Favourite Trek Series (and why)

[Krankor]

1) Deep Space Nine

Wonderful cast, writing and stories. They took a gamble by messing with the usual Trek formula so much, but it really paid off. Easily the best Trek.

2) Enterprise

Felt like a crossover between DS9 and TOS. Lots of adventure and exploration plus a very good cast and arc based story telling. Season three and four are a lot better than the first two, but season one and two have their fair share of great episodes.

3) The Original Series

Absolute classic. Characters that have not only stood the test of time, but have improved with age. Shame the third season is mostly terrible though.

4) The Next Generation

I loved it to pieces when it was first airing, but man it has aged poorly. It feels very bland and tame imo. Not that it's a bad show, it's very good and there are a lot of superb episodes, it's just that a lot of the show is unremarkable and forgettable.

5) Voyager

Never really got into it. I never really connected with any of the characters and I never found Voyager's journey very engaging. It does have a handful of very good episodes though.

 

[NXOner]

Enterprise - Like a pretty girl without a brain in her head. There has been nothing produced for television that looked better.

How about a pretty boy without a brain in his head

My list;

TOS The one I started with and started me going to conventions, but I watched it so much (and learned the speeches) that I can't watch it any more!)
ENT The one that brought me back to conventions. I just love it, even the bad episodes.
VOY The one that reminded me most of TOS, when it started
DS9 The one that was a relief when TNG ended
TNG The one I hated because it 'took over' from TOS with the fans
( I got to like it in the 3rd season after the excellent 'Yesterday's Enterprise' but it nevertheless had a smug tone to me (still present in TATV)
TAS Yes, I know it's their voices and all, but I hated that 'cat' on the bridge instead of Chekov.​

​

 

[Cakes488]

Wow, Cakes488, your Trek experience is exactly the inverse of mine. I've seen pieces of a couple episodes of TOS and nothing at all of TAS.

And give DS9 a while to get going. It improves dramatically starting in 3rd season (although there's enough decent episodes before then, particularly in S2, and "Duet" in S1 is excellent.)

Doesn't get good until the 3rd season! LOL I'll stick with it thanks to Netflix.

Well you need to treat yourself to some TOS my friend! To be honest I never saw TAS until couple of years ago...I had reservations, like how good can this possibly be?? But it was economical to purchase and I was absolutely shocked at how good it was (the writing). It was like seeing some fresh new episodes after all this time!! Of course that only lasted one season too...it's seems the best Treks are the most short lived. ( i know i'm biased)

 

[BillJ]

Enterprise - Like a pretty girl without a brain in her head. There has been nothing produced for television that looked better.

How about a pretty boy without a brain in his head

Since I'm a guy and I like girls, the phrasing works for me.

 

[Astraea]

Wow, Cakes488, your Trek experience is exactly the inverse of mine. I've seen pieces of a couple episodes of TOS and nothing at all of TAS.

And give DS9 a while to get going. It improves dramatically starting in 3rd season (although there's enough decent episodes before then, particularly in S2, and "Duet" in S1 is excellent.)

Doesn't get good until the 3rd season! LOL I'll stick with it thanks to Netflix.

Well you need to treat yourself to some TOS my friend! To be honest I never saw TAS until couple of years ago...I had reservations, like how good can this possibly be?? But it was economical to purchase and I was absolutely shocked at how good it was (the writing). It was like seeing some fresh new episodes after all this time!! Of course that only lasted one season too...it's seems the best Treks are the most short lived. ( i know i'm biased)

"Doesn't get really good" still means pretty good, particularly S2.
Looking at a list of episodes from DS9 S1/2, talking off the top of my head:

S1: "Emissary" may be the best pilot of the modern Treks (Caretaker is the only one that can vie for that spot; Voyager may have its flaws, but it's first season, compared to the other modern Treks, was quite strong.) "Past Prologue" introduces Garak (Garak always makes episodes better, I promise - at least, as long as he's not Mirror Universe Garak, a comment you'll understand after "Crossover" in S2.) "Captive Pursuit" and "In the Hands of the Prophets" are decent, and "Q-Less" is worth watching, if only for one scene/famous dialogue exchange. The low point comes mid-season, with "Move Along Home" and "The Passenger," particularly the latter. "Duet" belongs right up there with the best of any of Trek.

