What is the best order to watch Star Trek?

As an avid fan of Star Trek and the owner of Mahannah's Sci-Fi Universe,one of the most common questions I hear about Star Trek is that there is so much of it...New people to the universe don't know where to even begin with catching up on it...

I'm from the old school of fans that has been watching Star Trek since the mid 70's when The Original Series was in syndication and the Animated Series had just ended it's 2 season run, so I've had Star Trek in my life pretty much from it's beginning. I've experienced Star Trek watching every episode and movie as they were available to watch in our broadcast TV and movie theater only world of the day.

So for me to suggest to someone who has never experienced Star Trek how and what order to watch it in is kind of difficult. How do you capture the feeling and "mood" of experiencing the characters,stories and franchise evolve and grow without getting trapped in the less exciting moments in the franchise?? How do you keep someone new interested in the vast library of Star Trek without overwhelming them or boring them in the beginning when they're just getting into it?? With 6 TV shows currently on (and many more in development) and 13 movies and counting...That's a really good question.

I guess I would tackle this question by asking first how serious is the person about experiencing Star Trek?? If they're over the moon interested about it, I'd do the easy thing and just start with The Original Series and watch every episode in order. Easy enough right?? Maybe... From there, I'd watch in this Order:

* The Animated Series                                    

* Star Trek The Motion Picture                   

* Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan     

* Star Trek III The Search For Spock

* Star Trek IV The Voyage Home

* Star Trek V The Final Frontier

* Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country

From there, things start to get more interesting....

I'd suggest just going ahead and tackling Star Trek The Next Generation in the order aired, then the movie Star Trek Generations. From there, I'd watch Star Trek Deep Space 9, start the series Star Trek Voyager, then watch the movies Star Trek First Contact, Star Trek Insurrection, & Star Trek Nemesis. From there, I would watch the series Star Trek Enterprise. I'd finish up with the Star Trek Reboot Movies: Star Trek (2009) Star Trek Into Darkness & Star Trek Beyond. And last,but not least, I'd watch the awesome new series Star Trek Discovery. That would bring a very interested new person up to date in the universe of Star Trek in what I believe is the best way for a newbie to watch the movies and TV shows in the series.

The more difficult way to answer the question of how to get caught up on Star Trek is to ask about people who are new to the universe,but only mildly interested..What order do you watch things in to capture the essence of Star Trek while skipping over the less exciting shows and movies, at least initially??

Honestly, I think I'd start with The Original Episode show Spaceseed. (Some other must see episodes, at some point are, Balance of Terror, The City on the Edge of Forever, The Tholian Web, Mirror,Mirror, and of course, the famous The Trouble with Tribbles.) For the Star Trek newbie,I think that is a good basis to start with. After seeing at least Spaceseed, someone new to Star Trek has to watch the famous movie Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan next. From there, I'd show them the reboot movies. Mainly because for a new person, the reboot movies are for today's sci-fi audience. They are Star Trek on the big screen for today's younger movie goers.

When they've seen this list of shows and movies and after they've fallen in love with the franchise, go back to the earlier list and start them on the full deep dive of the Star Trek Universe!! 

Well, that's my list of starting someone on the journey of becoming a fan of one of the greatest franchises in history. What do you think?? Would you start someone new to Star Trek out in a different order?? Let me know in the comments!!