I have seen the completely laughable "action" sequences of the first Star Trek series, with the rubber suits and all, but I was also told that those action sequences are few and far between and that the real meat of the series like in the characters and their dialogue. Should I begin at the very start?

Also, what about the animated series... should I skip it? Apparently it was de-canonized at the beginning of TNG or something. And I've heard nothing but bad things about Enterprise, so... I don't know really!

TOS, TNG, DS9. Ypu can skip Voyager and ST:E though ST:E is not that bad.

TNG definitely.

Start with The Next Generation [Season 3] and Deep Space 9 around [season 2 or 3 whenever they get the Defiant] as well.

Deep Space 9 is the best by a large margin imo. First two seasons are kinda basically typical Trek. Then when the dominion war starts it becomes awsome. Like one long story arc than a reset button the other shows typically use for each episode. It's less a "trek" and more a "war" show.

I think a lot of the series there are really crappy episodes and you have to know where to begin. I'd say TNG and start after Riker has a beard. I avoid enterprise and deep space 9 but I've heard, if you start from the beginning, they're really good or at least Deep Space 9 is.

@IzzyGraze said:

I think a lot of the series there are really crappy episodes and you have to know where to begin. I'd say TNG and start after Riker has a beard. I avoid enterprise and deep space 9 but I've heard, if you start from the beginning, they're really good or at least Deep Space 9 is.

Actually just skipping the first two seasons is probably a good idea for Deep Space 9. With the first seasons, they were kinda told to stick to tradtional stuff. Then after that they basically done what they wanted. It's from the fellow who made Battlestar Galatica (the new and awsome one).

I'll watch anything but Enterprise or the Insurrection movie. Those particular entries bore me to tears. Most of the original series and The Next Generation are better than Deep Space 9 which is better than Voyager, but really, I get some amount of enjoyment out of watching almost anything Star Trek-related, other than the aforementioned exceptions. Some people are a lot more critical of Deep Space 9 and Voyager particularly so your mileage may vary on that. I actually just watching Voyager on Netflix and got a lot more enjoyment out of it than I ever thought that I would. If you're new to the series, start with TNG. Nobody will ever top Captain Picard.

TNG.

Everything else is a boring space soap opera. Season 1 and 2 are pretty bad though.

I started at The next gen a few weeks ago. It is interesting I heard it gets better season 3.

Why are voyager and enterprise so bad?

Start with season 3 of TNG. Watch all of it. Then branch out if you want.

The movies are probably the best the original series stuff has to offer.So watch Star Trek 2,3 and 4

Then TNG and DS9

The Next Generation is the BEST. Also you can wet your feet with the old movies.

Start with TNG, and if you liked that, watch DS9, though the first season is a slow burn. If you're still hungry after that, watch the original series, and then Voyager. If you're still feeling the itch, watch the cartoon based on the original series. Don't watch Enterprise.

@Warchief said:

Start with The Next Generation [Season 3] and Deep Space 9 around [season 2 or 3 whenever they get the Defiant] as well.

If he's going to start with TNG then he should watch from first season. Even though S3 is where it really started to get going they establish many characters that are important later on.

TNG and even that is boring the first two seasons. I found the original series boring as fuck, although I respect it, and everything else is garbage. The JJ Abrams movie is really good.

@Nottle said:

I started at The next gen a few weeks ago. It is interesting I heard it gets better season 3.

Why are voyager and enterprise so bad?

"Voyager" is kinda a "dude bro" Trek. It's easily the most accessible. It's kinda like if a 14 year old made star trek. "Enterprise" is typical startrek fodder, basically an inferior TNG. "Deep Space 9" is basically star trek in name only. Alot of fans hate it for that reason because it doesn't share Gene Roddenberrys utopian vision.

Season 3 TNG and then move on to the other shows. Leave Enterprise for last though. As for movies 2, 4 and 6 are pretty good and First Contact and Generations are okay.

I really like the orginal. There are definately laughable parts but there are some really progress sci-fi stuff going on as well.

I was never really sold on TNG but it has it's place.

I freakin' love Deep Space 9 and I often tell people that the new Battlestar Galactic would not exist without it.

The movies are also good for the most part, ranging from awesome (Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home) to okay (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek: Nemesis).

start with tng and avoid voyager because apart from the Doctor it is shit.

