The latest buzz in the Star Trek community is the casting of the upcoming Star Trek feature film - Star Trek XI. We’ve already got word that Zachary Quinto will be playing Young Spock. Also, today SciFiChick.com announced the casting of Chris Pine as Captain Kirk. We also have word that Eric Bana has been confirmed as the first villain in the movie.
But, let’s take a moment to step back and remember the history of Star Trek. And, most importantly what is the best Star Trek TV series of all time? Ok, so up for debate are:
- The Original Series (1966–1969)
- The Animated Series (1973–1974)
- The Next Generation (1987–1994)
- Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)
- Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)
- Enterprise (2001–2005)
The Bag Man is going with “The Next Generation.” Honestly, why did they have to end the series so early? It was at the peak of its popularity, and far from becoming hackneyed in any way. Better to go out strong, than to finish on cancellation block.
Coming it at a strong two, is the Original Series. Typically, you can’t beat the original. The Original Series gets kudos for being the only one to be ported over to animation. Also, it’s the only series where most characters had catch phrases reiterated through several decades. Who could forget Spock saying the word “Logical.” Scotty would call for “More Power.” And, Dr. McCoy always yelled at Spock or Jim, saying “Dammit Jim, I’m a Doctor, not a” host of other things.
But, “The Next Generation” really solidified as a timeless franchise. And hey, it also introduced Worf, the first Klingon to make it on Starfleet.
“Deep Space Nine,” ehh, if forced to choose, it would be number 3. The series had a lot of potential, but didn’t really pick up until later in the series.
After “Deep Space Nine,” the debate really begins to dwindle. When the Bag Man first watched “Star Trek: Voyager,” all he could think was, “Wait, they ended The Next Generation for this?” Maybe there’s some bias here, but the only redeeming quality of “Voyager” was the infrequent appearances by Next Generation characters. They tried to isolate the series from familiar races like the Borg, Romulans and Klingons only to bring them all on board later.
What’s your opinion?
Ranking, from best to worst:
1. TOS
2. DS9
3. TNG
4. ENT
5. VOY
Voyager, despite a few really fun episodes, did almost nothing with it’s great premise. Supplies were bountiful, the crews were automatically merged, and the characters lacked any lasting development, even after weak character development episodes. Also, the special effects on voyager seemed cut and paste, with little in the way of truly exciting sequences. Voyager was a series with little of the over-arching, developing plot that its setup demanded. Janeway was also the weakest captain, with more emotional empathy than necessary.
Enterprise was a runt that tried as hard as it could. Despite the fact that the first and second seasons were riddled with weak episodes, the third season really gave it a solid direction, and the characters became much more real, as did the world we were expected to believe in. Archer became a stronger captain as the series progressed, and offered a nice version of what one of the first extended mission starfleet captains might have been.
The Next Generation was, despite people’s apparently spotty memories or overindulgence in nostalgia, not the great series that is usually drooled over. It didn’t hit its stride until the later seasons, and often threw a whole bunch of clunky episodes out for every outstanding one. That said, it had some absolutely brilliant moments, and occasionally decent character development. Wesley Crusher, however, definitely needed to be crushed. Picard was a very good captain, who between his character development and ability to navigate perilous political situations, puts him in second place for the title of best captain.
Deep Space Nine was difficult to place in second because it was so damn strong, but we’ll get to that reasoning in a moment. DS9 featured the strongest character development, best plots, most exciting action sequences, and top notch theme exploration. While a little slow in the first season, it then rockets to greatness. Sisko is a fantastic character who, like others in the series, does not have the luxury of moral absolutes, and acts accordingly (something Janeway should have been doing A LOT more). Unfortunately, the deus-ex machina portion of the plot involving the wormhole was a little too contrived (problems with narrative matter a lot more when it is so strongly tied to the enjoyment of the show), and there were some really throw-away episodes, such as the parallel universe group (I winced every time another one came on).
The Original Series, however, ultimately wins out at number one. First off, Kirk is the best captain by a long shot. He’s decisive, a good manager, and committed to ideals while still realistic. Spock, is, well, Spock. Bones and Scotty and so on and so forth– they’re all classic characters who felt more real than their followers (maybe excepting DS9). The special effects aren’t incredible, but that’s not the point of Star Trek. The point is ideas and the imagination. Adventure and curiosity. Those are the things that TOS excelled in. This was a thinking man’s series, that took exciting or curious situations and really developed them. It was gutsy too, like when it featured the first inter-racial kiss on scripted TV, or when it made specific commentaries about political issues. Only DS9 has had the balls to be as upfront and challenging in the way it handles issues. It lacked a serialized plot, but the strength of so many episodes largely makes up for that, as does the perception of the team that the show would be canceled. The Original series wins for it’s vision and intellectual execution, for it’s singular style that started it all and showed the way.
