Best series

[Tesophius]

I'm a TOS devotee, have loved the movies (for the most part), including the reboot, but have been thinking about branching out to one or more of the other series lately (although I'm starting at the beginning with TOS right now and won't move on until I finish with the entire run again).

I was into TNG from the start, but find the reruns boring. (A much younger friend, just out of college, started on TNG recently and she likes it, although she's finding the initial Borg contact less exciting and interesting than I thought she would).

So I doubt I'll go there, as watching them out of sequence here and there on the BBC America (or wherever they've cropped up lately) hasn't ignited any nostalgia or real interest.

I've also caught a few Voyagers, which I missed for the most part when it orginally ran). I don't know or appreciate the characters enough yet to be hooked by it, but it doesn't turn me off.

I saw a few of Enterprise when it ran and wanted to like it, but for some reason never really began watching it. That would be pretty much a fresh start, as would V-ger and DS9.

So I'm asking for people who are more familiar with all of the non-original series to give me their opinion on which is truly the best of the lot, and why they think so, in order to figure out which I want to try to tackle sometime down the road when I'm done with TOS again (probably this summer knowing my schedule).

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

STAR TREK is so diverse that people with entirely contrasting interests find something that is dear to them. In general, people either enjoy the science fiction aspect of the stories that are explored through the familiar eyes of intriguing characters, or they enjoy the character development and interpersonal struggles, much like many people do outside of Science Fiction. Or both. TOS is heavily geared toward the former, while the latter did have a place as well, to a much lesser degree, such as McCoy's constant critique of Spock's lack of emotions.

DS9 is heavily in the "latter" group, essentially a long novel about different inter-related experiences of the characters. It's the only series I've yet to learn to enjoy.

As a big TOS fan, my interest lies in the exploration of novel ideas. I find the first two seasons of Enterprise being the most similar to TOS, but it gets much worse in the third and fourth seasons, devolving into long arcs built around inter-specie wars.

TNG has an immense wealth of sci-fi idea-driven episodes. More so than ENT just because it ran for a much longer time. The Borg and any other arc episodes are typically not worth the time, however. The show seems to devolve into arcs whenever the writers are out of new ideas, but the TNG is not dominated by these. TNG also has two reoccurring components opening up many interesting areas for exploration of the hypothetical: the Holodeck (virtual reality simulator) and DATA (an android with an intelligence that is slightly superior to that of natural humans) TNG is also a very relatable show, there is an episodes exploring almost every aspect of the human condition.

VOY is a mix of the very bad and the very good. A lot of episodes are wasted on pursuit and evasion of aliens, espionage, sabotage and etc. but there are also a very good amount of fascinating idea-exploring episodes. A few of the best ever can be found in the Voyager. Although, as much as I have enjoyed watching it, this is the only series I don't return to, as opposed to ENT, TNG and TOS.

 

[Vorpal_Blade]

TOS is my favorite and always will be.

 

[UnknownSample]

DS9 is worth starting with, staying with, and finishing with. It's an overall good series. You have to see the later seasons before appreciating the first 2 or 3 seasons though. Ideally, starting with season 3 or 4, finishing, then watching seasons 1 and 2 as a prequel might be for the best.

Next Gen and Voyager are just too frustrating. Next Gen in particular has this aura of "quality" then most episodes just flatten and empty out into nothing. A good stratagem for Next Gen watching might be starting with season 2 (skipping when it seems too silly), and going partway into season 4. Voyager is best in seasons 4 and 5.