Series recommendation for a Star Trek newbie?

[StardustSteph]

Hypothetical ? What series would you suggest a newbie start with?

I was thinking about this last night. I was wondering if someone came up to you completely new to Star Trek and wanted to start watching a series where would you recommend they started?

Would you suggest they start at TOS and go straight through? Would you tell them to avoid a certain series or certain seasons of an episode? Would you tell them to start at your favorite series? etc. etc. I'm curious because of the posts I've been seeing lately about TNG first season being boring and other peoples dislike for certain Trek series.

EDIT: I've seen all the series myself, I'm trying to get an idea where you'd direct a newbie considering we all have very different feelings towards the different series. I think my original post may of been confusing. Sorry!

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I started with VOY it came it when I was 9 and it was the first series I could follow and appreciate. I do now don't find VOY near as appealing as DS9 or TNG, but it did get me into Star Trek. I did however find it difficult to go back and watch TNG after watching DS9 and VOY.

Just curious what peoples thoughts and opinions are.

 

[omnirad]

Why did you find it 'difficult' viewing TNG after VOY and DS9?
If it was because of the visual effects then head toward ENT rather than TOS. If you're looking for good stories and characters, head in the other direction.

 

[Sector 7]

It is always good to start at the beginning... TOS is the one that started it all. All the other series and movies would not exist without The Original Series, so I always recommend it first.

 

[Zakk]

Thank you for the recommedations Iam an new Star Trek Newbie and right now ive been watching the orignal series season 123 and iam hook on it so once iam done watching all the seasons all ask for more recommendations thanks for the post.

 

[Sector 7]

Welcome aboard to you both, and to all our new Trek fans. Whatever reasons brought you here, we are glad you came. Join in the fun and fellowship. You will find that many of us are eager to help 'newbies' anytime.

 

[StardustSteph]

Why did you find it 'difficult' viewing TNG after VOY and DS9?
If it was because of the visual effects then head toward ENT rather than TOS. If you're looking for good stories and characters, head in the other direction.

It is always good to start at the beginning... TOS is the one that started it all. All the other series and movies would not exist without The Original Series, so I always recommend it first.

Oops, I think my post may of been confusing. I've seen all the Trek series. I was just asking how someone would direct someone new to Trek considering how all of us have different feelings about different series. I was trying to get everyones opinions on the subject, not asking for suggestions myself, though if it helps someone then that's great!

I've seen all of TNG and hated ENT. It was hard start watching TNG right after DS9 and VOY because it did feel dated and dragged. I ended up having to skip to Season 3 to be able to go through it and ended up enjoying it a lot. I'd put it after DS9 in my favorites.

 

[Tribbles]

To speak from personal experience, I got into Star Trek by seeing the new movie and then watching TOS. I loved the characters enough that none of the silly production issues or plot holes bothered me. However, I have a goofy sense of humor, and the episodes that make others cringe bring me great amusement. The silliness is part of the charm of the show to me, but not everyone is into that. My little cousin was smitten by Chris Pine ("ohmygawd he's so hott!"), but she has no patience for TOS.

 

[DeVario]

For a newbie, I'd give them the Best of TOS and Best of TNG discs. That seems like a good enough starting point. If they like those, then they can move up to any of the fan collective sets since those offer something from all the series.

 

[Rush Limborg]

Speaking for myself...I was intoduced to Trek through TNG.

I think TNG, ENT, and TOS are the most able to be seen without prior knowledge of the show--whereas DS9 kinda requires some knowledge of the TNG universe, and VOY often refers to events of DS9 and TNG.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

It is always good to start at the beginning... TOS is the one that started it all. All the other series and movies would not exist without The Original Series, so I always recommend it first.

This. Gawd i love you.

For a newbie, I'd give them the Best of TOS and Best of TNG discs. That seems like a good enough starting point. If they like those, then they can move up to any of the fan collective sets since those offer something from all the series.

Funny you should mention those. I saw them for the first time yesterday while i was shopping for TNG as a gift for my son. I was not impressed with those collections at all. My opinion is that they kind of drop you in the middle of something without giving you enough back story into the characters. I think they're fine for people already familiar with the series and characters, but for a new viewer, i wouldn't recommend them at all.

 

[RegFan]

TOS or TNG. You don't need extensive knowledge of the Trek universe to watch them.

 

[RandyS]

It is always good to start at the beginning... TOS is the one that started it all. All the other series and movies would not exist without The Original Series, so I always recommend it first.

