I want to get into the Star Trek universe but dont know where to start. I have previously seen first three seasons of Disocvery and first season of picard. Picard was cool but disocvery didnt quite track, a little boring and not adventure focused enough. However loving lower decks now (just started season 4) and want to get into the more canon stuff.
I have access to TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise and SNW. TOS i could probanly get access to if i want, but gotta admit that is not very enticing.
So where to start? TNG?
If it helps (and i dont get shunned for this), i am a stargate guy and love especially sg-1 and the adventure of the week format and the character ensemble
You must log in or # to comment.
Voyager’s got that family feel with the cast that you just enjoy being around.
TNG is best to start after season 1. Not saying season one is bad, but it might be harder to get into for a new comer.
Enterprise is good is you like your uniforms tight.
The original series is great to get a lot of the origin information. I guess it’s hard for new comers, but I grew up with it, so has a special accepting place in my heart.
Deep Space 9 is my personal favorite for political sci-fi. However, there is the occasional whatever episode. This is best to watch is order all the way through.
I still think that lower decks and strange new worlds can not be fully enjoyed without some other older trek shown under your belt, but it’s only a few episodes so you can finish them both quickly.
I abandoned Discovery after season 2 or 3 (I forget) I hear it got ok later on, but idk.
Picard, just watch season 3. I watched the others and then season 3 came out. I forgot about the others.
TNG is best to start after season 1. Not saying season one is bad, but it might be harder to get into for a new comer.
i think i am now prepared for what to come and will try to also watch season 1 but with the mindset that i can skip bad episodes.
I still think that lower decks and strange new worlds can not be fully enjoyed without some other older trek shown under your belt, but it’s only a few episodes so you can finish them both quickly.
getting much enjoyment out of lower decks now, but i can obviously tell there are many references i dont quite pick up on. If i end up watching it all, i will definitely go back and rewatch lower decks. Good point about few episodes, as i think i will try to squeeze in snw before i start tng-era.
TNG from the start, but Iimit yourself to the 4 or 5 best rated episodes from Season 1 and 2. Then crack on with most of 3 and 4. 5 onwards starts to have a few more clunkers but by then you should have a good idea if you like it enough to take a chance.
Echoing move to SNW. It has a higher budget than older Trek and follows the current trend of “mini-series” storytelling. Older Trek follows older TV rules (wanted 26 eps to a season so a lot of filler to make it so). DS9 would be my other rec with a heavy caveat that if you’re not feeling an ep skip it and look it up on memory alpha later, particularly for the first season. As it goes on it gets more into the long form storytelling you’d expect with today’s shows, but first few seasons can be a bit rough and there can be a long time between plots being revisited (but when they are they make it count). TNG, Voyager and TOS are mainly monster/problem of the week (Voyager kind of weakly straddles longform and episodic leaning heavily towards episodic). Out of them I’d recommend TNG outside of the first two seasons (first season is TOS scifi tales encore, second season I actually like a lot and has some good eps, but general like is a minority opinion and cast gets retooled in third season anyway).
If you don’t mind kids shows also recommend Prodigy (kinda like a Trek ATLA imo).
I’d start with Strange New Worlds. It’s very classic Trek in terms of its themes and stories, but as it’s still being made it has contemporary audiences in mind. If you like it, I would then go to TNG.
It absolutely is not. Everyone is snarky with a bad attitude. It leans way too heavily into pseudo-science magical explanations, and it does dumb stuff like showing Vulcans (who only mate once every 7 years) laying around and making out like a couple of teenagers.
Ugh… I’ve been so reticent to watch modern Trek. I’ve heard such bad things about Discovery and have never been tempted to try it. But I really love the TNG era, so I gave in and watched Picard season 1…man, that was a mistake. Too modern, too snarky, too fucking meta. I swore off modern Trek. But then I read loads of threads saying that SNW was a return to form, and that it felt the most like Star Trek out of all the modern series. So even though I knew I might hate it, yesterday I watched the first three episodes. I’m already so annoyed with it. Super meta, the cast is for the most part way too young, and it’s loose or completely disregarding toward canon (yeah, Spock and T’Pring having sex without Pon Farr… give me a break!), and plotlines that make no sense at all. I’m so annoyed with it. I get that '80s/'90s TV was too earnest for today’s audiences, but SNW feels like a parody of Star Trek, not a worthy successor. So far, nothing feels like actual high stakes. There really isn’t serious drama that I actually care about. When shows are too snarky and meta, it makes it really hard for me to connect with them.
