forget literacy, it's star trek time!

I've never considered myself that much of a Star Trek fan.

*wait for laughter*

I am the biggest Star Trek fan I know, but that's different. The reason I feel I'm not much of a fan isn't because I don't like Star Trek that much, it's because I DON'T feel that Star Trek is the most important show to ever air on television. I DON'T feel that Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future is really a good template to base society on. I DON'T feel that just about any Star Trek fight scene can legitimately be considered a believable fight scene.

I love Star Trek. A lot. It's just that there are too many other movies and tv shows that have a higher priority. So I am a fan. I'm just not much of one. A true Star Trek fan is far more zealous than I.

Strangely, however, I've noticed that Star Trek has been coming up in my life an awful lot lately besides my latest Halloween stint. I'm wondering if perhaps the ghost of Roddenberry is calling me to duty to become more of a fan than I actually am. I've noticed that every time I go to Las Vegas I pick up something from the Star Trek Store at the Hilton. Lately some of my podcast listening has been determined by Star Trek. The man behind Lost, another one of my intense pleasures, is colliding worlds and making the next Star Trek film. But definitely, the biggest, strangest event is my good friend J.R. telling me that he's going to actually give Star Trek a shot.

J.R., perhaps needing an escape from the island paradise he lives on, has put ALL Star Trek series and movies into his Netflix queue (read his post here). He's asked me to tell him what chronological order to watch everything in. I don't actually recommend doing that for reasons I'll discuss later, but if someone does decide to do it that way, I'll provide it. I'll also provide my simplified suggestion. Both are for anyone else attempting such a brave stunt.

First, if you actually want to watch everything chronologically in the Star Trek universe you must do it in the following order (which i actually DON'T recommend):

1. Star Trek: ENTERPRISE (all seasons)
2. The upcoming movie from J.J. Abrams
3. Star Trek: The Original Series (all seasons)
4. Star Trek: The Animated Series (all seasons)
5. Star Trek movies 1-6
6. Star Trek: The Next Generation seasons 1-the first half of Season 6
7. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Season 1
8. The Next Generation second half of season 6 to the end of the series
9. Deep Space 9 Season 2
10. Star Trek: Generations
11. Deep Space 9 Season 3
12. Star Trek: Voyager Season 1
13. Deep Space 9 Season 4
14. Voyager Season 2
15. Star Trek: First Contact
16. Voyager first half of Season 3
17. Deep Space 9 Season 5
18. Voyager second half of Season 3
19. Voyager Season 4
20. Deep Space 9 Season 6
21. Star Trek: Insurrection
22. Deep Space 9 Season 7
23. Voyager Seasons 5-7
24. Star Trek: Nemesis

The reason I wouldn't do it this way is because I haven't even seen a whole episode of Enterprise. I hear it sucks really bad and I don't want anyone to get an immediate bad taste. In fact here's a rough breakdown of how many episodes and movies I've actually seen:

movies: 100%
The Original Series: 80%
The Animated Series: 0%
The Next Generation: 90%
Deep Space 9: 20%
Voyager: 10%
Enterprise: 1%

I'd just recommend watching them in the order they were actually made. That's how people seem to have become Star Trek Fans.
That roughly means watching in the following order (ROUGHLY):
1. The Original Series
2. The Animated Series
3. The first six movies
4. Next Generation
5. Generations
6. Deep Space 9
7. First Contact
8. Insurrection
9. Voyager
10. Nemesis

I know watching them out of order isn't something you'd like to do, J.R., but I think it would be more pleasurable. They may all take place at different points in time, but I think they were all written around the fact that viewers would be familiar with things that actually take place "later" (sort of like the Star Wars movies I suppose). Plus, the original series and Next Generation are definitely the most important and obvious ones to tackle, so you may as well do them before you're bored with too much other stuff. I've always wanted to see The Animated Series. I hear it was alright. Original voices and everything.

It may actually be fun to watch them chronologically, because you'll be able to see the continuity get screwed up from so many series as it would have gotten screwed up in the Star Trek Universe.

This is exciting. I'm really glad J.R. is givin' it a shot. Will he become a fan? Obviously not, but it's still exciting nonetheless. I just hope you get through a good slew of the original episodes. Those are my very favorite mostly because of the incredible presence of William Shatner. He's a joy to watch and emulate and love. I revere him in much the same way we all revere Charlton Heston. I don't want to start some big thing on who's better, Shatner and Heston. However, I would empty my savings account in order to see the two of them fight to the death.

I mentioned before that Star Trek has influenced my listening. A real fun way to compliment your Trek watching is to listen to a podcast called Make It So. Here's an iTunes link. It's a wonderful podcast by some British blokes who are sort of combing through all the Star Trek incarnations as well. They are fans, but they pretty much make fun of Star Trek 90% of the time. The other 10% seems to be sweet, sweet drunk talk.

Live long and prosper.

Cheers.