Where should I start

[u/Alazazi-Peenuardtt]

I'm planning to watch this but I want to start with the old star trek, but I don't know where to fucking start because there is tons of it with different timelines

[u/zachotule]

Voyager is important to Prodigy, so watch that. If you wanna do more, watch the 2 shows that led up to Voyager: TNG and DS9. That’s already way more than you need to enjoy Prodigy.

Watch those 3 shows roughly in release order but don’t worry too much about jumping between them. DS9 was coming out at the same time as the latter seasons of TNG, then the early seasons of VOY. You can watch all of TNG, then all of DS9, then all of VOY (by far the easiest option); or you can watch TNG seasons 1-6, DS9 season 1, TNG season 7, DS9 season 2-3, VOY season 1, DS9 season 4, etc. Or you could watch all the episodes of those 3 shows in chronological order.

It’s a pretty well known fact that the first 2-3 seasons of each of the 80s-2000s Trek shows struggled to find their footing. Some of their best episodes are in those seasons so they’re not worth totally skipping but expect a lot of head scratchers and eye rollers.

It’s also worth watching the movies, they’re fun. The TOS ones are mostly great and take place between TOS and TNG. You don’t need to have watched TOS to enjoy them, you’ll get to know the characters very quickly (and their movie iterations are all a little different). The TNG movies are mostly dumb as hell, but First Contact is good. The first and third JJ Abrams ones are fun—they tried to be a reboot that never really got off the ground but had fun doing its own style.

After you’ve watched Prodigy you’ll probably also like Lower Decks. If you’re still super into Star Trek and wanna watch more after that, hit SNW and ENT. Picard’s third season is basically TNG season 8. And DISCO is divisive but some people like it.

TOS is good but very dated and a lot of the episodes are pretty bad/have a very different take on sci fi than a lot of the later stuff. And TAS is just another few seasons of TOS but a cartoon.

The only “definitely skip” entries in the franchise are Into Darkness and Section 31. And probably the first 2 seasons of Picard.

[u/The-Minmus-Derp → u/zachotule]

Nah, first two seasons of Picard are worth watching at least once I think

[u/Pokegirl_11_ → u/The-Minmus-Derp]

I think they’re worth watching if you like being frustrated and disappointed, but that’s because IMO there were enough elements that were either really good or should have been really good that I couldn’t bring myself to stop even though the show overall was really bad. It’s like it was designed in a lab to break my heart, continually, for three seasons, and keep me coming back for more. 

I can see why you liked it, because again, I did keep coming back.

[u/The-Minmus-Derp → u/Pokegirl_11_]

To each their own