As this is a new community I thought it would be fun to get to know each other by sharing our most and least favourite series. (We’ll do the films another time)
Obviously I’ll start.
Deep Space Nine
Voyager
The Next Generation
Enterprise
Picard Season 3
The Original Series
Lower Decks
Strange New Worlds
Prodigy
The Animated Series
Discovery
Picard Seasons 1 & 2
I know I’m kind of cheating by splitting Picard up but season 3 is so different and so far removed from the truly awful first two seasons it deserves its own slot. I do believe Picard has the single worst season in all of Star Trek with season 1 and the single best season in the franchise with season 3.
TNG’s 3rd and 4th seasons come close but I think Picards 3rd season just tops them. That’s a massive credit to Terry Matalas to turn the show around from some of the worst in the franchise to some of the best.
Here’s hoping we get Star Trek Legacy but given Paramounts current financial situation it seems unlikely.
Beyond that I probably wouldn't watch any of the others. I did watch all of Discovery, but mostly out of hate. It just got so bad. It is the worst thing that ever happened to Star Trek.
Discovery has some real lows, but I'd argue that it kind of restarted things and made the other decent new shows possible, so maybe not the worst thing after all? I hate a lot of the dialogue and plot points, which is bad. I like most of the characters though. What did you hate about it the most? And was there any aspect that you liked even a bit?
I have been a Star Trek fan since the early 1970s.
I got to meet most of the original cast during the 1975 convention in Philadelphia
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Schuster_Star_Trek_Conventions/1975_Philadelphia_Schuster_Star_Trek_Convention
Where Nichelle Nichols kissed me twice on the cheek and said I was “cute”. I’ve never washed my cheek since.
I got to meet James Doohan, and we talked about his missing finger. He was just standing around alone on the main floor, so I went up to him, scared, and started chatting.
I still have much of the things from the show, including the program book, my badge, even the plastic bag.
Anyway.
I hate ds9 and Voyager. Can’t watch even half an episode, what do you guys see in those?
DS9 is darker and more modern than others, so it's like a millenial Trek. Muddy politics, lots of warcrimes, lots of incompatible ideas, feeling of helplessness against even minor problems and it's generally closer to us than a dream of the future told by TNG or TOS. I find introduction of Odo and ferengi nationals being a big fat plus to the franchise because of their complicated characters. Unlike older series, main cast doesn't feel welcome here and they try to accomodate to things more foreign to them than they are used to. I can vouch for the quality of writing there, but I am to assume it's just not the thing everyone would want to find in Trek. In the end of the day, DS9 is just a constant depression of us having the same problems and pettiness even on the final frontier. That's why it has all chances to be disliked.
I hate ds9 and Voyager. Can’t watch even half an episode, what do you guys see in those?
DS9 has 4 separate bisexual main cast members:
Bashir is canonically dating Garak but is also great with the ladies
Kira is in a thruple with Miles and Keiko, and also dates goo
Odo is gay for all the other goo on his planet but also has it bad for Kira
Dax is married to Worf but also had that romantic episode with her ex-wife
And that's not even counting Miles' homosexual repression towards Bashir.
Disco definitely started finding it's feet in Season 3, and I thought 4 was better too. I think season 5 will be truly great. It's a shame it didn't get as much of a chance as the other Star Trek shows. TNG was pretty terrible before season 3 as well
Currently rewatching Voyager. Love the dynamics between seven, tuvok and the doctor. Tsunkatse is on right now. Eagerly anticipating the episode when icheb shows up.
Voyager has a lot of terrible episodes, but it also has a lot of the best in my opinion. And it definitely has the best characters. Sorry Bashir, but you'll never top the Doc
DS9 writing just stands above the rest, excepting TOS, but tos doesn’t do characterization as well and isn’t nearly so consistent.
Lower Decks is brilliant and packs more characterization and trekky soul in 30mins than most series do per hour.
I’ll admit that Voyager eps are probably weaker on average than TNG and TOS, but I love that family and ship and I will go anywhere and do anything to help Janeway get more coffee.
TOS does mystery boxes with setups better than Abrams, but unlike when Abrams does them they actually go somewhere and say something.
TNG does so much so well, but the first couple seasons are a slog and I can’t stand how Picard thinks watching people who can’t help themselves die is moral because.. the universe wants it?