What order should the TV series and movies be watched in?

[Commishsleer]

I'm not sure. It's confusing to follow. I'm not sure if I should follow that one reply? Or another answer?

The thing is, you ask a ten different people you'll get eleven different answers. I can give you my opinion, others can give you theirs, but in the end you have to watch the episodes and decide for yourself if they're good.

This is true. Everyone has their favourites. Only you can decide what you like.
Some people say TOS is campy others TNG. If you can't look past the 60s special effects and the 80s clothing then maybe you won't enjoy them.

I think if you are reasonably intelligent you can watch them in any order and pick it up. I'd suggest watching DS9 and VOY and ENT in order for the first half season but really I think you could jump seasons after that.
And the TOS movies should be watched in order but not necessarily the TNG ones (except for NEM - see it last).

Also you could watch any of the series without seeing any of the other series and still get it

 

[Nine of Four]

Here's my order:

1. Scenes from "The Voyage Home" based in the 80's.
2. Scenes from "First Contact" based in the 21st century.
3. ENT
4. TOS
5. TOS movies - for "The Voyage Home", only scenes based in the 23rd century.
6. Scenes from "Generations" based in the 23rd century.
7. TNG
8. DS9
9. VOY
10. TNG movies - for "Generations" & "First Contact", only scenes based in the 24th Century.

*Also divide any episodes which involve time travel into their respective slots. I'm also only including the Prime reality, not NuTrek, as that wasn't the same timeline.

 

[php111]

I decided I rather watch everything. What is the difference to watch between chronological order and by release order? When I say watch everything I mean all seasons and all episodes and all series and all movies except for one and the one I don't want to watch is TAS, everything else I do want to watch. Now, since I made up my mind for everything, which post should I follow that has everything listed in order?

Thank you so much to everyone!

 

[Melakon]

You don't have to follow any particular suggestion. You could sample a little bit from each series until you find a storytelling style that fits your own preference, then focus on that series first. I tend to recommend TOS as a starting point, as that's the one I first saw back in its day.

 

[R. Star]

I decided I rather watch everything. What is the difference to watch between chronological order and by release order? When I say watch everything I mean all seasons and all episodes and all series and all movies except for one and the one I don't want to watch is TAS, everything else I do want to watch. Now, since I made up my mind for everything, which post should I follow that has everything listed in order?

Thank you so much to everyone!

For the first time, I'd go with release date as an order rather than chronological order. Enterprise takes place the earliest, but you'll get the most out of watching it if you watch TOS and TNG first as it ties in to them at a lot of places.

 

[php111]

I decided I rather watch everything. What is the difference to watch between chronological order and by release order? When I say watch everything I mean all seasons and all episodes and all series and all movies except for one and the one I don't want to watch is TAS, everything else I do want to watch. Now, since I made up my mind for everything, which post should I follow that has everything listed in order?

Thank you so much to everyone!

For the first time, I'd go with release date as an order rather than chronological order. Enterprise takes place the earliest, but you'll get the most out of watching it if you watch TOS and TNG first as it ties in to them at a lot of places.

So, release date order would be the order I originally posted when I opened this thread, right? Or if not, than could you please post the complete release date order for the TV shows and movies?

 

[R. Star]

I decided I rather watch everything. What is the difference to watch between chronological order and by release order? When I say watch everything I mean all seasons and all episodes and all series and all movies except for one and the one I don't want to watch is TAS, everything else I do want to watch. Now, since I made up my mind for everything, which post should I follow that has everything listed in order?

Thank you so much to everyone!

For the first time, I'd go with release date as an order rather than chronological order. Enterprise takes place the earliest, but you'll get the most out of watching it if you watch TOS and TNG first as it ties in to them at a lot of places.

So, release date order would be the order I originally posted when I opened this thread, right? Or if not, than could you please post the complete release date order for the TV shows and movies?

Correct sir. Though after you watch TOS, I'd watch the first six movies before jumping into The Next Generation.

