Rank your Treks!
Benjamin Olson
Hero
Unlike Jar Jar, I find Neelix tolerable enough most of the time. My problem is that when he is annoying the writers seem to assume I have this great well of good will built up for him and that I'm still going to side with his viewpoint despite him behaving in an annoying, unlikable, or unreasonable manner.
But then for me the same applies to... say... Captain Janeway.
Season 4 is good. It should have been season 1.
DollarD
Long-time Lurker
So here's my rankings:
My first Star Trek series that I watched was Deep Space 9, and only sporadically, since it was only on one channel once a week, and if it clashed with my parents' TV watching schedule, I couldn't watch it. It's only in my varsity years that I could finally get into the rest, as well as the rest of the movies. Naturally I binge watched DS9 first, so I could get all the episodes I missed.
If you watched DS9 first, watching TNG afterwards seems like stepping into a much smaller scale of the same universe - and its more episodic nature and well-realised, but static, characters seemed like a step down. I suspect that's why I rate the TOS movies higher as well - the characters seemed to develop across them. First Contact is also high up there, since it felt like a development from TNG.
Voyager felt like TNG, but with a bit added development of certain characters. So it's a bit higher up than most people put it. TECHNICALLY, I suppose I enjoyed it more than TNG, but there was a lot more potential that was unused. The Original Series... well, besides the fact that I've grown used to later iterations method of storytelling, after you've watched the movies, it feels a bit like you're watching undeveloped versions of characters you've grown to love. And Enterprise simply felt like uninteresting versions of the prior shows with flat characters... Until season 3, which was better, but a lot more depressing. I only really liked Season 4.
With the new shows, I mostly like Discovery... Mostly. Season 1 was decent - I didn't mind the new Klingons, and they seemed to do a few new things. Season 2 was much better, and my favorite season, but they piled up a bit on everything revolving around Burnham. If they'd just gone on with that, it would have been lovely (Strange New Worlds, perhaps?) but that didn't happen.
Season 3 was... Sigh. They seemed to want to put too much story into one season, and sacrificed characters for it. Instead of showing what happens to the characters, and letting me empathize and pulling me in, they rather cut that bit, and just showed the emotional reactions of the characters, and now I'm supposed to feel sad because Tilly looks sad? Instead of showing me what made her sad? Don't show me characters crying - show me what made them cry, and I'll be right there with you. I'm hoping Season 4 can push the ranking a bit upwards.
PIcard, however... I was so psyched! And then it was just... dull. I watched it. I'm hoping it gets better, cause the season 1 plot was plodding along showing setpieces and characters, then not using them, and I'm just... I'll keep watching. Please do better in Season 2 with pacing.
And then came Lower Decks. The feel and aesthetics of TNG, DS9 and VOY, mostly successful humour, fast pace and likeable characters (well, I don't like Boimler, but that's neither here nor there) all added up to my feeling that this was the Star Trek I've been missing. Maybe its because it was released after Picard, which left me with a sour taste, but it's up there for me. Whimsy and Star Trek, who knew they went together well? Maybe the Galaxy Quest guys, which is why I've inserted them in the rankings.
The TNG movies... well, I've already mentioned First Contact. Generations I rather liked, but it felt a bit like two episodes mixed together, and just didn't quite gel. Nemesis was like they were trying to capture First Contact vibes, but went too dark. Insurrection was boring. But not quite as boring as the Slow Motion Picture, which was high concept and not much else.
NuTrek movies, I rather liked ST09, which put a new spin on classic characters, but Into Darkness kinda felt like it was treading water, and no one knew where they'd like the series to go. So when new shows arrived, I just kinda put off watching Beyond... It seems polarising, so not sure when I want to go back there.
So yeah. That's my rankings.
- The Wrath of Khan
- The Undiscovered Country
- Deep Space 9
- Lower Decks
- First Contact
- The Voyage Home
- The Final Frontier
- The Search for Spock
- The Next Generation
- Voyager
- The Original Series
- Galaxy Quest
- Star Trek (2009)
- Generations
- Discovery
- Enterprise
- Star Trek Into Darkness
- Nemesis
- Insurrection
- Picard
- The Motion Picture
I've not watched Beyond or The Animated Series, so don't really know about them.
My first Star Trek series that I watched was Deep Space 9, and only sporadically, since it was only on one channel once a week, and if it clashed with my parents' TV watching schedule, I couldn't watch it. It's only in my varsity years that I could finally get into the rest, as well as the rest of the movies. Naturally I binge watched DS9 first, so I could get all the episodes I missed.
If you watched DS9 first, watching TNG afterwards seems like stepping into a much smaller scale of the same universe - and its more episodic nature and well-realised, but static, characters seemed like a step down. I suspect that's why I rate the TOS movies higher as well - the characters seemed to develop across them. First Contact is also high up there, since it felt like a development from TNG.
