Same, but I have PTSD flashbacks sometimes, lol

thanks for the heads up about the sexism

tbf there's aggressive assholes on any social media, but the astroturfing, enshittification, and useless redesigns did it in

Ay ay, my plan is to watch it and just shrug off the bad bits. I'm usually able to take something from media most people call bad (even if I agree), because sometimes a good actor saves bad writing or vice versa or there's a good bit of set design or worldbuilding. Trek sets such a rich world that I don't mind the occasional 'bad' episode

Discord here just showing up with the golden apple right off the bat

Is this fanbase truly so traumatized by each other that I receive multiple comments like this in a thread where there hasn't really been any argumentation? Really makes me not want to engage with the community if the larger trend is so combative

Nah, I think it's more a running joke than anything. Given that it's a utopian show, we try to follow its example and not to be an infighting bunch of snobs. There's definitely some polarizing stuff, but every series has its warts and its good points. We strive to honor all viewpoints and get along with everyone.... unless they're Neelix fans.

To be honest, Next Gen, Voyager, and Enterprise are also pretty rife with sexist tropes. The '90s were their own flavour of "a different time". DS9 mostly avoids it, as do the modern shows. Though I do have some beef with how SNW is letting Chapel's character slide closer and closer to her TOS counterpart...

Just don't be a Neelix fan, heard loud and clear my friend

Luckily I'm mature enough to hold to my own values and just grimace at a painful bit of writing. I live in Southern USA so I've seen a fair bit worse than sexist tropes on TV :( I'm happy the fans seem to call this stuff out nowadays

I think discovery was ... okay. The first half of season 1 was kinda bad, especially them needlessly redoing the klingons. I liked the 3rd season bit of reuniting the fed a LOT. But following it up with another season of a end of the universe thing just felt like too much. I know thats kind of typical of series like that. But s4 seemed like a good point to go to more episodic stories.

I did really like enterprise tho. First season was really rough, but i thought it ended when it was getting really good.

holy hell the reviews for section 31 are hilarious

It was a joke, you can chill.

all good! I'm just fairly inactive on lemmy and don't want to be labeled a troll lmao

I really feel like the quality of the property began to decline after the TNG crew started making movies. Everything (both on TV and the Big Screen) started to thoroughly suck starting with Insurrection. After that point, it's easier to name what I liked than it is to name what I disliked. I liked the first reboot movie. I liked the first couple seasons of SNW. That's about it.

Not to say the eras that I liked were free of dogs. I, V and Generations are all pretty terrible. TNG Seasons 1-2 were not great. The Way to Eden exists, lol.

My biggest gripe is so much crap got made in this modern era. They're able to do things much faster now. They really hurt a property that imo was already dragging by piling on so much dogshit.

My biggest hope is that Star Trek gets something made that manages to do for it what Andor did for Star Wars.

you're in for a treat then. oh man I wish I could experience Star Trek again for the first time, especially TNG and DS9. I'm insanely jealous of you right now.

Wow, this is pretty much exactly what I'd have responded. Are you me bro?

Yes. The beginning is rough.

After TnG I think a lot of people would recommend voyager or original series, but I'd recommend DS9. It is more of a prime time soap style vs every episode is an isolated adventure, but it's REALLY good. Just kind of unique series. And again... The beginning is ROUGH. Stick it out though, it gets good.

It's pretty bad lol, but not in a bad way if that makes sense. The actors just hadn't found their roles yet, and the writers hadn't figured out how to use the characters. But it's all worth watching so you can appreciate what it becomes.

The best three are TNG, DS9 and VOY.

TOS is very much a show from the 60s. If you love SNW, though, it's definitely worth checking out. If you can't get into it, the movies are still worth a watch. Wrath of Kahn is obligatory watching.

Be sure to watch First Contact. The other TNG movies aren't as good.

ENT has its moments. If you get bored with the Xindi or temporal cold war storylines feel free to skip a bunch of episodes. IMO it gets good in season 4 and great right before it was cancelled at the end of that season.

Lower Decks is a funny cartoon that you should watch after you've seen a lot of other Star Trek shows, so that you'll get the references.

Discovery and Picard are not as good as the earlier shows. At least, not in a way that appeals to fans of earlier Trek.

Starfleet Academy doesn't deserve as much hate as it got, but it's not great.

TAS (The Animated Series) is a curiosity that might be worth taking a look at for fans of TOS.

Personally, I think the best Trek is the movies starring the original crew. Especially 2, 3 & 4.

it's a running joke, meant very fondly. We are all aware of the fandom and much healthier, as you should hopefully garner from posts herein.

The next generation, of course, and deep space nine

Then also, give "the Orville" a try! Basically TNG updated for the 2020s

How could you leave out Voyage Home???

Wasn't the apple offered by Eris, the goddess of strife?

definitely not nutrek, starting from jj-abrams - Kurtsman trek.

i would say TNG, DS9, VOY, and maybe enterprise, eventhough it shouldve been better than it was it still pays homage to older series.

but they all bad and filler episodes in the earlier seasons.

for nutrek if you must, i would watch lower decks and prodigy both are cancelled.

i just cant get into SNW, something about thier wooden acting just doesnt fit right with me, and too much like the other 2.

STD and PICARD is definitely the worst, Kurtzman really isnt that interested in trek, hes only there because he was tapped for it.

