Ranking the Star Treks

[MGibster]

4) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. By far the best of the TOS films and the one that justifies everything that came before.

I think of this as the original crew's final farewell rather than the lackluster Generations.

 

[Morrus]

4) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. By far the best of the TOS films and the one that justifies everything that came before.

Third best for me. I go IV, II, VI, I, III, V.

 

[MGibster]

Despite growing up a huge Trek fan, I really haven't kept up for a while, so I can't include everything in my ranking. I've never seen Picard or Discovery for example.

#1. TOS: I can't help but weigh heavily the original that ultimately made everything else possible.
#2. TOS movies: Overall they were pretty good. Even the odd numbered ones that weren't V.
#3. TNG: Overall a great series.
#4. DS9: Slow start, but a strong series.
#5. TNG movies: First Contact was the only good one.
#6. Voyager: I watched the first few seasons only because my roommates liked it.
#7. Enterprise: The temporal time war introduced in the first episode meant I did not continue the series after that.

Strange New World isn't on this list simply because I've only seen the first season which I thought was fantastic.

 

[MGibster]

Third best for me. I go IV, II, VI, I, III, V.

The Voyage Home was one of the few Trek movies that even people who weren't fans seemed to have enjoyed. Even my mom liked it. It's just such a fun movie, like how "The Trouble with Tribbles" is just a fun episode.

 

[jian]

Third best for me. I go IV, II, VI, I, III, V.

I certainly have a sneaking fondness for IV since it’s the one I watched most as a kid.

 

[Theory of Games]

The first four are all the Trek I need. I always thought that the original trio (Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley) were so incredible together that nothing coming after them came close.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I certainly have a sneaking fondness for IV since it’s the one I watched most as a kid.

I mean, but why did you watch it most? It was that for me too, but I watched it most because it was simply more fun and watchable than the rest of the TOS movies, which tended towards overseriousness. I don't think people are wrong to rate it higher than others.

Personally I'd say:

Series ((For the sake of @Morrus original ask, I've inserted the movies groups into this too):

DS9
TNG
The Orville
Lower Decks (if going by how much I like it)
Strange New Worlds
TOS
Lower Decks (if going solely on actual quality)
TOS movies

< a moderate gap >

TNG movies
Picard S3
Voyager
Discovery (it didn't have to be like this, Discovery, I liked most of the crew, but you managed to screw up in so many exotic different ways!)

< another moderate gap >

Prodigy
Picard S1/2
Kelvinverse movies
Enterprise

Man apparently I really hate Enterprise more than I thought I did! It was pretty close to unwatchable. During my deep-pandemic rewatch I was able to get a way into VOY, but I couldn't even get through a few episodes of ENT, so that tracks. Be interesting to see how Academy, which appears to have a two-season order, fits into this. If it was set in the TOS or TNG eras I suspect it'd be a lock in for the top tier, but as they've insisted on setting it in the dreadful ultra-future of Disco for no apparent reason (given all the touchstones from the trailer are TNG/DS9 stuff...), I suspect it will end up down with Disco - but maybe they learned from SNW? Somehow? Doubt it though, I suspect Kurtzman is part of the problem (whereas Goldsman, perhaps surprisingly, seems not to be - save us Noga Landau, you're our only hope! Wait wrong franchise! Kind of feel like she might not given she wrote a bunch of S3 Magicians though!).

Movies:

TOS:
IV, II, VI, III, I, V

(very similar to @Morrus I note)

TNG:
First Contact (duh), Generations, Insurrection (which is just a really long TNG episode, sure, but nothing truly wrong with that!), and then like a huge gap and the barely-watchable Nemesis.

Kelvinverse:
Beyond, Star Trek.

I refuse to acknowledge Into Darkness as a Trek film even, it's just like, weird and stupid and uncomprehending of Trek (in ways that are so much worse than even the silliest stuff in Beyond, or the clunkiest and most "fairy tale"-ish episodes of Disco). It's worse than Nemesis and would easily be the worst Trek "thing" out there except Enterprise exists imho (which has some similar "failures of comprehension" but also a wide array of deeply unlikeable characters where Kelvin's ones are fairly charming), despite some good space battles, action, and so on, because it just demonstrates, at great length, how Abrams "doesn't get it" on like, a variety of levels. Also just casting The Whitest Man Alive as Khan (of all people!) should be grounds for permanent denial of the right to develop any non-original IP. Yes I am still mad! I will, in fact, "die mad" actually, thank you! It's genuinely up there with the other great Khan miscast, John Wayne as Genghis Khan! It's almost like a prank! I guess at least Abrams didn't get his entire cast nuked until they glowed?

Haven't seen: Section 31, TAS.

BONUS ROUND:

Rating characters who have had multiple actors:

Spock: Leonard Nimoy > Ethan Peck >>>>>> Zachary Quinto
Kirk: Will...iam... Shat-ner > Chris Pine <> Paul Wesley
Bones: DeForest Kelly > Karl Urban (almost a <> but Urban's excellent performance owes everything to Kelly)
Scotty: Martin Quinn > James Doohan >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Simon Pegg
Uhura: Nichelle Nichols > Celia Rose Gooding (both limited by the material they're given, rather sad that's still happening) >>>> Zoe Saldana (excellent in other things)
Sulu: George Takei >>>> Jon Cho (one of the few Kelvinverse ones where I think some of the fault is on the actor)
Chekov: Walter Koenig <> Anton Yelchin (I like Koenig but given more time Yelchin was on track to surpass him imo)
Chapel: Jess Bush >> Majel Barrett but this is a little unfair

 

[jian]

I mean, but why did you watch it most? It was that for me too, but I watched it most because it was simply more fun and watchable than the rest of the TOS movies, which tended towards overseriousness. I don't think people are wrong to rate it higher than others.

Because it was on the most - we took a big holiday when it came out and I watched it on every flight, and then again when it was on telly. I haven’t watched it in 30 years.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Because it was on the most - we took a big holiday when it came out and I watched it on every flight, and then again when it was on telly. I haven’t watched it in 30 years.

I think you will be surprised at how well it holds up - I saw it last about 10 years ago and was surprised it was still pretty fun. The local corner shop rented videos (the 1980s!) and there were some my bro and I got out repeatedly - that was one of them.

 

[Morrus]

I think you will be surprised at how well it holds up - I saw it last about 10 years ago and was surprised it was still pretty fun. The local corner shop rented videos (the 1980s!) and there were some my bro and I got out repeatedly - that was one of them.

I watch it at least once a year. It may be in my top 5 films of all time.