Star Trek

Voyager's got that family feel with the cast that you just enjoy being around.

TNG is best to start after season 1. Not saying season one is bad, but it might be harder to get into for a new comer.

Enterprise is good is you like your uniforms tight.

The original series is great to get a lot of the origin information. I guess it's hard for new comers, but I grew up with it, so has a special accepting place in my heart.

Deep Space 9 is my personal favorite for political sci-fi. However, there is the occasional whatever episode. This is best to watch is order all the way through.

I still think that lower decks and strange new worlds can not be fully enjoyed without some other older trek shown under your belt, but it's only a few episodes so you can finish them both quickly.

I abandoned Discovery after season 2 or 3 (I forget) I hear it got ok later on, but idk.

Picard, just watch season 3. I watched the others and then season 3 came out. I forgot about the others.

My main advice is: Don't be afraid to skip an episode if you watch it and you don't like it. Especially the early seasons of TNG, DS9 and Voyager have some episodes which can easily be skipped. You won't lose any context.

FYI not to discourage others from commenting (because everyone has their own opinion) but there is a pretty comprehensive guide in the /c/StarTrek sidebar: https://wiki.startrek.website/books/cstartrek/page/the-cstartrek-where-should-i-start-guide

Since you've already watched the relevant parts of Discovery, I'd recommend SNW. It spins off directly from Disco season 2, but it's more episodic and has a wider tonal range. Some episodes are dark and serious, some are plain goofy. Overall you'll find it much more light hearted and adventurous than Disco.

Otherwise, I'm a big supporter of starting at the beginning. Give a few episodes of TOS a try. Yes, it's a product of it's time, but it still holds up as great TV. It's also one of the few Trek shows that really hits the ground running quality wise - the '90s series tend to take a few seasons to rev up.

Start with the best episodic episodes of TNG and DS9. Most of us were introduced to Star Trek out of order, it isnt like modern TV. 90s TV and prior was focused on syndication.

My recommendations would be, TNG: Darmok, Tapestry, The Wounded, Inner Light, Cause and Effect, Lower Decks (The episode that inspired the show). For DS9: In The Pale Moonlight, Duet, Trials and Tribbleations, The Visitor (Rest in peace Tony Todd)

Since you're into Lower Decks, I dare you to just follow the episode annotations and canon connection published here and use those as your guide to Star Trek. Every episode of LDS is so full of references to older episodes across different series, that might be a fun way to experience the canon 🙂

I'd start with Strange New Worlds. It's very classic Trek in terms of its themes and stories, but as it's still being made it has contemporary audiences in mind. If you like it, I would then go to TNG.

TOS is very dated and can be hard to watch at times. You definitely have to be appreciative of the camp and low production.

TNG holds up a bit better. It's not an adventure show though, and the first season has some real stinkers. I'd say it's a good starting point to watch the first 3 or 4 episodes then go to season 2 weeks give that a shot. If you like how it's going then go back and finish S1 and keep going.

DS9 is like tng but also has a bit more edge and does some good deconstruction of the pure optimism of tng. It is still optimistic but also has some cynicism I love it. I don't think I'd like it as much without a good tng backbone though.

Overall 90s trek isn't going to really give you a lot of adventure focus, unless you watch the movies. It's strengths lie in the morality play and the collaborative problem solving, and the idea of a bright future. Picard kind of shits all over that idea of a brighter future but to each their own, I can see why some people would like it.

I was late to the party, so my initial watch order was all kinds of messed up. I went DIS -> LD -> VOY -> DS9 -> TNG -> VOY (again) -> ENT -> SNW. Sadly, have only seen bits and pieces of TOS (and only GIFs of TAS).

Definitely recommend watching the TNG era in order: TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT and then doubling back to watch Lower Decks again (because why not lol). I also recommend watching Prodigy after VOY since it's basically VOY season 8/9. SNW is a spinoff from DIS, so I'd watch at least seasons 1-2 of DIS before SNW.

Prodigy is a kid's show, but please don't let that turn you away. It's pretty great.

I would start with TNG, then DS9, then it doesn't really matter after that. All of the other shows pale in comparison IMO. Be aware that quality and entertainment value is significantly better after the first couple of seasons for both shows. It took me around 5 times to finally get into DS9, and I eventually just skipped season 1 and half of season 2.

Edit: TOS movies are pretty good. The evenly numbered ones are great, the odd numbered ones aren't. But they're almost all worth watching. The first one is a bit iffy. The second, 4th, and 6th movies are classic Trek and really fun.

I got into Star Trek by watching random Voyager episodes whenever they happened to be on TV. It's from the same era as SG-1 and is overall pretty close to what an "average" Star Trek show would be IMO. You can give it a try if TNG doesn't click with you for some reason. Or go with SNW if you want something that's currently airing with new episodes being made - every other "current" Star Trek show has either finished production or not aired yet.

TNG from the start, but Iimit yourself to the 4 or 5 best rated episodes from Season 1 and 2. Then crack on with most of 3 and 4. 5 onwards starts to have a few more clunkers but by then you should have a good idea if you like it enough to take a chance.

I recommend starting with the original series or Star Trek the next generation. Picard and Discovery are probably the worst places to start.

I started with Picard then Strange New Worlds then Discovery.

I’ll take my downvotes and death threats now.