I have always been a Star Wars fan. I guess I just like the epic good vs evil and fantastical worlds and creatures from it. Plus the lightsabers and lore. Is Star Trek like that?
Where should I begin in starting to watch these shows and movies? Looking for suggestions. Thanks!
Whatever you do, make sure you see the episode of the original sixties series called Space Seed before you see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The sixties episode Trouble with Tribbles will also show some light on the alien race Klingons which constantly show up all through the different series.
This inspired Roddenberry ten years before TOS. First big-budget Sci Fi, good writing.
https://moviechat.org/tt0049223/Forbidden-Planet
Start with the Original Series - look up the 20 'best of' episodes (just off hand - Where No Man Has Gone Before/pilot, Corbomite Manuvere, Man Trap, Charlie X, Enemy Within, Balance of Terror, The Menagerie, Galileo 7, Arena, Space Seed/Khan, Errand of Mercy, City on Edge of Forever, Mirror Mirror, Doomsday Machine, Babel, Amok Time, Ultimate Computer, Obsession, Tholian Web, Spectre of the Gun) then if you wish watch the rest of the series at a later date. you dont really want to be wading through the whole 79 episodes until you check some other Trek out first (most of season 1 and 2 are the best/classic episodes. Season 3 about half are pretty bad)
Then do the original cast movies - II, III, IV & VI (no need for The Motion Picture or Trek V until later if you wish as even fans are conflicted about those 2).
Then do Next Generation - as with TOS look up about the 20 best episodes (which would include the likes of Encounter at Farpoint/pilot, Where No One Has Gone Before, Conspiracy, Contagion, Time Squared, Q Who, Yesterdays Enterprise, Best of Both Worlds, Unification, Cause & Effect, Inner Light, Chain of Command, Relics, Parallels, All Good Things) then like TOS I guess you could check out the rest of the series later on. theres about 178 episodes roughly half are great
Then do TNG movies - Generations, First Contact and Nemesis (no need for Insurrection as its literally the worst Trek movie of all time. Nemesis isn't too good either but you kind of have to see it as its the TNG finale and it looks like Star Trek: Picard will reference it quite abit)
As for the TNG spin off shows DS9 and Voyager - personally I wouldn't bother with either beyond the pilots for a brief taste, unless you are really curious (in which case as with TOS & TNG just do the top 10/20 episodes ). But you could check out TOS prequel Enterprise which is probably more accessible/enjoyable than DS9/Voyager especially season 3&4 (although both those seasons are connected/story arcs not so much standalone eps like TOS/TNG)
Then watch the 3 JJ Abrams movies (Beyond is optional as its pretty boring - they dropped the ball on that one imo)
Then I guess you could check out the divisive Discovery but you'd probably have to watch most of it as with most TV/stream shows now each ep follows on from the last/very connected story arc but then theres only about 15 episodes per season.
Alternatively I guess you could just watch all the movies before any of the tv series to give you like a big budget overview of Trek. Then check out various episodes to see how it all began
Begin with the original series, then Next Generation. A few of the original-cast and Next Generation-cast movies are pretty good. Skip the rest.
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