Top Tuesdays: Top Five Star Trek Series.

As well as having twelve feature films, Star Trek has five television series. Here they are, my least favorite to most favorite!

5. Enterprise.

 

Star Trek Enterprise was the latest Star Trek show to broadcast. It lasted from 2001-2005, four seasons in all.
Although the last show to broadcast, Enterprise took place earliest in the Star Trek timeline. It took place ten years before the Federation of Planets was created - about halfway between the events of Star Trek: First Contact (which was a movie where the Next Gen. cast went back in time) and the Original Star Trek series.
Warp drive is a relatively new thing.... ships can't exceed warp 5.
The Enterprise crew are new to exploring and break rules which the Federation would never allow. Of course, since the Federation wasn't in existence yet, the Enterprise crew could do what they wanted.
Their captain is Captain Jonathan Archer (in the picture he's the guy right in the middle - next to the lady in pink on the top). He was a Boy Scout, his favorite sport is water polo, and he has an adorable Beagle pup named Porthos (seriously, Porthos is, like, the best character in ENT!)

 

Other characters include T'Pol, the Vulcan science officer who was commissioned to serve on board the Enterprise to keep the humans our of trouble; Charles "Trip" Tucker the Third, the dashing chief engineer from Texas; Malcolm "Smooth Moves" Reed (He's known as "Smooth Moves" to only me and my friend Jen, because in the bloopers, he trips. And it's funny) is the ship's tactical officer/security chief. He's from England and comes from a long line of Navy men... He broke the tradition because he was afraid of water. Hoshi Sato, the communications officer who speaks many languages and is able to learn new languages extremely quickly; Travis Mayweather, the helmsman; and finally, Dr. Phlox who is a Denobulan. He's the chief medical officer and keeps all sorts of strange pets in the medical bay.
As far as Star Trek goes, most people will agree that Enterprise isn't very good. I'm not sure what others reasons are... But to me, the show was just too modern. By modern, I mean a lot of sex and that sort of stuff.
Enterprise is the only Star Trek series that doesn't get a very high rating from me. Probably only a 4 or 5 out of 10.

4. Voyager.

 

This Star Trek show features the ship Voyager and her crew who are flung 75,000 lightyears away from earth. It will take Voyager 75 years to get back to earth, but they face that reality bravely and start on their journey.
Voyager ran from 1995-2001 - seven seasons.
Voyager is the only Star Trek show to feature a female captain: Captain Kathryn Janeway (she is right in the middle of the picture, in between the other two females).
I love Voyager. It has a great cast of characters and features a plotline which no other Star Trek show has had to face - being lost in unknown space.
Captain Janeway is a very good captain. She leads her crew well and likes coffee, black.
Her first officer is Chakotay (top left in the picture) who is a Native American ex-Starfleet officer. He resigned from Starfleet in order to join the Maquis, a terrorist group. When both Voyager and the Maquis ship are thrown into the Delta Quadrent, 75,000 lightyears away from earth, the rival groups are forced to work together on Voyager. By the end of the show, everyone gets along swimmingly.
Tuvok is the Vulcan tactical/security officer. Not much to say about him... He formed a sort-of friendship with Neelix. (More like Neelix adopted Tuvok as his friend).
Neelix is Voyager's cook, whom they met in the Delta Quadrant, and took along with them. He had a special friend named Kes, but after they broke up, she left the ship (about the third or fourth season).
She was replaced by 7 of 9, a former Borg drone.

