Legacy Trek Speedrun...

[eschaton]

Hey guys,

At some point, I would like my two kids (12 and 8 now) to watch Star Trek with me, although they are completely unwilling. For awhile I have been pondering how to make legacy Trek more bite-sized, allowing someone who is new to the franchise to only see either what's really good, and/or connects into later stories Here's my attempt, starting with TOS:

Season 1:

The Cage - a must-see if you're ever going to watch Discovery or Strange New Worlds. IMHO better to watch this than The Menagerie, which really adds nothing other than Pike being in the chair.
Charlie X - Just an episode I love
Balance of Terror - Introduction of the Romulans, and a great episode.
The Squire of Gothos - Great episode, arguably proto-Q
Arena - Classic TOS, will help make the few later Gorn references make more sense.
Tomorrow is Yesterday - Establishes use of time travel slingshot. Great episode as well.
Space Seed - Khan
Devil in the Dark - My favorite TOS episode.
Errand of Mercy - Introduction of Klingons
The City on the Edge of Forever - Duh!

Season 2:

Metamorphosis - Zephram Cochrane
Amok Time - Needed characterization for Spock
The Doomsday Machine - Most "modern" episode of TOS, incredible
Mirror, Mirror - MU introduction, great episode.
I, Mudd - Genuinely funny, unlike Mudd's first outing as a space pimp
The Trouble with Tribbles - Classic Trek comedy
Journey to Babel - Not the best, but Sarek is introduced, along with Tellarites and Andorians, which makes it must-watch
A Piece of the Action - Funny.
The Ultimate Computer - Introduction of Daystrom
Assignment: Earth - Arguably now relevant due to Picard Season 2.

Season 3:

The Enterprise Incident - Meh, but the Romulans are more fleshed out
The Tholian Web - Introduction of Tholians
Day of the Dove - More Klingons (best Season 3 episode I think).
All Our Yesterdays - Not essential viewing, but a good episode for Season 3.

Regarding the movies, watch only TWOK, TSFS, TVH, and TUC, and skip TMP and TFF, since the latter two aren't really in continuity in any meaningful way with the other four.

Additions/deletions?

 

[Summer Solstice]

Have your kids seen any Star Trek and enjoyed it? Eg Kelvin Movies? Do you kids like any SciFi? I think you probably need to get them hooked in under 5 episodes so it really matters which episodes they are most likely to enjoy and I wouldn't worry about watching them in order.

 

[Jinn]

I know this basically contradicts the premise of the thread, but I don't think starting with TOS is a good idea. When I was around the age of your kids my parents tried to show me "Who Mourns For Adonais?" and I thought it looked horrible and ridiculous and basically refused to watch it. What did get me hooked not that much later was watching an early Voyager episode (which had aired maybe 15 years before I watched it). So my advise would be to take something more recent and/or something from a type of story you know your children enjoy. Also, I think if you present them with what amounts to an entire season of "required viewing" that will turn them off even more. Honestly, IMO the best possible way to get anyone hooked on any TV show is having on a really good episode while they're in the same room and hope that they get into it that way, but obviously that's hard to engineer.

 

[1001001]

My kids (now 27 and 19) both watched all of TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT with us.

Neither one had any interest in TOS.

 

[Kor]

As much as I love TOS, I would say that unless they are already big on TV shows and movies from that time period, it will most likely be hard for them to get into TOS. Have they watched stuff like Forbidden Planet, or the original Outer Limits and Twilight Zone? And did they like it?

That stuff is 'before my time' as well, but when I was a kid it was always being played on TV as reruns, and I gravitated toward it. But I was always a bit of a contrarian and considered that something being older automatically made it better than the rubbish from my own generation.

Kor

 

[Orphalesion]

I'm a little bit older than 1001001's oldest kid and I could never get into TOS. It was just too old-fashioned for me. Not just the writing or the design, but even that the make-up they used on the actors that made them look so greasy in a lot of scenes (which really most things from that time have, just look at the original West Side Story movie)
By now I can acknowledge that it has some good episodes, but it will never be my favourite.

If somebody had set me down as a kid or teenager, showed me TOS and said "this is Trek" I probably wouldn't have developed any interest in it. Thankfully all the "90s" shows were on re-runs back when and that's how I got into Trek.

 

[Farscape One]

As suggested above, having a good episode of any series playing in the background at different times when they are around is a good strategy.

It's how my wife ended up watching 624 episodes and PICARD.

(She refuses to watch TOS or any of the animated shows, and I know she won't like DISCO. She'll watch SNW with me when it premieres, partly because of my excitement for it, and partly because it will be a return to more standalone episodes.)

 

[at Quark's]

I'm a little bit older than 1001001's oldest kid and I could never get into TOS. It was just too old-fashioned for me. Not just the writing or the design, but even that the make-up they used on the actors that made them look so greasy in a lot of scenes (which really most things from that time have, just look at the original West Side Story movie)
By now I can acknowledge that it has some good episodes, but it will never be my favourite.

If somebody had set me down as a kid or teenager, showed me TOS and said "this is Trek" I probably wouldn't have developed any interest in it. Thankfully all the "90s" shows were on re-runs back when and that's how I got into Trek.

