Your honest opinion on the Berman era

[Turtletrekker]

My answer, short version: I'd recommend all of them except DISCO. For me, it's 11th place out of the 11 shows, so I can't in good conscience recommend it.

I read this list ranking on Entertainment Weekly and was struck by how their list was almost exactly the same as mine (with Picard, all three seasons, stinking up the bottom like it deserves), with the exception that I would switch Prodigy and Voyager. If the final two seasons of Strange New Worlds don't improve over the abysmal season 3, I will rearrange.

And alternately, I could not in good conscience recommend Strange New Worlds without at least watching Discovery season 2 at minimum first. In my opinion, Discovery's Michael Burnham is the best thing to happen to the Spock character since the Genesis wave. Bar none. Spock's journey in Discovery sets up his journey in Strange New Worlds.

Every 'Star Trek' TV series, ranked from worst to best

Ready to settle in and watch some 'Star Trek' episodes? As there are so many, we've ranked all of the different series to help you get started on your quest.

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[Farscape One]

I read this list ranking on Entertainment Weekly and was struck by how their list was almost exactly the same as mine (with Picard, all three seasons, stinking up the bottom like it deserves), with the exception that I would switch Prodigy and Voyager. If the final two seasons of Strange New Worlds don't improve over the abysmal season 3, I will rearrange.

And alternately, I could not in good conscience recommend Strange New Worlds without at least watching Discovery season 2 at minimum first. In my opinion, Discovery's Michael Burnham is the best thing to happen to the Spock character since the Genesis wave. Bar none. Spock's journey in Discovery sets up his journey in Strange New Worlds.

Every 'Star Trek' TV series, ranked from worst to best

Ready to settle in and watch some 'Star Trek' episodes? As there are so many, we've ranked all of the different series to help you get started on your quest.

ew.com

You can honestly watch SNW without bothering with DISCO season 2. Despite it having Pike and Spock. SNW pretty much explains all the critical story points for them.


And Burnham being the best thing to happen to Spock's character since THE WRATH OF KHAN?

I think we have an early winner for best joke of 2026.

 

[CaseyW]

LOWER DECKS does a superb job of having that feel of the era and the spirit of the franchise. There are many scenes where we get dialogue of exactly WHY Starfleet and the Federation is great.

PRODIGY does this, too. While it's geared more for kids and simplifies some of the plots, it definitely reminds us of why the Federation and Starfleet is a good place and something to aspire to.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS is, overall, pretty good. Though the recent third season was a significant downgrade.

PICARD: season 1 had some good ideas, with some good execution, but overall was rather in the middle. The less said about season 2, the better. Season 3, while it had some issues, was FAR superior to season 2 and better than season 1, overall.

DISCOVERY: while this does have the spirit of the franchise in it and had one great character (Saru) with a few other good ones (Stamets, Culber, Rayner), the arc based storylines were not good. All except one had a terrible to meh ending, and most of the arcs themselves meandered a lot. It felt like stretching 3 or 4 episodes worth of material into a 13 episode season. It was a slog to get through, most of the time. I have other big issues with DISCO, but I'll not mention them so it doesn't color your perception should you decide to watch.



My answer, short version: I'd recommend all of them except DISCO. For me, it's 11th place out of the 11 shows, so I can't in good conscience recommend it.

(Having said that, you may actually enjoy it, so you should give it a shot.)

Thank you. That's very useful.

 

[Turtletrekker]

You can honestly watch SNW without bothering with DISCO season 2. Despite it having Pike and Spock. SNW pretty much explains all the critical story points for them.


And Burnham being the best thing to happen to Spock's character since THE WRATH OF KHAN?

I think we have an early winner for best joke of 2026.

Easily. Without doubt without question, but we've been down this road before. You just don't like Burnham. Because she cried once and you seem to think it happened in every episode or something?

 

[Farscape One]

Easley. Without doubt without question, but we've been down this road before. You just don't like Burnham. Because she cried once and you seem to think it happened in every episode or something?

