What Does Each Star Trek Series Do Best?

[Pariah]

Inspired from something I read on the Book of Face: Of the many and various iterations of Star Trek, what does each one do best? What makes each series stand out from the others?

 

Here are the various series for your consideration:

 

The Original Series: 

The Animated Series: 

The Next Generation: 

Deep Space 9:

Voyager:

Enterprise:

Discovery:

Picard: 

Lower Decks:

Prodigy: 

Strange New Worlds: 

 

If you haven't seen one or more of them, that's okay. Just say "Haven't seen it" and move on.

[Pariah]

 

My thoughts:

 

The Original Series: Spirit of adventure 

The Animated Series: Haven't seen it 

The Next Generation: Character development 

Deep Space 9: War, adversity, and loss

Voyager: Interpersonal conflict*

Enterprise: Overall aesthetic 

Discovery: Intricate story arcs

Picard: Deconstruction of the franchise and its most common tropes

Lower Decks: Haven't seen it

Prodigy: Sense of wonder 

Strange New Worlds: Optimism and hope 

 

--

* Something Roddenberry specifically didn't allow when he was running things

[Certified]

Discovery: Pissing off people who don't think Star Trek should "go woke", thus showing they didn't pay attention to the original series.

[Certified]

Alright, full answers: 

The Original Series: Set the foundations where humanity had transcended it's old isms, except for Klingons, f' those guys apparently.  

The Animated Series: Let's get weird, giant Spoke, cat people, the devil, random other gods, check, check, and check. 

The Next Generation: The realization of the concept, even if the studio wouldn't let Frakes kiss a dude and struggled with some of the writing... shut up Wesley.   

Deep Space 9: Casablanca... in Space....

Voyager: The Odyssey... in Space... also, good for Howling Mad Barkley. 

Enterprise: How you know you've got to many continuity errors? Computer end program. 

Discovery: 

 

Picard: <Sadly, haven't started watching it yet.>

Lower Decks: Oh yeah Seth, we can be funny too! Also, Easter eggs, the series, and I'm here for it. 

Prodigy: Solid intro for kids into the franchise. The second half of the season was much stronger, but many Treks struggled in their first season. 

Strange New Worlds: We've got 10 years of Pike, no time skipsies, give me 9 more seasons of that please. 

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

My $.02

 

The Original Series: Characters (only series where I liked everyone on the roster)

The Animated Series: Alien visuals (more exotic looks than TOS at last)

The Next Generation: Intricate plots (more depth and detail in many stories)

Deep Space 9: Didn't watch

Voyager: Hatred (first series I truly hated)

Enterprise: Didn't watch

Discovery: Didn't watch (yet)

Picard: Didn't watch

Lower Decks: Humor (first lol series)

Prodigy: Didn't watch (yet)

Strange New Worlds:  Didn't watch (yet, just got Paramount+ though, so on my list) 

 

Honorable mention: Galaxy Quest; Blend of humor and action and heart

Honorable mention: The Orville; New taboo topics with humor and surprisingly tight writing  

[Starlord]

Voyager - is very consistent...at being inconsistent.

[Cancer]

Only series I've seen is TOS, so I have nothing to say here.

[Bazza]

The Original Series: DW, except for first two films.

The Animated Series: DW 

The Next Generation: The Trek that got me to watch, ergo, the Trek I associate with Star Trek.  

Deep Space 9: DW

Voyager: Fun. Some episodes seems goofy now. In a sense it is a deconstruction of the elements of Trek. 

Enterprise: DW

Discovery: DW

Picard: First season 1 was good, but sold out in the last episode of season 1. 

Lower Decks: DW

Prodigy: DW

Strange New Worlds: DW

[unclevlad]

TOS:  optimism, humanism, the drive to explore

Next Gen:  gotta agree, they did more with the characters.

DS9:  cultural diversity and a richer feel, by moving away from overwhelmingly human perspective

Voyager, Discovery:  crashed and burned on their premises.  Voyager, I only saw parts of episodes from time to time, but the whole Flying Dutchman start wrecked it.  The clincher was the "replicator energy is running out!" BS.  Hated Janeway's command style.  Discovery...you're going to let MUTINY slide????  

 

Voyager basically killed any interest I might've had...well, and some of the casting choices for, say, Enterprise.  Picard?  Might check it out, but I darn sure am not gonna pay for the privilege.  (That holds true for Marvel and Star Wars stuff too.)

[Lord Liaden]

I haven't seen all the series, so I can't speak to those I haven't. Also, the initial question was to elicit opinions about what each series did "best," not necessarily exclusively. So the opinions I express are on that basis.

