I'll most likely start by dissecting each TV show and include for each my selections for the best episodes (in countdown form), my personal favorite episodes (regardless of relative quality), and my picks for the worst episodes as well. I'll go in chronological order of when each show aired to avoid moderate confusion for any carry-over storylines.
Then I'll go on to review each Star Trek film separately and consider how they distinguish themselves from their respective series and how they should probably be regarded by fans. I say this now because it will become very significant later on when I discuss JJ Abrams' recent foray into recreating the Trek franchise effectively from scratch.
What I'll say here for now is that one of the key aspects to understanding and appreciating Star Trek for what it is is almost completely dependent on the given viewer. Most fans of Trek usually pick a specific series as their personal favorite and what that choice is is fairly reflective overall of how that individual views the entire series itself. Much has recently been made of Into Darkness and how it connects to the entire previous Trek franchise and how it should be considered in the grand scheme of things. I'll get into specific detail for that movie much later on in this series of blog posts, but for now it is sufficient I think to say that some may be choosing to interpret the Abrams' franchise only in regards to the rest of the established Trek universe. Given the nature of what his franchise is attempting to do, such an interpretation is theoretically problematic at best. Furthermore, this entire matter connects back to yet another aspect of viewing Trek fandom specifically- that Trekkies and Trekkers have a tendency to become rather...resolute in their ways and opinions. Because there is a frequent tendency for fans to pick one personal favorite show over another it colors a bit their perspective on what Star Trek overall is meant to be as a science fiction series and a cult phenomenon and a Hollywood franchise. I personally like to think that Trek is all of those things, not necessarily all of them at the same time, but nonetheless it fits the bill for any of those labels to a T and so can be viewed and analyzed from various perspectives. Essentially what I mean is- Trek means different things to different people and in the way that religion is oftentimes quite specific to certain people, so is Trek considered by different people in different ways. Some like to think Trek means 'THIS ONE THING' while others say it means 'THIS OTHER THING ENTIRELY.'
Again however I should reiterate that this is only MY perspective on things. I am not attempting to blow smoke up my own ass by saying I have all the answers nor that my opinions should be taken as complete truth. Everything is relative.
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