I had roughly the same experience with TOS. It really feels from 'before my time', and I'm 48. I've been a Trek fan for about 35 years (first Trek I saw was TNG), I tried several times to get into it, and although I've seen most of it more than once and can recognise the quality in good episodes, it still isn't 'my Trek', and there's often a 'forcing myself to keep watching' feel to it.

Not saying this to be negative about TOS. I really think it's a great series (and moreover, the series that Started It All) - it's just apparently not a relaxed viewing experience for me. But if I have that experience being only about 10-15 years too young to actually having seen TOS first-run, I could imagine TS' kids might have an even greater barrier to overcome when watching it.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I don’t think it’s necessary to watch The Cage to ‘get’ Discovery or SNW , but they may be interested in watching The Cage after they’d seen either of those two.

 

[dupersuper]

I loved TOS and I watched it very young. It was basically my attempt to keep Saturday morning cartoons (colorfully garbed heroes in a spaceship: close enough to a cartoon for a kid) going when reruns aired on Saturday afternoon.

 

[Vger23]

My kids love TOS. I tried getting them into VOY, and it fell flat.

Both of my kids favorite TOS episodes are:

Corbomite Maneuver
Return of the Archons (I can't explain that one, I think they love it when everyone goes berserk and yells "festival")
Arena
Day of the Dove

With regard to skipping TMP and TFF....those are my youngest son's favorite 2 of the original 6...so don't dismiss them too much out of hand! He and I are going to see the Director's Edition in the theater next month...and he's really excited about it.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

When I do have kids one day I'll make sure they grow up with stuff like TOS in the background. The plan is 'addiction by osmosis'.

Funnily enough, when i was a kid I liked Doctor Who, but I couldn't get along with the black and white William Hartnell episodes. Now I'm an adult, they are my favourites. I think if you carry a fandom into adulthood then part of the fun is exploring it from different angles. So @eschaton , if they don't like TOS now, they may well love it in the future. Best not to try to force the issue as it were and let kids be kids.

 

[gweeps]

My kids (now 27 and 19) both watched all of TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT with us.

Neither one had any interest in TOS.

Wow.

 

[DonIago]

I've gotta say, with regards to COTEOF...as a kid I found it a really boring episode. For the most part it's not set on the ship, there's no aliens or alien planets, there's very little pew-pew, and most of the episode is Kirk and Spock and some random woman in the '30s. I was too young to appreciate the broader ideas of the episode, much less the romance between Kirk and Keeler. In short, almost everything that made me tune into the series was not in that episode. Basically once Kirk and Spock jumped through the donut the episode largely lost my interest, though I may have also been younger than your kids...OTOH, I generally liked TOS....but I liked it because it showed me the future, not the past.

My point being that getting kids into Trek is one thing, but Trek contains multitudes, so just because they might like some aspects doesn't mean they'll appreciate other aspects..

...then there's the argument that some of us never grow up either.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I say sit them in front of Prodigy and let time do the rest.

 

[Mudd]

Hey guys,

At some point, I would like my two kids (12 and 8 now) to watch Star Trek with me, although they are completely unwilling. For awhile I have been pondering how to make legacy Trek more bite-sized, allowing someone who is new to the franchise to only see either what's really good, and/or connects into later stories Here's my attempt, starting with TOS:

Season 1:

The Cage - a must-see if you're ever going to watch Discovery or Strange New Worlds. IMHO better to watch this than The Menagerie, which really adds nothing other than Pike being in the chair.
Charlie X - Just an episode I love
Balance of Terror - Introduction of the Romulans, and a great episode.
The Squire of Gothos - Great episode, arguably proto-Q
Arena - Classic TOS, will help make the few later Gorn references make more sense.
Tomorrow is Yesterday - Establishes use of time travel slingshot. Great episode as well.
Space Seed - Khan
Devil in the Dark - My favorite TOS episode.
Errand of Mercy - Introduction of Klingons
The City on the Edge of Forever - Duh!

Season 2:

Metamorphosis - Zephram Cochrane
Amok Time - Needed characterization for Spock
The Doomsday Machine - Most "modern" episode of TOS, incredible
Mirror, Mirror - MU introduction, great episode.
I, Mudd - Genuinely funny, unlike Mudd's first outing as a space pimp
The Trouble with Tribbles - Classic Trek comedy
Journey to Babel - Not the best, but Sarek is introduced, along with Tellarites and Andorians, which makes it must-watch
A Piece of the Action - Funny.
The Ultimate Computer - Introduction of Daystrom
Assignment: Earth - Arguably now relevant due to Picard Season 2.

Season 3:

The Enterprise Incident - Meh, but the Romulans are more fleshed out
The Tholian Web - Introduction of Tholians
Day of the Dove - More Klingons (best Season 3 episode I think).
All Our Yesterdays - Not essential viewing, but a good episode for Season 3.

Regarding the movies, watch only TWOK, TSFS, TVH, and TUC, and skip TMP and TFF, since the latter two aren't really in continuity in any meaningful way with the other four.

Additions/deletions?

Good list where the episodes are concerned.