Watch Star Trek and Get One of the Greatest Sci Fi Experiences of Your Life

Growing up I always loved science fiction. I would watch Starship Troopers, Star Wars, Gundam Wing, Big O, and so many other pieces of media and be head over heels for the appeal of space travel and how the human race would look like hundreds of years from now. However, there was one of the heavy hitters in Sci-Fi that I slept on hardcore and that was none other than Star Trek.

While Star Trek is beloved by many, for newer generations of geeks it might be harder for them to simply get into the series so I wanted to write this article to encourage folks to just dive in.

The above scene represented my feelings while growing up because it seemed way TOO nerdy to get into. Starship Troopers had giant alien bugs and explosions, I’m in. Star Wars had the force, Japanese influences, and lightsabers, I’m in. Gundam Wing had giant robots you could pilot and go to war in, I’m in.

 

But Star Trek was about a peaceful ship going off into space to just explore. Not to mention they didn’t use guns or had cool armor. They just wore a onesie and talked. A lot. Plus there are various series spanning several seasons and each episode was almost an hour long. It seemed so hard to buy into that I merely ignored it completely.

When the new films came out I was interested and watched but it still couldn’t quite match the action of Star Wars. That is why I got so curious Star Trek fans were so die hard. Many of my friends who love the show would gladly get into fistfights if someone claimed anything was better than it. Especially Star Wars.

As time went on, I eventually fell in love with a Trekkie and she encouraged me to check out none other than The Next Generation featuring Captain Jean Luc Picard.

Begrudgingly, I watched it and the first season was hard to watch. Outdated special effects, awkward characters, buying the idea of exploration, etc. It seemed to go against a lot of the sci-fi content I normally consumed. However, with every single episode that passed, the show improved. You began to learn more about the characters and develop favorites. You watch them pursue their personal goals and encounter entire episodes dedicated to them becoming a better person. By the third season, it is golden all the way around.

But what got me was their vast world-building. In the Star Trek universe, there is a wealth of planets, races, factions, and politics that it becomes exciting to pay attention to and learn the history of. It made me realize how shallow some sci-fi series were. Some had good guys and bad guys and the story was about one side beating the other.

In Star Trek, it is all about the journey and everything they must endure on that trip. Along the way, they are thrown into situations that cause moral dilemmas, philosophical debates, and sometimes they fail. Not to mention they get to tap fully into the sci-fi vein by having episodes focused on time loops, time travel, other dimensions and so much more.

To their credit, they also took the time to discuss various topics that were taboo back in the day. Agism, Racism, Religion, Androgyny, same-sex relationships, transgender, etc.

What used to be one of the aspects I disliked now became it’s selling point because Star Trek has so much content for fans to consume. Meanwhile, we wait years for new Star Wars content only to be disappointed that they did not deliver what we wanted in the span of three hours.

Although Star Trek doesn’t feature a major battle scene in every episode, that only makes them more intense when they occur. Although there are many Star Trek series, I’ve only seen The Next Generation so that is the one I can wholeheartedly recommend. Jean Luc Picard is the Captain of the Enterprise and while he might be a bit too perfect as a leader, watching him handle difficult situations will leave you in awe.

At the time of writing this article, Star Trek and a lot of their series are available on Netflix, along with other streaming services. I should also mention that even though I have not seen it, there is a new series called Picard and Discovery available on CBS.