I started watching Strange New Worlds the other week, I’ve really enjoyed the writing! The only other Trek media I’ve seen were the Abrams movies, which were okay I guess. I understand Strange New Worlds is a prequel to the original series, is it worth it to watch the original series after I finish it? Are there any series to avoid?
I’m a huge original series fan. Yes, it’s of its time, but good storytelling is good storytelling. Unless you get particularly twitchy about the sexism that comes with the period (I can’t blame you if you do), it’s more than worth a watch.
If you want my opinion of the overall best series, I’d say that’s Deep Space Nine. But it is ideally enjoyed after viewing at least some of Next Gen, since it’s somewhat a response to the optimism of that series. So I do generally recommend going in chronological order.
As to the dregs, Enterprise is the only series I never managed to get through. Picard set up some brilliant ideas in its first couple of episodes, but followed those with absolutely dreadful execution. It’s a real shame.
Everything else falls somewhere in the middle. Discovery seems to have the loudest haters, but I’m a big fan, and have frankly never understood the hate. It falters a little in the second season, but undergoes a bit of a transformation in season 3 and 4, which I very much enjoyed.
Regarding the films: all the original 6 are great, with the caution that The Motion Picture very much takes its time (just try to think of how appreciated all the beauty shots of the Enterprise would have been upon release, when you’d have been used to '60s TV production values), and The Final Frontier is very cheesy (more like TOS itself than any of the others).
After First Contact, the Next Gen films take a bit of a dive, ending on a very sour note with Nemesis.
And the less said about Section 31 the better.
I think discovery was … okay. The first half of season 1 was kinda bad, especially them needlessly redoing the klingons. I liked the 3rd season bit of reuniting the fed a LOT. But following it up with another season of a end of the universe thing just felt like too much. I know thats kind of typical of series like that. But s4 seemed like a good point to go to more episodic stories.
I did really like enterprise tho. First season was really rough, but i thought it ended when it was getting really good.
I think Disco really struggled at finding the right approach for the season-long story arcs. End-of-the-galaxy stakes work nicely as a way to end a season, but when you commit to spending the whole season building to that it can be tough to find a balance between it and smaller moments. I think that’s what really sunk the second season for me. It started out well enough, but by the end just felt frantic and chaotic. They got better at this as the show progressed, though.
I might need to bite the bullet and try starting Enterprise somewhere in the middle. I gave it another try with my partner a year or two back, and they only managed to humour me up until that first awkward decon chamber scene.
I really liked the xindi arc(s3). Some people dont, but that and the last season were the best part. I have to go through s2, but minefield, first flight, and the communicator were good ones.
holy hell the reviews for section 31 are hilarious
Taking a swipe at Section 31 was probably the least controversial thing I said there. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone interested in going to bat for it. Where are you looking for reviews?
thanks for the heads up about the sexism
To be honest, Next Gen, Voyager, and Enterprise are also pretty rife with sexist tropes. The '90s were their own flavour of “a different time”. DS9 mostly avoids it, as do the modern shows. Though I do have some beef with how SNW is letting Chapel’s character slide closer and closer to her TOS counterpart…
Luckily I’m mature enough to hold to my own values and just grimace at a painful bit of writing. I live in Southern USA so I’ve seen a fair bit worse than sexist tropes on TV :( I’m happy the fans seem to call this stuff out nowadays
Wow, this is pretty much exactly what I’d have responded. Are you me bro?
Might be a transporter clone. Do you fancy going by your middle name, or shall I?