And S2 is actually a lot stronger than I remembered. The Circle trilogy that kicks off the season, Invasive Procedures, The Wire, Crossover, Blood Oath...there are actually a lot of episodes that fall into "pretty good," and the "okay" ones include things like a couple of episodes that fall into the oh-so-popular "torture O'Brien" category (never really my favorite genre). The standout of the season is "Necessary Evil," and the worst one is either "Melora" or "Rivals."

So...maybe you'll have to wait out a little of S1 before it's very good, but S3 and beyond really raise the bar from good to awesome. (And the first season of any show tends to be a little rough - S1 of TNG is really and truly godawful.) I absolutely love DS9, so it gets a really big "recommend" from me, even if the first season is a little uneven (and mostly uneven in the sense the first season feels a little like it's trying to be TNG; once they figure out their direction and really get going with it, it rocks.)

As for TOS, perhaps I might start with watching TWOK first? I'm not sure if I want to invest the money in DVDs for a show I'm not sure if I'll like (and, besides, I've got a lot ahead of it in my queue - I'm a latecomer to nuBSG and have S3, S4, S4.5, and a couple TV movies to watch, and after that, I was thinking about buying VOY on DVD.) I was considering buying some of the movies anyway (I don't own any of the TNG movies, either), and if they've got some sort of box set, I might try to get the TOS movies along with them.

In particular, what appeals to you about TOS and TAS?

 

[Roberto]

My favs in order:

TNG
Great characters/actors and most episodes were very good.

DS9

TOS

Voy

Ent

 

[TheGodBen]

As for TOS, perhaps I might start with watching TWOK first? I'm not sure if I want to invest the money in DVDs for a show I'm not sure if I'll like (and, besides, I've got a lot ahead of it in my queue - I'm a latecomer to nuBSG and have S3, S4, S4.5, and a couple TV movies to watch, and after that, I was thinking about buying VOY on DVD.) I was considering buying some of the movies anyway (I don't own any of the TNG movies, either), and if they've got some sort of box set, I might try to get the TOS movies along with them.

In particular, what appeals to you about TOS and TAS?

May I offer an opinion?

I'm a big DS9 fan myself (and I also got into nuBSG on DVDs recently) who hadn't seen TOS or TAS until last year. I had seen all of modern Trek but never had the opportunity to check TOS out, and once that opportunity arose I took it.

What made it work for me was the characters. I know it is a bit of a cliche to say this about TOS, but you really fall in love with the characters on the show and they do have terrific banter going on. Even a bad episode like Bread and Circuses is elevated by what I consider to be the best Spock/McCoy scene in the show, and when you add in great characters like Kirk, Scotty and Chekov you have some really memorable scenes.

The effects are awful (unless you watch the remastered versions) the stories are a little familiar since you have probably seen them all before repeated on later Trek series, but those characters are the core of it all. I don't think it is as good as DS9, but it is definitely worth checking out.

However I found TAS to be quite the bore. I watched it for completion's sake, but if you aren't worried about not having seen every official episode of Trek then you should probably give it a pass.

 

[Octavius]

1) Next Generation

My personal favorite - still the best.

 

[Vonstadt]

DS9 - Fantastic storytelling, a nice blend of action and character growth. A chance to see the Star Trek Universe from more than just the Starfleet or Federation perspective. Bold and entertaining.

TOS - A very close second and for the longest time my favorite.

So in order :

DS9
TOS
TAS
TNG
VOY
ENT

 

[Alex1939]

TNG- Patrick Stewart makes the show. I also think it's more of a family show. That doesn't make it better or worse in my book, but it does seem that way, safe for kids.

TOS- Kirk/Spock/McCoy just had great chemistry together on screen. Some awesome episode ideas. Some CHEESE, but that's ok.

DS9- I really enjoyed the overall story. Sisko's growth throughout the series is a highlight and Garak was just awesome. I might rate this above ToS, if it hadn't been for some of the awful awful Ferengi episodes.

