I grew up an avid fan of Next Gen. Looking back, it shaped my moral code more than parents, teachers, religion, or any other source. Whenever people praise me for being level-headed and fair, thanks is really owed to Jean Luc Picard. I don't see myself as him and never really wanted to BE him, but I admired his sense of justice and passion for following his convictions.

When DS9 came out, I was very turned off. Years later, I'd heard from enough people about how great the show was that I decided to give it a second chance. While I still prefer Next Gen for its idealism and strong characterizations, I love DS9 for its story-telling. Those massive, sweeping arcs during which literally ANYTHING could happen (even main characters dying, or the good guys losing the station for a chunk of the season!), it was impressive. And that supporting cast and roster of villains was so rich. Was there EVER a villain as great as Dukat; the bad guy who could do terrible things because he was the hero in his own mind and, as his own villainy became more and more apparent, worked even more desperately and savagely to prove to himself that he was in the right? Plus that "The Visitor" episode always brings me to tears more than any sad song or touching film. It's beautiful.

I actively dislike Voyager. I think Kate Mulgrew was wrong for the part, and the show tried way too hard with characters like Neelix and Tuvok. They were uni-dimensional caricatures. I watched the entire first season and then checked in occasionally after that to see if the show got any better. The addition of the thoroughly bastardized movie version of The Borg did not help my impression. I watched the final episode and decided that I really would have liked Janeway if someone else had played her (and no, probably not Geneviève Bujold).

I've tried hard with Enterprise. I've watched two and a half seasons thus far. The end of the first season rocked my world, but everything before and after has been..."okay." I neither like it enough to press on firmly nor dislike it enough to give up on it.

Regarding the original series, I really like the ideas, and the character interplay was strong, but it's really hard to fully accept TOS when you entered with the later shows. Somehow, that ship seems far less expansive; the cast far more limited. It really feels like a crew of six cruising around in a bridge and cramped hallway behind it, beaming down to the same rocky surface each week. Still, there were GREAT episodes and fantastic villains. I enjoy the animated series because I think it lifts a lot of the limitations I perceive in the original series.

As for the films, I love the original Motion Picture, like Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country, am ambivalent towards Search for Spock, and loathe both the Voyage Home and the Final Frontier.

Next Generation films? What Next Generation films? I don't know what you are talking about and am bound to turn violent if you threaten my delusion.

I tolerated the first JJ Abrahms film. It was amusing but light on substance. I loved Into Darkness, and yet I agree with most of the criticisms launched at it. Inter-galactic transporter beam? A cure for death? Yeah, it was silly, but it was powerful too and gave the new Kirk character a lot more meat this time around. I bought him as a Captain and hero for the first time.

As for other media..

the old cartoon is fun.. it's very much in the correct spirit of TOS, with a bit of a Scooby-Doo/psycadelic spin.

The comics are extremely hit and miss, you can't go wrong with PAD... otherwise, it really varies alot. I enjoyed the 'Early Voyages' series from when Marvel had the license.. it was Capt. Pike and his crew. The current IDW stuff is based on the movie-universe.. it's OK, but not great. I dropped it for a while, and just started to pick it back up, the current storyline has Q (the real Q, not an alternate version), starring, so I'll certainly in for that.

I'm a long-time Star Trek fan. Started with TOS as kid when it was in syndication. The special effects were cheesy and dated even by 1980s standards, and the action sequences were pretty lame (I got into kung fu and ninja movies not long after which were way better for fight scenes), but the appeal (at least for me) was never about that. I liked the fact that the show was more about ideas. Later when TNG started, it took me a while to get into it. Season 1 was uneven, and I thought it was trying a little too hard to make sure we remembered that it was a sequel to TOS -- cameo by Dr. McCoy, a re-hash of an old TOS episode (The Naked Now), and a very obvious Spock replacement in Data. But later seasons definitely improved. The cliffhanger at the end of season 3 (Best of Both Worlds) left me slack-jawed.

In spite of my long-time love for Star Trek, I've never really watched any of DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise. One of these days I might sit down and give those a viewing. I've enjoyed most of the films to varying degrees, though I generally find that the odd-even rule pretty much holds up (excepting Nemesis).

