Getting into Star Trek

[Silver Wolf]

http://memory-alpha.org
Take a look here if you're wanting to find any episodes/movies/etc. that might interest you.

For a sense of "timeline" see here:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Series_timeline

Also just for the record for the "beginners selection" I would recommend seeing "The Trouble with Tribbles" (TOS) and "Trials and Tribbulations" at least once.

Also as a breakdown (common opinions, not neccesarily my own):

"Space the final frontier, and in each episode we continue to travel through new places, plots and scenarios, to the point that there isn't more than one two-parter"

TOS: Adventure, Light amounts of philosophy, Action and Scantily clad girls, a bit filled with common 70s cheese though (either in story or SFX).

"Space the final frontier, again, only this time with more connections, development and two parters as well as paradoxes, technobabble and more fleshed out characters"

TNG: Reportedly "Star Trek at its finest," lots of philosophy, recurring antagonists, moral dilemmas and space battle scenes. Some things are a little drawn out at times but its a definite must see, there actually is alot of humor in it too.

"A Space Station with a dark past and uncertain future, a People only recently coming into a time of peace and independance, a Starfleet still licking its wounds from its battles with the Borg and with even more enemies on the way, and a Commander who now it seems may be destined to be at the center of it all."

DS9: A bit different then the "exploration/one-shot" style of the other series. A lot more arcs, character progression and darker undertones. It's not always as "new" with the episodes but when it comes to storylines, other than some minor macguffins, they're really top notch. Themes are also quite varied too.

"Space the final frontier, but with a destination in mind, an overplot similar to that of Lost in Space, and more 20th Century references then you can shake a tricorder at, did I mention that there is a killer PC FPS based on it too?"

VOY: Similar to the TNG and TOS eras, exploration ship, battles, and the ongoing journey, although somesay a little too ongoing. The plots are good, some are amazingly well done, others not so much. Some fans say it lost some of its spirit near the end with more focus on intercrew romance and "eye-candy for the male demographic" but it wasn't terrible or "lukewarm" television. However if you hate incessant timetravel, be warned there is a lot of it, and some of it isn't even done by the main characters.


"Space the final frontier, to us, we start afresh, seeing how the Starfleet began, how humans adapted to life with aliens and interstellar travel, and how the first of the voyages of the line of the Enterprise began... with alot of references and eye-candy to keep both fans and casual watchers happy"

ENT: The love it/hate it era of Star Trek. One hand its more down to earth, closer to what we are today and alot more relatable in some instances. On the other hand it occasionally trips on "previous" continuity, and some plots are a bit rushed due to its premature ending. It's good, but I wouldn't recommend it as a "first trek" especially as a lot of things require previous trek-knowledge before viewing.

And for the record: Star Trek the Animated Series is TOS if it were made for kids; the plots and technobabble is there, its just resolved faster and lighter on the brain.

Movie-wise:
II: Wrath of Khan (Ship-Battles, Vendettas and KHAAAANNN!!),
IV: The Voyage Home (Hilarity, Fish out of water (literally), Time Travel)
VI: Undiscovered Country (Klingons, Murder Mysteries, and Shakespeare),
and lastly First Contact (Moral-dilemmas, revenge, and Battles by ship, in ship and on the hull of a ship) are definitely good.

V: The Final Frontier, not so much, unless you want to see a rushed plot with religous undertones and discussion of the "Unknown."

 

[Xarin]

Heres a run down

TOS(Original series) - Bad Acting, cheap effects, ridiculous designs
BUT! Great story telling, thought provoking episodes, memorable characters, and the start of something worth loving

I say this is not a requirement, but rather, if you dont mind watching some nasty quality stuff. But, if u got the cash, or the know how, get yourself the BRAND NEW HD/REMASTERED version!

It's the same series, just remastered with more dynamic color, quality, shadow, audio, and it even has remastered effects, primarily the ships in space, being redone in 3d CGI, GREAT stuff

TNG(The really popular one) - Better acting, better effects, good designs
BUT! aw hell. the best series of them all i personally say. A few fuckups here and there, but a great series fo sho. This is the one with Picard, one of the BEST captains EVER invented. It also features Data, which is my personal Favorite character and actor of all time in the star trek world.

It follows the provoking thoughts of the first series and even goes further with heightened character development and features one of the first truly non-sentient species trying to discover humanity(Data) now while he is considered sentient in the series, he technically is not a person, as he is an android.
While Spock may of been the first non human to try and understand the ways of humanity, Data is the first non living non human.


Now the curveball. Star Trek DS9 (Deep Space Nine)

Sorry fellas, I didn't like it that much. not that it wasn't good. I do enjoy this series, and it was infact the first series I can recall watching with full consciousness (I started watching startrek at a VERY young age).
While I can recall a few VERY good episodes, I have to admit, this is a bit less provoking in worldly events than the last two, which was alright to me, but I preferred it that way. Sisko was infact a great leader and one of the best captains along with Picard and Kirk, but what really made him awesome and note worthy, was the fact he actually had a family! A son even! a REAL SON that wasnt bastardized!
But, like another member already said, even the subchars had development, that only means, that theres TOO MUCH. A good thing if u have the entire series and can devote time to it, but myself? I am a casual viewer most of the time, and since its hard to find ds9 on tv compared to the first two series, I rarely see them.