She did that far more often than once, but I've got multiple other issues with her character.

But I've already mentioned them on multiple occasions, and there's no need for me to list them again here. Not trying to discourage CaseyW from watching due to listing my reasons.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Easley. Without doubt without question, but we've been down this road before. You just don't like Burnham. Because she cried once and you seem to think it happened in every episode or something?

Spock cried on screen in both the TOS era and TOS-film era.

Kirk cried onscreen in the TOS-film era.

I'd expect those weren't the only times in those characters' lives when they cried.

Wait, crying is bad?

 

[Turtletrekker]

Wait, crying is bad?

Only if Burnham does it.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Picard bawled like a champ in Family, and we did see a tear when he was being assimilated in the previous episode. Apparently it's okay for him to cry in consecutive episodes. Also in Generations.

 

[cooleddie74]

And in "Chain of Command."

 

[Farscape One]

Only if Burnham does it.

Would you please quote where I said crying is bad only if Burnham does it?

 

[Turtletrekker]

Only if you tell me why it's an issue at all.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Sisko cried like a punk in Emissary.

 

[cooleddie74]

And especially in "Far Beyond the Stars."

 

[Farscape One]

Only if you tell me why it's an issue at all.

I didn't say it was. YOU were saying I had that problem, which I didn't say.

So you mind telling me why you are putting words in my mouth?

AGAIN????!!!

 

[Turtletrekker]

I'm just not that interested. But I can point back to your recent insistence that she cried "far more than once" for one thing. I've recently rewatched seasons 1 and 2 and I simply don't see it. @Firebird recently did a rewatch as well and didn't see it either. If that wasn't something that you took issue with, you wouldn't have mentioned it at all. As I said before, you simply don't like Burnham and grasp at any straw available (the list you mentioned) to bash the character.

 

[Farscape One]

Yet you ARE interested enough to put words in my mouth.


And just because I notice something doesn't mean I have an issue with it.

(And I wasn't just talking about season 1 and 2 regarding Burnham. You know she was on for 5 seasons, right?)

 

[Turtletrekker]

And Burnham being the best thing to happen to Spock's character since THE WRATH OF KHAN?

I think we have an early winner for best joke of 2026.

And you came at me first with this performative drama queen garbage.

 

[Farscape One]

And you came at me first with this garbage.

I was sharing an opinion.

You were twisting what I said.

Big difference.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Wev.

 

[Farscape One]

LOWER DECKS does a superb job of having that feel of the era and the spirit of the franchise. There are many scenes where we get dialogue of exactly WHY Starfleet and the Federation is great.

PRODIGY does this, too. While it's geared more for kids and simplifies some of the plots, it definitely reminds us of why the Federation and Starfleet is a good place and something to aspire to.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS is, overall, pretty good. Though the recent third season was a significant downgrade.

PICARD: season 1 had some good ideas, with some good execution, but overall was rather in the middle. The less said about season 2, the better. Season 3, while it had some issues, was FAR superior to season 2 and better than season 1, overall.

DISCOVERY: while this does have the spirit of the franchise in it and had one great character (Saru) with a few other good ones (Stamets, Culber, Rayner), the arc based storylines were not good. All except one had a terrible to meh ending, and most of the arcs themselves meandered a lot. It felt like stretching 3 or 4 episodes worth of material into a 13 episode season. It was a slog to get through, most of the time. I have other big issues with DISCO, but I'll not mention them so it doesn't color your perception should you decide to watch.



My answer, short version: I'd recommend all of them except DISCO. For me, it's 11th place out of the 11 shows, so I can't in good conscience recommend it.

(Having said that, you may actually enjoy it, so you should give it a shot.)

Easily. Without doubt without question, but we've been down this road before. You just don't like Burnham. Because she cried once and you seem to think it happened in every episode or something?

If you'll note what I said earlier in my short review of the various current era shows, I didn't even mention Burnham, let alone have an issue with her crying. YOU mentioned it first.

Would you PLEASE stop putting words in my mouth?!