Voyager felt like TNG, but with a bit added development of certain characters. So it's a bit higher up than most people put it. TECHNICALLY, I suppose I enjoyed it more than TNG, but there was a lot more potential that was unused. The Original Series... well, besides the fact that I've grown used to later iterations method of storytelling, after you've watched the movies, it feels a bit like you're watching undeveloped versions of characters you've grown to love. And Enterprise simply felt like uninteresting versions of the prior shows with flat characters... Until season 3, which was better, but a lot more depressing. I only really liked Season 4.
With the new shows, I mostly like Discovery... Mostly. Season 1 was decent - I didn't mind the new Klingons, and they seemed to do a few new things. Season 2 was much better, and my favorite season, but they piled up a bit on everything revolving around Burnham. If they'd just gone on with that, it would have been lovely (Strange New Worlds, perhaps?) but that didn't happen.
Season 3 was... Sigh. They seemed to want to put too much story into one season, and sacrificed characters for it. Instead of showing what happens to the characters, and letting me empathize and pulling me in, they rather cut that bit, and just showed the emotional reactions of the characters, and now I'm supposed to feel sad because Tilly looks sad? Instead of showing me what made her sad? Don't show me characters crying - show me what made them cry, and I'll be right there with you. I'm hoping Season 4 can push the ranking a bit upwards.
PIcard, however... I was so psyched! And then it was just... dull. I watched it. I'm hoping it gets better, cause the season 1 plot was plodding along showing setpieces and characters, then not using them, and I'm just... I'll keep watching. Please do better in Season 2 with pacing.
And then came Lower Decks. The feel and aesthetics of TNG, DS9 and VOY, mostly successful humour, fast pace and likeable characters (well, I don't like Boimler, but that's neither here nor there) all added up to my feeling that this was the Star Trek I've been missing. Maybe its because it was released after Picard, which left me with a sour taste, but it's up there for me. Whimsy and Star Trek, who knew they went together well? Maybe the Galaxy Quest guys, which is why I've inserted them in the rankings.
The TNG movies... well, I've already mentioned First Contact. Generations I rather liked, but it felt a bit like two episodes mixed together, and just didn't quite gel. Nemesis was like they were trying to capture First Contact vibes, but went too dark. Insurrection was boring. But not quite as boring as the Slow Motion Picture, which was high concept and not much else.
NuTrek movies, I rather liked ST09, which put a new spin on classic characters, but Into Darkness kinda felt like it was treading water, and no one knew where they'd like the series to go. So when new shows arrived, I just kinda put off watching Beyond... It seems polarising, so not sure when I want to go back there.
So yeah. That's my rankings.
Note: items above the line are some value of 'good', below are some value of 'bad'. Also, I reserve the right to change my mind about any and all of these rankings immediately after posting them!
Series:
TOS
DS9
TNG
PIC
DIS
VOY
LD
TAS
____
ENT
Films:
The Wrath of Khan
The Search for Spock
Star Trek (2009)
The Motion Picture
The Undiscovered Country
First Contact
The Voyage Home
Beyond
Into Darkness
Insurrection
Nemesis
_________________________
Generations
The Final Frontier
Series:
TOS
DS9
TNG
PIC
DIS
VOY
LD
TAS
____
ENT
Films:
The Wrath of Khan
The Search for Spock
Star Trek (2009)
The Motion Picture
The Undiscovered Country
First Contact
The Voyage Home
Beyond
Into Darkness
Insurrection
Nemesis
_________________________
Generations
The Final Frontier
Movies (split into tiers):
Wrath of Khan
Undiscovered Country
Voyage Home
---
Star Trek (2009)
Search for Spock
Beyond
First Contact
---
Motion Picture
Generations
---
Into Darkness
Final Frontier
Insurrection
Nemesis
Kinda surprised myself with how low I rated the TNG stuff as a whole. My opinion of First Contact wavers a lot.
Shows:
TNG
TOS
DS9
Voyager
Animated
Enterprise
Beyond
I have not seen Picard or Lower Decks. I haven't seen all of Enterprise and have only seen about the first 10 episodes of Disco. I'm pretty sure I saw all of the animated series when it was re-aired in the 80s. I'm due to rewatch DS9 and Voyager some time.
Wrath of Khan
Undiscovered Country
Voyage Home
---
Star Trek (2009)
Search for Spock
Beyond
First Contact
---
Motion Picture
Generations
---
Into Darkness
Final Frontier
Insurrection
Nemesis
Kinda surprised myself with how low I rated the TNG stuff as a whole. My opinion of First Contact wavers a lot.
Shows:
TNG
TOS
DS9
Voyager
Animated
Enterprise
Beyond
I have not seen Picard or Lower Decks. I haven't seen all of Enterprise and have only seen about the first 10 episodes of Disco. I'm pretty sure I saw all of the animated series when it was re-aired in the 80s. I'm due to rewatch DS9 and Voyager some time.
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