 

TOS was the best of the series as adventure: going to new places and discovering new things, then dealing with the challenges and threats those discoveries brought. The animated version was essentially more of the same, but with the more trans-realistic visuals possible with animation versus live action in that era.

 

TNG was the best at exploring the nature of "humanity" (not just human beings). What we want, what we value, what we believe in, and how those things often conflict and can be hard to reconcile. But the overall tone was optimistic, that human society as a whole had grown up and that ideals and principles would ultimately win out.

 

DS9 stands out as deconstructing that optimism. It excelled at showing that human society was not as ideal as it appeared on the surface, that its principles didn't always stand up to the challenges it faced, and that under enough external pressure the dark underbelly of human nature would show itself again. While so much of ST had been black and white, DS9 explored the gray.

 

Voyager was the story of castaways, a group of diverse people stranded together far from home, having to learn to trust and rely on each other to survive. It's at its best when it focuses on the story of strangers having to learn to become family.

 

The best of Enterprise arose out of exploring how the universe we were introduced to in TOS came to be. How the human race began pulling itself out of the mud it made, and reached for the stars. How the discovery of new things and people forced us to reevaluate ourselves, and broaden our understanding of our place in the greater galaxy. IMO it was a tragedy that that direction was just gaining steam when the series was cancelled.

 

Picard the series tries to springboard from the deconstruction we first saw in DS9. It depicted what the Federation had stood for as having been a lie, what its protagonists fought for as having failed. IMO it didn't do that very well, because it focused on flashy action and fancy visuals, and on nostalgia and sentimentality, versus genuine character growth and the implications of that societal change.

 

I haven't seen the other series mentioned.

[death tribble]

I did not like the Animated series as it was done by the same outfit that did Lassie's Rescue Rangers so it had the same music cues. It also had the alien with the odd neck which meant it could have been snapped so easily.

 

The Original Series introduced us to the Star Trek Universe. The ships, the uniforms and everything built from that. Without it you can't have the others. And it is the Captain doing most of the work. Something you don't realise until Next Generation.

Next Gen gave us a captain and crew where the crew did the work as well as the captain.

DS9. This gave a fixed location around which the stories revolved and different aliens to explore. Cardassians, Bajorans, Ferengi and the shape shifters. There was also the major religious element to the Bajoran culture. This has a long arc of a fixed enemy which the other Trek before it did not. Whether it was the Cardassians or Klingons or Dominion.

Voyager. Lost in Space lasting more than three seasons. The crew that did not really click. At least with me, 

Enterprise. It had Scott Bakula. Instant turn off the TV or change channel. Never saw enough to form a definitive opinion.

Discovery: Only seen the first season. Would like to see more. Different take on the established canon.

 

I have not seen Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy or Strange New Worlds. 

[Lord Liaden]

22 minutes ago, death tribble said:

I did not like the Animated series as it was done by the same outfit that did Lassie's Rescue Rangers so it had the same music cues. It also had the alien with the odd neck which meant it could have been snapped so easily.

 

 

Kind of like how the human body has easy access to most of its vital organs in the front. And its main support is a flexible column of little bones.

 

Evolution isn't always sensible.

[death tribble]

Actually I always thought this was worse.

 

Here is the page from the Startrek wiki for the character

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Arex

[DShomshak]

The Animated Series was indeed very much like the Original Series, only shorter eps. Sometimes this was good, as when actual SF writers got to write episodes or had previously published stories "Trek-ized." ("Arena" in TOS, "The Slaver Weapon" in TAS.) Sometimes just ridiculous (giant Spock in TAS, an actual duplicate Earth in TOS).

 

Next Generation was a lot more polished and skillful than the Original Series. I think its makers knew more what they were doing and succeeded at it. I do not agree with everything they wanted to do, though. To the good, they worked more at developing characters throughout the series. OTOH I was irritated by the overuse of designated unique characters: Starfleet's only android! And the only Klingon! (Okay, a half-Klingon brought in later, briefly.) Apparently the only guy to wear a super-sensor visor 'cause he's incurably blind otherwise (and a capability that was largely ignored). And a magic super-genius kid, a trope I dislike no matter where it appears.

 

And it was good that TNG tried to develop alien cultures in greater depth. A few of them. But I'm not greatly impressed by the results.

