Maybe this has been done but since they are all done now I wanted to see what people think. Since I am a trekkie , please don't blast Star Trek in this thread, I just want to hear real opinoins from fans of the show. Thanks!!

You forgot the animated series!

While I love (and will always love) the original show, THE NEXT GENERATION is definitely the best.

DS9 and VOYAGER just never clicked for me, although I'm still hopeful that ENTERPRISE will be decent. I'll give it a chance.

I chose Deep Space Nine. I don't think there was a single episode I didn't like. The character development was amazing, the main story line was very interesting, and I've always thought of the Bajorans as my favorite species.

I'd have to say Deep Space, especially past the third season. It had the best storyline and character development, had a lot of depth for a Trek show. Next Gen was too divided, either the shows were generic action or general Trek preaching, and the characters were all so squeaky clean and noble it bored me to tears in the long run. Fine for its time, the Original's style just doesnt hold up. I think the modern series wont date as badly. The less said about Voyager, the better.

My take:

I don't know if I'd have been so keen to follow the later series had I not so enjoyed the original episodes as a child. Admittedly, much of my feelings for the "golden age" are based on nostalgia!

The Next Generation started off rather badly, IMNSHO: I found it somewhat wooden; more or less the original series just updated! As time went on the actors and/or writers grew into it and things improved markedly. There were some great episodes in later series. But, when I watch repeats, I still cringe at some of the early ST:TNG stuff in a way that I do not with the original series.

Deep Space Nine I really, really liked. There were several duff episodes but, in the main, the characterisation and story development really worked for me. I don't know what relevance this has but, unlike any of the other three series, for the main part the action did not take the characters to new planets: in the main things came to the station: no-one was going anywhere. Did that make the writers try harder, perhaps? Whatever, perhaps for similar reasons that make me a B5 fan, DS9 is my favourite.

Voyager, too, worked for me most of the time. I suppose there was a different overall feel because few of the normal ensemble of aliens and enemies were to be found: the only ones that come to mind are the Borg and Q although I expect there were one or two other exceptions.

So, DS9 comes first with the other three more or less equal for joint second place for a variety of reasons not least that I can't bite the bullet and make a decision

(I'm pleasantly surprised to see a few other DS9 fans: I'd thought the show was second only to Voyager in its unpopularity!)

I guess I 'll chime in and agree that I also loved DS9 followed by TNG then voyager.
The last season of DS9 was amzing as the war-arc made it kinda like watchin a movie in about 15 parts!!
I think that if Voyager had followed a little darker tone it may have been a bit better but that is just how I like my Star Trek. I have no problem with humor and some campiness, but some of the latter movies go a bit far. I hope this new series and the new movie reward the established fans with more in-jokes(which I LOVE!!)
The new movie esp should be a movie for the current fans much more than gettin new fans attracted IMO.

TOS has stood the test of time and still plays great. TNG, once you get past the Wesley/Counselor Troy/Data silliness was pretty good too, though I will always prefer Kirk's "balls to the wall" command style to Picard's "no thank you, I'll have no sugar in my tea" style. DS9 had a quite talented ensemble, but the writing was lacking, and reminded me too much of B5. Voyager? What the hell was that? Without Robert Picardo's excellent portrayal of the holographic doctor, the show would have been unwatchable! So I vote TOS with TNG a close second.

TNG way better and the TNG movies are the best too

TNG.

I think it's the only one where you can just watch one episode in the middle and enjoy the episode. That's not the reason why I think it was the best, but that makes it much more likable.

There comes a point where you cannot compare these shows, as they were all so drastically different (except Voyager, which was a TNG clone).

TOS was so new and so revolutionary that you could forgive its silly sets and corny nature. The relationship between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is so special and can never be duplicated. Plus, you add "City on the Edge of Forever" in the mix, and it's difficult to deny this show.

TNG was so insanely bad for about 2.5 seasons, but they really figured it out midway through. The character development of Picard is simply incredible, and while Voyager completely diminshed the importance of the Borg and Q, at the time, they were quite formidable opponents. I watch an episode like "The Inner Light" and cannot believe there are people that don't like TNG.

DS9 is similar to TNG in that when it was bad, it was REALLY bad. But where TNG was classic episodic television, DS9 had more of an arc. People are so die hard about DS9 being better than TNG or the other way around, but I don't think people stop to realize that they are completely different types of television. If you like following a complicated story from one episode to another, you'll be a DS9 fan. If you appreciate the difficulty of developing characters and telling compelling stories through isolated episodic television, you're likely a TNG fan. If you smoke lots of crack, you're probably a Voyager fan

Voyager had its moments and had tons of potential, but in the end, they completely ran the characters into the ground and relied way too much on TNG for inspiration. It's OK to do that in the first couple of seasons like TNG did with TOS and DS9 did with TNG, but not in your final seasons. At some point, a show must find its identity, and Voyager never reached that point.