Enterprise- I liked this series, for the most part. I actually think it fits that S1-S2 were "boring" to a degree. That's how it should start... going upclose to an asteroid should be a big deal at that point in space travel. IF IF IF, they never used the time travel story line, it would've been better. I can accept the Xindi attack and how there was not mention of it in later shows. Although it makes no sense that they would attack their prime target with a test weapon. But I can't accept the Temporal Cold War and the future shots of the Federation hundreds of years after TNG time. That really puts future writers in a hole if they try to respect canon in future shows. I'd call the TCW story the biggest mistake in all of Star Trek's history. Along with the stupid theme song.

Voyager- I did not enjoy this series. For the most part I found it stupid. The Doctor was a major exception, and I see why he got so much screentime. I could cherrypick about 10-15 episodes I really liked and would watch again. Otherwise I never want to see the show again. And I still think what Janeway did in the finale, should have her thrown in Federation prison, certainly not promoted to Admiral.


And I've never seen the animated series.

 

[DeVario]

1st - Deep Space Nine
I liked the development of the characters. The stories and arcs and kewl space battlez in the later seasons pulled me in even further. Plus, the show went against the grain of the Trek formula, in a good way. Garak and Odo are probably my two favorite characters in all of Trek.

A very close 2nd - Star Trek

Tied for 3rd - The Next Generation, Voyager, Enterprise

Yeah, I'm one of those total weirdo freaks who likes it all, but DS9 and TOS are my favorites.

 

[Michael]

Yeah, I'm one of those total weirdo freaks who likes it all, but DS9 and TOS are my favorites.

You're not alone, DeVario.

 

[SomniumRabidum]

1. TNG - by a mile

The rest have their ups and downs (not that TNG doesn't, but I forgive all of TNG's shortcomings) and I'm still working through DS9 and Voyager because I gave up on them pretty early when they were on the air.

2. TOS
3. DS9
4. Voyager (would be higher if Janeway and Chakotay didn't annoy the hell out of me)
5. Enterprise (definitely need to watch this more, I haven't seen much)
6.... never seen TAS.

 

[Kirkman1987]

TOS/TNG -TIE

Deep Space Nine closely behind

Can't stand VOY, ENT, and TAS.

 

[Anika Hanson]

The next generation. It had the best story lines and the best crew.

1) TNG
2) DS9
3) VOY
4) TOS
5) ENT

 

[Eddie Roth]

Wow, I find it amazing that VGR seems to be almost universally ranked below ENT. Excuuuuuuuse me?

But anyway, my take:

The lowest-ranked for me would have to be Enterprise. When it started out, it appeared to make good on the promise of being a different Trek. I enjoyed that they went back to more TOS-style storytelling - even though I was suspicious from the beginning about their carbon-copying of the TOS cast of characters, with only some genders and ethnicities switched. But soon enough, the episodes were back to "TNG Season 15" but with all the good stories told. Especially Season 2 was scraping the barrel of the flimsiest plot ideas as hard as not even the much-derided Season 3 of the Original Series. ENT's own Season 3 was a surprising return to form with a season-long arc that actually dared to look into some (sometimes unsettling) depths of the characters. But unfortunately, they didn't stick with this format, but instead bowed out with a dreadful season of sheer fanwank where apparently no throwaway line from TOS was unimportant enough that they didn't want to give us the backstory to it in a three-episode arc. "Creatively bankrupt" is the term for this. I gave up on ENT three times during its run. The first two times I came back I found it worthy of another chance, but the third time - and that was after the horribly bland Andorian arc in S4, I gave up for good.

Next would be The Animated Series. From what I've seen, and that must've been about 15 episodes, it was hit-and-miss. Very good when it tried to be just like TOS except animated. However, many times, it was really just a Saturday morning cartoon and appropriately shallow (The last one I saw, "Jihad" comes to mind): Not enough plot to fill the 20 minutes of the show. But sometimes, I feel like it, and again, when it's good, it's like seeing a lost TOS episode.

