# Watching Star Trek for the first time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 28, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203 "2011-03-28T01:21:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/41 "2011-03-28T14:42:51Z")
Lessee, I consider myself a fan and by my estimate I may have missed two thirds of the episodes in the franchise (not counting the cartoon and books). TNG was a bit awkward for the first couple seasons until they found their feet. DS9 was the same way. I’d say, along with whatever episodes from the first two seasons you get recommended (maybe watch the pilot, Encounter at Farpoint, just because it gets a callback in the series finale) you’d probably do well to start with the season 2 finale, “The Neutral Zone”. It’s got a sort of weird premise (three 21st century humans in cryo thawed out and having to adjust to the 24th century), but it does a rather good job setting up two of the show’s most important villains. Don’t worry about the shows overlapping, they don’t really cross over much at all. The DS9 premiere kinda runs paralel to the TNG 7th season premiere, but for the most part, they’re both just there. Enterprise is docked at DS9 with her crew doing their thing, and the DS9 crew is aboard the station doing their own thing, with a few characters talking to each other. The first episode of Voyager similarly starts at DS9, but for reasons that pretty much make up the entire basis of the show, the Voyager and DS9 crews aren’t going to see each other for a long while. If you get burnt out on TOS for some reason, watch Star Trek II and Star Trek VI and move on to TNG. Star Trek II is a “sequel” to a TOS episode, but is a very solid movie on its own (really, the episode it was a sequel to was goofy as hell, though if you skip it, you miss out on McCoy being a cool-headed badass when someone puts a knife to his neck.) I think Star Trek VI is the one you’re thinking of when you say “They go to Russia”, since it’s very very heavy on the late-Cold War overtones. No Russians in any of the movies though unless you count Chekov (he’s Ukrainian). DS9, watch the pilot episode, then skip to the season 2 finale, “The Jem’Ha’Dar”, which introduces the main villains for that show (and has an epic moment of one of the comic-relief aliens successfully calling bullshit on the holier-than-thou attitude that Starfleet tends to have towards others). DS9 is sort of a deconstruction of a lot of the way we see the humans in Star Trek, partially because it takes place outside the Federation, and so we get to hear what a lot of the aliens actually think of the guys preaching peace from the bridges of the huge heavily armed starships. At least one episode is about 14 times more entertaining if you have seen a specific TOS episode. Voyager I never watched much of. I’d say find out which episodes center on the “Captain Proton” holodeck adventures and just watch those. (Two of the characters enjoy role-playing as Flash Gordon knock-offs in the holodeck. Many other characters get involved and pretty much can’t wrap their heads around why someone would enjoy such campy stories. They even shift to grainy black and white for those parts.) Enterprise similarly I didn’t catch a lot of for various reasons. But really, don’t feel pressured to watch the whole franchise RIGHT NOW OMG, just enjoy it. Oh, as far as stuff in Star Trek that “never happened”, “Spock’s Brain” gets a lot of shit for being, well, a ridiculous episode (Spock’s brain gets stolen. McCoy installs a remote control in his body so he can walk him around like a remote controlled puppet. It goes downhill from there). Also, I’m told that the Star Trek writers all have a strict unwritten rule not to ever reference anything that happened in Star Trek V: The Final Voyage. There are one or two great moments (both involving Spock, naturally), but otherwise the entire movie is more or less a wash. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/42 "2011-03-28T14:45:07Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > And Bones… god, I didn’t expect to adore Bones. He says every line like in his head he prefaces it with “GODDAMN IT YOU MORON”. That’s perfect! He is exactly like that. DS9 was my favorite series, but Bones might be my favorite character in the whole ST universe. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/43 "2011-03-28T15:07:32Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > . . .[Gene Roddenberry] explains his original concept was a “space western. . . .” Yeah, “Wagon Train to the Stars.” For those not familiar with “Wagon Train,” each episode the traveling wagon train would encounter [someone] and tell their story. As such, most of the episodes were titled “The [this week’s person’s] Story.” Just replace the traveling wagon train with a traveling spaceship, and there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/44 "2011-03-28T16:30:55Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > The Menagerie would make a FOURTH pilot mentioned for TOS? ARGH, I haven’t even STARTED and I still don’t know where to start! > > Which ep should I watch first - The Cage, The Man Trap, Where No Man Has Gone Before, or The Menagerie? > > After doing some further research, this same question has been asked before on other boards. All consensuses point towards following the release dates for the journey (and that Enterprise will be pointless if you haven’t seen all the other series/films first), but there’s some debate over how to watch TNG, DS9 and Voyager, whose runs overlapped. > [@fusoya](#): > > With The Cage behind me, I’m going to watch