Best place to start?

[d3moliti0n]

Hi there

Well, I have never actually watched a (full) episode of Star Trek before, but have seen it on TV on numerous occassions. I am interested in it though and would like to start watching it, but the amount of different Star Trek series is rather big. My question is, which DVD's should I buy first? I'm guessing the original series, as that's where it all started, but what should I move onto after I have the inital three series? Also, are they easy to watch/understand? I am a big Doctor Who fan (the classic series, the new series not so much, as I rarely ever watch the new ones) and like different sci-fi tv shows and movies so it's not that I am completely new to the genre as a whole.

Thanks for your help.

 

[crouteru]

If you're really serious about watching everything, then the best thing to do is to watch the entire franchise in the order it was produced.

Star Trek: The Original Series Seasons 1-3

Star Trek: The Animated Series Seasons 1-2

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek: The Next Generation Seasons 1-7

Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Seasons 1-7

Star Trek: Voyager Seasons 1-7

Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 1-4

Some of the series/movies overlap chronologically in the trek timeline, but I would suggest watching an entire series in one go, rather than jumping between them.

 

[d3moliti0n]

Ah right, thanks for the timeline. Howcome there are 2 editions of the box sets for The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine etc? There's a more expensive set and then a cheaper set of each of these seasons.

 

[crouteru]

The more expensive sets are the original DVD releases released a few years ago. They recently re-released each series in slimline packaging, which have all the same content as the original release, only they are much cheaper and are the versions that you should buy. I think Enterprise will be getting these slimline releases in the next couple of months.

 

[jgdst]

No disrespect to crouteru's suggestion intended, but I think you can be a bit more lax with the viewing order. As mentioned, TNG overlapped with DS9, which later overlapped with Voyager, so I'd recommend at least trying to fit them in a vague chronological way...

So when you get to TNG season 6, you can start watching DS9, then Voyager starts at the same time as DS9 season 3. Generations takes place just before season 4 of DS9 (which gives you background to the season 4 opener), First Contact half way through season 5 and Insurrection around the middle of season 7. First Contact and Insurrection are pretty much standalone events, so you can watch those whenever.

Obviously, it's your choice and the order isn't set in stone, but it helps with the occasional reference they'll make to something happening elsewhere in the Trek universe, and should keep you from getting fatigued with one particular series.

The different series of Trek do provide a good range of variety and diversity, so when you get a feel for which series you prefer, you can focus on that one. Enjoy

 

[Jeri]

Everybody has their own taste, and I think you should rent a few episodes of each series to see which one appeals to you most and start there.

Don't get bogged down in stuff that doesn't really appeal to you as much; there's plenty of time for that later when you're hooked on Trek and can't resist even your unfavorite ones.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I would recommend renting before buying anything. If your DVDs are packaged like they are in America, these will give you a good fast read on each series' strengths. If you don't like these episodes, I doubt you'd like the series:

Star Trek: The Original Series: Vol. 4: Episodes 8 & 9: Charlie X / Balance of Terror.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 3: Disc 4. Watch "Deja Q," "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "The Offspring."

Deep Space Nine: Season 1: Disc 1 - watch "Emissary."
Deep Space Nine: Season 1: Disc 5 - watch "Duet" and "In the Hands of Prophets."

Voyager: Season 1: Disc 1. Watch "Caretaker."

Enterprise: Season 3: Disc 1. Watch "The Xindi." If that doesn't appeal to you, season 4 is very different, so watch Enterprise: Season 4: Disc 1 - "Home" and "Borderland." And "Storm Front" part 1 and 2 if you want to see something hilariously bad but not representative of S4 as a whole.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Hi there
I am a big Doctor Who fan (the classic series, the new series not so much, as I rarely ever watch the new ones) and like different sci-fi tv shows and movies so it's not that I am completely new to the genre as a whole.

If you prefer classic Dr Who over new Dr Who I'm guessing you would probably enjoy the older StarTrek series more than the new Trek shows. Star with the first episode of The Original Series and take it from there. I also think you would enjoy the old Kirk/Spock movies "Voyage Home", "Undiscovered Country" etc the film First Contact is IMO very good, even for people who are not fans of the NextGeneration series.

 

[SFRabid]

I would recommend renting before buying anything. If your DVDs are packaged like they are in America, these will give you a good fast read on each series' strengths. If you don't like these episodes, I doubt you'd like the series:

Star Trek: The Original Series: Vol. 4: Episodes 8 & 9: Charlie X / Balance of Terror.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 3: Disc 4. Watch "Deja Q," "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "The Offspring."

Deep Space Nine: Season 1: Disc 1 - watch "Emissary."
Deep Space Nine: Season 1: Disc 5 - watch "Duet" and "In the Hands of Prophets."

Voyager: Season 1: Disc 1. Watch "Caretaker."

Enterprise: Season 3: Disc 1. Watch "The Xindi." If that doesn't appeal to you, season 4 is very different, so watch Enterprise: Season 4: Disc 1 - "Home" and "Borderland."

This is a good suggestion. One might think that it would be good to watch Enterprise first because it is a prequel to The Original Series, but part of the fun of Enterprise is catching things that reference other series. Also, Enterprise used to be the most criticized series but that seems to be changing.

 

[Chekt]

You can see Star Trek TOS on CBS.com, if you're okay with having a few ads interrupting your video.

 

[Anthony Sabre]

If I had it to do all over again, I'd start with ENT first. Then watch the other series in order, w/o overlapping them. But that's hindsight knowing that I already love Trek.