What "third generation" Trek is worth watching?

Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and The Orville.

Strange New Worlds, Prodigy, and Lower Decks are my favorites.

The others aren't bad, just unique in their own way.

Lower Decks. Absolutely.

Lower Decks, no question. It doesn't seem all that great at first, but when the show gets into its groove and finds voices for its characters, it becomes much more compelling. The first episode is meh, but by the time you get to the end of the first season, you'll be a fan.

Star Trek Prodigy is also good for its intended audience, and arguably better than the first animated Trek. (Certainly more of a treat for the eyes.) It was cancelled on Paramount Plus, but there are rumors it will come to a different streaming service.

If you’re going to start a new Trek, I seriously recommend The Orville.

It’s a love letter to TNG, VOY, DS9 era Trek. Better in many ways.

It starts as a goofy comedy and the first few episodes are kind of.. okay. But by the third episode they find their footing and it just gets better and better.

The third (and possibly final) season is up there with the best of Trek. No bad episodes, and a much more serious tone. The show even has actors from ST series like Penny Jerald (Kassidy Yates in DS9) as main cast, cameos from Robert Picardo (Doctor on VOY), Tim Russ (Tuvok), John Billingsley (Dr Phlox from ENT). Also Brannon Braga produces/writes on it and Jonathan Frakes directs some episodes.

If you want to continue with TNG/VOY/DS9 era - Lower Decks is my personal favorite new Star Trek property. It’s a cartoon geared to a more adult audience, very funny - and very well written.

Strange New Worlds is the best of the new live action series. It’s episodic ‘alien of the week’ kinda vibe. It’s a spin-off from Discovery. It’s a prequel to TOS.

Discovery is a different approach. It’s season-long story archs and follows one main protagonists’ journey. It does become more about the crew later on. It had a very weak first two episodes - way too much lens flare and shaky cam. It gets a little better after but Season 1 was fairly weak. Season 2 is a huge improvement (and is the precursor to Strange New Worlds). You could start there if you read up about the characters and plot points.

Season 3 is their best - and is practically a whole different show. They flip the entire setting and premise and introduce some new characters. You could also start here if you do some light reading. Season 4 is a continuation of Season 3 - not as strong, but still solid.

I should also mention that Discovery is the least Star Treky-feeling show. It’s kinda in its own world.

Picard is pretty much fan fiction.
Some of the new characters are fun (I like Rios a lot), but the writing doesn’t do any of them any justice. Season 1 and 2 are pretty bad. If you don’t have time to kill, skip it.

Season 3 is actually the show many fans wanted. It’s pretty much like a long-format TNG sequel mini series. It has some plot holes, but it’s a real joy to watch and puts a nice bow around the series. And around TNG.

IMO, all of it.

In terms of general agreement, Lower Decks, Strange New Worlds, and season 3 of Picard are generally the most well-regarded projects to date.

As a purist, I'd say watch them all and in release order, but if you really have to be choosy with your time, here's a list of things you can skip (in my opinion):

• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Discovery (whole show)
• Picard S1 and S2
• Short Treks

I know suggesting skipping Discovery outright is going to be seen as... extreme, but I suggest doing so only if time is a crucial factor. It's a dizzyingly uneven show with the lowest points of quality in all of Trek. However, it also has some incredible highs and some truly great characters, so if you find the time to watch it, you should. And I know I'm in the minority on this, but I found Short Treks to be unwatchable.

On the flip side, Lower Decks is incredible, and Strange New Worlds is good. The third season of Picard is excellent. Prodigy is a little weird but it's got a lot of strength. Star Trek Beyond is also a surprisingly good movie.

I've been watching Strange New Worlds recently and I kinda like it even though some of the episodes have made me angry at how dumb everyone is acting. I also kinda wish that they could cut the budget of SFX by half and instead make twice as many episodes if they can be written well too? Maybe I'm just still spoiled by 20+ episode seasons that the older series used to have, but just 10 episodes doesn't feel enough somehow.

Dunno about discovery, I agree with other users that it's not that good, but I can tell you that it's not required to understand SNW even though there's some story overlap there.

Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds are the best.

Parts of Discovery are good... Parts aren't tho.

That's a tough one. I think Strange New Worlds is the must see of new star trek. Unfortunately the plot lines for SNW S1 are linked with stuff that happened in Discovery S2 and of course Discovery S2 is linked to S1 a bit as well. Maybe try watching an episode or two of discovery S1, but the greatest pieces of new trek writing are Disco S2 and SNW in my opinion, well worth the watch. I think the only way to watch them is the paramount+ streaming service, but I could be wrong.

I would definitely recommend Strange New Worlds. It has a great cast and the return to an episodic format allows for a lot of variety in conflicts and dilemmas faced by the crew. Next up I would recommend The Orville. I hate Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane's humor is very off -putting to me so I was skeptical, but really the show was delightful and felt a lot like TNG era Star Trek to me. The show has some crass elements still, but they aren't overbearing. Honestly, Lower Decks is a lot worse on that front than The Orville and feels way more juvenile to me. People say Lower Decks is supposed to get better in season 2 but I watched some season 2 episodes with my roommates and still found it unbearable. If you like Family Guy/Rick and Morty, you might enjoy it more than I did since most people do seem to love that one.

