The Official Star Trek Thread

[DemPGH]

IMO, the visual effects in The Original Series are so bad by now as to kind of detract. A few years ago there were special editions that seriously upgraded exterior scenes and effects sequences, and I understand they are pretty good. The set designs are wonderfully cheesy and the stories are actually pretty good. I'd recommend a few very good episodes to get a taste of it - "The Immunity Syndrome," "The Galileo Seven," "The Doomsday Machine," "Shore Leave," and a few others. Of course if anyone liked Wrath of Khan, you need to see "Space Seed," which was very well done. TOS is widely regarded as being at its best during its 2nd season, although there are some 1st season gems.

Voyager and DS9 for very different reasons I just can't get into.

[Antonio the Sixth]

IMO, the visual effects in The Original Series are so bad by now as to kind of detract. A few years ago there were special editions that seriously upgraded exterior scenes and effects sequences, and I understand they are pretty good. The set designs are wonderfully cheesy and the stories are actually pretty good. I'd recommend a few very good episodes to get a taste of it - "The Immunity Syndrome," "The Galileo Seven," "The Doomsday Machine," "Shore Leave," and a few others. Of course if anyone liked Wrath of Khan, you need to see "Space Seed," which was very well done. TOS is widely regarded as being at its best during its 2nd season, although there are some 1st season gems.

Sure, I'll have a look at those some day.

Not until I still have 4 seasons of TNG and 7 of DS9 to catch up with, though.

[politicallefty]

Mulgrew is a phenomenal actress, but her characterization is pretty all over the place for a long time. I remember her talking a lot about this in recent years; the producers of the show kept her performance under an incredibly close eye and she was basically constantly fighting with the writers over how Janeway was portrayed. Notice how her hair styles constantly change? She used to be infuriated by how often the producers kept altering her appearance. By Season 4 they were finally letting her have more control and the writing for most of the characters in general was a lot more even.

I'm in almost total agreement with you. However, I always thought Mulgrew's portrayal of Janeway in the early seasons was a result of the writing. The writers didn't know what to do with her, but she always played the role she was written spectacularly. I agree that it wasn't until Season 4 that Captain Janeway's personalty and command style became clear. And yeah, I did notice the seasonal changes with her hair style.

From what I've read (and to the credit of the writers), they wanted a whole season for Year of Hell. Personally, I think that would have worked great. But, unfortunately, the network executives killed the idea. The only credit I've give to the network was the introduction of Seven of Nine. She was obviously supposed to be the new sex appeal object, but she never let herself fall into that caricature. Something definitely changed when Season 4 started (which I think is the best season I've seen in its entirety).

[Middle-aged Europe]

Personally, I've only seen three Star Trek moves (the TNG movies except Generations). I've always figured that it's be better to see the TOS movies after actually watching TOS. I haven't reached that point yet.

I don't plan on watching TOS, tbh. I might try out one or two episodes some days, but it just strikes me as too "old" and corny to take seriously. Even with TNG, the corniness is just barely tame enough to be enjoyable and not distract me from the substance of the episode.

As for TOS movies, I've now seen all the "good" ones (2, 4 and 6). They're pretty good overall, with Wrath of Khan definitely having the most well-conceived plot and some really memorable scenes ("KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" aside ). I also enjoyed The Undiscovered Country, a nice parallel to the events that were occurring at the same time in real-life.

Originally, I had a similar opinion of TOS. But the show kind of grew on me over time and now I like it as much as TNG or DS9.

Despite the much cited appearance of a female "Number One" in the original pilot episode, TOS often conveyed a horrible view of women (which really could only be prevented when D.C. Fontana or Margaret Armen had written the script ). But other than that, the show stands the test of time reasonably well, especially compared to other TV series from the same time period. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are truly iconic and (most of the time) well-written characters. The aforementioned "special edition" with updated special effects is definitely worth to check out.

[Silent Hunter]

It's also worth considering that Uhura and Sulu were very important in the portrayal of people of colour.

[swky_0rn]

Do you like star trek or is it a silly sci fi fanasty?

[Crumpets]

I like the original series, but I can't really get into the "advanced" fandom.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I've been slowly advancing through TNG (currently I'm in the middle of season 4) and I love it. In some respects it hasn't aged very well, but it's still very enjoyable. Really memorable characters.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Do you like star trek or is it a silly sci fi fanasty?

'Or'?

[Mr. Smith]

Never really did it for me. Only the '09 reboot ever really pushed it.

[bagelman]

Pretty good, but the movies are often not as good as the TV shows. Yet I never got to watch the TV shows until the original series (why did I say TNG?) was available on YT a while back but I saw all the movies and some were good and others sucked.

[Illiniwek]

Turned on Next Generation once, and I couldn't take it. Not interested in every trying to watch it.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The Original - Best Show Ever.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

I like it, but I'm MUCH more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan...

Yeah I know, two different genres but still.

[DemPGH]

The Original Series, The Next Generation, and the movies through Insurrection I love. They are largely character centered mystery stories set in a futuristic, technologically advanced human society which has solved the basic problems we struggle with now. I like the logical, mystery aspect of the shows that I mentioned. I also like that Roddenberry went against the melodramatic dystopian vision that so much of sci-fi embraced. Interestingly, Roddenberry's interest prior to Star Trek being accepted was police procedurals and investigative themed fiction. He basically just did it in a sci-fi setting with Trek, and made his points about human evolution and so on. It's great.

