What "third generation" Trek is worth watching?
What "third generation" Trek is worth watching?
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.
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I know that not exactly everyone shares this, but my opinion of 3rd gen Trek is the same opinion I have of 2nd gen - The individual show needs some time to figure itself out.
TNG season 1 as a whole is some of the worst storytelling I've seen, but by the time the third season rolls around, you have the characters fleshed out, the world has grown and changed and come into its own, and it all comes together (for me) in Best of Both Worlds. This same type of thinking can also apply to Deep Space Nice and Voyager (both of which I liked overall). Deep Space Nine was a show that wanted to tell longer form stories in a central location, while the producers wanted the more familiar Trek approach that I describe as "Visit a new planet every week". This affected the first few seasons and stunted its growth - until Voyager started, and gave the producer that outlet they were looking for. This allowed DSN to figure itself out and eventually developed into the Dominion War storyline. Voyager, similarly, had its own issues figuring itself out. They had a great starting idea of a starfleet vessel without the support of starfleet, but had weird initial ideas that didnt work right, like banjoman or the Kazon (I read once that the kazon were supposed to be inspired and based more off inner-city gangs of LA. That sounds like an intriguing idea, but I find it difficult to execute with middle-aged actors and under the premise of a space ship constantly traveling in the same direction away. A failed idea). Enterprise, also needed to find its identity - starting with odd semi-canon-breaking encounters with species like the Ferengi, but found some decent stories once they allowed themselves multi-episode stories. Its a shame they never got around to the Romulan war, but perhaps that's not off the table.
With the third generation of Trek, a lot of it is still in its infancy. Discovery , being the oldest of the group, has gone through a lot of change. Starting as a prequel to the original series, they also had their share of weird semi-canon-breaking encounters (or odd retroactive changes) with the Klingons. Discovery seems to really like the overarching season plotline, but figured out a way to make the B-plot into what I would call an attempt at classic trek (an ethical dilemma with a foreign culture/Space is dangerous and they need to technobabble their way out/something based on actual science as a semi-thought experiment). I know not everyone agrees, but it's my opinion, and I will continue to watch it. Picard started by continuing lingering plotlines from the 2nd generation, as well a one from the JJ Abrams movies. I'll be honest, I watched the first episode and decided to skip it until I heard about how good the 3rd season is, which I liked, but didnt think was perfect. Lower Decks, takes a different approach. I feel like they took a few characters' personalities from all of star trek, made them into new characters, and plopped them into a more relaxed/cartoony world, which took me a while to adjust to. To use other shows as metaphors, The first season started off like a ripoff of Rick and Morty(not in a good way), but by the time it ends, I feel its more taking inspiration from something like Futurama (in a good way). The following seasons confirmed that thought for me, and I watch it when I can. Strange New Worlds (Which I have not watched any of the second season yet), in contrast to Discovery, has gone hard into the "Visit a new planet every week" type of story. I feel the big difference between TOS and SNW's writing, though, is that SNW still feels more connected to the lore built up over the years.Prodigy, which has its own drama right now, has an interesting idea and I'm afraid that it wont be fleshed out with its cancellation. Ultimately I feel like the 3rd generation of Trek really tries to iterate every year into something "better". So it just depends on what you like.
And to sum it all up, I think the 3rd generation has some great stuff. Just give it as much time and patience as you would for TNG to go from the first season to what you would consider "good", and youll find something you like