The other new Trek shows are too busy facing overly big, galactic apocalypse-level threats throughout each entire season to delve into much real philosophy or analysis of the human condition and the crushing threats are so extreme that even when the shows do focus on the human side and try to look at something personal, you start to wonder why people are stopping to have a long discussion about their emotions and relationship struggles in the presence of immediate danger to their lives. Even when the discussions are good, the timing is bad enough for it to not make sense. A lot of details like that are very immersion breaking for me as a viewer.

Picard season 3 was a well balanced nostalgia trip. It was a lot more relatable than seasons 1 and 2 and has some really great human(oid) moments dealing with pride, regret, grief, belonging, and passing the torch to the next generation. It was fan service done well. It still does the new Trek thing of a big, impending threat but does a better job of keeping that threat at arm's length enough for the interpersonal discussions to feel more impactful and logical in the moment. I was so disappointed in seasons 1 and 2 that I almost skipped 3, but now I am rooting for a spin off from season 3 with the new characters they introduced.

Strange New Worlds is great! That's the best one! I also enjoyed Picard, especially S3.

A lot of people in these comments sleeping on Prodigy. I think it's very good and would probably put it behind only Strange New Worlds. For me, the start of the season is just meh and feels more Star Wars Kidsy, but the season just grows and grows and has a real heart, real drama, and action.

I'd say strange new worlds and the 3rd season of Picard is worth watching. You could try the first few episodes of the rest to see if it's your kind of thing .

Definetly give Lower Decks a chance. Strange New Worlds is really good too imo. Its worth noting that it is a spinoff of Discovery. Specifically season 2 I think.

Discovery is one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen.

Picard is awful, except the last season which was spectacular

Strange New Worlds is almost perfect Trek.

@dumples so far, Strange New Worlds is the best of the New Trek, so far it's been all killer no filler

Both Picard and Discovery have high highs and low lows, so your mileage with them will vary

Personally, I think they peaked with 'Star Trek: Voyager', although I must say I never liked the character 'Q' in any generation, and even now when I re-watch Voyager episodes, I will always skip the 'Q' ones.

I'd also recommend watching The Orville, although not Star Trek, but very star trekky.

I personally think that they're all worth watching, but it is worth keeping in mind that they're mostly built to appeal to different audiences, so they're not all everyone's cup of tea (and some of them have/had production issues that did them no favours).

The idea of the current age of Trek being "Trek for everyone", so that instead of the same show and concepts being repeated, there would be different shows, trying their own things, aiming for different audiences.

Discovery, for example, seems to have been aimed more for people coming off of the 2009 movies/contemporary sci-fi, which has a bit more in the way of melodrama, and action. It also seems to have been something of an experimental testing ground for what Trek could be, since the show tried all sorts of things.

Meanwhile, Lower Decks is aimed for older fans who want something lighter, with its heavy doses of references to older Trek, and much more comedic style.

Prodigy was aimed at a younger audience, letting them get into Trek on their own terms, with a modern show, compared to the Funimation-based TAS, which is much more dated.

Picard seems to be a bit for "passing the torch", as it were (basically a repeat of what Enterprise tried, but in a slightly better way), as a way to integrate both the prior Trek series, and the current ones into one smoother, cohesive whole, opening up potential issues, and setting the ground for new concepts, that later series can dive into.

Strange New Worlds is basically a modern take on "RetroTrek", putting down a Captain of the Enterprise, and the standard 5-year mission-type plots, and is probably for people who wanted more of the old shows, but with modern effects and things instead.

@dumples I enjoyed the first season of Strange New Worlds. Also, first episode of the second season was pretty good.

Almost all series of the third generation are serialized, so it's harder to just watch episodes separately. Most are best watched one after the other.

• I'm not the biggest fan of Discovery, but still I think that most fans are too harsh with it. It's not the best Trek, but it has its moments and grew better and better. I wouldn't advise to begin with that, though.
• Picard was good. The first season is maybe a little too unoriginal, but I'd say that it's a very solid season until the second half of the last episode. The second season is good, and the third is a nostalgia fest (and I loved every second of it). It may be a good entry point.
• Lower Decks is fun and offer a very different point of view on Star Trek lore. If you like "classic" Trek but are ready to gently mock it, watch it first. I'm in love with this show.
• Prodigy is for children, and its noticeable. It's a good show, but still, a good show for children. If that doesn't bother you, go for it, but pass if it's not the case.
• Strange New Worlds is the best one. Simply that. It would be my advice, and, as the show is almost episodic, you can watch it taking your time.

I know there was some occasional friction between the fans on the old site, but I'll also throw in a recommendation for The Orville as modern Trek that's worth seeing. It does a great job capturing the spirit of the second-gen era presented for the current gen, with its cautious optimism pricked once a week by reminders of challenges yet to be resolved.