So how to choose? I must use the head-to-head tournament approach. Seeding the shows by airdate, I'll pick TOS over Voyager any day - no explanation necessary. TNG vs. DS9? This is difficult, but Picard's character was so strong that I must go with TNG. As I mentioned, "The Inner Light" is an example of the breadth of TNG. DS9 was great, and all the different storylines were fun, but TNG had just a little more heart for me. So, in the finals, the classic confrontation: TNG vs. TOS. Kirk vs. Picard. How do you begin to compare? Do you give more points for the vision to start the entire franchise or the talent to take it to another level? Where would TOS be with syndication support, a budget bigger than my kid's lunch-money, and 7 seasons? I will default to literal interpretation of the question: "Which Star Trek series was the best." Watched today, with no appreciation for history or technology or politics, TNG is the best. But watching each when they originally aired, TOS was the best. It was so revolutionary in so many ways that people seem to have forgotten over the years. Nothing against, TNG or DS9, but my vote goes to TOS.

das

The Original series had great stories
TNG had Patrick Stewart
DS9 had a long running story and lots of character development
Voyager has 7of9

DS9 gets my vote

I have to second what das monkey and Fur Q said. But I happened to lean toward TNG for the vote.

Voyager is the only sure thing, that is a loser. I forced myself to watch the first two seasons, but it so stiff I couldn't keep going. I pick up a few syndicated Voyager shows once in a while to catch my breath before going to bed. There are a few very good episodes.

Exactly. That was the reason I really liked DS9, but thought TNG wasted SO much potential.

The Borg try to invade Earth, and while repelled, manage to destroy an inordanant amount of Star Fleet. Huge potential for a really exciting season. Romulans decide that they're going to attack a weaker enemy; NextGen focuses a few episodes on rebuilding Earth while trying to repel attacks; given the money that it would have cost to rebuild, their PREMIER vessel would not have gone back galivanting around the universe exploring - they could have become a main line of defence, they could have been used as political weapons for political forces on Earth; the possibilities were endless.

But what happens? Next episode, it goes back to the same old same old. Even the ship was as clean as a whistle.

Don't get me wrong - I like ST:TNG but it could have been SOOOO much better.

Again, Voyager suffered from it's original premise. It's kinda like the producers say "it's OK to follow a story arc for an episode or two, but no way are we gonna make a serial out of it".

There was one or two episodes where they were forced onto a planet and it was generally accepted by the crew that they were going to have to live there permanently.

Why not leave them there for a series? Have them constantly reminded that this is a foreign planet? Move the action to one of survival rather than an all to similar clone of TNG or TOS. A number of times I'd watch Voyager and think that I would LOVE to see what would happen if it were taken to a logical conclusion. But inevitabilly I would be disappointed with the result. The plot would put characters into a situation where they could get home, but then they'd come up with something fantastic that would stop them from doing so - either that or Janeway would say "no thank you, we'll find our own way home".

On a side note, I think I lost respect for Voyager when Tuvok and Nelix "combined" and the combined person liked who he was. Janeway, however ignored the wishes of this person (an innocent) and effectively executed him so she could get the status quo back and the show could carry on as normal next week.

There should be a choice for 'none of the above' so I can cast my vote!

If they had made the changes you suggest, it would have lost its episodic nature. Like I said, some people like one more than the other, but personally I love the fact that we have some of each. TNG was about exploring the galaxy. While I would love to see the characters involved in a large-scale arc, I'm content to leave that to other shows. Not every TV show needs a huge arc. It's become quite popular now as it seems everyone's doing it, but I like being able to sit down and watch an isolated TNG episode that gives me a 5 act story with a strong resolution.

DS9 is a completely different television format, so I enjoy it for completely different reasons ... but I won't sacrifice one for the other.

I don't know what specific point I hung my head while watching Voyager, but sitting idly by while Janeway threw morality out the window episode upon episode made me sick. The finale was the final straw. And now that b!tch is going to be in a TNG movie? Hopefully they'll court-martial her for crimes against both aliens and humanity.

das

Seriously? I thought Janeway was the "weakest link" in Voyager. I can't believe they would put her in a movie. Hopefully it's a non speaking part. Where did you hear this?

What sucks so much is that I love the idea of a female caption - they just ruined her character. She had little depth, made decisions based on personal bias and selfish motives, and they didn't give her crew a backbone to second guess her, because they were afraid it would diminish her power on the show. If Picard was doing something stupid, Riker would hop up and tell him where to stick it. If Janeway was doing something amoral, Chakotay would shrug and walk away.

Anyway, last reports I heard are that Jeri Ryan was written into the script but couldn't do it (likely because of Boston Public). They then wrote her out and wrote Mulgrew in. There are massive spoilers all over the place, and I've tried heavily to avoid reading them, so my information could be outdated. There's lots of detail out there now, but I think she's still supposed to be in the film.

das

I thought it was a neat direction, adding a female captain as well. I agree exactly with what you said they did to her character, and that really turned me off. Sometimes I wonder if the writers did that on purpose.

