Star Trek Viewing Order + Other Questions [duplicate]

Question

I am interested in watching Star Trek and have a few questions about doing so. Firstly, I have never watched anything with an 'old' feel to it. For some reason I just can't get into them but I hope that's not the case with Star Trek.

I have seen the first 10 minutes of 'Star Trek: The Original Series' and it was too much to for me. Is it possible to skip this series?

This order has been recommended but not sure if it's good:

• Star Trek Films 1 through 6
• Star Trek: The Next Generation
• Star Trek Film 7
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek Films 8 through 10
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Star Trek: Enterprise

Also do the new movies have any significant relationship with any of these previous TV series/movies? So is it possible to watch them without watching any of the rest? It seems like a completely new canon so not sure.

Answer 1

Since other questions have already given us answers on what to go with a full viewing order in mind, I'm going to focus on the other aspect of your question: Whether you can skip TOS (and since the other two questions are pretty through in every other regard, I'd suggest editing your question to focus on that anyway).

It is entirely acceptable to skip TOS

TOS is set in a time long before most Star Trek series - a long enough time that most of the characters you would encounter in TOS are long gone by TNG times. What's more, the TV series, as well as the movies, are made to be stand-alone entities, so no prior knowledge of the series is required to enjoy them.

If you want to skip the TOS movies, simply skip past the numbered ones (I through VI) and start with Generations. Though with that being said...

But...

Skipping TOS is going to leave you out on a number of references to the original series. And that may strongly impact how much you enjoy those references. To name a few:

• Star Trek: Generations - The movie is mostly about TNG and its crew, but features the TOS crew prominently, and without any knowledge of their exploits, it may be less enjoyable for you.
• TNG - Several episodes feature characters that are either from TOS or related to characters from TOS. Doctor McCoy from TOS appears in the very first TNG episdoe, Spock's dad Sarek has an entire episode named after him (though even just knowing he's Spock's dad is enough to enjoy that particular episode), Scotty shows up for an entire episode and his history as an engineer is the whole focus of said episode, and Spock shows up for a two-parter. Not knowing anything about these characters will make these references less enjoyable.
• DS9 - It's a fairly significant spoiler, but there is one episode in particular that very prominently references TOS.
• Voyager - George Takei appears in the episode "Flashback" (thank you, Jason Baker)
• ENT - What? Sorry I don't know that one. (cough cough)

In short, while you aren't going to lose any possible enjoyment you might get from a Star Trek series by skipping TOS, you WILL be missing out on every reference they make to it. And while they aren't constant, there are a few cases where knowing the original series can help you enjoy those episodes immensely more.

Edit:

I would, however, recommend watching at least an episode or two of the TV series before getting into the movies directly related to the TV series. You'll be a bit more out-in-the-cold if you don't already know the cast. Likewise, even the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies are a bit more enjoyable (Or less, depending on who you ask) after having experienced TOS.

Answer 2

I'm not going to address viewing order, since that's covered in this question, which I believe is where you got your list from. Instead I'm going to address your other questions.

Can you skip TOS?

I'm probably going to upset a lot of Trekkies, but in my opinion you probably can. There are a handful of guest appearances of TOS actors in later series, but I think you'll get all the background on them you need by watching the early movies. The list of appearances are¹:

• DeForest Kelley (Bones McCoy) has a brief cameo in the first TNG episode, Encounter at Farpoint (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarek_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation))
• James Doohan (Scotty) appears in the TNG episode Relics
• Leonard Nimoy (Spock) has a significant role in the TNG two-parter Unification
• George Takei (Sulu) appears in the Voyager episode Flashback
• The Deep Space 9 episode *Trials and Tribble-ations has extended sequences where that show's cast interact with footage from TOS episodes The Trouble With Tribbles and Mirror Mirror
• William Shatner (Kirk), James Doohan (Scotty), and Walter Koenig (Chekhov) all appear in the opening scenes of the first TNG movie, Star Trek: Generations. Shatner becomes a minor character in later scenes.

However, I don't recommend skipping all of TOS. Although the early episodes can be pretty dry, the last half of season 1 and nearly all of season 2, are excellent. I would at least recommend watching Space Seed, which sets up the movie Wrath of Khan, The City on the Edge of Forever, Amok Time, and The Trouble With Tribbles. Zibboz also recommends A Piece of the Action, which is definitely one of Shatner's better performances and helps motivate the Prime Directive that becomes central to so many TNG plots.

Do the new movies have any significant relationship with previous series/movies?

There are some character crossovers and references. I already mentioned Kirk, Scotty, and Chekhov appearing in Generations, but there are a few others:

• Worf's introduction in First Contact (The 8th movie) doesn't make a lot of sense unless you've seen at least the start of Season 4 of Deep Space 9
• Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway from Voyager) has a cameo in Nemesis (The 10th movie)

There are also occasional references in those movies to things that happen in DS9 (Like the Dominion Wars), and references in the shows to things that happen in the movies (What springs to mind: Worf's introduction in DS9 references the destruction of the Enterprise-D in Generations), but those shouldn't hamper your enjoyment of either.

One major exception is that the Enterprise season 2 episode Regeneration is pretty much a direct sequel to First Contact, the 8th film. The episode is perfectly serviceable if you're unfamiliar with the film, but you need to ignore some significant plot questions that the episode doesn't answer.

In general, I find that you can fit the movies in anywhere. The new movies deal with the TNG main cast, were all made after TNG was cancelled, and don't have much overlap with later series. They're pretty standalone.

I can't resist making one comment on your suggested viewing order. In my opinion, the premise of Voyager doesn't make a lot of sense without watching a good bit of DS9. Although the Maquis are introduced in TNG, their story gets a lot of treatment in DS9, and understanding the tension between the Maquis and the Federation makes watching several Voyager episodes (Especially the early ones) much less confusing.

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¹ There are lots more, but they're mostly TOS guest actors who reprise their roles in later series. I'm only focusing on the TOS main cast here