(1) Enterprise: because it is in widescreen and HD quality. The show was best at season 3…during the 4th season they knew it was ending for the upn/wb switch to CWTV..it sucked they had to rush to end the series, but at least they kept Smallville along with the switch though! There were no other space tv series really on tv. It was a bad move to cancel show. TuPaul was the effin’ Hottest Vulcan ever too!! Characters had more to them and were enjoyable to watch ~ even the bloopers. Times were just bad…9/11 I believe affected a lot of that. Like Enterprise and Smallville, I didn’t catch up to the show until 2004-2005 that would be when the 5th seasons would start, So most people missed out on shows during running time and dang, sad to hear that Johnathan Archer didn’t make it! Consider it a long movie, that actually ended well!
(2) Next Generation - the show was awesome, plus the movies were even better!
(3) the original ~ it started it all!
(4) Deep Space Nine ~ when Deep Space Nine came out I guess that attracted more black viewers ~ and it was the right time for a new captain..but something was off in that show ~ so it didn’t appeal to me much, but a few episodes.
(5) I have only seen clips of the animated show…but compared to my last choice..this gets 5th.
(6) Voyager ~ the female captain didn’t do much for me…I am watching right now on TV..and to me the acting is terrible and over done…Pretty much Ds9 & voyager were spin offs from Next Generation..which lacked creativity because the sets, uniforms, and colors were all the same. If they made in widescreen..maybe it wouldn’t look so cheesy.
Opinion of a 13 year old:
1. Enterprise
2. Tos
3. TNG
4.Voyager
5. Ds9
6. Tas
I don’t think many people are going to agree with my opinions but that’s fine. I really love Star Trek all around, if a kid was making fun of me for something saying “If you love it so much, why don’t you marry it?” it would either be Star Trek or ice cream. That being said, here is my list:
1. TNG/Voyager- Can’t really decide between the two. For me, Star Trek is all about the characters, and these two have the most lovable characters in my opinion.
3. DS9- Never watched it very much but I have enjoyed watching it. Some interesting characters and political developments.
4. Enterprise- Not as bad as anyone says. I’ve been watching it lately and it has interesting stories, even if they don’t make much sense with the other series.
5. TOS- It’s not that I don’t like it, but it is just too cheesy and I would rather watch more modern versions of the future.
I love all the treks (enterprise doesn’t count…blech), so to me a comparison is pretty useless — I enjoy them all!
Buuuut, if I HAAAAAD to rank them, it would be:
1. TOS
2. Voyager
3. TNG
4. DS9
1. TNG - timeless, full of characters you love
2. D29- some pretty original plot lines but the acting wasn’t as crisp
3. Original
4. Voyager
I prefer TNG, the first seasons of DS9 were crap, but later they got awesome.I hated Voyager. And Star Trek was unintresting to me. So here’s my list
1. TNG
2. DS9
3. Enterprise
4. Star Trek
5. Voyager
This is a tough question, but to rank them in order, I’d have to say:
1) Star Trek: Deep Space 9- It is slow going early on, but it does feature an intergalactic war. As well as one of the best atmospheres of any Trek series- there is a reason this show won awards for use of makeup. Bringing in Worf and O’Brien was awesome. O’Brien, as he was nearly doomed to second rate character status until DS9 came around, and Worf developed even further and was good to have around. Not to mention Odo and Quark were both fascinating and very humorous at times. Also, the coolest ship in the series- the Defiant, is introduced.
2) Star Trek: The Next Generation- Phenomenal series in every respect with the best Captain of any Trek series, period. Definitely a more family-oriented show than DS9, with a bit more moral guidance largely due to Picard and the crew’s heightened insight. Some supporting cast were great, as well. Riker wasn’t particularly compelling, and the Crushers were annoying… sometimes Troi as well. But Geordi, Data and Worf were all pretty awesome characters.
3) Star Trek: Enterprise- I know some fans may want to crucify me for this one, especially rating it above The Original Series, but I think that it was sad this series was so unappreciated. It has a lot of parallels with the original series. (like the fact it was prematurely canceled) Namely how the most interesting characters are the Doctor (McCoy and Phlox), the Captains (Kirk and Archer), and the First Officers. (Spock and T’Pol- both Vulcans) I read someone call the show “unwatchable.” I certainly enjoyed it. The series ending was largely unsatisfying, though, and even downright sad. A lot of it has to do with the unfortunate death of the series. (paralleled by the death of a major character)
4) Star Trek- A great show. Groundbreaking. Unfortunately, some of the stories could be downright ridiculous and campy. There wasn’t the technical ability to do some of the things they could do in later shows. The first movie was pretty so-so, but the rest were quite good. Spock is one of the coolest characters ever created.
