Favorite Star Trek TV series?

[ROBERT BLACK]

That poll left out Star Trek: The Animated Series from the early 70s.


Enterprise had ONE good season. The third. But it was utter dumbed down crap. Bad writing,bad acting, no real direction. The positives were the underscore,art direction and the visual fx, which were all impressive. Although far from a Star trek fan I do still watch the occasional series episode. The original series(despite now cheesy effects and camp) was the best.

[vitualis]

Season 1 of Voyager (ominously) only had 16 episodes.

Regards.

[Sefy]

The Original Star Trek and it's following Movies, with the last movie it sealed my association with the Trek Universe. Hated each of the newer shows which was more technobable and less human. Only thing good about TNG were the few Data/LaForge combined episodes and those with classic Trekkers being a guest star like Scotty and Spock and Savek.

People today get too thrilled about pathetic FX and completly forget the whole human connection, TNG was too military like and although it "had" nice little moments it was never like the Original Cast and never will be. Rick/Brannon literaly destroyed everything Gene Roddenbery created.

Thankfuly i've got Andromeda which is far better and more interesting then what is left out of Trek. As for the movie Nemesis, I deny it's sorry existance! nothing but a complete rip off from Classic Trek movies starting from Khan to Spock's death and Return. You know it's low when it rips itself off.

[Radixmind]

ahh, yes. nothing divides geeks (sorry, i mean "intelligent and literate viewers") more than the age old battle of wits that is 'Which Is The Best Trek'.

i see a lot in this thread dissing Trek Series that you hated. but what about the ones you like, and why? wouldnt it be nice to just be positive about something for a change? none of them were perfect, after all, but now that there's no Trek we all miss it, dont we?

i think much of this argument comes down to: which group of characters was i personally the most invested in. everyone is different, and each crew had a different dynamic. for me, it will always be Deep Space Nine. once Sisko got that rug off his head and Terri Farrell learned how to act - which was about season two - the group dynamic started to shape up and they seemed to be a bunch of people whose complex lives intersected naturally, sometimes with love, sometimes with humour, sometimes with anger or violence. O'Brien, one of the franchise's must underrated characters, grew into his potential beyond his time on the enterprise. The whole story arc, thanks mainly to Pillar's great work, managed to engage both the brain and the heart.

whilst Next Gen always had the pin-sharp ideas and writing, DS9 let it's central characters grow and develop beyond the colours of their uniforms or the pips on their collars. it's arguably not the best series, but it is every inch my favourite.

anyone else with any real comments on their personal favourites out there? let's steer this thread away from 'seven was hot and kirk kicked ass' shall we?

(despite the fact that, yes, seven was hot and kirk kicked ass.)

[Bondiablo]

We need a sister poll to this one, Worst Star Trek Movie. I think the only good movies were Wrath of Khan and First Contact and I liked the Voyage Home despite the story being kind of silly, most of the others were only tolerable but The Final Frontier was horrible and Nemesis may have killed any interest I had in ever seeing another next generation movie. Unless they just pick up Data's body floating in space and manage to repair him I think Star Trek 11: The Search for Data would piss me off even more than the end of Nemesis already did.

Sorry for the negativity Radix but, to make up for it a bit and say something positive about the much bashed Enterprise, Archer kicked ass and Sato was hot. :P

[ROF]

The original series is by far my favorite of all the treks. A close second would be Enterprise. The first few seasons of next generation was OK but it went downhill after this. The others I never really cared for. All of them are good in their own way but my opinion is that the old treks were the best. I like enterprise for it's nostalgia look at what gave birth to the original series. If I had to choose a worse one for me that would be DS9.

[scustalow]

The Original(Star Trek) has heart...what it lacks on FX it makes up in meaning.Lots of great episodes..No Matter what you say about Captain Kirk(William Shatner) His crew would follow him into H*LL..no questions asked..that is a leader by any standard..A couple of my favorites episodes are..City on the Edge of Forever..(what if time travel was possible and how one small thing changed can have very drastric effects on the future..and DoomsDay Machine..(Mans weapons of destruction that gets out of control or into the wong hands)..I have many more..but back to the subject..The Original series..was often imitated but never will be duplicated..All the cast members were just perfect together..Also they are now Icons of Sci Fi..their names are imortal..in many years to come when the rest of us ordinary people including myself passing away turning to dust..our names will fade and cease to be remembered..Star Trek Crew Member names will Live Forever!!!

Gene Roddenberry was able to see into the future..A vision of things to come...Computers,Lasers,communication devices..just to name a few..

"Live Long and Prosper" " "Beam Me up Scotty"

[ROF]

A couple of my favorites episodes are..City on the Edge of Forever..(what if time travel was possible and how one small thing changed can have very drastric effects on the future..and DoomsDay Machine..(Mans weapons of destruction that gets out of control or into the wong hands.

Joan Collins looking as hot as ever and Doomsday introduced us to the father of another great trek hero it would take a decade or so for film to reveal to us. Two great episodes.

