For real :[ unfortunate circumstances and a very unfortunate outcome. For all the memes and lols this created, I hope he’s doing well

o7

Oh! I can’t believe I forgot Strange New Worlds. It’s a very good show and scratches the episodic exploration itch of older Treks

The Next Generation (TNG) is a great start.

My journey was TNG, Deep Space 9 (DS9), Voyager, The Original Series (TOS), the animated series, Enterprise, Discovery. Movies as you see fit

Each series is very different and has character of their own. TNG is largely unconnected episodes with a 2-parter bridging the seasons. DSN starts pretty unconnected, but gets into a overarching plot at the end. Voyager follows a main theme, but has some unconnected episodes. TOS is episodic and doesn’t have much follow up between episodes. Discovery is the latest and the most singular plot of the Star Treks (ie don’t skip episodes in it).

Note also that the term for a show to “grow a beard” came from TNG. The first season was kind of slow with some very meh episodes. Riker physically grew a beard in the second season and the show got a lot better (unrelated coincidence, but a funny connection).

One other thing is that even though I recommend TNG, remember it came out in the late 80’s. Some parts of it are slower and feel dragged out. The television show runtimes were longer back then.

Notable mentions are Galaxy Quest and Lower Decks. Both are funny on their own, but will 100% be rib-crushing hilarious only after you’ve watched a lot of Trek.