Hi there. A friend of mine wants to get into Star Trek (finally, yay). She asked me which series would be a good start since she loves binge watching. I honestly couldn’t say. My favourites are VOY, ENT S1/S2 & SNW, but I’m a big fan of all series and watched them so many times back to back (with the exception of DIS & PIC - only once and never again). So, instead I thought we could watch the top 3 episodes of each series and then she can pick one to start watching the entire thing. Let me hear your top 3 episodes of one or several series. Just keep in mind she doesn’t know any of the lore yet. I’m really looking forward to see your takes.
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“Data’s Day” is actually a pretty great one to get someone into TNG, it’s fun, but most importantly, Data is essentially walking around introducing all of the main characters to the audience.
I typically recommend starting with TNG in general (I used to say because it was “modern” 😭) as it naturally leads into DS9 and VOY. That said if your friend doesn’t typically watch older shows but is open to them, then just starting with SNW or ENT is an excellent intro to the rest of Trek.
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Happy to help! I would love it if you report back, we used to get 100 “How do I get a friend into Trek” posts/day on /r/StarTrek but very few follow ups on if it stuck!
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TOS: Balance of Terror, The Doomsday Machine, City on the Edge of Forever
TNG: The Measure of a Man, Yesterday’s Enterprise, Deja Q
DS9: Progress, Duet, Trials and Tribbleations
VOY: Body and Soul, Year of Hell, Tuvix
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When Jeri Ryan eats cheesecake for the ‘first time’ it gives me the giggles for the rest of the day.
Trials and Tribblestions isn’t a good newbie episode because without context from the original series it doesn’t make any sense.
Specifically for a new viewer who wants 3 shows that would be different and enjoyable:
TNG:
The Inner Light, Cause and Effect, Lower Decks
DS9:
Duet, The Visitor, Trials and Tribbleations
- The Inner Light
- The Visitor
Welcome to Star Trek! We cry here.
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If I only had one chance to introduce someone to Star Trek, I’d chose the TNG double feature Chain of Command. It’s simply one/two of the best episodes Star Trek has to offer.
On the flip side, don’t choose any of the Ferengi episodes. They are just unnecessary comic relief in my opinion.
The other good thing about Chain of Command is it gives important context for DS9 without having to stare at scrolling text.
TNG and DS9 are the only two series that I really know well enough to make these recommendations for.
I would highly recommend watching TNG before DS9, even if she likes DS9 better. TNG and DS9 work best as companion shows, with TNG building up a lot of DS9 plot-lines in its latter seasons. I would also highly recommend against starting with any episodes involving Q or the Borg, or any of the series “highlights”. Let those plots build, and you don’t want to spoil some of the best episodes in a sampler. My go-to TNG introduction picks are:
-Cause and Effect
-Darmok
-Measure of a Man
DS9 can be harder to pick introductory episodes for. Its more serialized nature means that a lot of later episodes have a lot of spoilers. I would highly recommend against picking any episodes that highly involve the Dominion or the Dominion War, let that plot build itself up. That does however, leave us with a lot fewer options. My DS9 introduction picks are:
-Duet
-Past Tense
-Bar Association
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