 

[BillJ]

Here's my order:

1. Scenes from "The Voyage Home" based in the 80's.
2. Scenes from "First Contact" based in the 21st century.
3. ENT
4. TOS
5. TOS movies - for "The Voyage Home", only scenes based in the 23rd century.
6. Scenes from "Generations" based in the 23rd century.
7. TNG
8. DS9
9. VOY
10. TNG movies - for "Generations" & "First Contact", only scenes based in the 24th Century.

*Also divide any episodes which involve time travel into their respective slots. I'm also only including the Prime reality, not NuTrek, as that wasn't the same timeline.

You forgot the 1890's portion of Time's Arrow (TNG), the 1930's portion of The City on the Edge of Forever (TOS), the 1960's portions of Tomorrow is Yesterday (TOS) and Assignment: Earth (TOS), the 1990's portion of Future's End (VOY), the 2020's portion of Past Prologue (DS9) and the 23rd century portion of Trials and Tribble-ations (DS9).

God, I know way to much about something that has no practical value...

EDIT: There's also the early-21st century portion of Carpenter Street (ENT), the 26th century portion of Azati Prime (ENT) and the 31st century portions of Shockwave (ENT) and Living Witness (VOY).

EDIT II: There's also the "Big Bang" portion of Death Wish (VOY) and the primordial Earth portion of All Good Things (TNG).

 

[php111]

For the first time, I'd go with release date as an order rather than chronological order. Enterprise takes place the earliest, but you'll get the most out of watching it if you watch TOS and TNG first as it ties in to them at a lot of places.

So, release date order would be the order I originally posted when I opened this thread, right? Or if not, than could you please post the complete release date order for the TV shows and movies?

Correct sir. Though after you watch TOS, I'd watch the first six movies before jumping into The Next Generation.

Thank you!

 

[Xhiandra]

So, release date order would be the order I originally posted when I opened this thread, right? Or if not, than could you please post the complete release date order for the TV shows and movies?

Well, if you want to be precise, the release date order (excluding TAS) is:
01. TOS (1966-1969)
02. The Motion Picture (1979)
03. The Wrath of Khan (1982)
04. The Search for Spock (1984)
05. The Voyage Home (1986)
06. TNG season 1 (1987/8)
07. TNG season 2 & The Final Frontier (1989)
08. TNG season 3 (1990)
09. TNG season 4 & The Undiscovered Country (1991)
10. TNG season 5 (1992)
11. TNG season 6 & DS9 season 1 (1993)
12. TNG season 7 & DS9 season 2 & Generations (1994)
13. DS9 season 3 & VOY season 1 (1995)
14. DS9 season 4 & VOY season 2 & First Contact (1996)
15. DS9 season 5 & VOY season 3 (1997)
16. DS9 season 6 & VOY season 4 & Insurrection (1998)
17. DS9 season 7 & VOY season 5 (1999)
18. VOY season 6 (2000)
19. VOY season 7 & ENT season 1 (2001/2)
20. ENT season 2 & Nemesis (2003)
21. ENT seasons 3-4 (2004-2005)

But it's of course an unnecessary hassle to follow it that way, just go TOS->TOS movies->TNG->TNG movies->DS9->VOY->ENT
Still, interesting to see how much was going on at the same time.

 

[php111]

So, release date order would be the order I originally posted when I opened this thread, right? Or if not, than could you please post the complete release date order for the TV shows and movies?