Voyager I like better today than I did when it was current. The show actually had lots of very solid and even some outstanding episodes early on. But of course, it never benefitted from running against the much superior DS9. Then, when it was finally the only Trek show on the air, it had sadly run out of gas. The writers were tired I suppose, and it showed. Especially the move to turn a few characters into leads (Seven, the Doctor) while sidelining all of the others ruined much of its later run for me. Both these characters were interesting early on, but became grating in the extreme because of severe overexposure. As for wasted potential, VGR surely could've been more than it was had they taken their Maquis premise seriously. But I suspected long ago that this was only ever meant as a way to differentiate the show somewhat from TNG, but just so that people wouldn't say "Oh, more of the same..." In reality, I think it was always intended to be the same kind of episodic Star Trek that TNG did so successfully. If you approach it from that perspective, it works fine. Mostly. Entertaining it definitely is.

The Next Generation, in my opinion, can be credited with creating much of the Star Trek universe we know today. It took the golden premise of the original and expanded it dramatically, being unafraid of taking narrative risks, experimenting with the formula and generally just doing what it did very well. The characters were likable and well-defined, the stories nearly always entertaining and written with a theme or a topic in mind. What I didn't like about TNG compared to the original was its lack of a "sense of wonder"... being on the Enterprise always seemed like just a job for these people.

Deep Space Nine cannot be a favorite Star Trek series because it really isn't so much Star Trek. It's a saga that happens to be set in that universe, but as for the "boldly going", the exploration, the utopian vision, you know, the "human adventure" angle, it fell short. That said, DS9 had a tremendous (and large and varied) cast, so that it never got boring, whomever the episodes were about. It also rewarded being a faithful viewer by presenting tangible consequences to people's actions and characters developed noticeably during those seven years. And Star Trek never did "exciting" better than during DS9.

The favorite is then of course The Original Series. This is the true adventure with the most iconic characters. And they are that for a reason. The combination of Kirk, Spock and McCoy and their embodiment of the different impulses of human behavior (heart, brain, gut) made for excellent insight into the problems they faced, many of which are still worth thinking about. Also, of course, the show was just plain fun. And you know it's a classic you're watching when you can find something to enjoy even in a bad episode.

 

[Eddie Roth]

Even a bad episode like Bread and Circuses is elevated by what I consider to be the best Spock/McCoy scene in the show, and when you add in great characters like Kirk, Scotty and Chekov you have some really memorable scenes.

Sorry for double-posting, but WHAT? Bread and Circuses a bad episode?? Man, how tastes differ! I just watched it last week, and I think it's one of the most underrated episodes. Reasons include that McCoy/Spock scene, but also the original invention of the parallel Earth (sadly, airdate order has A Piece of the Action first in that regard) where this premise is not wasted on a mere costume party, but to actually discuss the idea and pose a fascinating What If scenario that raises all sorts of questions about the path history takes, and how any historical development could've gone another way just as easily. Plus the delicious, off-hand criticism of a ratings-mad television industry. The hopeful message that every violent, barbaric regime will one day be toppled by a new philosophy of brotherhood and peace. Well-written dialogue, all centered around the Big Three with wit and humor... That's Gene L. Coon for ya!

I have to defend this episode.

 

[TheGodBen]

The hopeful message that every violent, barbaric regime will one day be toppled by a new philosophy of brotherhood and peace.

That is my problem with Bread and Circuses right there. I'm not a fan of the parallel Earth idea in the first place, but if that planet is a parallel to Earth, and Rome will fall as Christianity rises, then that world is in for 1,000 years of religious intolerance and little scientific growth. Except this time they will be fighting their crusades with incredibly destructive 20th century weaponry. The death toll would be staggering.

Interesting concepts are one thing, but you have to see them through to their conclusion and this episode didn't because they wanted to end on a happy note. What works in that episode for me is the characters, that is one thing you can almost always rely upon from that cast.

 

[Michael]

the original invention of the parallel Earth

*hust* Miri *hust*

 

[Count Zero]

I admire all of you who can make so accurate lists (and even animations ) because I really can't decide. I've never seen TAS and gave up on Voyager but I'd be hard pressed to choose one of the remaining four series.
I grew up with TOS in syndication, so the cast are like old friends. I loved TNG, and though its style may look badly out-dated today, it has great episodes and great characters, like Data and the Picard. DS9 is just great and epic. And I have a weak spot for ENT, despite its flaws. From the beginning I liked the characters and wanted to know what would happen to them. So, yeah, I'm incapable of answering this.