The Star Trek 'Where Should I Start' guide
The Star Trek 'Where Should I Start' guide
##"Where should I start?"
At the time of writing, there are 11 Star Trek shows (3 actively running) and 13 movies with a further show and a movie 'special event' in development.
With that in mind, it's no wonder that people come to this subreddit on a regular basis to ask where should I start?
This page is intended to be a spoiler free, quick start guide for people starting their journey through the Star Trek franchise.
We hope you find it useful, and please do contribute to the subreddit with your questions as you take your own journey; just be warned that you may see the odd spoiler.
LLAP,
StarTrek moderation team
What is canon? What can I skip?
The broad rule for the Star Trek franchise is that it's canon if it appears on screen though this still has its exceptions, maybe.
Instead of telling you what you can and can't skip in an unwieldy list, we'll start with a quick rundown of the shows in the Trek 'canon', the initialisms you'll see over the subreddit to refer to them, how many seasons they have and when they aired:
| Series | Initialism | Seasons | Air Dates | Quality | Why you could start here |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek (Those Old Scientists) | TOS | 3 | 1966–1969 | HD 4:3 | It was the start of the franchise, had a comprehensive remaster in the 00s which added updated effects |
| The Animated Series | TAS | 2 | 1973–1974 | HD 4:3 | You enjoy old animation |
| Movies I - VI | TMP | 2 | 1979–1991 | HD/4K 16:9 | Movies that are aimed at a wider audience than the shows, have higher budgets and give you a look at the TOS characters without quite so many cardboard sets |
| The Next Generation | TNG | 7 | 1987–1994 | HD 4:3 | The first of the, heh, Next Generation of shows. Stars recognizable names such as Patrick Stewart and many iconic episodes. Also has had an extensive remaster. |
| Movies VII - X | GEN/FC/INS/NEM | 2 | 1994–2002 | HD 16:9 | Movies that are aimed at a wider audience than the shows, have higher budgets |
| Deep Space Nine | DS9 | 7 | 1993–1999 | SD 4:3 | Trek's first real foray into serialized narratives in the later seasons, widely regarded as having aged extremely well. Features Trek's first Black Captain. |
| Voyager | VOY | 7 | 1995–2001 | SD 4:3 | Episodic and relatively standalone, features Trek's first female Captain |
| Enterprise | ENT | 4 | 2001–2005 | HD 16:9 | The last of the 'Berman' (showrunner) era of shows, first of the Trek shows to be filmed in Widescreen, set before TOS. |
| Movies XI - XIII | O9/ID/BEYOND | 2 | 2009–2016(?) | 4K 16:9 | Features a branch of the 'prime' timeline. A great way to introduce you to the concepts of Trek through a more modern lens. |
| Discovery | DSC | 4 | 2017-Present | HD 16:9 | The first of the 'new,nu or Kurtzman' era of Star Trek, requires no prior knowledge to jump in and features serialized storytelling. |
| Picard | PIC | 2 | 2020-Present | HD 16:9 | Picks up 20 years after Nemesis, contains spoilers for TNG and VOY but can stand on it's own |
| Lower Decks | LD | 2 | 2020-Present | HD 16:9 | Animated comedy/love letter to Trek, chock full of references to the other shows that you may miss as a first time viewer, but that just gives you a reason to rewatch it later. |
| Prodigy | PRO | 1 | 2021-Present | HD 16:9 | CG animated show targetted towards children, contains VOY spoilers, a great place to start if you have a young family. |
| Strange New Worlds | SNW | 1 | 2022-Present | HD 16:9 | Star Trek returns to live action episodic television, contains DSC spoilers but largely stands on it's own as a 'new' TOS. |
Now we have that out of the way, here are a few suggestions:
##The "production" order.
If you're committed to watching everything eventually, and want to do it the "right" way, we recommend the following:
TOS^^1 → TAS → Films (1-6) → TNG → Generations (Film 7) → DS9 → First Contact (Film 8) → VOY → Films 9-10^^2 → ENT → Films 11-13^^3 → DSC → PIC → LD → PRO → SNW
^1 It's often recommended to skip "The Cage" on your initial watch-through. It was an unaired pilot and most of the footage was recycled into the two-parter "The Menagerie" (watch it later for the novelty, though!).