Deep Space Nine and Voyager are just sci-fi/action that was popular in the '90s, totally forgettable.

[Why]

Do you like star trek or is it a silly sci fi fanasty?

Why not both?

[angus]

I liked it when I was about 8, 9, 10, or 11, but I soon started to notice how cheesy everything was, like the flip number clocks.  (Will there really be 1967 technology in 2267?)  Then Star Trek:  The Motion Picture came out when I was around 12.  I saw it for free in the cinema behind our house in exchange for taking the garbage out for the old custodian that worked there.  He let me in the back door several times under that arrangement.  It wasn't particularly exciting, but I liked how they worked in Voyager 6, and Kirk hadn't become weird and fat yet, and anyway it was a Star Trek movie.  That in itself made it interesting for me.  When I was 16 Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan appeared on the scene.  I watched it at a small theater in a small town in northern Minnesota with my cousins, whom I stayed with summers during that period.  I really was fond of Lt. Saavik, Spock's protégé.  (She later played on Cheers and then got really fat and horrible-looking, but in 1982, especially with pointed ears, she was hot.)  I watched that movie several times and enjoyed it, and it made me seek out reruns of Star Trek.

About the time I started college Star Trek:  The Next Generation started playing and I was very excited about it.  Each episode was a little morality play.  Some folks tried to make connections between characters, like, so Data is Spock and Giordi is Scotty, but which one is Kirk?  I said, "it's not like that."  But eventually I started wondering about certain details as well, such as why everyone they met, in every part of the universe, could speak and understand English.  I had several conversations with friends about it and we came to the decision that they might have a universal translator, or that we just needed to suspend our disbelief, in order to perceive the story.  It's like the 1967 technology in the original series.  You just have to put that out of your mind to enjoy it.

I still watch it often enough, and once in a while I catch an episode that I've never seen before.  There's one channel that plays Star Trek episodes regularly, and some days they even have a 24-hour Star Trek marathon, always The Next Generation.  I usually watch those.  I also have "Star Trek" which was the 2009 movie with a new-and-improved sexy, Latino Spock and sexy Latino Uhuru.  That one I like as well, and it did much to develop the characters of Kirk and the rest.  The most recent one, Into Darkness, was a bit weird.  It felt more like a cross between a carnival ride and a brutal firefight.  I look forward to the new installation which should release this summer.

[beaver2.0]

Very good.

[DINGO Joe]

The original is awesome.  Such an utterly shameless and sexist product of its time and creators.
Everything else has been hit and miss--much more dependent on the quality of the writing (though TNG could sometimes get by on its shamelessness too).

[politicallefty]

Love it, love it, love it. I started watching TNG a bit less than two years ago on Netflix. I started a topic here some time ago. I hope you find it and add your thoughts. I'm thinking about reviving it. Anyway, after I finished TNG, I sampled Voyager and DS9 at the same time. I found Voyager far to my liking after watching TNG, so I went that route. If there's anyone that could stand beside Captain Picard, it's Captain Janeway. A few months ago, I strayed into DS9 and TOS. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up back then, but while some episodes were quite good overall, others had issues due to being quite dated. As for DS9, it took me some time to get over the disrespect they gave to Captain Picard in Emissary. But I watched more and eventually got over it. I always try to stay close to the story line, but I did jump around a bit. I have to say that DS9's Trials and Tribble-ations is one of my favourites, especially since I say the original prior. I haven't touched Enterprise at all right now, but I will say that my favourite pilot episode among them all is Voyager's Caretaker.

[Orser67]

I like it, though I never got into the stuff between TNG and the reboot.

[ingemann]

I like it, but TNG has not aged well (through it's still a good serie, but many episode doesn't hold up anymore), while Voyager was a disaster even at the time (the less said about Enterprise the better).

[Free Bird]

Limited experience, want to get serious. There are so many paths though. Watch TOS and go to the movies? Just watch the "Trilogy?" Next Gen? JJ only?

Where should I start and what should I limit myself to?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Start with the original series and then watch the animated series. (Optionally, watch the animated series between the second and third season of the original series.) Next do TNG, skipping the first two seasons. Next do DS9, then Enterprise. If you must, go back and watch the first two seasons of TNG, but by no means watch V'ger unless you absolutely can't help it. Feel free to do the movies, but they are by no means essential Trek.

[politicallefty]

I think it depends on what you like. Try out TOS and TNG for a couple episodes each. If you don't find TOS too dated, you might want to start with that. Otherwise, I strongly recommend starting with TNG. After you've finished TNG, either go back to TOS and watch the TOS moves afterwards or just move the TNG movies. There is very limited continuity among the TNG movies. As for what to watch after TNG, I'd recommend trying out both DS9 and VOY. After finishing TNG, I found myself far more drawn to VOY. It's more TNG-based and I'm also a big fan of Kate Mulgrew's portrayal of Captain Janeway. I didn't initially like DS9 myself, due in no small part to the way they treated Captain Picard. As I've begun finishing VOY, I've given DS9 a second chance and I've definitely enjoyed it.

If you like TOS and what it has to offer, I'd say just watch everything in order of air date. See here for order by original air date. I started watching Star Trek in 2014 and I've seen all of TNG and its movies, almost all of Voyager, the majority of DS9, and some of TOS. I have yet to see the TOS movies, most of TOS, TAS, or ENT, so I can't comment on those.