Trek Year: To Boldly Watch Every Episode in One Year

Greetings to you all! I wanted to let you all know about my project, Trek Year. I am a life long geek yet for some strange reason I have never seen Star Trek. Well, I remember seeing The Next Generation when I was little, but I don't remember it. Same goes for Deep Space Nine...I recall that I saw some of it at some point. So in all fairness, I really know almost nothing about it. It is my goal it watch and review every episode of Star Trek in one year! Daunting task for sure. Maybe even overwhelming.

So I am asking for your help, support, feedback, love, criticism, hugs, critiques and beer to make this happen. I calculated it out and it will take about two episodes a day for a whole year to complete this...and I don't even know if I like Star Trek!

For the social network aspect:
Facebook: Trek Year
Twitter: @TrekYear2013
YouTube: Trek Year Vids

Here are links to some of the reviews.


Worst Episode

Best Episode


Again, thank you guys in advance for support!

 

Check the link in my signature for a list of all the episodes in the order to watch them in.

 

I did this a few years ago. Don't get discouraged. As long as you can average two a day, you should do fine. I had some days I watched 4 or 5, some I watched none. Still finished in 11.5 months. How are you planning on watching them? One series at a time? Don't forget DS9 overlapped TNG for two years and VOY for five. What about the movies or is this just the episodes? Still, I hope you enjoy the journey you're about to take.

 

If the OP uses the list in my signature, this won't be a problem.

 

Dude, why are you doing this to yourself??? Enjoy Trek on your days off from school or work or anything but don't isolate yourself like this. You're gonna end up hating Trek rather than liking it.

 

I agree. I was just making sure the OP knew. I'm not sure he should start with ENT though, but it's his choice. It is a daunting task do what he's proposing.

Ok. I just checked out his YouTube vids. He's almost done with the second season of TOS. He actually started on Jan 1.

 

This.

I notice whenever a new poster that just gets intro Trek and wants to see it all or asks which series they should watch first almost always end up burned out after awhile (barely making through ENT or TOS in the process). Just jump around and watch a little bit of all the series and movies and concentrate on the series/episodes you like the best and work your way from there, that way you will get a sampling of all the series and be more well rounded in terms of the Trek franchise, and you may discover you like something that the fandom at large doesn't care for (such as the more maligned/underrated series).

Star Trek not some massive thing that has to be watched in order from first to last to enjoy, even the story arcs in DS9 and ENT don't last from the first episode to the last episode of the series.

 

Thanks for all the messages! There is a very good possibility that I could get burned out. In all honesty, that is part of why I am doing this. I am more or less documenting my experiences on this journey. If I do begin to feel burned out that is where I need folks to support me.

As for the order, I was planning on watching them in order of each season but since I now know there is much overlap (thanks, Tiberius!) I may do it in that order. Issues like these are why I am looking for Star Trek fans to follow my progress. The more input I get from you all the better!

 

I'm probably a majority of the way through this just cause I've been putting Trek on as background noise while I work on repetitive tasks.

Starting probably in the fall, I've already seen all of DS9 and all of Voyager except for Threshold, Fair Haven and Spirit Folk. I'm in season 3 of TNG, and I watched a full season of Enterprise. If I wanted to pull off this challenge I could probably do it without even forcing myself to.

Just make sure you have a natural time in your day where you want to watch Star Trek, so you're never forcing yourself to.

Maybe a little advice if you're serious about trying this. Don't necessarily try to watch them in order. Maybe, start two or three of them, and jump between them so you have variety, and just watch the individual series internally in the correct order.

 

It's kinda cool you'd try to watch all episodes in a year but I agree with others and say don't push yourself. Don't make love a chore. Spread it out over a few years why not? How about ENT and TOS this year. TNG next year. Important is to enjoy it and things outside of it too.

 

That's the thing providing support, in order to avoid getting burned out I suggest sampling the "cream of the crop" episodes from each series and movies like watching 'Balance of Terror' from TOS then watching 'Best of Both Worlds' from TNG and then maybe Star Trek II, I'd think that would be a much more enjoyable experience for a newcomer than having to sit through the stinker eps in the 3rd season of TOS and the first couple of seasons of TNG. Much, much better than us posting things like "come on you can make it!", "'Spocks Brain' wasn't that bad!"

