Hiya, i wanted to know if thereās a particular order i should watch the star trek series in? Iāve seen the movies and Discovery but i want to get into the original canon. Thanks!
This is a great question, and thereās no one answer to it. If youāve watched and liked the movies (do you mean the AOS movies, or some combination of the AOS, TOS, and/or TNG movies?), then it seems like youād probably enjoy going straight into TOS, and then watching them in order of creation (TOS+movies, TNG+movies, DS9, VOY). If you already like the TOS characters, or the AOS versions of them, youāll probably enjoy TOS. You have to take it with a grain of salt and a $0.25 budget.Ā
If what draws you to AOS and Disco are the effects and technology, you might want to skip over TOS for the time being. I love it, but for me itās all about the character interaction and the hopeful social messaging in the script. Iāve never really been overly interested in effects or realistic technobabble. You might find going straight from Disco to TOS to be jarring, tech-wise, so TNG might be a better starting point. It was the starting point for a lot of people of my generation (the, uh, next generation?), and itās also a favourite of mine. I started on TNG, loved it, then watched TOS to catch up on the references and loved it too.Ā
Bear in mind that the TNG pilot isnāt great; after watching it, I was reluctant to watch the rest of the series. Luckily (or unluckily, considering how much time Iāve spent creating Trek content), I persevered. You could start with an episode from season 2, likeĀ āMeasure of a Man,ā to hook you. I wouldnāt start just by watching S2, though, because itās the one season where they replaced my favourite, Dr. Beverly Crusher, with another character (because the actress had been too outspoken of a feminist at work. Yeah, you also have to take the Trek writers and producersā rooms with a massive grain of salt sometimes).Ā
There are some guest TOS appearances on TNG, starting in the pilot, that I did not get the full emotional impact from because I watched TNG first. On one hand, I kind of resent that. On the other hand, I feel like each one would have emotionally wrecked me if Iād seen TOS first and already had my love for those characters, so, again, itās up to you.
DS9 is great for stories featuring a more complicated morality. You could start there, but I feel like itās better to watch one of the more optimistic series (TOS, TNG), before getting into the nuances of what the Federation really means to the universe. I think itās a more effective series if youāve previously only seen the Federation through a largely positive light. (Iām not saying the other series donāt have nuance, but this one is a little darker in general.)
VOY is mostly a self-contained series, but you do lose a bunch of easter eggs if you havenāt seen TOS and TNG. Personally, I found it the least interesting overall of the series, though Captain Janeway is awesome.
Technically ENT comes before TOS in canon, but to be honest, Iāve never seen it due to many of my closest friends telling me that itās not very good. Iām going to have to watch it eventually because Iām a completionist.
So, my advice would be either to do it in order of series airing, or to start with TNG and go back to TOS. However, Iām only one voice, and Iām speaking through my own experiences! If youāre watching one series, and youāre not enjoying it, skip to another one, and maybe go back later! There are no real rules, and thereās no gatekeeping here!
Whatever you watch, I hope you have a great time catching up with this great set of shows and this community! If you have any more questions, please ask!