^2 The Movies 7, 8, 9 and 10 feature the TNG cast, and can be watched anytime after TNG without spoiling anything from DS9, Nemesis however contains a Voyager spoiler.
^3 Films 11-13 The "Kelvin Timeline" Films take place in an alternate timeline and can be watched anytime; however, there are a lot of references and easter eggs to the prime timeline.
Late TNG and early DS9 (as well as late DS9 and early VOY) were on the air at the same time, (an episode from each came out each week). Consequently, their story lines take place at the same time. If you want to watch it in the order it was aired on TV then this list is for you. It should be noted that nothing is lost/gained by watching each series one at a time in the order above due to the nature of 90s syndicated television.
Other popular suggestions
If you're not super keen on older television shows, or you're looking for a way to hook a significant other, there are several other approaches that come up.
Start with TNG
TNG → DS9 → VOY → Films 8-10 → ENT → TOS → TAS → Films (1-7) → Films 11-13 → DSC → PIC
This method is for those that think (or have found) that they struggle with the production value of TOS, ease yourself in with something a bit more modern and then go back to the start once you've developed a ~~lifelong obsession with~ fondness for the universe.
The Next Generation was the start of the Berman era of Star Trek in the late 80's (despite Star Treks creator Gene Roddenberry having the reigns for the first couple of seasons). It had much higher production values than The Original Series, and it set the tone and style for the following three shows. While TOS is mentioned, referenced, and characters from it even appear, this won't affect your enjoyment of those episodes because of how ubiquitous TOS characters are throughout pop culture. You'll definitely come to appreciate those episodes a little more after watching TOS though.
Start with a more modern show
This usually means starting with either ENT, DSC or SNW. This method is for those that really don't like older, slower-paced TV shows, or find black bars on the side of the screen a barrier to enjoyment. ENT has good effects and more modern pacing (along with less reused stock footage of the ship for the ship lovers out there). DSC ties in a fair amount with TOS- but can be safely watched before it without missing out on or spoiling anything big.
Enterprise takes place chronologically before all other series. It references a lot of things from the other series though, and for maximum enjoyment should be watched after. But if you (or whomever you're trying to turn into a Trekkie) has a hard time getting into older series, this is a good way to get started. Many a Trekkie was created with this method.
NOTE: Picard is also a "modern" series, and while it can be enjoyed on it's own, there are considerable references/callbacks to the older series, including several main characters. So it's usually recommended to at least be familiar with TNG first.
Child Friendly
Star Trek contains a fair amount of adult themes and content, especially the newer shows with their higher production budgets and lack of television broadcast restrictions. Your parental boundaries may be different from ours, so to be safe; we recommend watching any live-action show episodes yourself before watching them as a family (despite TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT being marketed as family-friendly).
You can, however, safely watch Star Trek Prodigy with your family. It's specifically aimed at a younger audience (but is enjoyable for adults as well)!
Chronological order or Air Date
ENT → DSC → SNW → TOS → TAS → TNG → DS9 → TNG → DS9 → TNG → DS9 → TNG → DS9...
Did you watch Star Trek during it's original run and aren't worried about being spoiled, but don't really remember everything?
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This is a list that was created by /u/jkeysgamer of every episode and movie in in-universe chronological order. It's not really recommended for newcomers, because it jumps around a lot, but can be fun for the adventurous types.
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This is another in-universe chronological list made by /u/bernasm, he also put together a list that includes non-canonical sources, like games, books, and comics!
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This is a list of every episode and movie by air date, while it will make more sense to a newcomer to watch it this way, opposed to in-universe chronologically, it's still quite the task for a casual viewer. (Special thanks to /u/busfahrer for making this site)
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/u/Kraetos has also written a more involved guide over at the Daystrom Institute. It's also worth checking out.
I started with TNG just because I've seen clips of Q. Worth it.