 

Seven comes aboard Voyager, I believe, in the fourth season. She spends the rest of the show working in the Astrometrics lab and trying to find her human roots after being a Borg since childhood. (For those not familiar with the Borg.... They are half-machine half-other species. They assimilate everyone, making them part of their collective. Their ultimate goal is to blend humanoid and machines to make a great race.)
Ensign Harry Kim is Voyager's operations officer. He is pretty young on the job. He plays clarinet.
Tom Paris is the son of a Starfleet admiral. He was discharged from Starfleet and joined the Maquis. He was caught, however, and sent to a penal colony. He was brought on board Voyager to help in the capture of Chakotay's Maquis ship, when both ships were thrown into the Delta Quadrant. He's a great character, one of my favorites. He's very Han Solo-ish but grows up a lot in the series. Plus he's cute. Hee hee.
B'Elanna Torres was Chakotay's chief engineer, but when Voyager's crew and Chakotay's crew merge, B'Elanna is made chief engineer when the other one dies. B'Elanna is half-human half-Klingon and absolutely hates it. Her human father left B'Elanna and her Klingon mother when she was young and B'Elanna attributes that to the fact that she was Klingon. She thought her father couldn't handle two Klingon women, since Klingons are a warrior race and pretty violent. B'Elanna has a lot of anger, but also grows a lot over the series. Along with Tom, she's a great character.

(Tom and B'Elanna.)
I've been saving the best for last. The Doctor.
Before I watched Doctor Who, this Doctor was THE Doctor.
The Doctor is an EMH (Emergency Medical Hologram).
When Voyager is thrown into the Delta Quadrant, all their medical personal are killed and the EMH is activated because, well, he's the Emergency Medical Hologram!
Over the run of the series, The Doctor expands his program and develops a personality. He is one of the best Star Trek characters EVER! He's really funny. Since he's modeled after a maker of holograms, his personality is sort of like that guy. So when The Doctor starts to expand his program, he becomes even better.
As well as expanding his program, The Doctor spends the run of the show trying to think up a name for himself.
Have a funny clip of The Doctor:

I love Robert Picardo (the actor). He's really singing (he's classically trained!). The episodes featuring The Doctor are some of the best.
The Whovians say....

 

And I don't!

 

Seriously, Voyager is worth watching just for him!
I would rate Voyager 8 or 9 out of 10.

3. The Original Series.

 

Does this one really need an explanation?
Star Trek Original was, well, the Original Star Trek show. It ran from 1966-1969, only three seasons. But what three season! This is classic sci-fi at it's best. It has a great cast of characters and cool uniforms and Tribbles!

 

Before I go onto my top two... I must say, it was SO hard to decide which show I liked better out of the last two.... I love all Star Trek pretty much equally (except Enterprise, which I am ready to dismember).

 

So, it was a hard choice.... But I finally made it. I just wanted to make it clear that between Voyager, Original, DS9, and Next Gen. there is really no winner.... I love them all too much!

2. Deep Space Nine (commonly known as DS9).

 

Deep Space Nine takes place on a space station (Deep Space Nine) far out in space. DS9 hangs above the planet of Bajor, which, for the longest time, was occupied by the Cardassians. Finally, the occupation ended, and Starfleet stepped in to help the war-ravaged planet of Bajor.
Deep Space Nine is also near the only stable Wormhole in the known universe.
Anywho, DS9 ran from 1993-1999 - seven seasons.
It is amazing. I can't even explain it....
The Bajorans think that Commander Benjamin Sisko (the African-American guy in the bottom right, next the the kid with the colorful shirt) is their "Emissary."
Eventually other elements are added into the series... Unlike other Star Trek series (except maybe Voyager), DS9 has an over-arching plotline which spans pretty much the whole series. Eventually a war is started, lots of enemies are made, and it's just cool.
The characters are AMAZING!!! Oh my word, the best!
DS9 has the most characters and sometime, I will do a review on all of them.
For now I will just do brief bios.
Commander (later Captain) Benjamin Sisko runs DS9. He has a young son, Jake, who later wants to be a writer.
The second officer is Major Kira Nerys, a Bajoran non-Starfleet officer. She worked hard in the resistance during the Cardassian occupation.
Odo is the constable. Also a non-Starfleet officer. He worked for the Cardassians when they were in charge of DS9 (then called Terok Nor) as their chief of security and when Starfleet moved in, he became DS9's chief of security. He's a Changeling, capable of assuming any shape he wishes. He was found as a young Changeling, seemingly the only one of his kind. He struggles with fitting in, especially since he can't completely figure out human form.

