I started with Star Trek after watching the Star Trek (2009) movie in college. After that I went wild watching everything I could since I was young with loads of time. I watched most of TOS, all of TNS, all of DS9, all of Voyager, all of Enterprise and all of the movies. I then stopped since I didn’t have the time and wasn’t ready to download a new app to watch Discovery.
I am interested in watching some of the new shows from Discovery onwards but don’t know where to start and what are worth watching. I no longer have hours to watch TV or movies anymore and want to prioritize series on an easy to find streaming service. What is worth watching and what is worth skipping? Is it worth while to watch them all the way chronically or just watch one series and then another one.
A lot of people in these comments sleeping on Prodigy. I think it’s very good and would probably put it behind only Strange New Worlds. For me, the start of the season is just meh and feels more Star Wars Kidsy, but the season just grows and grows and has a real heart, real drama, and action.
If you’re going to start a new Trek, I seriously recommend The Orville.
It’s a love letter to TNG, VOY, DS9 era Trek. Better in many ways.
It starts as a goofy comedy and the first few episodes are kind of… okay. But by the third episode they find their footing and it just gets better and better.
The third (and possibly final) season is up there with the best of Trek. No bad episodes, and a much more serious tone. The show even has actors from ST series like Penny Jerald (Kassidy Yates in DS9) as main cast, cameos from Robert Picardo (Doctor on VOY), Tim Russ (Tuvok), John Billingsley (Dr Phlox from ENT). Also Brannon Braga produces/writes on it and Jonathan Frakes directs some episodes.
If you want to continue with TNG/VOY/DS9 era - Lower Decks is my personal favorite new Star Trek property. It’s a cartoon geared to a more adult audience, very funny - and very well written.
Strange New Worlds is the best of the new live action series. It’s episodic ‘alien of the week’ kinda vibe. It’s a spin-off from Discovery. It’s a prequel to TOS.
Discovery is a different approach. It’s season-long story archs and follows one main protagonists’ journey. It does become more about the crew later on. It had a very weak first two episodes - way too much lens flare and shaky cam. It gets a little better after but Season 1 was fairly weak. Season 2 is a huge improvement (and is the precursor to Strange New Worlds). You could start there if you read up about the characters and plot points.
Season 3 is their best - and is practically a whole different show. They flip the entire setting and premise and introduce some new characters. You could also start here if you do some light reading. Season 4 is a continuation of Season 3 - not as strong, but still solid.
I should also mention that Discovery is the least Star Treky-feeling show. It’s kinda in its own world.
Picard is pretty much fan fiction.
Some of the new characters are fun (I like Rios a lot), but the writing doesn’t do any of them any justice. Season 1 and 2 are pretty bad. If you don’t have time to kill, skip it.Season 3 is actually the show many fans wanted. It’s pretty much like a long-format TNG sequel mini series. It has some plot holes, but it’s a real joy to watch and puts a nice bow around the series. And around TNG.
I’m not a big fan of DIS S1 but I’d still watch it for context. Plus I absolutely loved the performances from both Michelle Yeoh and Jason Isaacs - Isaacs in particular makes S1 for me.
I’m going to as far as saying don’t watch either the first or second season of Discovery. The first season is just bad, and the entire second season is them fixing all the continuity holes they created in the first one.
Then they send the ship away and let it do its own thing in a different timeline and all of a sudden it becomes pretty good.
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Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and Lower Decks are my favorites.
The others aren’t bad, just unique in their own way.
Discovery season 1 is must watch Trek. Season 2 is also worth watching if you like the first
Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and The Orville.
Lower Decks. Absolutely.
Do the characters on Lower Decks eventually stop yelling every line at each other? That’s what put me off after the first couple of episodes.
Pretty quickly.
No, not really. That’s pretty consistent through all the seasons.
Yes. The character development improves too
It looks like its on Paramount+ here in the US. I actually have that service so I will watch it all. Is this a watch straight through series?
All of the Star Trek stuff should be on Paramount+, although they’re pulling some bullshit with Prodigy and removing it.
Absolutely. You should fly through all three seasons just in time for S4 later this summer. They are only 22 minutes long.
Definetly give Lower Decks a chance. Strange New Worlds is really good too imo. Its worth noting that it is a spinoff of Discovery. Specifically season 2 I think.
Do I need to watch Discovery ahead of time? Or is it the classic Star Trek move characters into a new show trick?
Nah you can go ahead without watching Discovery. You might miss out on some references but the major plot points are explained.
I didn’t watch Discovery at all, and don’t feel like I’m missing anything important in Strange New Worlds.