Well, if you want to be precise, the release date order (excluding TAS) is:
01. TOS (1966-1969)
02. The Motion Picture (1979)
03. The Wrath of Khan (1982)
04. The Search for Spock (1984)
05. The Voyage Home (1986)
06. TNG season 1 (1987/8)
07. TNG season 2 & The Final Frontier (1989)
08. TNG season 3 (1990)
09. TNG season 4 & The Undiscovered Country (1991)
10. TNG season 5 (1992)
11. TNG season 6 & DS9 season 1 (1993)
12. TNG season 7 & DS9 season 2 & Generations (1994)
13. DS9 season 3 & VOY season 1 (1995)
14. DS9 season 4 & VOY season 2 & First Contact (1996)
15. DS9 season 5 & VOY season 3 (1997)
16. DS9 season 6 & VOY season 4 & Insurrection (1998)
17. DS9 season 7 & VOY season 5 (1999)
18. VOY season 6 (2000)
19. VOY season 7 & ENT season 1 (2001/2)
20. ENT season 2 & Nemesis (2003)
21. ENT seasons 3-4 (2004-2005)

But it's of course an unnecessary hassle to follow it that way, just go TOS->TOS movies->TNG->TNG movies->DS9->VOY->ENT
Still, interesting to see how much was going on at the same time.

Thank you so much!

 

[nureintier]

It probably doesn't matter much.

I'm currently watching/rewatching everything in order of release, and I'm halfway through the third season on TOS right now. I finally got around to buying the DVD set of all the pre-Abrams movies, also, so I'll get to those soon, too. There are a few I didn't watch at all yet, I mainly paid attention to the TV shows before. Haven't finished watching Enterprise or Voyager yet, either, so I'll get to those also.

 

[bbjeg]

Another vote for concurrently viewing the series.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

What is your age and gender, and how much scifi do you watch?

No scifi background: Start with TNG
Male age 18-30, scifi background: Start with DS9
Male age 30+, scifi background: Start with TOS
Female: Start with TNG

Before women who love other series more than TNG respond furiously, remember I am speaking in statistical generalities, and there may very likely be some specific traits a person has that will make his or her best starting place different from that I listed.

The reason for my suggesting females start with TNG is that I know tons of people who watched TNG with their girlfriends then when they started watching other series their girlfriends lost interest.

 

[Commishsleer]

What is your age and gender, and how much scifi do you watch?

No scifi background: Start with TNG
Male age 18-30, scifi background: Start with DS9
Male age 30+, scifi background: Start with TOS
Female: Start with TNG

Before women who love other series more than TNG respond furiously, remember I am speaking in statistical generalities, and there may very likely be some specific traits a person has that will make his or her best starting place different from that I listed.

The reason for my suggesting females start with TNG is that I know tons of people who watched TNG with their girlfriends then when they started watching other series their girlfriends lost interest.

Most of the younger women I speak to (younger than me) prefer VOY. Its the least sexist of all the series.

 

[DigificWriter]

Which series you start with depends on what your interests are:
If you like heavily serialized stories, start with DS9
If you like more Episodic fare, start with TOS or TNG
If you like 'Serialized Procedurals' (i.e. Bones, The X-Files, Fringe), start with VOY or ENT

 

[php111]

Thank you all for the help!!

I would like to ask in order to be really really percised, should I put the movies and TV shows by release date and original airdate for each and every episode? Below is an example I am trying to ask if its the right way to do this by release order.

Lets take two TNG episodes and a movie of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier which was released on 6/9/1989. TNG episodes 18, and 19 of Season 2.

Up the Long Ladder episode 18 was released on 5/22/1989
Manhunt episode 19 was released on 6/19/1989

Alright, Movie: The Final Frontier was released before TNG S2E19, so the release order would be:

Up the Long Ladder
Movie: The Final Frontier
Manhunt
Would that be the right way to put them in order by release date?

 

[bbjeg]

Well I wasn't saying go by release order but chronologically to Stardate. So everything TOS related will come before TNG.

 

[php111]

Well I wasn't saying go by release order but chronologically to Stardate. So everything TOS related will come before TNG.

I don't know how to read the Stardate. I see for TOS S1E1 Stardate is 1513.1. But I don't know what that means and how to read it. I also noticed none of the film has Stardate.

 

[php111]

Well I wasn't saying go by release order but chronologically to Stardate. So everything TOS related will come before TNG.

I just did a Google search for what is Stardate, too me Stardate would be confusing for me even to understand. I rather pass because I don't understand it.