Sparxx Will Fly

harpalyce:

the-strangest-sea:

So if I’m interested in watching Star Trek, where should I start?

It depends!

If you don’t mind things being cheezy, there’s always The Original Series. And when I say cheezy I mean some things are VERY SILLY INDEED, and you have Shatner chewing scenery all over the place etc.

You may want to try a couple episodes of TOS and see if you like the silliness. Otherwise I recommend watching a couple episodes of TOS, mostly the ‘classic’ ones. The Trouble With Tribbles is a MUST. Trust me on this.

If you want things a bit more serious, go to The Next Generation! It’s also a pretty good starting-off point for watching the entire series.

Understanding TOS and TNG is kind of “Trek 101”. Watching the movies is kinda “Trek 102”. You DEFINITELY want to watch the Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock. (Warning: if you liked the new Trek movie, you may find that Benedict Cumberbatch, bless his cheekbones, pales - literally - in comparison to movie Khan.) And the one with the whales. It is really damn good and you get to see Spock learn how to cuss, there is pretty much nothing to not like about it.

For “Trek 202”, there’s Voyager and Deep Space 9. DS9 is actually my favourite Trek because they stay in one place, so it’s more like the problems come to them - and they get more time to kinda ruminate on the personal interactions between the cast. Also there is Dax and she is literally the greatest.

They also do a homage to The Trouble with Tribbles - entitled Trials and Tribble-ations - that is a must-see episode because I REALLY LIKE TRIBBLES OKAY. TRIBBLES.

I’m sure some bona-fide Trekkies will come along behind me and explain more but really the beauty of Star Trek is that it was meant to be a tv show. In other words there are some recurring things and slow developments but they were written to mostly be bite-size chunks instead of movie-length feasts. So honestly if you watch the episodes completely out of order, you will probably be ok! It’s not like Star Wars where the order in which you watch the movies is, well, a bit crucial at times and you’re expected to have the knowledge of A New Hope in your head when you go to watch The Empire Strikes Back or whatnot.

There’s also the TNG Era movies, but those can be a bit polarizing at times (especially the TNG movies after First Contact), and lest we forget the rather unpopular Star Trek Enterprise. And I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention the two new movies made by J. J. Abrams. 

These are what I like to call, “Post Roddenberry”, since it sort of abandons the typical TV dramas and plots in favor for more action and special effects (something the older star trek franchises were notorious for). Watching this part of the Trek mythos totally hinges on how much you liked the orignal star trek shows (TNG, DS9, VOY, and ESPECIALLY TOS, since the new movies essentially replace everything that happened TOS). If you really liked TNG - DS9 or even TOS, there’s a chance that the later Trek stuff is gonna come off as awkward (this is the case with me). But if you felt the older Trek stuff was bland and ridiculous  then the more modern star trek stuff might appeal to you more. 

Well uh…there’s my two cents. What Harp said is indeed accurate  but the thing about star trek is that there’s a stark difference between the original TV and movies and the new ones, and how you like totally depends on which one appeals to your likes.