You may not be missing anything important by skipping Strange New Worlds, but you’re missing some damn good TV. For example, Ad Astra per Aspera (the second episode of season two) is easily one of Star Trek’s best courtroom episodes of all time.
As far as I can tell there’s only one tidbit of information from Discovery that is relevant to the setup of Strange New Worlds that might not immediately be apparent; in an episode of Discovery captain Pike is made aware through time travel shenanigans of his “destiny” to suffer radiation exposure and become confined to that beepy chair. It makes for some poignant character moments.
Oh, and another episode involved the fact that there was a giant portal of some sort ripped open in an episode of Discovery that Starfleet officially covered up. The fact that it was officially covered up becomes relevant in the episode. But as long as you realize “oh, they’re referring to stuff that happened in another show” they provide all the background needed to keep up.
Great. If that is all I need to know I am ready.
Strange New Worlds is great! That’s the best one! I also enjoyed Picard, especially S3.
I’ve been watching Strange New Worlds recently and I kinda like it even though some of the episodes have made me angry at how dumb everyone is acting. I also kinda wish that they could cut the budget of SFX by half and instead make twice as many episodes if they can be written well too? Maybe I’m just still spoiled by 20+ episode seasons that the older series used to have, but just 10 episodes doesn’t feel enough somehow.
Dunno about discovery, I agree with other users that it’s not that good, but I can tell you that it’s not required to understand SNW even though there’s some story overlap there.
The 10 episode seasons are to satisfy Anson Mount, who didn’t want to commit to more than that per year.
It’s a terrible handicap for the writers. Not enough to easily do character development. Cramming too much action into episodes. Horrible choice. It was especially bad in Picard.
Well, he’s barely had to show up for work so far this season!
Also, seems an odd decision to cast your captain then schedule your show, rather than the other way around. Voyager profited from unexpectedly recasting the captain after shooting began! (And if anyone doesn’t know that story, you should look it up… there are videos…)
Lower Decks, no question. It doesn’t seem all that great at first, but when the show gets into its groove and finds voices for its characters, it becomes much more compelling. The first episode is meh, but by the time you get to the end of the first season, you’ll be a fan.
Star Trek Prodigy is also good for its intended audience, and arguably better than the first animated Trek. (Certainly more of a treat for the eyes.) It was cancelled on Paramount Plus, but there are rumors it will come to a different streaming service.
I’ve powered through 4 episodes of “Prodigy” and I’m really struggling. The main kid Dal is so extraordinarily annoying. I mean, I know they did this with (sorry for the cross-realm reference) Ahsoka in “Clone Wars”, so I just need to hear that there’s some character growth coming, because I can’t stand him.
Dal’s growth is very satisfying to see, not long to wait too if you’re at EP 4 already
Strange New Worlds episodic nature makes it easy to just drop right in. Technically it starts in Discovery but I think you’ll be just fine without it.
If they dropped the SNW and just called it Star Trek, I’d be okay with that. It’s deserving of the name.
IMO, all of it.
In terms of general agreement, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and season 3 of Picard are generally the most well-regarded projects to date.
I enjoyed season 1 of Picard also
Lower Decks is great. I couldn’t get into Strange New Worlds but might try again
I agree! I have enjoyed all new Trek. I think some shows, like Strange New Worlds are better than others, but overall it’s all been worthwhile for me.
Me too.
That’s good to hear
@dumples I enjoyed the first season of Strange New Worlds. Also, first episode of the second season was pretty good.
Almost all series of the third generation are serialized, so it’s harder to just watch episodes separately. Most are best watched one after the other.
- I’m not the biggest fan of Discovery, but still I think that most fans are too harsh with it. It’s not the best Trek, but it has its moments and grew better and better. I wouldn’t advise to begin with that, though.
- Picard was good. The first season is maybe a little too unoriginal, but I’d say that it’s a very solid season until the second half of the last episode. The second season is good, and the third is a nostalgia fest (and I loved every second of it). It may be a good entry point.
- Lower Decks is fun and offer a very different point of view on Star Trek lore. If you like “classic” Trek but are ready to gently mock it, watch it first. I’m in love with this show.
- Prodigy is for children, and its noticeable. It’s a good show, but still, a good show for children. If that doesn’t bother you, go for it, but pass if it’s not the case.
- Strange New Worlds is the best one. Simply that. It would be my advice, and, as the show is almost episodic, you can watch it taking your time.
Both Discovery and Picard are good series. Both have ups and downs. They’re different from each other and scratch a different itch.
Other than that, I haven’t seen any of the other new series, like Lower Decks.
