I really like sci-fi, specially the bits where the aliens whip out guns and shoot at arrogant humans, or the heavy-handed real world allegories, but I never quite got into Star Trek. If it helps, I really liked the first couple seasons of new Doctor Who and some random episodes of the old one, but I’m definitely not looking for some Star Wars space-fantasy stuff.
I tried watching the JJ Abrams’s movies (felt like Marvel with a sci-fi skinmask), the new Amazon reboot thingy (was completely lost in a sea of references) and the original series (2horny4me), and neither of them seemed like the same show that most people talk fondly about.
I’ve seen a lot of references to it here, so I assume it’s actually enjoyable to leftist nerds, I just didn’t find the good stuff. Any recommendations on where to start?
I also would love other recommendations of other non-reactionary sci-fi film/tv, preferably with politics flowing from the barrel of a gun.
It sounds like you want to start with Deep Space 9.
As someone going through TOS currently, I highly recommend using a fan watching list for it rather than just watching every episode. I’ve been watching every episode and most of them really suck, with a lot of misogyny.
The Next Generation, but the first season or two can be kinda rough.
the first season is extremely rough, I’d recommend skipping most of the episodes or increasing playback speed
Here’s my favorite watching path, which I also started with:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture -> Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan -> Star Trek: The Search for Spock -> Star Trek: The final frontier (hated by many, but one of my favorites) -> Star Trek: The Voyage Home -> Star Trek: The undiscovered Country -> TNG (Series) -> Star Trek: DS9 (Series) -> Star Trek: Generations -> Star Trek: Voyager -> Star Trek: First Contact -> Star Trek: Insurrection -> Star Trek: Nemesis -> Enterprise
Benefits of watching it in this order:
1.) You get to see the original crew from the TOS series in their full glory (without them getting horny), not necessarily needing the context of the original series at all to understand the dynamics and relationships between the characters. The original six movies above (The motion picture all the way to the undiscovered country), lay the ground work for a lot of what you see in TNG, and provides some valuable context for some future episodes, as well as Star Trek: Generations. I highly, highly recommend watching the six before going to TNG, trust me, you won’t regret it.
2.) There is some intersection between TNG and DS9, somewhere half way through TNG is technically where DS9 begins (I don’t want to spoil, but if you want to watch them side by side, start DS9 after watching “The Best of Both Worlds” episode S03E26).
3.) Star Trek: Voyager before Star Trek: First Contact, is beneficial to watch since you get to see the evolution of the borg, as well as central elements of the borg which later show up in Star Trek: First Contact. It also makes chronological sense, which you will see in the first few minutes after watching First Contact.
4.) Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis will wrap up everything, but mind you these are two films that cause wars among Trekkies. Save Enterprise for last, because it is arguably the worst among all of them in overall quality, but technically it plays before any of the above, at the infancy of earth’s space exploration. The benefit of watching it last is that everything before will fill the vague contexts and hints in the show about different species and events.
Other notes: Star Trek isn’t very “progressive,” either. But then again, perhaps one could also say it is a product of its time, in the lens of liberal ideology. There are some very, very problematic representations in the first few seasons that are downright racist, and even the cast themselves regret making those episodes. Other shows I can recommend (although not so great either when looking for non-reactionary media) is The Expanse. That show, had me so hooked, you wouldn’t believe. It’s not overly pretentious, and it almost feels like it would be the actual consequence of a capitalist dystopian future.
Hope this helps!
This is a great post. Also second The Expanse, the book series is somehow even better imo.
The best Star Trek is Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and Voyager. If you start Next Generation, you might find parts of the first 2 seasons a bit tiring, but after that it gets really good.
TOS has some great episodes, but others can be found dated and boring. TOS episodes don’t follow a particular narrative arc, so if you want, you can watch a few select episodes to get a good taste.
Seems Next Generation is overwhelmingly the favourite here. I’ll take a look at those 3, thanks y’all!
To be quite honest, I don’t think TOS is worth watching. Some of the movies are, but you don’t need the series to understand those. If you’re looking for a TV series, TNG is the way to go (with the usual caveat that season 1 is quite bad; I think even season 2 is noticeably better, though S3 is the first I’d consider ‘good’)
As someone who quite likes TOS, most of it is fairly dated now and can be skipped, It was my gateway into star trek and I recommend it, but also its mostly a handful of really good episodes, some alright ones, and then lots of forgitable ones
I’m fond of voyager. It’s a childhood favourite and what got me into science and engineering.
TNG, Voyager, and DS9 are all good in their own respective ways. I will say however, not a one of them starts off well. Each one has a rough start. TNG imo has a very rough first season. Even into the second season a bit. Voyager has less rough of a start and DS9 gets into stride a bit quicker still. Sll three are worth it. You just gotta roll your eyes and slog through until the show gets into its stride.
Another thing to consider though. Most of Star Trek isn’t your typical shoot em up, action adventure SciFi. They are SciFi soap operas in space with some occasional actions and spaceship battles.
Ive been making my way through The Next Generation for a few years but I really started getting into it after watching Strange New Worlds and then watching The Original Series after.
I never watched it so take this with a grain of salt, but one of the hosts of my favorite podcast said they really liked The Next Generation. Cool storylines and Patrick Stewart is awesome
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