OH HOW I HATE JANE-MY-WAY-OR-THE-HIGHWAY! I would love to see 7 retains her cold Borgness or at least some kinna unique character and the Doctor to be, like not so human-like. Why does every non-human tries to be like human? I just can't stand the show always preaching human or human values to be like the greatest in the galaxy! And the last few epasoids of voyager just totally made me sick! It's just sooooo ridiculous. It's like they are trying to put all the characters with completely different characteristics, just to see what's it like! So pointless. And the finale! Don't get me started ......

As far as this talk of captains goes...

Well, Kirk was Kirk, no point in really talking about him, cool, impulsive, adventurous. Picard was a 180 on the Kirk character, a passionate, poetic thinker, who was just as excited about adveture, just not as impulsive. Sisko was hotheaded, conflicted, selfish, and probably the only captain that I would say, was more of a man who tailored himself into the system instead of being part of it. Being a captain wasnt as natural for him, but if the walls fell he could put them back up, be a warrior. Janeways flaws were all in Mulgrew; she was a horrible actress who had no grasp to look deeply into her character. She was just as selfish and morally gray as Sisko, but Mulgrew was unable to put any depth into it, so Janeway just looked cold instead of conflicted or blinded by pain. Her actions that were flawed were always portrayed as "I think its right" instead of "I'm not 100% sure, but I have no choice but to take the chance and be damned for it". Thats what she should have been, the captain with the biggest burden, the hard choices on her shoulders, but instead she was just an icebitch, who awkwardly smiled and made bad one liners.

As has been said, with Kirk there is no point critizising. He was a product of a different generation and a different show. ST: TOS was always a western set in space. Find a planet, shoot to kill, sleep with their women.

When Next Gen came around, the show had a set of ideals that had formed around it, and had to in some way conform to that. Picard thought about ramifications, was passionate about what he did, and put the universe (or his view of it) above that of his own personal wishes. The show (IMO) still suffered from the episodic nature in that it couldn't explore a wider story.

Cisco was a man who needed to work in a system he didn't know. At times he made the wrong decision, but he lived with the consequences (one advantage of a long running story arc). DS9 had the luxury of being able to develop characters that changed as specific events changed around them. TNG couldn't as much, cause if you missed an episode, you'd wonder why people were doing what they were doing. TNG characters did develop, but it was over seasons and not episodes.

Janeway had HUGE potential. A female captain who could do things that actors dream about. She had carte blanche to be able to take the series even further. The character had flaws, and out of "prime directive" space could explore those flaws and either embrace or conquer them.

What did she do? Wishy-washed between episodes trying to find something that the viewers would accept. She couldn't be too strong, because that might alienate some traditional people but at the same time, she couldn't be too weak as a captain.

Voyager had GREAT potential - from day one. It shouldn't have tried to be a clone of TOS or TNG - DS9 found it's neish. Had it decided to be a standalone series that could independantly stand alone, it would have been far greater IMO. Sure, some traditional viewers might not like it, but others would love it. In the end, people viewed it as being alright, but still a poor substitute for either TNG or DS9. I know of very few people who raved about it like they did TOS, TNG or DS9 (depending on what style of show you preferred).

Let's hope "Cadet School" or whatever is coming is better.

OK, people ... fess up ... who voted for Voyager?

das

Cisco is a company, Sisko is a captain.

And the new series is Enterprise starring Scott Bakula in the 22nd century aboard the pre-Federation Enteprise.

Matt

I voted for TOS because it was my introduction to Sci/Fi and I have lots of Nostalgia for that show. For it's time, it was ground breaking and gave us a lot to think about.

I liked TNG, but hated the lack of continuity. Let's wrap it all up in 10 minutes and no one has any lasting changes to them. WTF, over?

DS9 was a really good show. They really tried to be the show that TNG never could. There were some great characters and strong stories.

Voyager, what can I say about the only flavor of the show that made me stop watching Star Trek? Some of the worst waste of film I've ever seen. This was, well, let's make a show, call it Star Trek and every moronic, get a life fan will watch it. And they did. What did they do when the ratings were dropping off? They domesticated the Borg and gave the boys some boobs to look at. Which did work. There are so many ways that this show could have been better. More character development for EVERY character, except the one who wasn't a real person. The holograph was the only well developed character. This would have led to a more interesting Janeway. Tigher directing would have helped as well. They either should have never brought Q in, or never had him in a position to owe Janeway. She did help him, although not in the way he wanted. He should have sent them home. To make it more interesting, they could have had Q stabalize the moving wormhole, sent Voyager home, deal with the Maquee members of the crew, and then go back to the Delta quadrent, via the stable wormhole and start exploring. They could have also started to build a base on the other side of the wormhole. That show had so much wasted potential.

Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahn!!!!!!!!! (TOS)