Now, Let's go to my PERSONAL Favorite...
STAR TREK VOYAGER
Aside from sisko being the first black captain, heres Capt. Janeway, the first female capt. Warning, she suffers from the symptoms of being a woman, meaning she can be gentle and kind one episode, and brutal and cold the next. Seriously.
This series also featured my favorite "learning about humanity" character, The Doctor, and then the male favorite, Seven(hot borg girls are awesome)

This one was aired during the same time DS9 was for a while, which was okay. Why? Because it takes place during the same timeframe! Technically.

Voyager breaks the boundaries by returning to the old TOS feel of FRESH NEW GALAXY! The series thus far has explored and explored the endless universe, coming across a few familiar faces in the many races of alien life.

Voyager is a ship that first off isnt a space station nor another enterprise, that has been flung to the far corner of space, a completely different quadrant, and are all alone. they have no way to contact home, and it becomes a giant desperate thriller that has you wondering what and how will they get home, while still keeping up with the Federation's Ideals.

Alot more drama and great story telling than the older ones, and alot more of a closed cast with small development outside the main cast and crew, but definitly a fresh idea from startrek.


Now, ENTERPRISE

This one kinda stunk.
It was much more action oriented at first, and alot more unstable. This series is prolly more for the battlestar fans out there.

Startrek's main idea was the dealing of flaws in a perfect society.

Enterprise was the making of that perfect society by perfecting a flawed society.

So while a good show, not a good star trek series.


As for which you should start with?

Whatever you like best.

Go ahead, watch and finish TNG.

Then go ahead and open up to DS9 and Voyager. whichever peaks ur interest first, go with that one.

Enterprise and TOS are also more on the "if u have the time" kind of deal.

BTW! Major break down

TOS - Retro Feeling Goodness

TNG - LOTS OF GOOD STORY

DS9 - Soap Opera-y but with massive development and cast!

Voyager - Drama-y with lots of Time Travel, what ifs, and cmon, it's got Robert Picardo, THE DOCTOR!

Enterprise - For the Action Junky!


Hell

who cares.

WATCH THEM ALL, ALL THE TIME!




ARGH!


And then?


go watch Doctor Who, the New Series!


I FANCY BILLY PIPER!

 

[Forever Knight]

Damn, thanks for the info guys.

 

[Badonkadonk]

I got into Trek three or four years ago when I accidentally watched watched The Wrath of Khan on AMC, and now I'm a walking encyclopedia. Here's how I would do it:
-Watch the first six Star Trek movies
-Watch some select episodes of TOS like Balance of Terror, The Changeling, Mirror, Mirror, Amok Time, The Tholian Web, I can think of more
-Troll Spike TV for TNG, DS9 and VOY reruns (though I don't think they show DS9 anymore, so you might have to drop $150 on the entire series from China, sounds like cheating but it's worth it)
-From there on, just watch which ever one you liked the best based on the reruns you saw. You won't be ruining any sense of continuity of you don't watch the shows in the order they aired.
-Top it all off with Enterprise season 4, the last and best season that barely anyone saw, but avoid the last episode at all costs.

Hope that helped

 

[Forever Knight]

I've now been told Battlestar Galatica is 100x better in all ways that ST. Is this true?.
:169:

 

[SaikoDragon]

So last week I caught a ST:TNG ep and thought it was killer. So where do I begin.... I want to watch everything... all shows, movies, porn, everything.

theeeen... go and watch? Buy some dvds? torrent some episodes you little pirate? o_o what's stopping you from doing it all!

 

[Undrave]

I've now been told Battlestar Galatica is 100x better in all ways that ST. Is this true?.
:169:

Which Battlestar Gallactica? The one where they ended up on Earth in the 70s or the one with the nausea inducing camera work??

 

[Poweranimals]

TNG is the best of the best. The seasons and movies are all available on DVD too. TOS is a really cheesy series and DS9 is boring as hell. Voyager is really fun, not as good as TNG but fun. I found Enterprise to be great as well, but most people hate it.

 

[Badonkadonk]

I've now been told Battlestar Galatica is 100x better in all ways that ST. Is this true?.
:169:

I'm just assuming you're talking about the new BSG. Well, Star Trek could look a little corny next to it, but they're both fantastic shows in their own ways. You should really check out both.

 

[Undrave]

Enterprise started slow and I admit I was annoyed at the over reliance on the temporal cold war and the whole messing with time. We had enough of that in Voyager... and Quantum Leap XD

Voyager is the first Trek I really got to know well because of its syndicated run in my market, so it's my favorite one because of that.

The Doctor is my fav. Trek character ever!