I do recognize that first seasons can be rocky, so I’ll at least stick with it through the end of the season. But I can’t lie, it’s off to a terrible start. I wish we could have shows more in keeping with the tone and themes of TNG and DS9 (or even Voyager!).
I watched Picard too, based on the advice of a friend. It started out seeming pretty promising, and just kept getting worse, all the way to the end.
It’s not actually Star Trek, but the Orville is the best Trek that has been made since DS9. It starts pretty campy and stupid, but it gets really good! They back off the jokes and goofiness, and start making an impactful show after a few episodes. I may have fast forwarded through parts of episode two, but I’m so glad that I stuck with the show. You sound like your tastes align with mine, and I highly advise watching The Orville, and giving it a chance to find its footing.
Ooh yeah I’ve heard people speak highly of The Orville, and I keep forgetting to check it out! If I’m not mistaken, it’s got Penny Johnson (Kasidy Yates) in it, right?
Yes, she’s one of the main characters. She has a pretty interesting storyline throughout the show.
Agreed. I watch SNW when new episodes air, but it’s the one Trek show I’m never tempted to rewatch. It’s basically overengineered fan fiction.
Thanks! Yes i got the impression Snw is better appreciared than Discovery and picard. Im juggling tng-era vs snw as first now
I was late to the party, so my initial watch order was all kinds of messed up. I went DIS -> LD -> VOY -> DS9 -> TNG -> VOY (again) -> ENT -> SNW. Sadly, have only seen bits and pieces of TOS (and only GIFs of TAS).
Definitely recommend watching the TNG era in order: TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT and then doubling back to watch Lower Decks again (because why not lol). I also recommend watching Prodigy after VOY since it’s basically VOY season 8/9. SNW is a spinoff from DIS, so I’d watch at least seasons 1-2 of DIS before SNW.
Prodigy is a kid’s show, but please don’t let that turn you away. It’s pretty great.
Ok, that was kindof what i had in mind so good to see that suggested. I imagine i can get a lot of addtional fun it of LD after having seen everything else. But then TNG-era before or after SNW?
Never heard of prodigy, ill check that out as well!
For SNW, I don’t think it matters beyond preference. A few other comments suggest watching it before TNG, and that makes sense.
I recommend starting with the original series or Star Trek the next generation. Picard and Discovery are probably the worst places to start.
TOS is very dated and can be hard to watch at times. You definitely have to be appreciative of the camp and low production.
TNG holds up a bit better. It’s not an adventure show though, and the first season has some real stinkers. I’d say it’s a good starting point to watch the first 3 or 4 episodes then go to season 2 weeks give that a shot. If you like how it’s going then go back and finish S1 and keep going.
DS9 is like tng but also has a bit more edge and does some good deconstruction of the pure optimism of tng. It is still optimistic but also has some cynicism I love it. I don’t think I’d like it as much without a good tng backbone though.
Overall 90s trek isn’t going to really give you a lot of adventure focus, unless you watch the movies. It’s strengths lie in the morality play and the collaborative problem solving, and the idea of a bright future. Picard kind of shits all over that idea of a brighter future but to each their own, I can see why some people would like it.
I think ill reserve TOS for if i become a trekkie! Hehe
I definitely need some of that brighter future-stuff right about now. I think what i mean with adventure of the week i mean problem of the week. It doesnt have to be jungles and temples and stuff. But i dont want that hbo-style “oh we are so dark and you have to pay attention for every fucking second of every episode or you will lose the thread because we are so intrcate and did i mention we are dark now fuck off and get depressed”
I’ll throw my hat in for starting with DS9. I’m just finishing the final season with my partner now - her first watch - and it’s really cemented why its my favourite Trek. It holds up incredibly well.
I started with Picard then Strange New Worlds then Discovery.
I’ll take my downvotes and death threats now.
Did you stop after that or have you since seen more?
Y’know we see so many old “fans” going out of their way to shit on the post-2005 stuff it’s nice to see people who got into it through the new shows!
No downvotes or death threats from me! Start however you want or it happens to start! I started by watching TNG on air with my Dad as a kid, which is probably why I like the 90s shows so much. I’m really not sure how younger people find an entry point into the older shows because they just don’t have the same feel as the newer shows, IMHO, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy them.
I watched Picard and enjoyed it. I probably will never rewatch it like TNG, but it was a fun distraction. I’m glad others are enjoying it.
