life is a lot different when the fastest transport ship flys at warp 1 and everything isn't deus ex machina away with AI or technobabble. On the other hand they overdo the "wooden ships and iron men" thing a little and there is too much "pew pew" action. Next up is DS9. Some technobabble for dramatic license but still reads like a paper and pencil RPG fiction (which is good). Some "crewman of the week" cheesy soft filler episodes but mostly hard science fiction story. Has a reasonably hard science overall story arc. Arguably the best overall series. Has the best "hard" written "soft" character in all of trek, the Cardassian "tailor". He's not really a tailor, hope this isn't too much of a spoiler. Best sci fi on TV, maybe. TOS is all over the map. Sometimes they did a good job of both hard and soft sci fi at the same time. Then there's "space hippies" or "spocks brain" or "spock needs to get laid" which we'll pretend never happened. There is an unrealistic (by hard sci fi standards) fixation on alien planets being the wild west desert. You NEED to watch certain individual episodes, like the doomsday machine. TNG is the softest series, its General Hospital soap opera, on a space ship. Toward the middle either its a short story arc, sometimes halfway decent, or "crewmember of the week special story". The Wesley character is kind of the series Jar-Jar and you'd do best to skip episodes where he is "crewman of the month". Also the romance episodes read like fanfic from /r9k/. The alien civilizations are bad caricatures. Generally across all the series from a hard sci fi viewpoint if an episode involves space nazis, time travel, Ferengi, romance, or a holodeck accident, it can be ignored with little to no loss with very few exceptions.