Where to begin.

[Qonundrum]

Each show has it it's issues for someone to start out with

TOS - Some might be put off by the fact that it is over 50 years old and as such might seem dated by somone viewing it today

Yeah. TOS has some great stuff, but some of the dated stuff grates. Especially the casual sexism.

However, I might recommend the following anyway:
* Balance of Terror
* The Gamesters of Triskeleon
* The Enterprise Incident
* The Tholian Web
* Day of the Dove

TNG - Season 1 and 2 are amongst that series weakest not saying there aren't some good episodes in there but there is a lot of mediocre episodes to wade through. You could start with S3 of TNG and go back to the earlier seasons. Though you might want to watch S2 "Q Who" before the S3 finale of TNG

Seconded!! Starting with "Evolution" and moving forward in chronological order is definitely the way to go.

While S1 and S2 have some good episodes, or episodes with potential, starting with season 3 then going back to 1 & 2 after season 4 might be for the best.

"Contagion", "Q Who", "Elementary Dear Data", "Time Squared", "Peak Performance" from season 2 are easily some good examples. Season 1 is a bizarre mix of the show finding its own feet all while engaging in certain indulgences that only "Encounter at Farpoint" and "Conspiracy" are ones I could suggest off the bat.

DSN - Does use some elements that where introduced in TNG same with VOY which uses some elements which where developed more in TNG but those aren't really essential to know. The thing with DSN is that it is set on a space station but that isn't a bad thing many vote DSN as the best trek series.

DSN also gets its own ship later on, which gives the show a whole new life. They also did stuff on the ship that never got done on TNG, or even could have been done on TNG. I might recommend starting with "Way of the Warrior", finishing seasons 4, then do 2-3, 5-7, 1. 1 is remarkably solid and 2 & 3 are great, but I get the inkling that 4 might be the best place to start.

VOY - As noted above it uses elements used in previous shows but once again not essential to know, this show is similar in style to TOS and TNG.

"Timeless" has too much Borg Technobabble (or "Borgiebabble"), but is a rock solid romp.

I would heartily recommend "Blink of an Eye". For a show that often drowned itself in technobabble and borgiebabble, "Blink" just gets everything right when it comes to engaging high concept sci-fi drama. The story also had influence from TOS' "Wink of an Eye" but does a better job and avoids the obvious plot hole with that trope. (it's the same trope that the original Tron avoided but Tron Legacy quickly fell into as well, about two separate timespans...)

ENT - Once again a show similar in style to TOS, TNG and VOY with the show not really coming in to it's own until S3 and fully using it's prequel status in S4

Yeah, start with S4 for the win - but it is fanservicey at times.

DSC - Well why spoil the surprise in terms of storytelling it's most similar to S3 of ENT and DSN with more long form story telling.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I would go for strict chronological order. So start with "Death Wish" then "All Good Things..." and so on and finish up with "Shockwave" and "Living Witness".

You may have to watch several episodes a few times.

 

[Lord Garth]

I would say look at the descriptions of each series, start with the one that sounds most interesting to you, and go from there.

Of course, if you start with Discovery, you only have 15 episodes and you're caught up. They fill you in on whatever you need to know in order to follow it.

 

[Ralphis]

It would help a little to know what Star Trek you have seen what you've liked. My suggestions would go from there.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

That's very fanboyish advice, we're are talking about hundreds of episodes and more than a dozen movies. "Watch everything" isn't very helpful, especially because he already said in the first post a chronological order would be easy to find, he's asking for more specific advice.


I'm going to recommend 5 episodes from each series.

Star Trek:
Where no man has gone before
Balance of Terror
The City on the Edge of Forever
Mirror, Mirror
The Trouble with Tribbles

Star Trek - The Next Generation:
The Measure of a Man
Who watches the Watchers
The Enemy
Disaster
Face of the Enemy

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine:
Duet
The Jem'Hadar
Our Man Bashir
Trials and Tribble-ations
Inquisition

Star Trek -Voyager:
Death Wish
Before and After
Counterpoint
Course: Oblivion
Blink of an Eye

Star Trek - Enterprise:
The Andorian Incident
The Catwalk
The Forge
Awakening
Kir'Shara

Watch all of Star Trek Discovery, it's only 15 episodes so far and very serialized, it wouldn't make much sense to pick 5 episodes.

The episodes I picked aren't necessarily the best ones, I tried to find a balance of action, drama, sci-fi plots and some more lighthearted fun episodes because Star Trek can be a lot of things.

Yeah, there's a lot to watch and some episodes really are a struggle to sit through. For the casual viewer, TOS and TNG appeared to be the most popular series in the UK based on viewing figures. Voyager and especially DS9 were somewhat serialised so jumping in on those series could be confusing, which might be why those series were less popular here. I'm probably not classifiable as a fanboy as I gave up on DSC when the mirror universe came into play.

I think one could include some of the better animated series episodes and movies, such as Yesteryear and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

 

[BillJ]

While S1 and S2 have some good episodes, or episodes with potential, starting with season 3 then going back to 1 & 2 after season 4 might be for the best.

You miss the setup of some things that are important in seasons three and four (and later) if you skip the first two seasons.

 

[at Quark's]

Depends on what you like. Let me try to give a general 'feel' for each of the series by paraphrasing a line actually spoken by a character from that series:

TOS: To boldly show what no (wo)man has shown before
TNG: What other series might present with irony, we present with conviction.
DS9: To a viewing experience that can never be unviewed again
VOY: We're online, but the ratings containment field is still unstable. Nielsen 4 is the best I can give you.
ENT: Someday, our writers are going to come up with some sort of ...something.