On Reddit way back when, I joined a trek sub as I’ve wanted to get into Star Trek but found the 90s shows too dry (early 2000s video games however, 👌). Posted about how I was really enjoying Picard and got RIPPED to shreds in the comments. No actual death threats but a bunch of people called me intellectually challenged and one combed through my post history to point out why exactly I was so cognitively bankrupt haha
FYI not to discourage others from commenting (because everyone has their own opinion) but there is a pretty comprehensive guide in the /c/StarTrek sidebar: https://wiki.startrek.website/books/cstartrek/page/the-cstartrek-where-should-i-start-guide
ah very nice, the sidebar is not visible by default on jerboa and i forgot to check this. great resource!
I got into Star Trek by watching random Voyager episodes whenever they happened to be on TV. It’s from the same era as SG-1 and is overall pretty close to what an “average” Star Trek show would be IMO. You can give it a try if TNG doesn’t click with you for some reason. Or go with SNW if you want something that’s currently airing with new episodes being made - every other “current” Star Trek show has either finished production or not aired yet.
My main advice is: Don’t be afraid to skip an episode if you watch it and you don’t like it. Especially the early seasons of TNG, DS9 and Voyager have some episodes which can easily be skipped. You won’t lose any context.
Yea need to rewire my mindset there, but this is a recurring rec so i think it is one i definitely must heed!
There are several guides on what episode can / should / mustn’t be skipped.
Let’s watch Star Trek has it for every classic show: https://www.letswatchstartrek.com/tng-episode-guide/
But there are of course other guides and as they’re subjective ratings you might want to give episodes a chance even if others didn’t like them.
TNG season 1 is a good start its rough around the edges and if it starts to look like the movie “Coming to America” go ahead and skip that episode. Just watch knowing it’s going to get better like Park and Rec but it sets up a lot of storylines that will pay off later and some classic episodes that people forget are season 1 like “Measure of a man”.
Measure of a Man is season 2!
You know what you are correct i should have done a search before posting thanks for the correction
If us Star Trek nerds can’t get our facts straight, what hope for humanity?
It’s okay to be wrong! He corrected himself and thanked you — that good sir is what a Trekkie should do. The first duty is to the truth.
TNG season 3. The first two sessions are pretty rough. Start with 3. If you ever do a rewatch then try starting with season 1. Then try DS9.
TOS is good if you can handle the very low budget look.
Since you’ve already watched the relevant parts of Discovery, I’d recommend SNW. It spins off directly from Disco season 2, but it’s more episodic and has a wider tonal range. Some episodes are dark and serious, some are plain goofy. Overall you’ll find it much more light hearted and adventurous than Disco.
Otherwise, I’m a big supporter of starting at the beginning. Give a few episodes of TOS a try. Yes, it’s a product of it’s time, but it still holds up as great TV. It’s also one of the few Trek shows that really hits the ground running quality wise - the '90s series tend to take a few seasons to rev up.
Episodic is good!
Im prepared for slow start with TNG-era stuff, not sure if im prepared for TOS. But checking out a few episodes camt hurt, i guess i for some reason think i have to commit to one series from start to end and that is obviously not true
Yeah, definitely not. Picard and Discovery were very serialised, as were the later seasons of DS9, but outside of those you can pretty much dip your toe in to almost any episode and not worry about getting sucked into a whole arc. It’s probably best to keep a low-commitment mindset and skip around a bit until something really works for you.
You dare defile Lower Decks by calling other stuff “More cannon”! Experience bij, petaQ! 😉
In all seriousness, though, I would say DS9. The first season is much better than TNG season 1 in my opinion - not perfect, but livable. It mostly gets better from there, though like VOY, be prepared for sudden urges for Rick Berman to “accidentally fall out an airlock”, if you know what I mean.
This might be tinted by DS9 being my favorite Trek series, although Lower Decks is putting up fierce competition for DS9’s top spot in my heart.
hehe i at least assumed the more comedic aspects does not fit into the true star trek lore :p I think i have settled on starting from TNG and moving onto DS9 from there. Still considering SNW first since its not that many episodes.
be prepared for sudden urges for Rick Berman to “accidentally fall out an airlock”, if you know what I mean.
not really but it sounds like some soviet putin stuff!
After watching other Star Trek shows, you’ll find the true beauty is the vast majority of Lower Decks completely fits into canon, as “the true Star Trek lore” contains some ridiculous stuff.