 

He has to regenerate every night in his pail. He is pretty gruff and is always looking for reasons to arrest Quark.
Jadzia Dax is the science officer. She is a Trill. Trills are a race of beings that have a symbiotic relationship with a worm-like thing, which is implanted into their belly. Jadzia is Dax's eight host. She is feisty and good friends with Sisko.
Miles O'Brien is the Irish chief of operations (basically, he's the engineer). He was first featured in the Next Generation as their transporter chief, so he's a familiar face to anyone who watches Next Gen. first. In Next Gen. he married Kieko, who comes with him to live on DS9 with their daughter Molly. Miles is best friends with Julian (despite their rocky beginning) and the two enjoy adventures in the holosuite together.
Also coming over from Next. Gen is Worf (who is only in the last few season). Worf is a Klingon. I'll talk more about him soon.
Julian Bashir.

 

Julian is DS9's medical officer. He was my first fictional crush. He's locked in a secret closet in my heart (Sherlock Holmes is also in there... along with Daniel Jackson from StarGate).
Anyway, Julian is British. He's also very young. He's amazing. End of story.
Along with the actual officers, there is an abundance of other main characters.... Quark is a Ferengi (a race that cares only about acquisition). He owns Quark's bar, which has been on the station since the Cardassian occupation. Along with Odo, Quark stayed on the station when Starfleet moved in.
Quark comes with a fun family... His brother Rom, and Rom's son Nog.

 

(Quark in the foreground, Rom with Nog in the background.)
Then there's Garak, the only Cardassian to stay on the station after the occupation ended. He's a tailor, and used to be a spy. He's a really cool character. He's good friends with Julian.

 

Finally, there is Morn.

 

Morn is in (I believe) every single Deep Space Nine episode. He never speaks. Sometimes he just walks around. He frequents Quark's bar and even has an episode all about his supposed death.
There are many more characters I could talk about.... Leeta, Jake, Vic, Gul Dukat, Ezri.... It goes on and on.
Deep Space Nine has amazing character development and I think it the most developed of all Star Trek shows. It is most definitely worth watching (over and over and over!). It also features a reprise of the Tribbles... the DS9 cast go back in time to the Trouble with Tribbles episode. It's great.
Deep Space Nine is 9 or 10 out of 10.

Drumroll please.....

1. Next Generation.

 

Star Trek Next Generation ran from 1987-1994 - seven seasons.
It was the revived Star Trek, after the Original series didn't do so well in the 60's.
Next Generation is basically an extension of the Original series... It has the same direction - Boldly go, explore new worlds, etc. etc.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (the bald guy in the middle) is British and an amazing captain. My favorite.
His first officer is Will Riker (the guy with the beard).
There's also Doctor Crusher (who has a song, Wesley Crusher, whom everyone loves to hate. I love to love him), the aforementioned Worf (he's the first Klingon in Starfleet. Since he's a warrior, he sometimes has a hard time fitting in. Out of all the Star Trek characters, he goes through the most angst), blind Geordi LaForge (the chief engineer), Counselar Deanna Troi (along with new characters, a whole new host of aliens are introduced in Next Gen. Including Betazoids, empathic beings. Deanna is half-Betazoid half-human), and Data.
Data is an android. He is trying to become more human. He plays violin and loves Sherlock Holmes.

 

(Sherlock Data and Geordi Watson.)
Data is good friends with Geordi.

And there you have it.
If you are looking to watch Star Trek, I would watch them in order.
Star Trek Original, then Next Generation, then Deep Space Nine, then Voyager, then Enterprise.  (Though really, Original, Next Gen. and Deep Space Nine could be watched in any order... Any of them could, actually. But it works best to watch them in order.)

Live long and prosper! (and I apologize for my rambling... When you get me talking about Star Trek, I won't stop.)