What is your favorite season in all of Star Trek?

[Tonguez]

I dont think TOS was every screened in original broadcast order on local TV stations, so there is only one continuous rerun series and thats my favourite Star Trek

 

[Riley]

TOS Season 1is stellar, and wins for the reasons Snarf detailed.

TNG Season 3 and DS9 Seasons 4 and 5 are also stellar.

 

[MGibster]

TOS Season 1. That’s the only correct answer.

I'm going to have to agree with you largely for the same reasons. This is where it all started, it's the reason we're still talking about it, it was fairly progressive (The top most computer expert in the Federation is a black dude?), and there were bonafide science-fiction writers involved. I think "The Alternative Factor" is the only 1st season episode I don't really like but there are bangers like "Errand of Mercy," "City on the Edge of Forever," "Space Seed," and one of my personal favorites, "Balance of Terror." Damn, I need to go watch some 1st season TOS.

 

[Umbran]

Next Gen, season 1, but not for its content.

I had a friend since 2nd grade that, once high school hit, had drifted away, as sometimes happens - we had wound up in different classes, different social circles, different extracurriculars. Next Gen started in September - the start of our senior year. And my friend, who I hardly saw any more, suggested from out of the blue that we make a thing of watching it each week. That was pretty awesome, and so that season's got a good association for me.

 

[payn]

DS9. Seasons 3-7 pick one, you cant go wrong.

 

[Ryujin]

TOS Season 1. That’s the only correct answer.

Let me explain-

1. Without it, there is no other Star Trek.

2. It introduces almost all of the concepts and terms that form the basis of later Star Trek.

3. The writers are a murderers’ row of talent.

4. There are 29 episodes (!?!) of all killer, no filler. Look, I’m not going to say that every single episode is a stone-cold classic, but even the occasional FINE episode (e27) introduced parallel universes!

5. It contains Harlan Ellison’s City on the Edge of Forever (e28).

I could see arguments that season 2 is, overall, slightly more consistent. But season 1 has to win because it started all of it. And no season of any Star Trek had as high of a classic bangers/misses ratio as the first two seasons of TOS.

Even ignoring the fact that it pioneered the whole “Star Trek” thing, it would be trivial to point out how many plots of later series and episodes are derivative of what was done then.

I absolutely agree. As a kid, when it first dropped on air, it was absolutely revolutionary TV. The crew looked like a United Nations sit down. There was a combination of Wild West shoot-em-ups, monster movies, WWII submarine warfare, and thought provoking cerebral stories. you're right that later series used elements of TOS stories, to the point of essentially ripping them off entirely. The members of TNG bridge crew are essentially the TOS crew, split into multiple bodies.

 

[billd91]

I absolutely disagree that there's only one correct answer. The question wasn't "Which is the most influential/important season of Star Trek". For that question, the first season of TOS really would be the only right answer because it set the template for everything to follow.

The question's one of personal taste. And who am I to say that someone shouldn't favorite any of the seasons of Voyager? I might find their taste questionable. But being that big a fan of Voyager is their cross to bear, not mine.

The first season of TOS happens to be my favorite season because there's so much good Star Trek to enjoy and it has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. But there is some dynamite stuff concentrated in other installments of the franchise as well.