Consensus fan favorite series
- Thread starter Plomeek Broth
- Start date
Actually...
TOS is still available free over-the-air on MeTV affiliates. The only place actively airing TNG currently is BBC America, which is part of most companies expanded digital tier (you have to pay extra beyond your normal cable bill).
TOS is actually the easier one to find here in the U.S.
I like them all! 
VOY and DS9 and my faves though.
VOY and DS9 and my faves though.
I own all the shows on DVD, but if you put a gun to my head, I'd rank them:
TOS
TNG/DS9 (tied for 2nd, both quality shows for different reasons)
VOY
ENT (had its moments, especially later on, but the first two seasons were very frustrating)
TAS (great stories, but not great animation)
I am a fan of all Trek, though
TOS
TNG/DS9 (tied for 2nd, both quality shows for different reasons)
VOY
ENT (had its moments, especially later on, but the first two seasons were very frustrating)
TAS (great stories, but not great animation)
I am a fan of all Trek, though
Not to sound like a broken record, but I think that depends on the age of the fans. TOS is still the fan favorite for my generation.
And the reboot movies will be the fan favorites for the next generation. Don't believe me? Look at this very thread. Everybody's "favorite" is usually the one they grew up with or at least the first Trek they discovered.
Kids who discovered Trek in 2009 are going to grow up thinking that's the "real" Trek. Mark my words.
^^That's a bit disconcerting, but probably true.
Eh I guess I will make a list. I usually don't like doing that because I LOVE them all.
VOY - It was my first Trek. And you never forget your first! Despite how others may feel, I think it has more character development than most other series, it was just more subtle. Plus it has wonderful humor and I am a sucker for humor.
DS9 - Close tie with VOY. An amazing, amazing show all around. I binge-watched this show in its entirety last year and it was an awesome ride. I love love loved it.
ENT 3&4 - I think I actually enjoyed the last few episodes of this show more than many TNG episodes (save for TATV!!! Ick). But it's close. It could have been way better. Took them too long to finally get the swing of things and then they were cancelled and did the pointless main character death and destroyed the awesome romance.
TNG - Many great episodes and characters, but Seasons 1-3 were kind of meh IMO. Data saved the show for me and I think Brent Spiner was fantastic. I didn't like the needless sexual innuendo between Riker/ANY ALIEN FEMALE and how people were able to fall in love within minutes.
ENT 1&2 - I've had better!
TOS Movies - These were better than the TNG movies IMO.
TOS - It is the original and I respect that a lot. The dynamic between the main cast was AWESOME especially Kirk and Spock. But the sexism in a few episodes drops it lower for me.
TNG Movies / JJ Movies
TAS Animated series gets last place...
Eh I guess I will make a list. I usually don't like doing that because I LOVE them all.
VOY - It was my first Trek. And you never forget your first! Despite how others may feel, I think it has more character development than most other series, it was just more subtle. Plus it has wonderful humor and I am a sucker for humor.
DS9 - Close tie with VOY. An amazing, amazing show all around. I binge-watched this show in its entirety last year and it was an awesome ride. I love love loved it.
ENT 3&4 - I think I actually enjoyed the last few episodes of this show more than many TNG episodes (save for TATV!!! Ick). But it's close. It could have been way better. Took them too long to finally get the swing of things and then they were cancelled and did the pointless main character death and destroyed the awesome romance.
TNG - Many great episodes and characters, but Seasons 1-3 were kind of meh IMO. Data saved the show for me and I think Brent Spiner was fantastic. I didn't like the needless sexual innuendo between Riker/ANY ALIEN FEMALE and how people were able to fall in love within minutes.
ENT 1&2 - I've had better!
TOS Movies - These were better than the TNG movies IMO.
TOS - It is the original and I respect that a lot. The dynamic between the main cast was AWESOME especially Kirk and Spock. But the sexism in a few episodes drops it lower for me.
TNG Movies / JJ Movies
TAS Animated series gets last place...
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But how many "fans" are going to be generated by the JJ-Trek movies? A few to be sure, but most of the not previously fans people going to those movies are just there to see a summer movie.
It was likely the same with the previous movies too, the bulk of the fans come from watching the TV series.