[dwill123]

Do you mean it lasted longer than the Original Series (which only had 3 seasons)????

AND 6 full length motion pictures.

-- Captain Jean-Luc Picard - "Shut up Wesley!"
-- Wesley Crusher - "Up yours, Picard" (from an un-aired episode of TNG)

[Morse2]

Interesting thread!

I've always thought that the major division in the Trek universe was going to be between TOS and TNG, with TOS types having some positive feelings for Enterprise. 'Haven't been to a sci-fi con in years though, so it's interesting to see the controversy aired publicly.

FWIW, to me TOS always defines "Star Trek" and "Enterprise" was a lost opportunity to show the "founding of the Federation" in conventional terms - the whole "time travel" aspect was completely un-necessary from the get-go. Attitude-wise, TOS and Enterprise were akin to each other, whereas the "other" treks were more "touchy-feely" (my friends and I used to call TNG "PC Trek" - but we still watched it every week).

On a positive note, we should not be too quick to toss out entire shows because of some stinkers - all the shows had some grand episodes ("Enterprise incident", most of the borg eps on TNG, the evil empire crossover on Enterprise, etc) and some real stinkers (let's see - "Spock's brain", "Data's daughter", "oops we ran over a space amoeba and need to render first aid", "Janeway turns into a fish", "Tripp should be more careful on a first date with a new species", etc). 'Course some of the shows had more stinkers than others....

Just a pity that the show(s) appear over, due to the short sighted (and now out of business because of it) suits at UPN who wanted a "new image" made up of cheap "reality tv" shows aimed at the 20-somethings. Come to think of it, the same could be said for Firefly - but that's another great SciFi show killed by a different shortsighted bunch of suits.

All the best,
Morse

[scustalow]

Another Great episode.."This Side Of Paradise" Showing a very beautiful Jill Ireland...

[julitomg]

I liked a lot the Original Series, ever since I was a kid(long, long time ago) and like Enterprise precisely because of its argumental relationship to it. And found it even had some good episodes(altho I totally hated the opening song). TNG is great as well as about half of the movies and the animated series, the rest is Ok by me. i would also mention that I sure am of the very few human beings this side of the galaxy to really like ST, The Motion Picture (the first one, directed by Robert Wise)

[TheFamilyMan]

For me its TNG and TOS almost even for first, with Enterprise a close runner up. For the others I remember actually losing interest in them while watching them. Here's my Star Trek excellence test: How many truely rememberable episodes did each series produce? For me, TNG and TOS had a handful, but all the others, none.

[scustalow]

In Doomsday who are you refering to?


Joan Collins looking as hot as ever and Doomsday introduced us to the father of another great trek hero it would take a decade or so for film to reveal to us. Two great episodes.[/quote]

[Radixmind]

in my heart, i wanted Enterprise to look old, like TOS in style and form. all chunky perspex knobs and big square leather armed seats. i wanted them to take the challenge of making a series that was set before TOS and dress it accordingly, but make it work with great stories and great acting. i would have paid to see that.

to my mind, Enterprise takes the award of Most Improved Show. season one stumbled far too often, season two felt like it was contrived to be popular, but season three broought in the things i wanted to see: historical stories telling us why the universe of TOS was the way it was.

it's worth noting also that Both TOS and TNG changed the face of television. before them, there was little in the way of sci-fi of any merit on the airwaves; after them all the networks wanted a sci-fi show of their own. we owe the diversity of sci-fi shows on tv, in the main, to the success of Trek. truly, sci-fi lives long and prospers because of it.

[gadgetguy]

In Doomsday who are you refering to?

Commodore Decker from Doomsday was the father of Captain Decker in the first movie.

[SatStorm]

I like the Original Series best, most of the Next Generation episodes and some Voyager (Doctor related) episodes.
All look outdated today

DS9 was a spinoff of Babylon 5, the best SciFi series ever produced on TV. It was a good spinoff but as a series was overall alien to the Star Trek universe and the Star Trek style. IMO always...

Here in Greece the same channel had both shows and air them together back in mid 90s: B5 first, DS9 second (and sometimes they had TNG reruns to fill the schedgule Gaps)... Maybe that killed Star Trek here (DS9 and the TNG reruns showing after B5, make them look too kiddy!)
Enterprise was both a joke and a missing opportunity to make something good with Star Trek. IMO, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga just killed the series, by abusing the Star Trek universe, History and most of all: The time line...

Finally, the best Star Trek series IMO is .... that parody called Star Wreck! Now that was something!

[Cornucopia]

For me, it was TOS (AND the movies, including the 1st, but less so after IV), then TNG, then it's a tie between DS9 and Voyager, both of which not only couldn't I get into, but gradually turned me off of Trek stuff. Enterprise I hadn't even heard about until this fall a friend (who has been a longtime avid trekkie) told me about it (she didn't have good things to say about it either).
I remember the animated series as a kid, it sucked! Kept me from being a trekkie as a teenager (which was probably a good thing at the time).