TNG and DS9 as others have mentioned, are probably the best the franchise has to offer.  Branch out after those two in whichever direction you want, since I find the range of opinions on Voyager to be pretty wide while the original series depends on your ability to get past how dated the production values are.  Enterprise is...well...yeah.  Either way, unless you are binging it, TNG and DS9 in their entirety can easily last you many months.

Thanks for the info guys! See the thing is, that I used to watch Voyager RELIGIOUSLY when I was a kid and I think getting into it now would be a great, massive nostalgia trip. But on the other hand, I was like 8 and couldn't really tell my ass from my elbow.

You'll be fine with the Original Series & The Next Generation. After recently watching the original series on instant netflix, there are a few rubber suit monsters but a lot of the show is more story with not a ton of action. Next Generation pumped up a bunch of the action though there is a ton of good ones of story beats. You'll be okay with DS9 though it does get a bit better after a season or two. Voyager & Enterprise only if you want to but considering the number of shows in Original series & Next Gen, that alone will keep you watching for a while if you just watch it like it was on (with one or two showing per day).

As for the movies, the first Star Trek film is good but rather slow in many spots. 2nd one is great. After that it kinda comes & goes on how good it is on all of the ST films. So stick with those two then go from there if you want to see more.

Sometimes it's fun to make up our own minds and be adventurous instead of constantly asking for help and advice in every single thing we do.

Oh, and don't forget First Contact. The only TNG cast movie worth watching.

DS9 is by far the best series, it has actual story arcs and great character development. Start with TNG though and go for there.

TOS still has some really solid episodes, if you can put up with the dated aspects and many of the older movies are really good (anything before 7).

Avoid Voyager and Enterprise like the plague.

@s10129107 said:

The Next Generation is the BEST. Also you can wet your feet with the old movies.

Yea you gotta start with TNG. At this point it is really the iconic Star Trek experience. I would only bother with the original series if you are interested in it, it really hasn't aged well, but is interesting to see how far SCI-Fi shows have come. Deep Space 9 as many have said is really solid, but i wouldn't watch it until after TNG. Also i'm not sure why Voyager is getting as much hate as it is, its not great but if you enjoy Star Trek it's more of that.

TNG 
 
  

@James_Giant_Peach said:

Sometimes it's fun to make up our own minds and be adventurous instead of constantly asking for help and advice in every single thing we do.

You don't have to be a dick. I'm just asking for opinions before my hard drive loses massive amounts of it's comparatively small space with a show that I may or may not like.

Like everyone else TNG. I've been trying to get into star trek myself and I started here. I haven't finished the series yet but it's quite awesome. The first 2 and maybe bits of the 3rd seasons are a grind but once you get through that it's awesome

Watch them chronologically. Start with Enterprise, then TOS, then the animated series. At this point you'll be so in love with Star Trek that TNG will be a bit more tolerable. Then watch DS9 and cap it off with Voyager.

Don't do this. Watch TNG. If you like it come back for suggestions on what to watch next.

The Next Generation is intelligent; Deep Space Nine is very thought-provoking; and Voyager goes more for the action. Definitely watch all of DS9 - although it really picks up in the 3rd season it's good throughout. Voyager is decent, there are some great episodes, but it certainly should come after the first two. If you get done with all of that and still want more then go for the Original Series and then Enterprise. I've heard Enterprise has unfulfilled potential but can actually be good at times.

Personally I think that Enterprise gets a bad rap. True its not entierly original, at least in the first 2/3 seasons, but its a generally solid series. Its not anywhere near as good as TNG but its still pretty enjoyable. Especially the last season which changes from the typical 1 hour adventure to a full season of 3 episode arcs such as an arc focusing on the time when Vulcans changed from a corrupt/impulsive leadership (very unvulcan) to the Vulcans you would expect as part of the Star Trek universe. Its very interesting to see the vulcans completely flawed, including murdering humans and "incorrect" vulcans, and start morphing into the purely logial creatures of later years.

Id still say watch the other shows first, except maybe Voyager...thats more flawed that Enterprise, but if you still want to see more Enterprise is really solid.