 

OTOH, for all the frequent clumsiness of TOS, with many stories that didn't make a lot of sense, or created problems for future writers ("But in Episode X they found [cool thing], why didn't they use it in Episode Y?") there were many episodes that left me wanting to see people and places again. I would have loved to see whether, and how, the Horta became part of the Federation, or what happened to the androids of Mudd's Planet, or whether the Iotians ever demanded a piece of the Federation's action. But we didn't. At least not in TNG or what I saw of DS( or a very little bit of Voyager. Maybe in subsequent series, but I don't subscribe to streaming services and never will.

 

The only character I think of offhand from TOS whom I wished had turned up again, and didn't, was Ardra, a.k.a. the Devil. But I found most of the planets and people dead boring.

 

But Q was an excellent addition to the setting, as a counter to the cloying niceness of the Organians and the holier-than-thou preachiness of the Metrons. I'm all in for a godlike super-alien who's just a petty, irritating jerk. Or pretends to be. The season finale did suggest the possibility that he had something to teach Picard, and by extension humanity -- but like a Taoist Immortal, he makes you live the lessor instead of preaching a sermon. Star Trek had an almost Gnostic aspect at times, and Q pretty much laid it out in that two-part episode.

 

(DS9 also did well at exploring other cultures, and with a bit more skill than TNG.)

 

Dean Shomshak

[Ternaugh]

TOS: The episodic nature meant that the show could tackle a variety of topics, and reset everything for the following week. Kind of like a Twilight Zone anthology with recurring characters.

TAS: Allowed some of the unused scripts for a fourth season of TOS to be used, and oddly merged in some of Larry Niven's Known Space stories with the Kzinti.

TNG: This one focused the stories on the extended cast, and the production values were noticeably higher. While the show was generally episodic, some plot points and story arcs were worked in.

DS9: The first season's atrocious, as it appeared that they only stole the basics from the treatment for B5 that JMS shopped around. It got better when they embraced their "Casablanca in space" setting.

Voyager: Lost in Space, Trek-style. Generally uneven in its storytelling, there are some occasional bright spots.

Enterprise: Probably not the greatest idea to hire someone known for starring in a time-travel show to head a Trek show that started out dealing with a temporal cold war. The stories got much better after they were canceled, and the writers felt free to do whatever they wanted. A consistent bright spot was the Andorian Captain Thy'lek Shran, played to scene-stealing perfection by Jeffrey Combs.

Discovery: Didn't watch, beyond the first episode that was available on broadcast TV.

Picard: Saw Season 1 only. There are some interesting concepts, but they are mired in a muddled storyline with some strange choices.

Lower Decks: Didn't watch.

Prodigy: Didn't watch.

Strange New Worlds: Watched the first episode (free on streaming), and found it to be trying to get the tone of TOS/TNG Trek. What I saw looked good, but I don't have Paramount+ 

[mattingly]

TOS: hope

TAS: the first Trek to win an Emmy

TNG: diversity

DS9: depth

VOY: women

ENT: retro

DIS: reinvent

PIC: nostalgia

LD: parody

PRO: surprised me with how good it is for a Nickelodeon show

SNW: made Star Trek fun again

 

 

[Starlord]

10 hours ago, DShomshak said:

The Animated Series was indeed very much like the Original Series, only shorter eps. Sometimes this was good, as when actual SF writers got to write episodes or had previously published stories "Trek-ized." ("Arena" in TOS, "The Slaver Weapon" in TAS.) Sometimes just ridiculous (giant Spock in TAS, an actual duplicate Earth in TOS).

 

Next Generation was a lot more polished and skillful than the Original Series. I think its makers knew more what they were doing and succeeded at it. I do not agree with everything they wanted to do, though. To the good, they worked more at developing characters throughout the series. OTOH I was irritated by the overuse of designated unique characters: Starfleet's only android! And the only Klingon! (Okay, a half-Klingon brought in later, briefly.) Apparently the only guy to wear a super-sensor visor 'cause he's incurably blind otherwise (and a capability that was largely ignored). And a magic super-genius kid, a trope I dislike no matter where it appears.

 

And it was good that TNG tried to develop alien cultures in greater depth. A few of them. But I'm not greatly impressed by the results.

 

OTOH, for all the frequent clumsiness of TOS, with many stories that didn't make a lot of sense, or created problems for future writers ("But in Episode X they found [cool thing], why didn't they use it in Episode Y?") there were many episodes that left me wanting to see people and places again. I would have loved to see whether, and how, the Horta became part of the Federation, or what happened to the androids of Mudd's Planet, or whether the Iotians ever demanded a piece of the Federation's action. But we didn't. At least not in TNG or what I saw of DS( or a very little bit of Voyager. Maybe in subsequent series, but I don't subscribe to streaming services and never will.

