Not my OC
Arguably starting with TNG’s Encounter at Farpoint is a good place
Yeah, but the answer is TNG, Season 3, Episode 2, The Ensigns of Command. That’s about when they hit their stride. If you’re very brave you could start with Season 2, Episode 9, The Measure of a Man, but that season is pretty hit or miss (if I remember right, the season finale was a clip show).
Look I fell into the doctor who crowd years ago and it has been… A ride. I always figured I’d get into trek when Ive got nothing left to lose
What?
You just start at the beginning of one of the series.
If you like new stuff: Strange New Worlds
If you like animation: Lower Decks
If you enjoy older series: The Next Generation (+Deep Space9 + Voyager)
If you enjoy really old series: The Original Series
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 guess I stumbled upon Star Trek on TV here and there, but I really started caring after watching the JJ Abram’s trilogy. There is probably no worse point to enter, but I swear it has its moments
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!
We’re all getting the Star Trek experience of the early 21st century troubles.
The most wrong is Star Trek: Straight New Worlds.
Start with Wrath of Kahn.
Sure. It’s a sequel to a Franchise: The Movie. It is also a direct sequel to a random episode of the show. It is a self-contained story; I don’t think it bothers to mention the events of The Motion Picture, it does a good job establishing the antagonist because this movie came out in 1982, it’s entirely possible that even a Trek fan in the audience missed that one episode of a 20 year old TV show so there’s a whole sequence where Kahn puts Chekov on his knees and recites “I am the very model of a vengeful space antagonist, I blame the death of my wife on the deeds of the protagonist. I quote from Melville’s Moby Dick completely unironically. I grapple thee, I stab at thee, I spit to my last breath at thee.”
Beyond beating the audience over the head with its literary references (to the point of showing a copy of Moby Dick and Tale of Two Cities on screen YOU FUCKING HACKS) it does a reasonable job of world building, and the rest of the franchise refers back to this movie a lot…to the point of remaking it twice.
It’s a self contained plot that comes to an end…even though it has two direct sequels. Search for Spock is where we get fully formed modern Klingons complete with their language, and The Voyage Home is weird, but also kind of cool, and probably the most Star Trek of the TOS era movies…I also believe Voyage Home has the best soundtrack of a Trek film.
Yeah great suggestion, Wrath of Khan is an excellent entry point.
The enterprise being an underdog the entire time is a great showcase for the best of trek: the crew and the problem solving 👌
fun fact: Undiscovered Country features the only instance of Kirk’s Enterprise arriving to a battle in fighting trim amd ready for combat.
…And still gets its ass handed to it because they show up and are like “Well now what?” Because the Klingons are perfectly invisible.
The Star Trek universe is based on the premise that a peaceful, united mankind is acting as a benevolent, civilized partner and friend of all alien species.
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.
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.
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.
Indeed, outcomes may vary. I remember growing up in West Berlin in the 1980s, surrounded by the GDR - a highly centralized and hierarchical society with diminished economic inequality. We frequently got time off school because the smog was so bad.
I’m very skeptical if a human society is possible which does not lead to over-exploitation of resources and recklessness towards discovered species on alien planets. I also doubt that the technology required for space travel could be developed in a sustainable manner in the first place.
I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of a Star Trek type society which was somehow able find a solution for this problem, but I fear it’s highly unlikely. Ultimately, we’re selfish apes. That’s why I find the Star Trek premise unrealistic.
In my time we started most shows in the middle of whatever season was on when you stumbled them while flipping channels.
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.
No no no. The correct place to start is with A Klingon Challenge. The only way to get sucked into the universe is interactively!
/j
I tried that and accidentally experienced Bij (it worked and now I love all the series).
Understood; starting with Picard and Discovery first!
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.
As a non-Trekkie, I found it enjoyable enough… ditto with Discovery (at least the first season).
I just picked those two because they were literally my introduction to Star Trek TV series, and I know both are quite divisive in the community…
Funny, I liked the later seasons of Discovery much more when it
grew its beardgrew its dreadlocks.Picard has it’s moments but a ton of fan service that wouldn’t work for non-Trekkie’s I would assume but maybe that’s why you didn’t care about it and wasn’t bothered. It’s “let’s take the heroes of these series and let them fight against these villains from these series and the storyline from there”. Maybe it works even better if you’re new to all of them.
I wouldn’t even say it’s bad but all the other series are better, so have fun discovering the other series 😉
it’s an odd series for sure. I did enjoy the last season purely for the Enterprise-D returning. But still it’s weird how they kinda just tossed Wes aside as if he didn’t exist because THIS Crusher son was “WAY more important”. It’s like hey Beverly, you have another kid. one who at this point is WAY more powerful than your hybrid Borg thingy Son.
I liked S1. I did not finish S2.
I’ve been in a serious Star Trek fan for over 40 years, and my experience has never been anything like this. And if it were, I don’t think I’d like Star Trek at all.
You clearly start with “The Cage”
Obviously…
Maybe that’s their problem. They never saw the cage, so none of Star Trek makes sense for them. None of that makes sense to me, but, hey, what do I know?
The only Star Trek media I’ve consumed are the new movies. Burn me at the stake trekkies.
You’ll be tied to the deflector dish
This will either destroy them, or make them more powerful than we could possibly imagine.
They may become a technobabble deity
Riding Warp 10 all day long
Congratulations, you started with the action parody. Now go catch up on the classics.
The only right way to start is with TOS. And now get out of my grain silo, damn tribbles!
I started with voyager, was that wrong?
Yes. You’re only a true fan, if you watched TOS when it first aired. *menacingly brandishes walking stick*
what an odd place to start…I absolutely respect it!
