There is nuance of character building in every show for someone. There are nearly always individual life story threads that happen in teh shows especially for the bridge crew. It is stupid to watch two or three shows from season one. Sure there are classic episodes, but the other stuff is just as important for world building.

Once he and Kira start dating he becomes thoroughly lame. They both do honestly.

@iceman228433: I'm glad they did, 6 is probably my favourite of the bunch.

SPOILERS!

I remember watching TNG with my mom when I was a kid, and thinking it was mostly boring. Was I watching the season 1 boring stuff? Or maybe I was just too young to care.

btw Riker is voiced by Solid Snake in the Japanese dub of TNG.

I'm really glad that Dan has started watching TNG and is enjoying it.

@rincewind:I also really enjoyed Voyager.

I wish there was a guide out there for Doctor Who like Max's

That is kinda amazing.

The salamander episode makes your argument invalid.

I watched a ton of TNG as a kid, really enjoyed it. I didn't catch it every day though, so I'm sure I wasn't seeing them in perfect order. As people have noted, it's very episodic - there is an overall arc to the characters and things do change permanently over time as a result of certain episodes, but for the most part you're okay if you don't see them all.

I think people are perhaps misunderstanding the point of Max's guide - he isn't necessarily suggesting that the rest of the show isn't worth watching, but rather noting that 178 hours of content is an intimidatingly large amount that some people would be instantly put off by. He selected ~40 hours that he thought were most of the best ones available as a way for people to understand it and take in the key moments over a slightly more manageable timeframe. Of course, if you find you're really enjoying the show then you should absolutely feel free to go through all of them; as it sounds like Dan may already be planning to do.

I watched a ton by osmosis but I honestly can't tell if I enjoyed it.

People who compare the early seasons of DS9 to the early seasons of TNG are really just demonstrating that people view those shows differently. I loved TNG from the very first season, and I even missed some of the elements the show shed from those early seasons. I got like 3 seasons into DS9 and barely liked any of it. To me, the early seasons of DS9 are not rough to get through like TNG's early seasons; TNG's early seasons are great.

Some people just don't like DS9. I won't watch any more of it just so I never have to hear about "Bajor" ever again.

@mithhunter55 said:

For me, DS9 doesn't get interesting until season 2.

I went a head and watched any episode having to do with Ferengi though. I love Quark, and his disdain for pretty much everything.

I think it was Matt Rorie that once said, "You're a make your argument invalid!"

Glad someone said this eventually. I really hope that Max's guide doesn't evolve into some weird sacrosanct fact of life about TNG. If you follow his guide and find yourself very much enjoying anything in the first couple of seasons, and have the time, then just go ahead and watch the whole thing from the beginning. Because I agree with what monkeyking1969 said about nuance and character building. Minus the antagonistic anger that is.

I watched DS9 straight through for the first time after it was available on Netflix. The first episode that made me sit up and take notice was Duet, toward the end of season one.

Hearing him talk about it made me want to try I out, can someone link me to the guide he's using?

Star Trek virgin here too.

I've started watching TNG just now myself.

Movie length first episode is kinda terrible to be honest.

I know it's supposed to get better.

But it would want to get A LOT better fast for me to keep watching.

I know the first two season get a bad rap, and I know there are a few stinkers in there. But I think there are few great ones there too. Like the Doctor Character in season two, I for one at the time of airing didn't like the character. But the last few years I've re-watched season 2 and have a new appreciation for her and now kinda wish she appeared more.

I think if you want to watch it, give them a try. If an episode bores you or drags, or course skip it. But don't give up on it either.

That's great, I like worf, but I feel like in the episodes I've seen where they try to expand him as a character it's never enough. He always ends up being kind of flat, but maybe that's the idea.

I thought doctor Pulaski was a far more interesting character than Crusher. Pulaski also had a bit of an arc in treating Data less as a machine and more like a person as season 2 moves forward. I'm nearing the end of season 3 and doctor crusher is just kind goofy to me. There's no weight to her words and you don't feel like she has a lot of experience. Pulaski mean while was kind of a bad-ass, and because of her rank could even in the event of Picard not fulfilling his duties as Captain properly step in and take over.

Fun fact: Doctor Pulaski served on the original Enterprise as well.

Also people DON'T. SKIP. EPISODES.

For Christ sake just watch the full thing, it's totally worth it.

Some day I'll get into it. Max's guide seems like an awesome idea but I'll just start and the beginning and push through.