 

The only character I think of offhand from TOS whom I wished had turned up again, and didn't, was Ardra, a.k.a. the Devil. But I found most of the planets and people dead boring.

 

But Q was an excellent addition to the setting, as a counter to the cloying niceness of the Organians and the holier-than-thou preachiness of the Metrons. I'm all in for a godlike super-alien who's just a petty, irritating jerk. Or pretends to be. The season finale did suggest the possibility that he had something to teach Picard, and by extension humanity -- but like a Taoist Immortal, he makes you live the lessor instead of preaching a sermon. Star Trek had an almost Gnostic aspect at times, and Q pretty much laid it out in that two-part episode.

 

(DS9 also did well at exploring other cultures, and with a bit more skill than TNG.)

 

Dean Shomshak

 

I like that Strange New Worlds is exploring more of the Gorn culture.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Original Series: The diverse cast and intriguing often thought provoking story lines.

Animated Series: Didn't watch.

Next Gen: The Utopia we're all hoping for. A captain with actual diplomatic skill.

DS9: Greatest supporting cast of any of the shows. Ongoing continuous story arc that still is tops among the series.

Voyager: The greater exploration of the Borg.

Enterprise: Bakula as captain and a couple good episodes....and that's about it.

Discovery: Only watched the first episode. The reimagined Klingons turned me off immediately. Also, I don't want to see what happened before. I want to see what happened after the Dominion War. Leading into....

Picard: Great vehicle for Stewart's acting chops, but the time jump and destruction of Romulus are handled clumsily. 

Lower Decks: Haven't seen.

Prodigy: Haven't seen.

Strange New Worlds: Haven't seen, but as above...I want to see the future...not the past.

 

An ideal show for me would be a series that showed the immediate aftermath of the Dominion War and the rebuilding of the Alpha Quadrant....but that ship has sailed, I fear.

[Hermit]

Original Series: Fire Forged Friendship between three characters so perfectly balanced against each other they would become the ur example for decades , all that plus exploration and putting the BOLD in Boldly go.

Animated Series: A good bridge for the kids so the could get a touch of the magic of tos, also new alien species that were less human back when FX were hard to pull off.

Next Gen: I agree with others that Next Gen showed 'the idea and ideals' achieved. Some may think humans were too perfect in it, but it was nice to see Rodenberry's belief we could be and WOULD be our best realized.

DS9: The best overall arc in war time setting where we also study just what that Utopia costs us as we walk a tightrope between idealism and ruthless pragmatism. It saves the Ferangi species and makes them interesting  and bonus points for a Star Fleet Captain who doesn't hide in a corner at the notion of a family.

Voyager: Beautiful intro credits scene? Not my favorite, but I will say I loved Paris' Pulp Sci Fi programs on the holodeck! I would have totally watched a Captain Proton show!

Enterprise: Andorians! It brought us Shran, and that forgives much!

Discovery: I only saw the first episode. I didn't  like it. What's it best at? Perhaps eventually making execs realize one can go too far in deconstructing a Utopia?

Picard: Haven't seen.

Lower Decks: Only seen the first few episodes! I enjoyed though. It's probably best at poking fun at the Franchise in a playful rather than cruel manner. Of course, it's a comedy show so that's expected.

Prodigy: Saw some episodes, too slow, definitely made for kids; but a good concept for a show oddly enough. I could see a Star Hero game based on something like that.

Strange New Worlds: Haven't seen but have heard they course corrected in the best ways for the gloom, doom and dysfunction of Discovery and Picard.

 

The Orville and Galaxy Quest: The best at showing us Trek isn't just a trademarked Franchise, it's also a love of our better angels sending us striving towards a greater tomorrow.

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Yeah...Jeffrey Combs was excellent as usual as Shran. Didn't save the series as a whole for me though.

 

[Certified]

For anyone interested in the new series, here is a channel that breaks down episodes from them

 

 

[Ranxerox]

The Original Series: Adventure

The Animated Series: I watched as a child but don't remember well enough to comment

The Next Generation: Hopeful vision of the future

Deep Space 9: Ongoing story lines and moral complexity

Voyager: Didn't watch

Enterprise: Didn't watch

Discovery: Diversity and handling of emotional trauma

Picard: Nostalgia 

Lower Decks: Humor while remaining Star Trek

Prodigy: This one has lots of potential. It is extremely the cool that the entire crew is aliens.  However, it trying to attract a younger audience it dumbs itself down somewhat.  Kids are smart and that is unnecessary.

Strange New Worlds: SNW does so many things well that is hard to pick one to settle on.  Probably the best of the new Treks.

[Starlord]