I know little about Star Trek. I've seen a few of the movies but I never got hooked on it like I did with Star Wars. So if I wanted to try the Tv shows, where would be a good place to start? Like, could I just start The Next Generation and not be completely lost?
Thanks.
One of the great things about Star Trek is that all the shows take place within the same continuity (at least they did until Discovery). So they do all relate to one another.
That said, the shows are generally set in very different times and places within that continuity, with different sets of characters. So there's not a huge need to have watched any show in order to watch one of the others. You can pick any of the Trek shows and just start watching it, and you're unlikely to be lost. It's up to you really, but here's my opinion...
Star Trek -
The original. To watch this you really need to be able to take it for what it is; bear in mind that it's over fifty years old now, so the production values aren't going to match anything today. If you watch the original version then the effects are pretty bad - but if you watch the remastered version most of the effects are updated. It's also pretty broad stuff, by which I mean there's often not a huge amount of subtlety in the stories or acting. That said, it's also entertaining and fun if you're okay with those things. I love it, but it's not for everyone.
Star Trek : The Next Generation -
This has been called "The Star Trek Gene Roddenberry always wanted to make". Set 80 years after the original, basically it's what he would have made if he'd had the freedom and money and effects technology in the first place. Again, it's become a bit dated since it's now 35 years old, but obviously less so than the original show. The first two seasons are generally regarded as being pretty bad; the show grows significantly better in season 3 and keeps improving until they start noticeably running out of ideas around season 6. One of the better Star Treks.
There's no real need to have watched the original to watch this; if you jump in at episode 1, you'll come across very little that will be confusing.
Star Trek : Deep Space Nine -
Set in the same timeframe as The next Generation but in a different part of space (though the TNG crew do crossover once or twice). DS9 doesn't have a ship; they don't roam the galaxy, they're on a space station that's basically a 'frontier town', and people come to them. At least to start with; later on the show expands significantly beyond this premise. DS9 was intended to be a darker, grittier take on Trek, and it is to some extent. Notably, the last couple of seasons involve a protracted war which dominates the show.
You don't need a lot of backstory to watch it, but if you want to jump in here I would advise watching the TNG episodes "Best of Both Worlds 1 and 2", "The Wounded", and "Ensign Ro"; all contain events that are significant parts of DS9.
Star Trek : Voyager -
Set at the same time as DS9, Voyager is about a single ship that is tossed across the galaxy and spends their time trying to find their way home. Voyager was plagued with some production issues, and IMO that comes through in the quality of the show. Like DS9 they intended to be somewhat darker and grittier than usual for Trek; unlike DS9, they didn't really follow through on it.
Again, you don't need a huge amount of backstory to understand it but you might want to watch the DS9 episode "The Maquis".
Star Trek : Enterprise -
A prequel set about 130 years from now, and 100 years before the original Star Trek show. It's about the first ship which was capable of high speed interstellar travel, letting Humans go out into deep space (meaning tens of light years from Earth). The quality is somewhat variable; sometimes it's pretty bad, sometimes it's pretty good. The first two seasons are the weakest. There's a recurring thing about a "Temporal Cold War" regarding time travellers that, whilst it spins off some good episodes, doesn't really go anywhere that interesting. In the third season they tried something new; there's a huge attack on Earth, and the ship spends the whole of the next year trying to find out who did it and why, and stop further attacks. That's a marked step-up in quality from what went before. Then in season 4 a different show-runner stepped in and the quality stepped up significantly again.
You don't really need to know anything about the other shows to watch it, but there are some call-forwards that you won't get; occasionally a species will show up that's from one of the other shows, that kind of thing.
Personally I wouldn't watch the latest alleged Star Trek show, "Discovery", at all. It's terrible in every respect, and it goes out of its way to shit on the rest of the franchise.