Where No Man Has Gone Before next, and then follow the production numbers. I realize that TOS isn’t a serial and doesn’t have story arcs, and therefore each episode stands by itself, so I want to follow its evolution (and apparent destruction) in the order it was created. I’ll follow that plan unless/until TOS starts to bore me and then make sure I see all the remaining good/important episodes before moving on to the films. I applaud your interest in the original _Star Trek_, but you’re way over-thinking this. Just watch the show in whatever order you get them in. It’s got its good points and bad points, but none of them are related to any particular order. I think it’s worth it for you to remember – especially for someone who has already expressed some sensitivity to geekiness, viz: > [@](#): > > I’ve purposely avoided the franchise mainly because of all the negativity that their fanbase gets. I’m a hardcore geek and I felt like I always had to have SOME kind of boundary, and something about Trekkies just seemed really OFF to me. … It’s just a damn TV show! (hat tip to Shatner) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/45 "2011-03-28T17:01:54Z")
I too am wondering about this mysterious Russian movie. > [@cochrane](#): > > “Amok Time” - Spock returns to Vulcan for a once-every-seven-years mating ritual, in which he must battle his best friend and captain - Captain James T. Kirk. > > “The City on the Edge of Forever” - Kirk faces one of his hardest decisions when he must balance his duty with love as the fate of the entire Federation hangs in the balance. > > “Journey To Babel” - The Enterprise ferries a collection of diplomats to a neutral planet. Complicating Kirk’s mission is a spy on board and Spock’s father, Sarek, the Ambassador from Vulcan. Spock must balance his duty with the health of his father. Add “Balance of Terror” and you’ve got some good watching there. Then watch the first movie. You will then have seen Mark Lenard portraying not only three different characters, but three different species. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/46 "2011-03-28T17:06:11Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Yeah, “Wagon Train to the Stars.” For those not familiar with “Wagon Train,” each episode the traveling wagon train would encounter [someone] and tell their story. As such, most of the episodes were titled “The [this week’s person’s] Story.” Just replace the traveling wagon train with a traveling spaceship, and there you go. You have to distinguish how Roddenberry sold the show to what he really wanted to do with the show. I’ve been watching **Have Gun Will Travel** , and many of Roddenberry’s scripts are little morality plays, just like some of the best of ST. That was not going to get into the proposal. Roddenberry knew full well that the suits were only going to buy something they knew, not something as different as ST turned out to be. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/47 "2011-03-28T17:09:01Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I too am wondering about this mysterious Russian movie. > > Add “Balance of Terror” and you’ve got some good watching there. Then watch the first movie. You will then have seen Mark Lenard portraying not only three different characters, but three different species. Agreed, and also “Errand of Mercy.” It is exciting, it is funny, it has a wonderfully ironic ending, and it humanizes Kirk in a way they were never actually able to do with Picard, in that he was able to laugh at his own human weakness. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/48 "2011-03-28T17:11:36Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I totally see how you end up with slash fanfiction out of this, because half the time we just want them to forget about whatever stupid planet is down there and keep hanging out together. We’d watch “Star Trek: Fire Drill” and “Star Trek: Mess Hall” and “Star Trek: Paperwork”, honestly - that’s the core of the show for us. Or “Star Trek: Captain’s Log,” as we get a look at the Engineering department unclogging the Captain’s head. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/49 "2011-03-28T17:14:02Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Agreed, and also “Errand of Mercy.” It is exciting, it is funny, it has a wonderfully ironic ending, and it humanizes Kirk in a way they were never actually able to do with Picard, in that he was able to laugh at his own human weakness. I’m not crazy about that one, but it’s pretty good. **fuyosa** , no jury would convict if you skipped over “The Omega Glory” and “Spock’s Brain.” Maybe “The Empath” as well. Definite low points in the series. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/50 "2011-03-28T18:08:36Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m not crazy about that one, but it’s pretty good. > > **fuyosa** , no jury would convict if you skipped over “The Omega Glory” and “Spock’s Brain.” Maybe “The Empath” as well. Definite low points in the series. I always liked “The Empath”, mostly because it stars a very young Kathryn Hays, who played Kim on one of my mom’s soaps, _As The World Turns_, for decades. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/51 "2011-03-28T18:21:56Z")
But he MUST watch “Spock’s Brain,” if for no other reason than to finally know \*why \*it is the most berated episode of an otherwise decent franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/52 "2011-03-28T18:33:05Z")
