I recommend starting with The Next Generation and working your way forward.

One thing I do not recommend starting with is Lower Decks. And I absolutely love Lower Decks. But there are so many inside jokes that I doubt it would be especially fun for people who don't know Star Trek fairly well. For example, I doubt the Twovix episode would make much sense to someone who hasn't seen the Tuvix Voyager episode.

Another place you might consider starting even though it was made for kids is Prodigy, simply because it introduces a lot of Star Trek concepts to people who know nothing about Star Trek. It starts with kids stealing a Starfleet ship outside of Federation space and they don't know anything about Starfleet or the Federation or most of the aliens involved in other Star Trek shows, or even how most of the ship works, so it actually is a pretty good start in some ways.

TNG! There is also this great site called Let's Watch Star Trek which gives helpful recommendations for which episodes to skip for the rocky initial seasons (IMO especially for TNG and DS9). I don't always agree with their choices but it's a solid guide overall.

I think TNG has the classic Trek vibe but without the kind of campy weirdness of the original series. Both are great but the original series is definitely more dated

Regardless of where you start: if you feel like some of the older/dated stuff is dragging or not grabbing you, you should absolutely feel free to skip around. With VOD (coughpiracycough), just watch the episodes (or even parts of episodes) that you find compelling, and skip the less good parts if you want to.

Some people are amused by the campy/ham-handed/wonky episodes, and some aren’t. But do feel free to skip around to find parts of the universe that you like. You can always go back later and re-watch the ones you missed if you want to.

TL;DR: enjoy it the way YOU want to. That’s how you’ll like it best, most likely.

You start with Star Trek the original series. It’s old. It’s campy. Dated cultural mores. But it’s where the genre was birthed and sets the beginning for everything that came after.

I also suggest starting with TNG, but I warn you that Star Trek shows in general have kind of a rocky start, so expect that.

TNG -> DS9 in order or start DS9 as simultaneous timelines begin. Either way.

I disagree with choose your own adventure. I think the “bad” episodes and the slog of a few bad apples as it were, differentiate Trek. It makes the highs high. The contrast across the series is what will truly form your fandom.

Watch it in order of release, including the movies.

Lots of episodes can be skipped if you’re not feeling it. DS9 takes a long time to get moving for instance.

I'd start with Strange New Worlds.
It's the best/modern looking Trek, and close in story style to older series. I think its a good introduction to get people into Star Trek generally.

Well, Star Trek has a lot of diversity now a days on what kind of Trek you're looking for. Something that I'm really happy about! Gives a lot more paths and ways to work into Trek. While I do agree that TNG (The Next Generation) is the best of Trek, it's not necessarily going to be always the best thing to get someone hooked on Trek.

So what kind of Sci-Fi are you looking for? What's your vibe? Whats your jam? Any other Sci-Fi that you like? Might very well be that TNG is your best start but I figured I'd ask <3

The Next Generation season 3 is the classic start position.

The Next Generation (TNG) is a great start.

My journey was TNG, Deep Space 9 (DS9), Voyager, The Original Series (TOS), the animated series, Enterprise, Discovery. Movies as you see fit

Each series is very different and has character of their own. TNG is largely unconnected episodes with a 2-parter bridging the seasons. DSN starts pretty unconnected, but gets into a overarching plot at the end. Voyager follows a main theme, but has some unconnected episodes. TOS is episodic and doesn't have much follow up between episodes. Discovery is the latest and the most singular plot of the Star Treks (ie don't skip episodes in it).

Note also that the term for a show to "grow a beard" came from TNG. The first season was kind of slow with some very meh episodes. Riker physically grew a beard in the second season and the show got a lot better (unrelated coincidence, but a funny connection).

One other thing is that even though I recommend TNG, remember it came out in the late 80's. Some parts of it are slower and feel dragged out. The television show runtimes were longer back then.

Notable mentions are Galaxy Quest and Lower Decks. Both are funny on their own, but will 100% be rib-crushing hilarious only after you've watched a lot of Trek.

@owen my controversial opinion: DISCO, SNW, TNG, TOS, DS9, VOY, ENT and Lower Decks last for maximum joke appreciation.

I started with TNG, went on to Voyager and am now on DS9. Enjoying myself.

Watch two series intermittently