5) Star Trek: Voyager- The worst series, I think. For some reason there wasn’t anything particularly compelling about Voyager. It’s tone could have been a bit darker considering what the crew was facing. One of the redeeming qualities of the show, Seven of Nine doesn’t even come into the series until later. The ending was pretty decent, but there was a lot of drag on the series, even with pretty interesting characters like Paris, Torres and Chakotay.
Next Gen is the best for me, followed by DS9
But I enjoyed them all, really.
I almost didnt watch any Star Trek Series until… when I saw my sister watching Star Trek Voyager. I know TNG was the most popular, but for non-fans of Star Trek, like me…. I love Voyager. The story line was great. And Seven of Nine’s famous lines are probably worth publishing!
““Deep Space Nine,” ehh, if forced to choose, it would be number 3. The series had a lot of potential, but didn’t really pick up until later in the series. ”
Thats not a very convincing arguement from the guy who says TNG was the best series. The scripts and storylines for the first few series of TNG were awful and the acting was laughable and left a lot to be desired. TNG didnt get good until a few series in and even then the acting was still just awful in every respect! The actors behaved like they were made of cardboard and were just reading auto-ques.
Now compare that to DS9 which had great storylines and acting from the off and once the Dominion storyline hit, it just improved again. Just compared the acting of O’brian and Worf from the TNG to DS9 and their ability as actors was far superiour inn DS9 because the material they had made sense and gave them something to work on.
And dude… you seriously need to sort out your website because the font sizes are completely messed up when commenting. Ive had to write this in notepad first and then copy and paste it in.
DS9 had the best character development and storylines…it wins hands down. Sure, it has probably the worst Captain out of all of them, but it more than made up for it elsewhere. The ending caused major depression.
TOS comes in a close second on a strong cast and movie franchise.
Voyager was solid all around, with the best ending in my opinion.
TNG was mostly utopian PC crap. I’ll never understand why it did so well, or at least why it did better than its spawn(besides Enterprise). It did have the PERFECT ending, however.
Enterprise was unwatchable, even though it had the most storyline potential going in.
I have to say my favourite series was DS9. I like the stories surround each character, how you get to see space battles beyond the likes you ever saw before. And I loved Garak, he was such a cool character.
Now, while I am not officially a Trekkie (I love Star Trek but I don’t think I am uber enough of a fan to be given that title), I’d have to say that the original and Next Generation were my favorites. It’s a close call between them. I love Patrick Stewart but William Shatner is great too.. It always seems to come down to the ‘ol who made a better captain debate: Picard or Kirk? Decisions, decisions!
Enterprise and Voyager both got bad wraps. I noticed, amongst my Trekkie friends, that Deep Space Nine seemed to be more well-received.. The later series definitely had the sex appeal as tie breakers. The abomination that shall be unnamed right now wasn’t all that terrible. I mean, Scott Bakula was the star.. How can you go wrong? Plus the Vulcan was kinda cute - HURRAY for alien boobies!
…Hey, someone had to have to gull to say it! =oD
P.S. The better questions for hardcore Trekkies may look like this: Which captains were the best (rank them in order)? Which crews were the most memorable (I think TNG gets my vote there - the dude from Reading Rainbow was there, FPS)? Which series offered the most tech-geek factors? The last question appeals to me because, as a game developer and avid gamer with a strong affinity to sci-fi and fantasy content, it is the little details that really make imaginary worlds come to life!!
My favorite is Next Gen, no contest. It’s what I grew up watching, so it helped kindle my love for science fiction. The cast worked together so well, and the writing… none of the other incarnations even compare to that level of quality, in my opinion. I can still sit down and watch reruns of any episode of Next Gen. I can’t say that of the other series. Once was enough.
the original series FTW!
What’s Enterprise? I thought the line died after DSN and Voyager. I never got into Voyager. Thought TNG was the best. Oh, I hated the Animated Series.
The Original series. Then a tie for Deep Space Nine and Next Generation. Uhura represented. Why did the only two black people on the Enterprise (TNG) Geordi La Forge and Worf have messed up faces? One was blind the other had to be a Klingon with a squiggle in the middle of his head.
Props go to the Original Series all day for having the first interracial kiss on network television
Deep Space Nine was a cool series. It wasn’t the Next Generation but it was definitely worth watching. I’m all about the Original as well.