EDIT: Oh and the episodes which set arond Earth signing treaties with multiple allies (setting up to become the Federation later) but a Terrorist xeonist faction oppose it. The episodes are great not least of all because its really interesting to see humans who arent all nice with aliens but see them as a theat to humanity (including "historial" footage of someones idea to "cleanse" earth following WW3).

@xyzygy said:

@James_Giant_Peach said:

Sometimes it's fun to make up our own minds and be adventurous instead of constantly asking for help and advice in every single thing we do.

You don't have to be a dick. I'm just asking for opinions before my hard drive loses massive amounts of it's comparatively small space with a show that I may or may not like.

It might be a good idea to start with the movies in that case. 2, 3, 4 and 6 form a really good story arc and essentially cover the events leading into TNG.

Deep Space Nine is the only Star Trek series I care about, but since it helps to have watched TNG before you start that, I'd recommend that is what you should do.

Sometimes it's fun to make up our own minds and be adventurous instead of constantly asking for help and advice in every single thing we do.

@ajdass1 said:

. I've heard Enterprise has unfulfilled potential but can actually be good at times.

Id definately say it has unfilled potential, especially because it was setting up for the next season to be Earth-Rumulan War (last season is 2154 and the war was 2156).

Don't listen to anyone telling you to skip Voyager and Enterprise. TOS sucks, skip that one. Watch TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT. They're all good.

Which is the one with the weird their ear is there entire head dudes on the crew, i think they are called Ferangi.

I don't get why people don't like the first star trek movie, it's great classic sci-fi and it's the first thing I'd recommend watching.

Watch the first 3 movies, then watch TNG, it gets better the further along it goes, probably start with the third season like everyone else is saying.

If you are still in, just watch everything else, personally I couldn't stand DS9 and liked Voyager for the most part, The episodes of Enterprise that I did see were fine but I'd save it for last.

@Nottle said:

Witch is the one with the weird their ear is there entire head dudes on the crew, i think they are called Ferangi.

Well Quark was a Ferengi bartender on DS9. His Nephew became a bridge crew member later on.

I grew up with TOS movies and I never liked Star Trek because of it, but I recently watched all of TNG from the beginning and I LOVED it. So I guess start there?

I don't agree with people saying skip early seasons of TNG. The first four seasons are the best. Deanna Troi becomes too prevalent in the later seasons and she is one of the worst characters ever written. Every season is worth watching.

Start with TNG, then DS9.

TOS, TNG, DS9

Voyager is tolerable but when it's bad, it's bad.

Stay away from Enterprise, it's the show that killed Trek.

I like The Original Series, but admittedly a lot of that comes from irony. It's kitschy, more than a little goofy and has production values that are, more often than not, hilariously poor. If you don't hate yourself just watch TNG, though as has been previously said, the first two seasons are pretty bad.

Start with TOS because it is the best and anyone who tells you otherwise is a moron. (But skip Season 3 with the exception of a couple episodes.) Afterwards, there is TNG and DS9. There are no other Star Trek series.

I'd echo everyone else and say start with The Next Generation. It's probably the most consistently high quality (once you get past the crappy first two seasons) while also being accessible to newcomers. I have fond memories of watching Voyager growing up, and it definitely has some good episodes, but it's definitely not one to start with, and there's a fair amount of crap in there as well. Haven't seen much of DS9. From what I've heard and seen it seems very good, but it's not particularly representative of Star Trek as a whole. And I've basically seen nothing of either the original series or Enterprise, but from what I understand, TOS would be hard to go back to from a modern perspective, and Enterprise is pretty renown for just being bad.

Watch TNG, followed by the movie Star Trek: First Contact. Then I would say move on to Deep Space 9, and then if you're in for a particularly great experience, watch Star Trek 4.

I'd say DS9 is the one to start with if you're coming in fresh. I think TNG feels a little dated (it turns 25 this year!), which can make watching it a little more difficult as a point of entry into the series if you haven't 'bought in' to the whole Star Trek series. If you watched DS9 and liked it though, definitely give TNG a shot. Personally, I adore TOS, but recognize that it's not for everybody. I'd check out a few episodes ('A Taste of Armageddon', 'Trouble with Tribbles', and 'Spock's Brain' are good ones), and if you're not sold, then take a pass on them.

As has been stated multiple times, Voyager is crap and I haven't seen Enterprise so I can't comment on it.