What order should the TV series and movies be watched in?

[php111]

Hi, I'm new to the forums. I am young enough not to know about Star Trek. I am old enough but not enough to know about Star Trek. In which order should the TV Series and movies be watched in? Should someone watch all of them in the following order?

Star Trek: The Original Series September 8, 1966- June 3, 1969
Star Trek: The Animated Series September 8, 1973- October 12, 1974
Star Trek: The Next Generation September 28, 1987- May 23, 1994
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine January 3, 1993- June 2, 1999
Star Trek: Voyager January 16, 1995- May 23, 2001
Star Trek: Enterprise September 26, 2001- May 13, 2005

Once done watching those in that order, than watch the movies in the following order?

The Motion Picture (1979)
The Wrath of Khan (1982)
The Search for Spock (1984)
The Voyage Home (1986)
The Final Frontier (1989)
The Undiscovered Country (1991)
Generations (1994)
First Contact (1996)
Insurrection (1998)
Nemesis (2002)
Star Trek (2009)
Into Darkness (2013)

Or skip the TV Series and watch the movies in order only?

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Watch in whatever order you like. The majority of Trek is episodic, with a few narrative threads that should be taken in order: the Borg, Klingon high politics, the Maquis, the Dominion War, the Emissary, the Xindi. It might make sense, in some cases, to cut across series: Space Seed, Wrath of Khan, Dr. Bashir, I Presume, Borderland, Cold Station, Augments, Affliction, Divergence, Into Darkness.

 

[GENERAL_DS]

well, there is a choice to be made, do you want to watch everything in the order of the star trek universe (Ent, TOS, TOS movies, TNG, DS9, VOY, TNG movies) or watch it on the release times. TOS, TOS movies, TNG, DS9, VOY, TNG movies, ENT.

I don't think it really matters in what order you watch things. I started with voyager last year, then TNG, DS9 and now ENT. I did the movies spread across all the series i watched

Maybe one of the older guys around here can give you a different view on this

 

[php111]

I'll probably and most likely watch all of the movies only and not the TV Series, so all movies from 1979-2013.

 

[GENERAL_DS]

Then i think you should watch the TNG movies, watching the motion picture is so painfull when you don't have a star trek background. The other TOS movies are better to watch but its just not interesting enough. Star Trek 09 and into darkness are also great to watch

 

[Mirror Mirror]

Just my opinion, but if you want to watch a whole series. start with DS9. As a whole, IMO its the best of the lot with a nice long arc and many interesting and engaging characters and villains. It did after all give us two of the best villains in all of trek, Gul Dukat and Kai Winn

 

[BillJ]

52 Pick-up style.

Buy all the DVD's, take them out of their cases and shuffle them then toss them all in the air and start watching with whatever disc lands on top and keep doing that until you've watched all the discs.

 

[Cinema Geekly]

I usually watch all of Star Trek every year and a half or so.

My preferred viewing is the in universe order of events. So starting with ENT and working my way up. I even inject the TNG movies during DS9 and Voyager when needed. And considering all the events that cause the JJverse to exist take place after Nemesis I pop those bad boys in last.

 

[GameOn]

Most of Star Trek is episodic with little in the way of continuity between episodes so you can jump about a bit and sample the better offerings. My recommended viewing order is below but the easiest jumping on points if you're new to Star Trek are TOS, the TOS movies or TNG.


The 23rd Century Shows

The Original Series (TOS)
Set in the 23rd century aboard the starship enterprise.

The Animated Series (TAS)
A continuation of TOS. It isn't always considered part of the official Star Trek continuity making it optional.

Movies 1-6 (The TOS Movies)
Set after TOS and TAS TV shows. "The Wrath of Khan" follows on from the events of the TOS episode "Space Seed".


The 24th Century Shows

The Next Generation (TNG)
Set in the 24th century about 70 years after the TOS Movies aboard a new starship enterprise with a new crew.

Movies 7-10 (The TNG Movies)
Set after TNG TV show. "First Contact" follows on from the events of the TNG episode "The Best of Both Worlds".

Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Set on a space station in the same era as TNG. Unlike other shows there is a lot of continuity between episodes making it difficult to jump into individual episodes. It's probably a good idea to watch some of TNG first.