I have some mixed feelings on the reboot films. On the one hand, I found them to be entertaining, and I'm glad that they are successful enough to ensure that Star Trek will continue to have a future. On the other hand, they seem to be more like space opera action films dressed up in the trappings of Star Trek. For me, Star Trek was all about the ideas and issues, and the new movies just seem like an excuse to have lots of CG and blow things up in an attempt to appeal more to the mainstream crowd. Sure, you could level that criticism against some of the other films (First Contact comes to mind), but at least they had their foundations in a TV series that retained that more thoughtful base. The new movies don't have that foundation, and while I do enjoy them, I think that something has been lost in the translation.

I neglected to mention the print incarnations of Trek I've enjoyed. I've read scattered books from the TOS and Next Gen series and generally enjoyed them. "Ghost Ship" from Next Gen left the strongest impression on me, as it was full of intriguing ideas, especially as Picard enters a sensory depravation chamber in order to communicate with ghosts.

But the books I've enjoyed the most have been the Deep Space Nine relaunch -- a series of meticulously edited books designed to function as Season Nine to the series. It uses the final episode as an opportunity to ditch familiar cast members and bring in new characters who, often enough, are more intriguing than their predecessors, as well as further develop the original characters who stick around. Kira is absolutely at her best in this series, forced to take command in the wake of losing both her commanding officer and religious prophet to uncertainty -- never sure he's coming back. The writing is solid, the stories fantastic, and the new characters brilliant (even the ones who die early on. One, in particular, becomes more memorable in death than he/she ever was while still alive).

If you want to give the series a try, first understand that you MUST have watched the DS9 TV series, and especially the series finale. A lot of this won't make sense without it. That being said, the link I'm about to post recommends beginning with several books that were not part of the relaunch but were later referenced by books within the relaunch. I skipped them entirely and began with Avatar. I'm six books in and about to begin the Mission Gama series.

Here's the full reading order: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ds9_relaunch#Books


Comic-wise, I enjoyed the original Marvel comic series quite a bit. It depicts an era of Trek that's otherwise skipped over (the year following the original film, which had a very different feel than Wrath of Khan and what followed). I found the stories somewhat forgettable, but I liked the treatment overall.

Beyond that, all I've read were the Wildstorm DS9 comics (terrible) and the first issue of the Malibu DS9 series (surprisingly authentic, especially the art).

Has anyone checked out John Byrne's STAR TREK: TOS photo-comics? I think there have been two so far.

Yeah. I remember seeing sample images and thinking "Anyone (I mean ANYONE) could have done that, but most would have just thrown it up on the internet for all to enjoy freely. Only Byrne tries to get paid for it and labelled as some kind of innovator for doing so.

Star Trek is my second favorite sci-fi franchise after Star Wars. I started in the mid 1970s with the Classic series on Sunday night on the local PBS station. It was shown without commercial interruption and then there was a call in part of the show to discuss the episode when it was over. Then Dr. Who came on and I fell asleep. The show then moved to a local station on Sunday after the 10 o' clock news where I watched it for the next two decades.

I saw Next Generation right from the beginning in syndication and it would go on to be one of my favorite tv dramas of all time. As a weekly series I like it even more than the Classic series, but the movies weren't as good. Jean Luc Picard is my favorite of all the captains and Data is near the top of my favorite Trek characters too. I even like Wesley.

Deep Space Nine is my third favorite series and I watched it from the beginning. I prefer the first part of the series before the Dominion War. "The Visitor" may be the best Trek episode ever.

Voyager was the first Trek series I quit watching. 'Nuff Said.

I quit watching Enterprise as well. However, I have since finished it with Netflix rentals. It does pick up quite a bit in the last season and is my fourth favorite series of the five.

The first new Trek movie was all right, but the second ticked off every box that I didn't want to see from the second movie.

I missed the animated series in its first run, but I have watched it on DVD. It was quite satisfactory and was a good follow up to the Classic series.

I have virtually no Trek comics at all, because I really liked the books and they were consistently a better value. It's been well over a decade since I bought a Star Trek novel though, so I may have to look at some comics.