I have since finished TNG and am a couple episodes into TOS. Suprisingly TOS is not as bad as expected. It kinda holds up and the quality is pretty dang good on Netflix, again to my surprise.
Not sure I am gonna watch many of the other shows. I tried Discovery and Picard and I'm not really hooked. They are not bad, just eh. I do want to watch all the old movies though, right after I finish TOS which will probably take me a few years :DI would at least touch on VOY, it needs a bit to get going, just like TNG I suppose, but it's solid. And the big, big payoff is watching DS9 after that. DS9 is fantastic, but it only gets better with the context from VOY and TNG.
TNG was my starting point. I tried to start with TOS, but I couldn't get into it until TNG made me fall in love with Star Trek.
There's this weird cultural norm that says TOS is extremely cheesy, Shatner hams up every episode, the sets are all terrible, and it isn't worth watching. It's sad because TOS is my favourite and it has so many interesting stories, and Kirk is such a cool captain. Even TAS is worth a watch, especially the episode Yesteryear!
It's a real shame TOS got shafted by season 3, and we never got more of its peak due to diminishing budget. That's what networks love doing though, they can never appreciate a good thing until it's been off the air for decades and people are clamouring for more.
I would highly recommend anyone starting off with a collection of some of the best or most relevant episodes of TOS, as well as some of the poor ones like Spock's Brain. I've found at least the bad TOS ones are interesting, but bad TNG ones can be just boring.
I'm curious what series might be most similar to The Orville in terms of quality. I watched The Orville a few months ago and really loved it and it's what's making me wanna finally try Star Trek again.
Strange New Worlds would be the most similar in terms of modern production values, and in many ways the production far exceeds The Orville.
Voyager also feels like The Orville, with a quite similar crew - awkward captain and first officer relationship, a flyboy pilot, a hothead engineer, a young forever ensign, an experienced and trusted security officer, and eventually someone who talks like a robot coming from the crew's nemesis. It lacks a Bortus, but if you want more Bortus, go look for shows with Worf.
Solid advice all around. Man am I glad to be here again!
Orville season 1 is probably closest to Lower Decks, due to the more comedic elements of that season.
But seasons 2-3 got more serious, and in that respect, they're much more like TNG. Orville also had Brannon Braga involved, which also lends to the TNG vibes as he was involved in the tail end of the Berman era.
This is great! I have bounced off of TOS a few times, having thought that I was supposed to watch in "production order". I recently started TNG and have been loving it. I can highly recommend the "Start with TNG" order for newcomers like myself.
It's surprising to me though that it was ever considered family friendly considering what a horndog Riker is (and also just everything to do with Lwaxana Troi 😂)
I'm biased, but I think everyone should start with TNG. That's peak trek for me.
TOS is great too, but I know it can feel really dated for a younger new viewer.
I agree TNG, first as tos can be hard to get past some of the stuff, but good to go and investigate later
I feel that TNG is getting pretty dated too, it's older now than TOS was when it aired. It also has some pretty rough spots early on. Very good show and generally a good start for new viewers, but I feel a curated list of the best TOS episodes would also make a good start.
Love that list, although the first 10 movies are available in 4K, not just in HD. Same with Strange New Worlds.
My recommendation is to start with TNG but skip most of Season 1 other than "Encounter at Farpoint," and maybe watch only selected episodes from Season 2. Then you're good to go through the rest of the series (although there are some episodes you can do without).
Funny how everyone has their own hook into Star Trek
I had tried to watch TOS into TNG multiple times but faltered off shortly after TNG (something about TNG 'monster of the week' stuff can get boring after being so used to serialized shows...)
Then I watched DS9 (recommended by a buddy) and fell in LOVE!! and DS9 continues to be my favourite Trek :)DS9 remains the only Star Trek I super enjoyed..... But man, it's insanely good.
What are people’s thoughts on starting with strange new worlds then doing the tng order?
While tng is clearly the superior trek the high production values, updated visuals and modern episode structure work well toward it being a gentle introduction to the universe while still maintaining that classic trek feel. Plus the limited episode count will leave them wanting more.