Voyager (VOY)
Set on a ship that's lost on the other side of the galaxy. Set in the same ear as TNG but the show is mostly self contained due to its location.


The Prequel Show

Enterprise (ENT)
Set in the 22nd century making it a prequel however I recommend watching it last.


The Reboot Movies

Movies 11-12
A reboot of the original series set in an alternate time line making them separate from the original and self contained.

 

[php111]

Thank you so much! This is the way I am going to follow. This was the easiest answer for me to understand. I'm sorry!

Most of Star Trek is episodic with little in the way of continuity between episodes so you can jump about a bit and sample the better offerings. My recommended viewing order is below but the easiest jumping on points if you're new to Star Trek are TOS, the TOS movies or TNG.


The 23rd century shows

The Original Series (TOS)
Set in the 23rd century aboard aboard the starship enterprise.

The Animated Series (TAS)
A continuation of TOS. It isn't always considered part of the official Star Trek continuity making it optional.

Movies 1-6 (The TOS Movies)
Set after TOS and TAS TV shows. "The Wrath of Khan" follows on from the events of the TOS episode "Space Seed".


The 24th Century Shows

The Next Generation (TNG)
Set in the 24th century about 70 years after the TOS Movies aboard a new starship enterprise with a new crew.

Movies 7-10 (The TNG Movies)
Set after TNG TV show. "First Contact" follows on from the events of the TNG episode "The Best of Both Worlds".

Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Set on a space station in the same era as TNG. Unlike other shows there is a lot of continuity between episodes making it difficult to jump into individual episodes. It's probably a good idea to watch some of TNG first.

Voyager (VOY)
Set on a ship that's lost on the other side of the galaxy. Set in the same ear as TNG but the show is mostly self contained due to its location.


The Prequel Show

Enterprise
Set in the 22nd century making it a prequel however I recommend watching it last.


The Reboot Movies

Movies 11-12
A reboot of the original series set in an alternate time line making them separate from the original and self contained.

 

[shapeshifter]

Or try this: http://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.com/

There are some spoilers in in the chapter entitled The Process so tread lightly there. The Animated Series (TAS) is not included but you can simply watch them between Turnabout Intruder & The Motion Picture if you wish.

 

[Pavonis]

Alphabetical order by episode name is the best one, I think.

 

[T'Girl]

I often find these useful in determining which episode to watch next.

 

[php111]

I am going to watch all seasons/all episodes in the order that was posted above. Here is that order that was posted.


The 23rd Century Shows

The Original Series (TOS)
Set in the 23rd century aboard aboard the starship enterprise.

The Animated Series (TAS)
A continuation of TOS. It isn't always considered part of the official Star Trek continuity making it optional.

Movies 1-6 (The TOS Movies)
Set after TOS and TAS TV shows. "The Wrath of Khan" follows on from the events of the TOS episode "Space Seed".


The 24th Century Shows

The Next Generation (TNG)
Set in the 24th century about 70 years after the TOS Movies aboard a new starship enterprise with a new crew.

Movies 7-10 (The TNG Movies)
Set after TNG TV show. "First Contact" follows on from the events of the TNG episode "The Best of Both Worlds".

Deep Space Nine (DS9)
Set on a space station in the same era as TNG. Unlike other shows there is a lot of continuity between episodes making it difficult to jump into individual episodes. It's probably a good idea to watch some of TNG first.

Voyager (VOY)
Set on a ship that's lost on the other side of the galaxy. Set in the same ear as TNG but the show is mostly self contained due to its location.


The Prequel Show

Enterprise (ENT)
Set in the 22nd century making it a prequel however I recommend watching it last.


The Reboot Movies

Movies 11-12
A reboot of the original series set in an alternate time line making them separate from the original and self contained.

 

[R. Star]

It's a matter of personal preference too. GameOn pretty much mentioned the chronological watch order.

TOS for example is extremely dated. Now if you don't mind that, there are some good episodes there and it's the foundation on which the rest of it's built on. There's no serialization so you really could literally watch these in any order without being confused.

Honestly... unless you really just loved the heck out of TOS, I'd skip the Animated Series. That's just me though, so try a couple to see if it groves with you.

