Where to begin.

[AKingsCrown]

After a quick search of the forums, I was unable to find a similar thread under a year old - please correct me if I'm wrong as I'm very new to this forum and forums in general. Although not new to Star Trek itself, I've only visited it's surface and am interested in delving deeper. I understand a chronological order would be easy to find on the internet but was looking for experienced Trekker's recommendations regarding where to begin (as a newbie).

This includes all Star Trek related media - TV, film, literature, etc.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BillJ]

Start with "Threshold". If you can survive that, the rest is a breeze.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I'd start with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. That's as good as place as any to start and then if that one works for you, you can later explore what came before and what happened after later.

 

[AKingsCrown]

Start with "Threshold". If you can survive that, the rest is a breeze.

That sounds like a challenge I'm willing to accept.

 

[AKingsCrown]

I'd start with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. That's as good as place as any to start and then if that one works for you, you can later explore what came before and what happened after later.

I read a similar recommendation recently - I'll look into it and delve asap. Thank you.

 

[Qonundrum]

The best news is that "Threshold" isn't even anything approaching a good or even average episode. But, yeah, survive the worst of the worst and even "The Way to Eden" looks like a classic by comparison.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Personally, I think the second pilot, 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', is a very good starting point.

 

[MacLeod]

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

 

[Vger23]

I'd say start with the JJ Abrams 2009 film Star Trek, or watch the Original Series "Where No Man Has Gone Before" pilot, followed immediately by "The Corbomite Maneuver " which was the first regular episode produced.

 

[Sophie74656]

Start with "Threshold". If you can survive that, the rest is a breeze.

I did this with my boyfriend. during one of our early dates we were talking about stuff and Star trek came up. He was a little familiar with TNG but that's it. so we started talking and somehow the events of Threshold came up. He didn't belive any episode was that rediculous and we watched it. After that he wanted to watch the rest of the show and loved it.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I recommend first watching the movies Forbidden Planet, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Galaxy Quest.

Seriously, I recommend watching all the series and movies in chronological order of production, including the animated series. Alternatively, one can cherry pick but if you don't experience the lows, you might never appreciate the highs.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Star with "The Cage" then go through all five series and ten movies until you end on "Terra Prime".

 

[Longinus]

Start with TNG and the original cast movies, those are the absolute high points of the franchise and also contain a lot of setting establishing material. TOS is great too, though some people find it dated (doesn't bother me personally, I like old shows in general.)

 

[F. King Daniel]

Star Trek (2009) is a great starting point.

"The Vulcan Hello", where the latest series Discovery begins.

"Where No Man Has Gone Before" which is where the original series begins proper.

 

[lawman]

Although not new to Star Trek itself, I've only visited it's surface and am interested in delving deeper...

It's not exactly clear from this what you're already familiar with, or which aspects you liked. There's already been an interesting mix of advice offered. FWIW, though, if you're interested in experiencing (most of) the best that Trek has to offer while avoiding (most of) the low points, then in my estimation the stuff really worth watching is...

TOS seasons 1-2 (in production order)

Original crew movies 1-4 and 6

TNG seasons 3-6

DS9 (entire series)

Skip VOY.

ENT season 4

...and that's it. 14 seasons of television plus five films is enough to keep you busy (and entertained!) for a while, even if it's slightly less than half of the total amount of Trek material that's been produced!...

You also asked about literature, but it's hard to be specific beyond saying there have been a lot of really good Trek novels published over the last 40 years, and everyone has different favorites. Once you've identified your own favorite series, characters, and/or "era" of Trek, you can zero in on books involving them, and probably identify favorite authors worth following pretty easily. The TrekLit forums here can offer much more detailed opinions if you feel like diving in.

 

[TribbleFeeder]

This one is from years back when I first started, but it really helped me out!!

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/dear-experienced-trekkies.122875/

 

[Takeru]

Seriously, I recommend watching all the series and movies in chronological order of production, including the animated series.

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.

This includes all Star Trek related media - TV, film, literature, etc.

Thanks in advance.

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.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

This is a great question.

If you adore classic sci-fi, I'd suggest starting with the JJ-verse movies, then watching TOS, TOS movies, etc. (or possibly reverse that).

If you're more into serialized, long-narrative story arcs, then I'd suggest starting with DS9.

However, DS9 is so rich and complex, and has such an epic finale, that for me, it is best savoured as the grand finale of your years of Trek viewing.

From my own experience, as a young lad, I very much loved the TOS movies (sans TMP), TNG, and TNG movies. This naturally flowed into watching VOY. Then I took a long break from Trek (in terms of truly exploring Trek outside of these afore-mentioned series) and, years later and hungry for more Trek, I finally came back and thoroughly enjoyed TOS, ENT, and DS9. I'm still warming up to TAS, as it is definitely the black sheep of the franchise. I've always loved all Trek. Now I appreciate each series even more. But the TOS movies, TNG, and TNG movies were definitely a great foundation to build from (and while not my experience, I'd definitely now include the JJ-verse movies in there as well).

Hopefully this helps. As far as literature, I think that is best enjoyed by those that have already assimilated all of the visual Trek and are yearning for more. As I understand it, the stories are largely built off of an assumption that you already know the characters and their on-screen adventures. For me, personally, the best literature I can recommend would be guidebooks that supplement the viewing experience, such as technical manuals, star chart/stellar cartography books, etc. that really help flesh out the universe-building aspect of Trek, which keeps it (mostly) all neatly tied together. You may become interested in the different Trek alien cultures, weapons and technology, starship designs, territories of space, etc.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on, but as a quick reference, here ya go:
TOS: The Original Series
TAS: The Animated Series
(TOS movies: TMP The Motion Picture, TWoK The Wrath of Khan, TSFS The Search For Spock, TVH The Voyage Home, TFF The Final Frontier, TUC The Undiscovered Country)
TNG: The Next Generation
(TNG movies: GEN Generations, FC First Contact, INS Insurrection, NEM Nemesis)
DS9: Deep Space Nine
VOY: Voyager
ENT: Enterprise
JJ-verse: post-2008 films directed by J.J. Abrams (ST09 Star Trek, STID Star Trek Into Darkness, STB Star Trek Beyond)

 

[AKingsCrown]

I'm not entirely sure how to "tag" individuals on a forum without quoting one after the other but I'd like to thank those who took some good time to reply to this thread - I've enjoyed reading the different opinions and the more specific recommendations, especially the multi-media ones - thank you. I will take these replies into consideration along with the sources the specific shows are available on. As my first post on this forum, I have to say I've appreciated the honest and definitely-useful feedback.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Here are a couple more items to add to the mix.

Gene Roddenberry's original pitch to the network:

http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/Star_Trek_Is_by_Gene_Roddenberry_11_March_1964.pdf

The writer's guide....mind you, this is the 3rd revision. The earlier versions are each a bit different. A number of years ago, I had both Phil Farmer's first and A. E. Van Vogt's first until I sold them to other fans. I scanned a copy, but that disc is in storage in another state right now. I can't seem to locate anything but that 3rd revision online, at the moment. Anyone feel free to chime in if you know of those somewhere. This one is still interesting, revealing, and humorous at times:

http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/1_Original_Series/Star_Trek_TOS_Writer's_Guide.pdf