And I grew up with Voyager and Enterprise, however my favorite is TOS, which went off the air twenty years before I was born.
I think sooner or later Trek will return to the small screen, but in the end it all comes down to money. Over the decades Star Trek has earned billions in profit., so what it might take is CBS or whoever owns the property at that time saying ok we expect make a loss on this show from US TV revenues during it's first run. But we should make back our money with international sales, BR sales, later down the road sales to streaming sights etc.. But execs don't always take the long term view, sure many TV shows have to make a profit during the first run perhaps because of the format/genre., but some shows are endless re-run and continue to bring in money.
I think for the general public, Star Trek is still TOS. I had a room mate last year who was 22 and had watched the Abrams films. I'm a little older than her (29) so I've seen all the Treks growing up and tried recommending TNG and DS9 to her. However, she seemed to look down on anything except the retro TOS Trek and the Abrams movies as not being "real Star Trek." I've also talked to others around that age and I think most are familiar with Kirk and Spock and will watch TOS but not the others. This is also evident by the amount of merchandise in stores that feature Kirk and Spock but not other characters from other series. TOS is trendy these days.
Among more dedicated fans I think TNG is on top. DS9 has its fans but lots of people call it a "soap opera"' and most fans see Voyager as inferior to both of them. Enterprise is so derided I don't think it is ever going to be high on the list.
For me personally though, my preferences are:
1. DS9
2. TNG/TOS tied
3. VOY/ENT tied
Among more dedicated fans I think TNG is on top. DS9 has its fans but lots of people call it a "soap opera"' and most fans see Voyager as inferior to both of them. Enterprise is so derided I don't think it is ever going to be high on the list.
For me personally though, my preferences are:
1. DS9
2. TNG/TOS tied
3. VOY/ENT tied
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I like your list!
Mine is like this these days:TOS Films
DS9
ENT 3&4 (almost tied with DS9)
First Contact
TNG
Trek '09
The other TNG films
ENT 1&2
TOS
Voyager
STID
Haven't seen TAS
I agree with you for the most part, but still, I didn't grow up with any Trek show, and my favourite is TNG and TOS. The first Star Trek stuff that I saw was JJ Trek, and yet, I prefer the older stuff over it.
Not to sound like a broken record, but I think that depends on the age of the fans. TOS is still the fan favorite for my generation.
And the reboot movies will be the fan favorites for the next generation. Don't believe me? Look at this very thread. Everybody's "favorite" is usually the one they grew up with or at least the first Trek they discovered.
Kids who discovered Trek in 2009 are going to grow up thinking that's the "real" Trek. Mark my words.
Umm... no, no it isn't. Star Trek (the Original Series) is Star Trek. Without it, none of the others would have ever existed and there would have never been a phenomenon for any of us to be here discussing.
^ We've had this argument already and I clarified and kinda retracted my point, if you'd kept on reading the thread.
I meant it more represents the franchise that is 'Star Trek'
As an overview of the franchise, not caring what came first or what came last, or who many viewers whatever one got, I still say TNG is the core to that "franchise."
An awful lot of the things that helped that "franchise" expand beyond TOS The Television Show were introduced in TNG. From the other spin offs to book, comics, games and beyond.
That's just my opinion, and I understand how "TNG IS Star Trek" can be misunderstood and sounds a bit silly
I meant it more represents the franchise that is 'Star Trek'
As an overview of the franchise, not caring what came first or what came last, or who many viewers whatever one got, I still say TNG is the core to that "franchise."
An awful lot of the things that helped that "franchise" expand beyond TOS The Television Show were introduced in TNG. From the other spin offs to book, comics, games and beyond.
That's just my opinion, and I understand how "TNG IS Star Trek" can be misunderstood and sounds a bit silly
I was skeptical, to say the least, at the outset. But having read the thread so far, now I'm sure that any consensus among fans on this issue is out of the question. 
I think it's fair to say that TOS had the biggest impact. It pretty much set the template for being a fan of a TV show and spawned endless imitators, from Space: 1999 to Stargate SG-1. Were there conventions celebrating a television show prior to TOS? Did pre-TOS shows spawn hundreds and hundreds of fanzines?
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