But also shows were made for syndication, so most didn't have overarching plotlines and it didn't matter what order you watched them in. There might be one (heavily advertised) event a season that actually affected anything, and it'd be something like two characters getting married rather than something that fundamentally shook up the concept.

You'll be tied to the deflector dish

Congratulations, you started with the action parody. Now go catch up on the classics.

Nah, start from the beginning. When I introduced my partner to star trek, she loved the first TNG seasons, despite recognizing that the latter are better

A few of my very favorite episodes of Star Trek ever are in season 1, though. I wouldn't skip it entirely!

• s01e11 Haven, because I love Lwaxana when she's being mischievous
• s01e13 Datalore, for Spiner in his early glory
• s01e18 Home Soil, for a decent "murder mystery"
• s01e22 Symbiosis, seriously one of the best episodes of the whole show with a lesson on why the Prime Directive is important, plenty of Crusher vs Picard moral discussions, and an attempt at a sympathetic view on drug addiction (though a dated one now)

Even though I think DS9 is objectively better than TNG, I would still recommend TNG to get into it, as the more exploration focus should appeal to a wider audience.

Riker needs a beard!

Picard is easily the worst serious ever. And I don't mean it in the sense of "place to start" but in the sense of "worst serious period". Discovery is great tho.

I loved when they got tired of putting the eye candy in those scenes and started throwing in random characters like Porthos.

I started with voyager, was that wrong?

I never was into it, always a Star Wars kid. My gf dad had episodes of TAS going one day and I got sucked into it to my surprise, i didnt think I’d appreciate a show that I always saw as old and kinda cheesy. I watched a few more episodes and really liked it. He did me a big favour, told me even if I wasn’t going to watch it all at once, he said watch space seed the episode, then go watch the first two movies. What an epic, you get a great introduction to Star Trek and one of its greatest villains Khan.

After that I tired TNG but didnt like it, don’t like most Star Trek, I always go back to the original. I did watch discovery with my wife and it was ok, but strange new worlds is my second favourite now.

You should check it out. Star Trek has some damn good media.

That sounds like a long road

getting from there to here.

@glorkon @USSBurritoTruck Star Trek also assumes a truly post-scarcity society in which capitalism plays, at most, a small part.One of the problems we face in assessing human potential is that we pretty much only know of humans since the Neolithic, when authority and wealth became increasingly centralized. In the Star Trek universe, while authority remains hierarchical and highly centralized, economic inequality is somewhat diminished. These are different sets of social premises and the outcomes might vary.

But let's be honest, we all know we would behave like the aliens from Independence Day - mercilessly conquering and harvesting alien worlds and spreading destruction across the universe.

This would be true, except that Star Trek assumes a truly post-scarcity world where nobody needs to harvest alien worlds. Hell, the capitalists (Ferengi) are depicted as ruthless and conniving (oftentimes outright cartoonish) villains most of the time.

Why not s3e1? I don't know anything about it but why skip that one?

What?

You just start at Star Trek The Animated Series

If you like new stuff: Star Trek The Animated Series

If you like animation: Star Trek The Animated Series

If you enjoy older series: Star Trek The Animated Series

If you enjoy really old series: Star Trek The Animated Series

Yeah, I started with TNG a year or two ago. I’m now halfway through season 4 of Voyager, just from watching an episode every few days whenever I have time. Eventually I’ll move on to DS9, before digging into the movies (which I have simultaneously heard are incredible and hot garbage, depending on the individual user’s preferences) and the newer stuff.

I only very casually like Star Trek and have never been confused when watching any series from the first episode.* I don't know about all these fancy new Treks, but TOS, TNG, and DS9 were intentionally designed to be picked up during any random episode because that was how TV worked at the time. If you found a show during its fifth episode, you had no means of going back to the first four unless you happened to know someone who recorded them on VHS.

Lower Decks was also completely enjoyable to me even though my knowledge of the franchise is limited.

* I think it was Discovery we tried watching somewhat recently (not 100% sure on the title) where I was confused from the first episode, but it was in a "What the fuck are these creative choices?" and "Do people like this?" way.

I’m going to be the serpent in the grass and say give Babylon 5 a go before DS9. The first season will feel slow because the show is structured like a novel; exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion. There are small things like newspaper headers that hint towards future developments, and every main character undergoes a major arc. I enjoy DS9, but it’s never felt as cohesive as B5 to me. You may throw your stones now.

It’s such a weird choice to put “ships councilor” on the bridge.

Her character does get a bit better in later seasons. She even starts wearing a real uniform.

Those movies are so forgettable to me, but I do frequently hear that they were a gateway drug for many people so they're ok with me!

Lower decks has soooo many references to the other series I feel like it would be a very confusing place to start.

I think either Strange New Worlds or Lower Decks is a good starting point for someone new to Trek. I think I'd recommend SNW over Lower Decks though just because the number of references in Lower Decks to other Star Trek media is pretty high.

Ew.

Measure of a Man > The Drumhead > Devil's Due