TNG and DS9: Standalone or Concurrent

Hi, all.

I still have a while before I'm going to be ready to do so, but I'm trying to decide whether to watch TNG and DS9 entirely standalone or overlap them as appropriate, and thought I'd get opinions.

Note to the mods: I'm putting this here because it's not specific to any one season, but move it if you feel it needs to be.

 

I think you can watch TNG in its entirety first so long as you're award of these little bits of crossover.

In the 6th season TNG episode "Birthright, Part 1" the Enterprise docks at DS9 and is visited by Dr Bashir. You might want to check out the DS9 pilot episode "Emissary" before watching this.

In the 7th season TNG episode "Firstborn" the Enterprise contacts DS9 and talks to Quark. This is in reference to the events of the second DS9 episode "Past Prologue".

 

I'm already familiar with both series, so my enjoyment of the shows wouldn't be affected one way or the other, which is why I couldn't decide what to do. I didn't know about there being a connection between Past Prologue and Firstborn, though.

 

They call Quark in Firstborn asking about the Duras sisters who were in his bar in Past Prologue.

There's also a bit of plot crossover with the Maquis in Preemptive Strike. Honestly, it's just convenient to watch the same show while you're on that one I'd say.

 

Originally, I watched the shows as standalone series but while making the tribute video in my signature (a hobby of mine) I watched the series concurrently. It was neat tracing story archs across series. I did this with Voyager and the movies as well.

That's partly why (should they make another series) I think they should make a show based on a fleet. An explorer ship, a battle fleet, a planetary aid fleet, an ally PoV ship(s) (Klingons), and maybe a colony or station. Multiple primary focused stories that intercept within a main plot.

Like Game of Thrones meets space.

 

I'm actually in the process of combining the concurrent series for a grand rewatch of all the series'.

This website is a great guideline for doing so.
http://startreklist.blogspot.com/2011/04/list-of-all-star-trek-episodes-sorted_05.html

 

I was totally not expecting the poll results to shake out the way they have so far. I actually expected them to be reversed.

BTW, on the off-chance I do end up watching the series concurrently, I've already compiled a Viewing Order that is based on both the Memory Alpha overall viewing order as well as the viewing order from the Star Trek Chronology Project.

 

^Yeah, I would have used the Star Trek Chronology for my project if I knew about it then.

http://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.com/

 

In doing further research, I ended up deciding that, because TNG and DS9 are set in the same area of space and therefore do directly or indirectly impact each other, the most 'ideal' way to watch them is indeed concurrently.

Thank you to everybody who voted, BTW.

 

I prefer concurrent, as there are those little crossover moments. Plus, that's the way I originally watched so it recreates the original experience.

 

I prefer standalone because I'm lazy. LOL! But I think it might be neat to try mixing them together. It's just too much...work.

 

The level of effort involved in watching the two shows concurrently is going to vary depending on how you're watching them. For me, it's not going to be difficult at all because I'll be watching on Amazon Instant Video (thanks to my Prime membership).

BTW, I already posted this elsewhere in its entirety, but thought I'd share parts of it here as well. It's my 'Ultimate Viewing Guide' for watching the two shows concurrently.

DigificWriter's Ultimate TNG and DS9 Concurrent Viewing Guide
TNG Season 6/DS9 Season 1:

TNG Season 7/DS9 Season 2:

With regards to the TNG movies, you can also incorporate them into a 'concurrent' DS9/TNG watch-through in the following fashion:
Generations following Meridian in DS9 S3
Insurrection following Covenant in DS9 S7
Nemesis following What You Leave Behind in DS9 S7 (yes, I put it here because Worf's presence in both TNG and DS9 makes his appearance in Nemesis a natural follow-up to What You Lave Behind even though there are 2 years between the events of WYLB and Nemesis, and you don't really need to know who Janeway is in order to appreciate her cameo)

 

I guess it might be easier on Netflix or something if you're watching that way, but swapping out a DVD every episode and figuring out where you are... yeah too much work.

 

It might be handy to watch "Journey's End", "The Maquis" two-parter, "Preemptive Strike" and then "Tribunal" - the two groups of writers did well setting up the Maquis for Voyager, even if it was DS9 who really focused on them.

 

still, you need to have a list, and then you need to keep track of the list. So much work!

 

Correct. When moving to the next episode, it should be two button clicks. Anything more takes too long!

Obviously Netflix and the DVD companies are missing out by not having an intermixed playlist/DVD release!

 

^I would totally buy a intermixed DVD release.

 

Voyager did more with the Maquis aspects of its premise than people think it did; it might bot have played out exactly as outlined in the Series Bible, but the 'Starfleet and Maquis crews coming together' narrative thread is an undercurrent that runs throughout all 7 seasons in various ways.

 

I watched them more or less concurrently in order of release date, as I'm currently doing with DS9 and Voyager. As a guide I've been using the Memory Alpha episode pages, and clicking the right arrow next to "XXX of 728 released in all" to see which episode to watch next.

 

I think "The wounded" from season 4 feels like almost a DS9 episode.