The first season is slightly rough (more proof it's a real Trek show?), as they figured out the ratio of comedy to drama, but by season three it's about as jokey as TNG. Fox did a bad job promoting it, it's definitely not Family Guy in space, which I think was probably what the network wanted it to be.

There's tons of Trek people both behind and in front of the camera, so while there's obviously no ties to the Trek canon, it's the closest anything has ever come, stylistically.

Both Discovery and Picard are good series. Both have ups and downs. They’re different from each other and scratch a different itch.

Other than that, I haven’t seen any of the other new series, like Lower Decks.

I mean, some of them are inconsistent but they are all good and all of them are very much in the spirit of star trek.

For me, SNWs and Lower decks are amazing. I did not like Discovery but that is just me so I won't say you shouldn't like it. Picard the last season was good but the first 2 are meh. Prodigy was really good for what it was (a kid's show) and I am sad it got canceled.

I know that not exactly everyone shares this, but my opinion of 3rd gen Trek is the same opinion I have of 2nd gen - The individual show needs some time to figure itself out.

TNG season 1 as a whole is some of the worst storytelling I've seen, but by the time the third season rolls around, you have the characters fleshed out, the world has grown and changed and come into its own, and it all comes together (for me) in Best of Both Worlds. This same type of thinking can also apply to Deep Space Nice and Voyager (both of which I liked overall). Deep Space Nine was a show that wanted to tell longer form stories in a central location, while the producers wanted the more familiar Trek approach that I describe as "Visit a new planet every week". This affected the first few seasons and stunted its growth - until Voyager started, and gave the producer that outlet they were looking for. This allowed DSN to figure itself out and eventually developed into the Dominion War storyline. Voyager, similarly, had its own issues figuring itself out. They had a great starting idea of a starfleet vessel without the support of starfleet, but had weird initial ideas that didnt work right, like banjoman or the Kazon (I read once that the kazon were supposed to be inspired and based more off inner-city gangs of LA. That sounds like an intriguing idea, but I find it difficult to execute with middle-aged actors and under the premise of a space ship constantly traveling in the same direction away. A failed idea). Enterprise, also needed to find its identity - starting with odd semi-canon-breaking encounters with species like the Ferengi, but found some decent stories once they allowed themselves multi-episode stories. Its a shame they never got around to the Romulan war, but perhaps that's not off the table.

With the third generation of Trek, a lot of it is still in its infancy. Discovery , being the oldest of the group, has gone through a lot of change. Starting as a prequel to the original series, they also had their share of weird semi-canon-breaking encounters (or odd retroactive changes) with the Klingons. Discovery seems to really like the overarching season plotline, but figured out a way to make the B-plot into what I would call an attempt at classic trek (an ethical dilemma with a foreign culture/Space is dangerous and they need to technobabble their way out/something based on actual science as a semi-thought experiment). I know not everyone agrees, but it's my opinion, and I will continue to watch it. Picard started by continuing lingering plotlines from the 2nd generation, as well a one from the JJ Abrams movies. I'll be honest, I watched the first episode and decided to skip it until I heard about how good the 3rd season is, which I liked, but didnt think was perfect. Lower Decks, takes a different approach. I feel like they took a few characters' personalities from all of star trek, made them into new characters, and plopped them into a more relaxed/cartoony world, which took me a while to adjust to. To use other shows as metaphors, The first season started off like a ripoff of Rick and Morty(not in a good way), but by the time it ends, I feel its more taking inspiration from something like Futurama (in a good way). The following seasons confirmed that thought for me, and I watch it when I can. Strange New Worlds (Which I have not watched any of the second season yet), in contrast to Discovery, has gone hard into the "Visit a new planet every week" type of story. I feel the big difference between TOS and SNW's writing, though, is that SNW still feels more connected to the lore built up over the years.Prodigy, which has its own drama right now, has an interesting idea and I'm afraid that it wont be fleshed out with its cancellation. Ultimately I feel like the 3rd generation of Trek really tries to iterate every year into something "better". So it just depends on what you like.

And to sum it all up, I think the 3rd generation has some great stuff. Just give it as much time and patience as you would for TNG to go from the first season to what you would consider "good", and youll find something you like

Not Picard, that's for sure. I really wanted to love that show but I could not. It isn't Trek. The storyline and characters are not even remotely Trek. They're hollow, shallow, ill-conceved storys that answer questions by waiving their hands and yelling "Borg!". Don't watch it, you'll regret it. It is beautifully made, but it's all style over sustenance.

Strange New Worlds episodic nature makes it easy to just drop right in. Technically it starts in Discovery but I think you’ll be just fine without it.

If they dropped the SNW and just called it Star Trek, I’d be okay with that. It’s deserving of the name.

Watch Picard Season 3, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks and possibly Prodigy.

Avoid all of Discovery and the first two seasons of Picard. They are the worst Star Trek has ever been and seem to exist for no other reason than to pander to the “we need to be represented” crowd.