Casual Conversation

DS9 > Lower Decks > Voyager > TNG > SNW > Prodigy > ENT > Disco > TOS > Picard (didn't see TAS)

DS9 - deep storylines, amazing character arcs, best villains.

Lower Decks - plain old good humor drawing from all sources.

Voyager - passionate characters with a singular mission. Humanism at its finest, especially for the non-humans

TNG - what I grew up with. Iconic characters. Familiar/comfortable

SNW - a fresh new take with well known characters. Rejuvenating the feel of what the older series originally brought us.

Prodigy - love the animation and characters. For the kids, for the old trekkies, and for the new trekkies. A light take on Star Trek without having to delve deep into too much lore.

The rest have value but I cant quite suggest them to my friends who aren't as familiar with earlier series or to just pick up and watch as a standalone series.

DS9.

There are meaningful ideological differences between main characters because they aren’t all Star Fleet. The show is about a central location so it gets to be fleshed out more than a planet of the week, we get to experience the outcomes of events from prior episodes, and we get to have recurring antagonists on a scale other than all out warfare. Most importantly, it has Garak.

DS9 for sure. I like the darker feel a lot, but what really makes it stand out for me are the story arcs.

With TNG, especially in later seasons, it really started feeling like nothing had consequences beyond its own episode -- even the events of "The Inner Light" are barely alluded to afterwards, which is crazy if you think about it. DS9 gives us plots and stories that stretch across multiple episodes and even multiple seasons, and it has so much more of a sense that the whole thing is going somewhere. This also allows for an incredible amount of character development over the course of the series.

Plus, Gul Dukat is easily one of the best TV villains of all time.

^...I didn't care for Vince Fontaine though.^

TNG. coming off of TOS, they absolutely made it their own. everything about it was both fresh and familiar. perfection.

I love TNG. I just really like the characters on it, Picard is my favourite captain and I really like Worf too.

DS9. Something about seeing the grittier side of the Star Trek world really appealed to me. I've since noticed I tend to like this in my media: set up an idyllic setting or tell a story of triumphant heroes first and then show the more "human" side of all of it in the follow-up.

I also think the latter seasons of DS9 were just damn good TV.

DS9 is the best.

The Dominion War, the character growth, the Ferengi , Gul freaking Dukat, the Rules of Aquisition, The Sisko, the wormhole aliens, so many things.

DS9 is the best, no question. SNW is a very close second.

But TNG is my favorite. It's where I want to live.

DS9

Sisko was definitely a fully fleshed-out character. He balanced action (Kirk) with wisdom and subtlety (Picard)

He stood at the gate between the federation and oblivion by a greater force, and managed to hold his nerve, and his poise

All while being a good father

Add Quark, Garak and a host of other characters who have complete identities of their own, and it's a winner

Voyager. Mommy Janeway. Coffee.

TNG and DS9 are pretty much tied for my all-time favorite. I think both did a great job writing believable characters and conflicts, with compelling standalone episodes and arcs (although to be honest I really hate the pah-waith bits in Seasons 6 & 7 of DS9). For the most part, I both liked and cared about all of the main characters and thought they faced interesting and complex problems that didn't always have perfect solutions.

VOY and TOS are fun in their own ways but more like comfort food than a whole meal, if that makes sense. As a woman I certainly wouldn't want to be a crew member on the Enterprise during TOS, and as a viewer I have to work really hard to ignore the rampant sexism, but can still appreciate it for what it is. VOY is mostly fluff but it does give us interesting stories like Year of Hell. I don't think I'd be friends with many of the crew and sometimes the writing of these characters is frustratingly uneven (especially B'Elanna, which is a shame because she's my favorite of the bunch). I do think VOY suffers from showing a pristine ship for most of its run (which is one reason Year of Hell stood out so much for me). And I hate the stupid catsuit, heels, and makeup on Seven. She's a former Borg drone, none of that is functional or pragmatic. (Obligatory 'Fuck You, Rick Berman'.)

I've watched ENT twice but wasn't crazy about it (my favorite characters were Porthos and Shran). SNW is alright, not great but engaging enough for me to stick with it. I particularly like Number One, M'Benga, and Chapel (and Hemmer, RIP). I don't like Kirk - he's horribly miscast. Funny enough, Anson Mount has enough of Shatner's mannerisms that with different hair, he could've been cast as a modern Kirk instead of Pike. But he's doing a great job with Pike. The writers need to stop messing with Spock being "human" so much. And why are he and T'Pring having sex without pon farr???

DIS is a raging tire fire, I don't know what they were thinking with that show. The writing was abysmal, the plot holes were humongous, the science was ridiculous (seriously, what on earth was the spore drive? And a sad kid caused the Burn? Give me a break!), the tech was completely discordant with what we know about the 23rd century, the characters were written like awkward and/or angsty teenagers, everyone was constantly sharing their feelings and traumas in the middle of a time-sensitive emergency, death was cheated so many times that the emotional stakes around mortality never felt that real (e.g., Culber's resurrection via mushrooms, and sUrPriSe Burnham's mom isn't really dead, and also when Saru miraculously survived his Vahar'ai), Burnham was practically Space Jesus in that she was always the only one who could save the galaxy, continuity with the rest of Trek was broken left right and center, the Klingon redesign made no sense, and I hated how they wasted the Tal symbiont by making Adira just a painfully awkward teenager instead of someone with 5 prior lifetimes of experience to ground them (not counting Gray who was removed from the symbiont and was a kid anyway).... I could go on but you get the idea. I just finished hate-watching all five seasons and will never watch it again. To say something nice about DIS, I was grateful that none of the female main cast wore catsuits, and I loved the Stamets/Culber relationship - it felt real and lived-in.

I only saw the first season of PIC and that was a hot mess too, I really want to finish it so I can say I've watched all of Trek, but I need a palate cleasner first after forcing my way through DIS. Haven't watched LD but people seem to love it so I'll probably give it a shot, though I'm not nuts about cartoons. No interest in PRO since it's for kids, and no real interest in TAS. I might give SA a shot but if it's like DIS I'll be bailing.

Welp you didn't ask for a novel but my power's out this morning and I'm bored, so there you go!

DS9.

I can't lie. Grew up on TNG but fell in love with DS9. Gotta love my eternal conflicts.

Either TOS or Enterprise. Because they were boldly going. TNG was always flying around like a delivery van. Voyager was fleeing home. DS9 was sitting there and waiting for things to come to them. (Well, for the bits I watched; I gave up after the first season and understand things started to actually happen after that.)

I haven't watched any Star Trek property after Enterprise.

TNG, then SNW.

Strange New Worlds is rapidly gaining on TNG. Both have a "we're exploring because that's what we do" wonder vibe that's stronger for me than any other Trek series.