I also would like to see a new persons perspective on the less talked about shows like DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise, but that doesn't happen if the person gets tired of it and gives up, which is understandable.

I bet the posters here and myself could come up with a decent list of eps to watch that would get you started that would take you on a course that I bet you would find more desirable than having to go through the whole catalog in chronological order. We could even come up with a stinker list to help you get some perspective after watching the good stuff, who knows maybe you will find a guilty pleasure or two lol.

I personally tend to do what you've already done, that is go through a series in order form first to last but I live and breath Sci-Fi and am obsessed with outer space stuff, but not everyone is the same way as I've learned over the years.

 

Wait, you're thinking of starting with ENT?

No, no, no, no, no. TOS, TNG, and DS9 are the only choices to start with. ENT is something you watch only after you love the franchise.

Yeah, ENT happens chronologically first but a huge deal of it is references to things established in other series. Do NOT start with ENT.

Although I would encourage watching the individual series chronologically rather than just cherry picking, except maybe skipping some of TNG S1.

If I were to advise someone totally new to Trek who wanted to get into it I'd say, start with Q Who then just watch TNG from the start of season 3. Then when they get to the end of TNG, go to TOS and DS9.

 

I did this before star trek XI. After i saw the 1st trailer for the movie, i had the urge to rewatch it all. I watched as much as i could, but it still took me about 2 years to get through it, and it was totally awesome. I did go the ENT, TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY route. It was pretty fun, but if youre new to Trek, id def start with TOS.

 

No he started with TOS on Jan 1.

ENT is one of the more maligned series and if someone stays away from it because of poor word of mouth on the net (not accusing you of anything) for example they might miss out on something they really enjoy, some people out there find Voyager or Enterprise to be their favorite series.

The first couple of seasons have very vague references to continuity that are so minor only I'd pick up on them. Season 3 was caught up in it's own arc for the most part, season 4 had a lot of continuity and references to later shows but I bet somebody could enjoy those episodes without seeing any of the earlier series.

A show like TOS or TNG doesn't have to be viewed in a strict chronological order cherry picking is fine as long as the viewer doesn't end up in the middle of a story arc which won't happen with either of those shows, which is not a bad thing since that's how Star Trek became so popular in reruns as arc based shows tend not to do as well in rerun syndication.

 

Well, the thing about TNG is, it doesn't matter where in the series you start, but after you start you should watch them in sequence.

So, 5-6-7-1-2-3-4 is just as good as 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. But both are better than jumping around randomly. Which is why I personally recommend Q Who-3-4-5-6-7-1-rest of 2.

It is true, maybe 1 out of 10 Star Trek fans finds VOY or ENT to be the best series, but I'd bet a majority of those people watched another Trek series first and then watched VOY and ENT.

 

Just be sure this doesn't become a chore for you. I never get burned out on Trek, but I also don't watch ENT.....

 

Thank you all so much for all the feedback.

So I have received ,many messages as to where Trek Year reviews have been this past week. I am sorry I haven't posted anything. The microphone in my Nexus 7 is not working right and that is what I have been recording all of my videos on so I may be sending it in for repairs and I have no other way of recording. I am looking at buying an actual video camera in the future. The other element is that the biggest thing people keep asking for is the insertion of clips while I am reviewing. This is a very doable task, but it means I would be limited to releasing a review once a day or every other day. What are all of your thoughts on this?

 

It's not jumping around randomly if you watch the episodes after doing some research and seeing those that seem the most appealing to you first. I first watched TOS by renting VHS tapes from the local video store based on watch episodes looked the most interesting or had a good/bad reputation. I also caught TNG for the first time in reruns not necessarily in order either although it would be very jarring to watch a season 5 episode then watch a season 1 episode the bulk of the show seasons 3-7 look identical production wise.

A good compromise would be to put still pictures in your videos instead of clips to help jog peoples memory of what the episode is about.

 

Thanks for that idea! I think I will do that.

 

How hard is it to do that? I don't make videos so I have no idea. Have to remember you have a lot of content to get through so you don't want to slow yourself down too much.