This might actually get me into Star Trek. Although as a casual lover of Sci fi who bounces off shows that dont hook me, it sounds like I should start with TNG or ENT
ENT is a great premise and has its moments but it's not well executed and for that I 100% blame Rick Berman.
If you decide on TNG, make sure to look up viewing guides on TNG (they should be around here somewhere). Like most Star Trek series, they're off to a bit of a bumpy start, and I'd heavily recommend only watching the last episode of season 1, the five or so highest rated episodes of season 2, and then jumping in fully at season three. You can come back later to rewatch what you missed, but it will make for a much more pleasant start.
Thanks for writing this up. After years of only having seen the kelvin timeline movies, I decided to take the plunge into the prime universe by watching in-universe chronological order. I've been using the list by u/bernasm he still updates it pretty regularly! I also like the methodology used by https://startrekviewingguide.com which is pretty similar but moves the mirror universe episodes in ENT until the mirror universe after the mirror universe has been introduced to the viewer. I think this solves much of the problem of ENT referencing older series being confusing to new viewers. Plus when you watch ENT first those references become references to enterprise when you watch those series later.
Coming from someone who has seen all of the older (pre-Discovery) stuff but only a smattering of the newer stuff:
This is such a difficult question because I think TNG and DS9 were peak Star Trek (along with movie IV) and are where I would point newbies, but both series have such off-putting starts. I grew up on TNG, so it was easy to get past the rough edges of the early seasons on my start-to-finish watch. However I hated DS9 when I started watching it, and only powered through because I was on a "watch all of the franchise" mission (this was back in 2015). Having finished it though, DS9 is now my favorite series in the franchise.
I think my recommendation for newbies is a curated list of a handful of TNG's standout episodes, followed by "if you liked this, start TNG from the beginning," followed by "if you liked this, watch DS9 but PROMISE ME you'll watch the first three seasons before giving up, yes I know it's a lot to ask but trust me," followed by "if you're still with me, start from the franchise beginning and watch in air order, although feel free to give up on TOS if it's not your thing and skip to movies II+."
I would actively dissuade anyone who hasn't watched at least 20 seasons of Star Trek (any series) from starting Lower Decks. Even I feel like half the jokes and references go over my head.
Through general media everyone’s imbibed a bit of Star Trek anyway, so just start with Lower Decks and forget the rest ;)
Great write up! I have to do my standard TOS defence though, it often gets a bad wrap based on what people think they know about it. A lot of the time that is based on things out of context like the Gorn in Arena, although there are a lot of genuine issues modern viewers could have.
I think if there was a TOS "modern" season of ten of the best or most relevant episodes, or even if you reduce the three seasons to one classic trek season, almost everyone could get some appreciation for it. The Kirk, Spock, Bones dynamic is too good to miss, and the tension in something like The Corbomite Maneuver or Balance of Terror is great. There are some morally grey episodes as well like A Private Little War which, while divisive, I feel deserve to be in such a condensed season.
Definitely skip Star Trek V though.
I'd add that Picard now also has spoilers for DS9.
I'm considering skipping over TOS because I tried to start with it before and stopped watching at some point (plus a huge Trekkie coworker strongly suggested skipping TOS). With respect to how TNG or later references TOS, are the references mostly the kind that just need you to know the basics of the characters vs having seen the actual series? I've watched enough of TOS to know who the various characters are and the setting (at least anything in the first dozen or so episodes). Wondering if that misses out on anything much.
Also wondering if there's some small number of TOS episodes that could be watched out of order or if the whole series should be skipped over if taking this approach. I've heard some specific episode titles as good ones and am wondering if I should just watch those specific episodes and then skip ahead to TNG or if that might cause confusion (I can't really remember how episodic TOS is).
TOS is old school episodic tv. Every episode is pretty much an independent story. You definitely do not have to watch it in order.
I'd at least watch Space Seed so you can get the origin story of Khan.
i started with tng. loved it. ah, still do.
banned anything star trek after lower decks came out. blatant theft from Final Space. so cancel culture for anything star trek. scumbag brand.