Strife, chaos and discord

Fun fact: the dwarf planet Eris is called that because the discovery caused an uproar in planetary astronomy, ultimately ending up with Pluto being demoted to a dwarf planet (and endless whinig by Niel deGrasse Tyson).

Picard season 3 wasn't bad, but the first 2 are completely skipable.

I'll also throw Babylon 5 in the mix if you don't mind non-utopian fiction.

There's a few movies I'd avoid, like Section 31.

Bab 5 isn't really related to Trek at all in my mind. Heck, some of the new Trek properties aren't related to Trek but in name.

I'd recommend you start with whatever you're most excited for! Every series is someone's favorite, and it often has to do with which Trek was their first.

The Original Series (TOS) is definitely quality television, and worth watching, but it can be jarring for modern audiences. If you haven't seen much scifi from the 60s, it can feel very silly.

As for which series is specifically best, the debate is usually between Deep Space 9 (DS9), and the Next Generation (TNG). I personally consider Lower Decks (LD) of this same quality, but, being an animated comedy, it's controversial in the fandom.

DS9 is widely accepted to actually be the best Star Trek. It takes itself very seriously most of the time, and has some fantastic characters. It's probably the show that gives you the best picture of what it's actually like to live in the Federation.

TNG is what most people think of when you say Star Trek, despite not being the original. It was the second live action series, which came out in the 80s, and the first of 3 shows set in roughly the same time period (TNG, DS9, and Voyager (VOY)). It was the most popular of all the Treks, and so gets a lot of special attention in pop culture, but suffers from some of the camp leftover from TOS, especially early on while they're still adapting old stories.

Voyager is a bit of a dark horse. It's MY favorite, but it has some rough episodes. It takes place outside the Federation, on the other side of the galaxy, where the Voyager and her crew have been stranded by a strange alien known as the Caretaker. The show follows their journey as they attempt to fly back to Earth, the long way, a 70 year journey.

Lower Decks takes place like 10 or so years after Voyager. It's a workplace comedy following the crew of the Cerritos, a Starfleet support ship. They're not super elite like the Enterprise, but that doesn't mean the dangers they face are any less...dangerous. It's smart, fast, and written with a clear love for the setting. They also get tons of Trek actors to reprise their roles in animation. It's definitely best to watch once you've seen a bunch of Trek, but imo, it holds up on its own. I have friends for whom it was their first Trek, and they still loved it.

You could also stick with New Trek and check out Academy or Discorey next. Be aware, you will be entering a landscape of conflict. This is where Trek has always lived, but it feels different when it's your show. A lot of people HATED Discovery, and Academy got a lot of flack from reactionaries because it was Star Trek. Personally, I liked them both, but I thought Discovery took a while to find its feet. Academy, I found fantastic, and recommended strongly. Academy is set in the far future, and includes some stuff from Discovery, but I can't tell you why, because of the Temporal Prime Directive.

There are three other series, Prodigy, Enterprise (ENT), and the Animated Series (TAS). They're all kind of special cases. TAS came out between TOS and TNG, but I've never actually seen it myself. From what I've heard, it's pretty goofy. Prodigy is targeted at kids, but it's a solid show regardless. It only got two seasons before it was cancelled, like Academy. Finally, Enterprise is a prequel, like SNW, but set even earlier. I like it, but it's tone is often darker than Trek usually is. It feels like an early 2000s scifi show imo. It's worth watching for Commander Shran alone though.

That's the real show: which one of these characters is Jeffrey Combs?

My favorites are the original series and TNG.

TOS is a lot of fun, and you get to see why Star Trek became so popular and developed the first "fandom". TNG is when they really got to dig into the world-building of Roddenberry's vision of the future, and there's sooo much of it (178 episodes!). A lot of people nowadays start there.

Have fun!

That crap actually got made?

Yes. It's...not great.

I think Disco really struggled at finding the right approach for the season-long story arcs. End-of-the-galaxy stakes work nicely as a way to end a season, but when you commit to spending the whole season building to that it can be tough to find a balance between it and smaller moments. I think that's what really sunk the second season for me. It started out well enough, but by the end just felt frantic and chaotic. They got better at this as the show progressed, though.

I might need to bite the bullet and try starting Enterprise somewhere in the middle. I gave it another try with my partner a year or two back, and they only managed to humour me up until that first awkward decon chamber scene.

Might be a transporter clone. Do you fancy going by your middle name, or shall I?

Taking a swipe at Section 31 was probably the least controversial thing I said there. I don't think I've seen anyone interested in going to bat for it. Where are you looking for reviews?

Now I kind of regret not highlighting Academy, because it got off the an very strong start. The first three episodes were okay, and by mid season it was straight up excellent. Sadly it's already cancelled, so we wont get much more of it.

I personally consider Lower Decks (LD) of this same quality, but, being an animated comedy, it’s controversial in the fandom.

The thing about recommending Lower Decks is that it's a wonderful lighthearted love letter to Trek, but it does that through loads of Trek references and cross-references and obscura that specifically reward fans already in the know. If you're new to Trek most of LD won't make sense, it'd be like listening to the commentary track of a movie you never watched.

As much as I love LD, it's the last thing I'd recommend to a new Trekkie.

I really liked the xindi arc(s3). Some people dont, but that and the last season were the best part. I have to go through s2, but minefield, first flight, and the communicator were good ones.