My highlights: TOS-city on the edge of forever, and the NukeProliferation/TimeTravel one with Terri Garr (I've always though she was hot). Movies-Khan(II) and Voyage Home(IV)--that one had the old camp in style! Even my wife, who is bored with all things trekkie, liked that one. TNG-all the borg stuff.

What about GalaxyQuest? My whole family loves that one.

Scott

[ROF]

What about GalaxyQuest? My whole family loves that one.

Never give up . . .

[ozymango]

PS: Kirk and the Gang sounds like an old disco or funk group or something and I don't think we should encourage Shatner to sing. :P

You've never lived until you've heard William Shatner's cover of "Lucy ... in the sky ... with diamonds!" My friend Jeff has "The Transformed Man" on LP (vinyl!) and he promised to leave it to me in his will.

To me, there is, was, and always shall be only one Star Trek -- if it hasn't got Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and McCoy, it's no good. :P Seriously, I'm sure the other shows are just fine but I just never got into 'em -- I was very young when the original Star Trek was first broadcast on TV, but I became a fan later on during re-runs, early 1970's, and I remember we once drove back home from some trip (family trip) at fairly high speed because my mom wanted to watch part 2 of "The Menagerie" and this was before VCRs so we had to watch it in real-time. My mother, the Star Trek fan!!!

I just have so many good memories attached to TOS because of my friendships with other fans (in the dark ages before SF was cool), early conventions (I got to meet George Takei and Grace Lee Whitney!), and just all that. Sure, some of the episodes, especially the third season, were terrible ("The Lights of Zetar," "Spocks' Brain", too many more), but they were still fun in a cheesy sense.

I watched the first three episodes of Next Generation and no offense, but man, they sucked. I think even NG fans are aware that the show started slowly, got much better as it went, but I got turned off right from the beginning so that was it for me. I've seen a couple later on, and obviously they got their "groove" down and I'm sure it was a good series, but by then it was just too late for me. And I've never really cared for any of the Star Trek spinoffs past that, not because I think they're bad, but it's just not my thing anymore. Also, I hate to think that in the future we all have to wear skin-tight uniforms that show off our less-than-stellar physiques. :P

Live long and prosper!!!

[Bondiablo]

Here's my Star Trek excellence test: How many truely rememberable episodes did each series produce?

I think the best episodes the entire franchise ever produced were both from TNG, don't know the titles, not quite THAT much of a geek, but they were both centered around Picard, the one where he "died" and Q gave him a chance to go back and change the course of his life and the best, a probe attached itself to him and he lived out an entire lifetime on an alien world in his mind.

[burnman99]

I liked the first series the best, but it's the one i've seen the most since i'm old lol. TNG was a solid series too...never really watched any of the other ones...where's the vote for TGPOs Pron Trek?! Now there's a series!

Later

Roger

[vitualis]

I think the best episodes the entire franchise ever produced were both from TNG, don't know the titles, not quite THAT much of a geek, but they were both centered around Picard, the one where he "died" and Q gave him a chance to go back and change the course of his life and the best, a probe attached itself to him and he lived out an entire lifetime on an alien world in his mind.

Okay, that must make me a geek, because I know both episodes, and I agree, these two episodes were probably two of the best in all of Star Trek.

The first is "Tapestry" and the second is "The Inner Light".

Regards.

[dwill123]

Somebody had to do this:

[TheFamilyMan]

Somebody had to do this:

Look...It's T of A!!!

[yoda313]

That poll left out Star Trek: The Animated Series from the early 70s

Isn't that officially disavowed in Star Trek lore??? I don't think that counts anymore.

Don't get me wrong some obviously liked it but frankly I completely forgot about.

[Dv8ted2]

I think TNG was excellent. There were so many great episodes, but my favorite was the one where the Enterprise kept exploding.

[FinChase]

I have to go with the TOS first--I have wonderful memories of watching it as a kid. But IMHO, the best written and most interesting of the series was DS9. I know a lot of people couldn't get into it, but for those of us that did, it was great. I think "Duet" and "The Visitor" hold their own against any episodes in the Star Trek canon. Unlike all the other series, DS9 couldn't fly away from its problems; they had to confront them. Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that the characters didn't always like each other, though they generally worked through it. Of course, it had a few clunker episodes, but which Trek series, includeing TOS, didn't? ("The Way To Eden" anyone?)

BTW, I think Voyager sometimes gets a bad rap. It had some TNG was good too, once it got rid of Wesley and decided which doctor to keep. Never got into Enterprise

[gadgetguy]

That poll left out Star Trek: The Animated Series from the early 70s

Isn't that officially disavowed in Star Trek lore??? I don't think that counts anymore.

Don't get me wrong some obviously liked it but frankly I completely forgot about.

Gene Roddenberry once said that the animated series was not canon. But I still enjoyed them. (Of course, I never met a Star Trek series I didn't like)

[Sefy]

Star Trek Animated was declated "not cannon" only a few years after it was made, so i think it's kinda dumb considering Gene Roddenberys name is all over the show

Besides, i love the Animated, it's like adding to the original 3 years another 2 to make it the full 5 year mission!