I’ve been wanting to get into Star Trek, but I’m not sure the best place to start. I’m sure there’s a wide range of opinions.
Some shows ‘get good after season 1’. I’m a little worried that I’ll end up picking a star trek show with a weak start and then dropping it before the parts people actually like. I vaguely remember reading these sort of comments about TNG.
I have long held that Season 5, Episode 2 of The Next Generation is the best episode to “test” if you’ll like Star Trek or not. It is a generally well-liked and well-reviewed episode, but more than that, I feel that from both a story and a character standpoint it is representative of what your average Star Trek episode is generally about.
Darmok is an excellent choice.
I watched this episode and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation.
I’m glad you liked it! From here on out I would just say watch The Next Generation. If you find that you’re struggling in seasons one and two, I recommend you skip around using the IMDB ratings. The good episodes in these seasons are few and far between, but are easy to spot by their score.
Once you get to season 3 the show has found it’s voice: the the average episode is pretty good and the terrible episodes are mostly behind you. Mostly.