But that's from a production point of view. A chrological showing would put Enterprise first. And it gets the worst one out of the way first.

If asked, I would say to watch TNG and DS9 first. Those two were the best, followed by TOS.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

The original. The one. The only. The best.

 

[DevilEyes]

Speaking for myself...I was intoduced to Trek through TNG.

I think TNG, ENT, and TOS are the most able to be seen without prior knowledge of the show--whereas DS9 kinda requires some knowledge of the TNG universe, and VOY often refers to events of DS9 and TNG.

Not really. DS9 was the first Trek show that I really watched and liked. Before that, I only had a general idea who Kirk and Spock were, and had watched season 1 of TNG that aired on TV in Yugoslavia in the late 80s when I was in my pre-teens/early teens (and they stopped there and didn't show any of the later, better seasons! ), which I kinda liked at the time, since I was too young to see how much it sucked, we didn't have many channels to choose from back in the day, a lot of other stuff on TV was no better. But I had no idea that it would eventually become a really good show.

Years later, I watched DS9 and fell in love with it when I saw "Duet". That's where my real interest in Trek started.

I didn't need any previous knowledge from other shows to watch DS9. All the important background and information is right there. You may not have a clear idea what Borg is, but you don't really need it to understand "Emissary". The background on Bajorans and Cardassians if given in the show itself, and you wouldn't even know that they were first introduced in TNG if you hadn't seen it. It's nice to have seen "Second Chances" before "Defiant", but not necessary, since they spell out the story in the episode itself. For Ferengis and Trills, it even helps if you haven't seen their earlier versions from TNG.

As for VOY, I doubt that there's much that people wouldn't understand about it, but I certainly wouldn't show it to someone first if I wanted them to like Trek. OTOH, maybe I'd have liked VOY more than I do if I had seen it before any other show - many of the storylines would probably have seemed more original than they are... but when you've already watched TOS and TNG, you just feel like you've already seen it all, and mostly done better.

As to the original question... It depends on what I know that they already like. If they are into shows like Battlestar Galactica or Lost, like many people I know, I'd recommend DS9 first, since they'd be more likely to get into a series with a continuing storyline. If they had seen the new movie and liked it, I'd recommend TOS, obviously. To anyone else, especially if they have prejudice about Trek or/and SciFi in general, I'd first show them a few of the best episodes, but only those that are sufficiently standalone and don't spoil too much of the story (that would mean that most would probably be from TOS and TNG, with a few early ones from DS9).

 

[Sector 7]

It is always good to start at the beginning... TOS is the one that started it all. All the other series and movies would not exist without The Original Series, so I always recommend it first.

But that's from a production point of view. A chrological showing would put Enterprise first. And it gets the worst one out of the way first.

If asked, I would say to watch TNG and DS9 first. Those two were the best, followed by TOS.

^ [assumption]
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V [answer]

The original. The one. The only. The best.

This is what I meant in my post.

 

[apenpaap]

I am going to suggest Enterprise, starting with Season 3. I started watching Trek when Enterprise was rerunning, and I joined in in late Season 2, catching an episode every now and then. Then I catched "The Expanse", and promptly became a Trekkie.

 

[bbailey861]

For the newby, I would always suggest TOS first; it is the one that started it all. For a time, I thought about recommending Enterprise first, but the stories are stronger in TOS and still resonate in todays environment (perhaps a sad testimony of how little things have changed). Be aware in advance that unless you are watching the remastered version, you may not like some of the SFX - just keep in mind that it was made in the 60's - and because of that I don't think that many of the portrayals ring true to the character (I'm thinking of Uhura cowering and saying she's scared - that sort of thing). Just have fun with it.

 

[You_Guyz]

People are assuming that the newbie will be patient and open minded.
Some simply won't want to sit and watch a show made in the 1960s or a TNG season 1.
I recently began introducing my friend to Star Trek and I gave her Voyager season 1.
Its actually a very strong and underrated season which is extremely easy to get into.
I'm not even sure if I had DS9 (my favorite series) that I would give her that.

Voyager season 1 has high production values, good stories and writing and is therefore very easy to get into - especially someone used to 90s/00s sci-fi like Stargate.

I wouldn't give someone a "best of" collection or anything like that personally. I considered it but then thought it would probably be too confusing.

 

[Anji]

Eat dessert first: go with TOS.

 

[RandyS]

Eat dessert first: go with TOS.

Well, if it's desert we're talking about, then I say start with TNG and DS9.