I am going to go thru and watch The Next Generation on the remastered blu ray set I bought.

I maybe saw a handful of episodes of TNG between 1987 and 1990.
And had watched many TOS repeats as a kid.

Between 1990 and 1994 I saw every TOS episode,
Caught up on 87 to ‘90 TNG repeats, and started watching TNG each week.
I believe I have seen all TNG episodes.

I saw most of the deep space 9 from 93-94 and maybe half from 95-99.
I saw maybe half of Voyager from 95-99 and less from 99-01.

I have always meant to watch them all in broadcast order at some time.

I will start soon and maybe get in 3-5 episodes a week.

Which box sets do you recommend for DS9 and Voyager?

Mine are whatever the available DVD versions were around a half decade ago.

I think DVD is the better format because it isn't ultra high quality.  Back when it aired, the only big screens were rear projection TVs that were mild compared to today's giant high def TVs.  I don't need to see all the seams on the set and weaknesses in special effects.  I want them just to serve the story.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what the newest releases were.  DS9 was a pain to find and had to be bought season by season for several years.

I think DS9 is streaming somewhere, but if not, I have the complete series in 2006 knockoff that I can mail you.

DS9 and ST:Voyager are lame, don’t waste your time.

Fixed.

I liked the Heroes & Icons over the air channel that has all the Trek shows from the original series through Enterprise Sunday through Friday, and I got to see all the shows and a lot of episodes of DS9 and Voyager that I had never seen as both shows didn't really look that good to me when they came on.  They turned out to be better than I expected, but like any of the series, they had some stinker episodes and some characters that you wished would get transported in to space.

So-
Any hints to the best way to watch them?
Airdate?

They were way more culturally relevant in say 90-98 or so,  You would literally go to the gym and people would talk about would the doctor or the counselor be hotter in bed from say 90-94, and 93 to  94 complain why did they have to ruin the hot Trill  chick with the back story that they used to be a man, or why they didn’t pick a hot chick to be the Bajoran.  Then in 95 why were there no hot chicks on Voyager, who would have made an awesome female captain, then by ‘97 or so when they finally got a hot chick, almost none of the people I knew that had watched in the first half of the 90s were still regularly watching either Voyager or DS9.

As individual series in individual sequence.

TNG will occasionally mention DS9, by the time they do, you'll be close enough to watching DS9 anyway.  Voyager can be watched on its own as it doesn't really connect with other series much.

I recommend the SF Debris opnionated reviews for Voyager (the others are interesting as well).  Maybe hold them until after you've gotten into the series, because frequently they'll be very in-depth and might have spoilers leading to future episodes when character growth or continuity becomes a thing... or doesn't.

Fixed again.

Voyager is still Star Trek.  It frequently feels like Star Trek.

Good episodes (and there are several of them) are really good.  Good episodes that highlight what the show could have been really lead to a sense of appreciation for the show.  The "Year of Hell" episodes were initially supposed to be a full season, or the entire show.  Chuck from SF Debris idea of "Year of Hell Harry Kim" would've been such a game-changer that it's almost worth it to watch the show and then imagine the potential had they actually done the show well.

Also, episodes like Living Witness are really, really good.

DS9 could also be watched after watching Babylon 5, so you see how much they ripped off, then how they went in a different direction... sorta.  Because at some point, you're going to hear people talk about how DS9 ripped off B5... and I heard it until I watched it, and then realized... oh, yeah, they totally did.  Right up until they didn't, and then both can be appreciated very much on their own merits.  B5 does suffer from low budget CGI that at the time may have been cutting edge but now looks like cutscenes from early 90s Wing Commander games.

like cutscenes from early 90s Wing Commander games



You say that like it’s a bad thing.

As for B5, I remember DS9 coming out the beginning of ‘93,
Running concurrent with TNG for about a year and a half until that  being the only Star Trek show for about a year until voyager.

Basically, from 90-94 I had very good S.A. on the shows, moderate from around 94-96, poor from 96-98, etc.

But essentially, for the 1990s, anyone with basic broadcast TV or basic cable could pretty regularly see the Star Trek shows.

In retrospect, B5 had a movie in ‘93, after DS9 was already on.  But I don’t even remember hearing anything about it.
I don’t recall it starting as a series a year later.  The earliest I remember it popping up and knowing it existed would have been summer of 95 or later.

I’m fully aware of the story of the stolen concept, it’s just from a cultural perspective B5 had way less cultural penetration, situational awareness, etc.  In 1994, a moderate show with a legacy fan base like DS9 might have 10 million people viewing an episode. (A new hit show might be 20-25M and an established hit 35M or so viewers and episode back then.)

Something like Xena Warrior Princess might have had about 4 million viewers per episode.  Any vie with Hercules for like #12 in the syndicated ratings for the week.  B5 would not even show up in the top 25 syndicated ratings and have maybe half as many viewers per episode as those shows.

The world has changed drastically.  A classic TV model show like Supernatural might go on for over a decade with 2-3 M viewers an episode.  A new TV show like Superman and Lois might go on with just 1M viewers an episode,  

At this point I would take the worst, laziest and preachiest episodes of TNG, DS9, VOY or ENT over any episode of Discovery and wouldn't even have to think about it first.

EDIT:  Spelling

No, just descriptive.  It's limitations of tech that doesn't impact story, but you're probably not going to be wowed by sfx.

DS9 ripping off B5 doesn't mean they weren't both good shows, either.  Just that it's helpful to know.  I didn't realize the level of it until watching both.

DS9 is still good, and frequently excellent (crappy ferengi drag episodes notwithstanding).  It's just that to understand how both space station shows existed.

Even terrible episodes have their charm in production and characters and actors of the time.

To be fair, I really liked how DS9 added some depth to the Ferengi beyond "evil space capitalists".

The Jake/Nog discussion over money and buying Jake's dad a baseball card is terrific.

Frequently the Ferengi were shat on undeservingly, other times when they're written well, they're written really well.  It often feels like they're stand-ins for studio execs for the writers to bash on.

Deep Space 9 first season is almost unbearable to watch because the actor that plays Bashir is so fucking bad.

Anything with a Vic Fontane central plot is garbage save for the Nog episodes.

Quark and Garek fucking steal the show.

The tribble episode is pretty cool but we do not talk about it with outsiders.

Jadzia Dax lesbian scene is hit as fuck.   Dax/Terry Farrel is hottest Trek babe ever, love the spots.   Followed by Tpal/Jolene Blalock and then Ezri/Nicole de Boer.


OP should try Enterprise.   God awful slow season as well but it picked up mid way through short lived season and got better.