Most of the third season of the original series is pretty weak, with a few exceptions (e.g. “The Enterprise Incident”, “The Tholian Web”, “The Paradise Syndrome”). ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/53 "2011-03-28T18:46:08Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I totally see how you end up with slash fanfiction out of this, because half the time we just want them to forget about whatever stupid planet is down there and keep hanging out together. We’d watch “Star Trek: Fire Drill” and “Star Trek: Mess Hall” and “Star Trek: Paperwork”, honestly - that’s the core of the show for us. The interesting episodes to me are the ones that have ideas external to the crew characters. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/54 "2011-03-28T19:19:47Z")
I dunno about skipping The Omega Glory…yeah, the whole thing about the Yangs and Kohms was stupid - no, actually, it was _stoopid_ - and kind of racist, but the episode’s basic premise was pretty cool, so you’re looking at about 1/2 to 2/3 of a good episode, in there. If they’d altered the natives of Omega IV to eliminate the stupid part, it would have been a pretty good episode. (I was slightly amazed when I looked the episode up on Memory Alpha and discovered it hadn’t been cobbled together from two incomplete scripts, but was, in fact, a potential candidate for the second pilot!) ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/55 "2011-03-28T19:29:17Z")
And after you’ve seen all TOS, don’t forget to see “Star Trek - The Final Voyage” from the first season of Saturday Night Live. It is a hoot. [Link](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/star-trek-the-last-voyage/280280/) ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/56 "2011-03-28T19:53:41Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I dunno about skipping The Omega Glory…yeah, the whole thing about the Yangs and Kohms was stupid - no, actually, it was _stoopid_ - and kind of racist, but the episode’s basic premise was pretty cool, so you’re looking at about 1/2 to 2/3 of a good episode, in there. If they’d altered the natives of Omega IV to eliminate the stupid part, it would have been a pretty good episode. Actually it was pretty good up until the end. The opening scene drew me right in. The ending was indeed stoopid though. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/57 "2011-03-28T21:23:46Z")
I never really liked “Turnabout intruder” or “The way to Eden”, myself. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/58 "2011-03-28T21:25:08Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I never really liked “Turnabout intruder” or “The way to Eden”, myself. Herbert. ---
**Author:** ![Sakuma\_Drops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sakuma\_Drops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sakuma_Drops)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/59 "2011-03-28T21:59:33Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > TNG was a bit awkward for the first couple seasons until they found their feet. DS9 was the same way. I’d say, along with whatever episodes from the first two seasons you get recommended (maybe watch the pilot, Encounter at Farpoint, just because it gets a callback in the series finale) you’d probably do well to start with the season 2 finale, “The Neutral Zone”. It’s got a sort of weird premise (three 21st century humans in cryo thawed out and having to adjust to the 24th century), but it does a rather good job setting up two of the show’s most important villains. There are a few episodes from season 1 that I think are pretty good: “Too Short a Season”, “When the Bough Breaks”, and “The Neutral Zone” (which is actually the season 1 finale). In season 1 there was indeed also a fair amount of corny overacting (Worf yelled a lot) and Prime Directive over-lecturing as well, so be aware of that. I definitely recommend the season 2 ep “Q Who”, followed up with the season 3 finale/season 4 opener “Best of Both Worlds”, parts 1 and 2. These episodes set up the Borg which are regarded as some of the best villains in the Star Trek universe. By season 3, I think that TNG really hit its stride, and you can’t go wrong with much beyond that (the final season ripped off _The X-Files_ a bit much at times, though). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203/60 "2011-03-28T22:02:56Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > But he MUST watch “Spock’s Brain,” if for no other reason than to finally know \*why \*it is the most berated episode of an otherwise decent franchise. “Spock’s Brain” was written by Gene L. Coon, under the pseudonym Lee Cronin. Coon and Roddenberry left Star Trek after the second season and Roddenberry was replaced as producer by Fred Freiberger. As Gene L. Coon, he wrote or produced 34 episodes and was single-handedly responsible for creating the Klingons, the Prime Directive, Khan Noonien Singh, and Zefram Cochrane (:D) . He returned to write four episodes for the third season, but due to being under contract to Universal at the time, he took on the Lee Cronin monicker. Some speculate the he deliberately wrote “Spock’s Brain” to be as awful as possible as a big FU to NBC for putting Star Trek in the Friday night 10PM death slot in the third season and for their treatment of Gene Roddenberry. It has also been said that he submitted “Spock’s Brain” to make a point that Freiberger wouldn’t know bad science fiction if it bit him in the ass. It makes more sense that Coon may have phoned in his season 3 scripts when he was known for much better work such as “Space Seed,” “The Devil In the Dark,” and “Errand of Mercy” in previous seasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-star-trek-for-the-first-time/576203.md?page=4)