The TOS movies are probably their best hour, and for the most part they all tell one continuous story. Other than this though, TOS isn't very serialized at all.

TNG introduces a new crew in a more modern time. It's less dated, but still showing it's age. There's more continuity than TOS but the show still is basically a random adventure of the week, though their are various mini-arcs over the years and they do tie back often enough to what's been done before. The TNG movies were average overall at best.

DS9 gets off to a slow start to find itself being set on a space station as opposed to a ship, but it has some of the best characterization and storytelling of the franchise. The tone of the show is more dark, the characters are less perfect and everything is more... real... for lack of a better word.

Voyager basically takes Star Trek and mixes it with lost in space. They're trapped on the wrong end of the galaxy trying to get home for the whole series, so this basically limits them exclusively to an episodic format with an alien/problem of the week as a norm.

Enterprise also starts off weak but gets better. It's a prequel, the premise being Earth's first long range spaceship and they're all alone pretty much exploring space for the first time.

The reboot movies... flashy effects and great action sequences but plot telling and characterization is weak.

Your mileage may vary, but it gives you something to start off of. If TOS is boring you after an episode or two, fast forward to the movies, or to TNG. Sure all the shows tie together can subtly tie together especially TNG/DS9/VOY being all set in the same time period, but they stand alone just fine too. I've had the best luck converting people to Trekkies by showing them DS9 first.

Good luck, and of course welcome to the board.

 

[Xhiandra]

One thing's for sure: don't skip the series and watch only the movies.
On average, the series were much better than the movies.

Personally, I'd say go: TOS->TOS movies->TNG->TNG movies->DS9->VOY->ENT.

ENT theoretically fits first in chronological order, but much of it is intended for viewers that are at least familiar with the other series, so it's better watched last.

TOS is very campy by now and the allegories were always a bit too obvious, but there are still some very nice stories in there.
TOS movies are a mixed bag, 2&6 are very good, 1&3 are boring, 4 is extremely stupid (but fun), 5 a good idea poorly executed.

TNG starts off poorly, season 1 is weak... but it picks up after that, some extremely nice writing in latter seasons.
TNG movies... 7&9 are poor, 8 is great, 10 I liked but most people didn't.

DS9 is a wide departure from the series. To be honest, it could be a wholly unrelated show with but a change of costumes and names.
Still, for all its anti-Trek message and religious propaganda, it has some great writing at times. Some terrible writing as well.

VOY could be skipped, frankly.
A few nice episodes (Blink of an Eye, The Void, Year of Hell) a series does not make.

ENT starts pretty average, I found. Nothing great in S1-2, but not much bad either.
S3 is poorer, S4 improved significantly. I loved where they were going in season 4.
In fact, it's a shame it had to be cancelled at that point, as what S4 showed us had a lot of potential.

The new movies aren't Trek. They're just action movies. Nothing wrong with that per se, but to me that's not Trek.

 

[php111]

I'm not sure. It's confusing to follow. I'm not sure if I should follow that one reply? Or another answer?

 

[Melakon]

I saw each series during the years they were produced. TOS is really where the whole concept of a Trek universe begins, so you'll be able to see how storytelling and the universe's themes have changed with each successive series.

Definitely watch the 1st season's "Space Seed", as the film STII: The Wrath of Khan is based on it, even bringing back the same guest star. Episodes of ENT's 4th season also reference it, as does Star Trek: Into Darkness (which I've still not seen).

 

[GameOn]

I'm not sure. It's confusing to follow. I'm not sure if I should follow that one reply? Or another answer?

Don't feel like you have to watch everything I listed before. Sample some of the better episodes and see which shows you prefer. If TOS seems too dated for you feel free to skip to the movies and later shows.

I got into Star Trek with the movies and TNG and those are what I usually recommend to people who are just starting out. My favourite shows are DS9 and TNG but as others have said it takes a couple of seasons before they get good.

 

[R. Star]

I'm not sure. It's confusing to follow. I'm not sure if I should follow that one reply? Or another answer?

The thing is, you ask a ten different people you'll get eleven different answers. I can give you my opinion, others can give you theirs, but in the end you have to watch the episodes and decide for yourself if they're good.