Intro to Star Trek

What's Included

I've created my own database of records covering much of the Star Trek franchise. It is being developed using an online database application called Airtable, which offers a somewhat user-friendly experience through a sharable interface. It will provide information like...

• My recommended episodes and films to watch, and in what order, to get a taste for the franchise. I group them into watch-through tiers based on the viewer's level of commitment, trying to keep longer story arcs, prerequisites, and continuity in mind while avoiding spoilers. 

• Basic-level information about characters, species/factions, vessels, technology, and more, viewable by individual title/series or all available records. 

• Additional tags for the items above, as well as recurring themes, highlighted characters, and memorable quotes. I hope that these will continue to be built out over time. 

• Information about which streaming services have which titles as well as hyperlinks to each title and each episode's IMDb page.

How I Recommend Episodes/Titles

For each series*, I will provide the following recommendation tiers:

• Tier 1: First Contact | Sample Selection of Essentials
  (No More than 25 Top-Tier Episodes)
  These are the most carefully-selected episodes that I hope will provide some of the best and most definitive aspects of the show without getting too deep into many of the story arcs. I've limited these to no more than 25 episodes. If you end up liking these, consider moving on to Tier 2. If you end up really liking it, consider jumping right to Tier 3.
  
  

• Tier 2: Engaged | Most of the Best Episodes and Story Arcs
  (Includes Tier 1 Selection)
  Assuming you are still interested in watching more episodes, this second watch should provide a lot more substance by diving more into the characters and story arcs. Because of this, there will be bit more of a mixture of great and not so great episodes, since some of the story arcs work better with having more background. Keep this in mind while you watch some of the not-so-great (and often earlier) episodes that may end up paying off more later. Also, for better continuity, I've included all 1st Watch episodes in the Tier 2 line-up, but feel free to skip them if you don't want to watch them through again. The Tier 2 selection plus the Tier 1 selection will most likely consist of at least half of the episodes in the series.
  
  

• Tier 3: Boldly Go | Everything Except the Worst Ones
  (Includes Tier 1 and 2 Selections)
  If you are still hooked after the first and second watch-throughs, the Tier 3 list should help fill in the rest of the gaps. There are still a few hidden gems in this watch-through, and it will include all those from Tier 1 and 2 as well, but there will also be a decent number of more average episodes.
  
  

• Skip: Spatial Anomalies | The Worst Ones (in My Opinion)
  I have marked a few episodes with a recommendation to skip them entirely. As with all the rest, these are my recommendations, which do often line-up with the opinions of many other fans, but it's quite possible that they may not match your opinions. So, if you feel adventurous, you may still consider watching through these subjectively sub-par episodes, keeping in mind that they may include elements that might not be generally accepted today (and probably shouldn't have been at the time, either).
  
  

With all of the recommended episode tiers, I think they should all be watched in chronological order to help avoid confusion. While many are, indeed, episodic in nature, there is still an overall progression that is generally helpful to observe.