This battle is too hard! This battle is too easy! This battle is juuuust right!

While we're still reflecting on times gone by, I'd like to bring back a Dungeons & Dragons-related guest post I wrote in August of 2008 for Beneath the Screen, a roleplaying blog started by a friend of mine, which we've mentioned before. Looking back, it appears that I used to be funny. Or so I tell myself.

[Initiating overly verbose guest post in 3… 2… 1…]

It was to be a beautiful start to the campaign. There was no exposition, not even so much as character introductions; there were just three words: “Roll for initiative.”

My players had recently returned from summer break; all of them either had new characters, or else they had characters who had advanced to level 15 in the five years that had passed between the previous campaign and the current one. I wanted to kick things off with a hefty challenge.

I had what I thought to be a clever plan: toss my players into a battle with a particularly tough and nasty hydra (twelve heads, breath weapons, lots of hurt) before they had a chance to determine each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and roles in battle.

Once the battle was over, they would discover that they were actually watching a play of people pretending to be them, celebrating (though inaccurately) their historic deeds from the previous campaign, and that the hydra battle was really a performance on stage and was strictly for dramatic effect.

The details are a little fuzzy, perhaps because I blocked them out of my memory, but I’m fairly certain that my hydra never got a chance to attack before going down.

I was devastated. It was supposed to be a balanced battle, and there were the heads… so many heads… Hydra, how could you let me down???

Sometimes battles are intended to be too easy or too hard for players to handle, but when a battle is not of the difficulty you were anticipating, it can spoil the fun and lead to enormous disappointment and/or frustration. Unfortunately, I’ve had my fair share of battles that didn’t end up how I planned them. Fortunately, I’ve learned many things from those experiences.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I dedicate this post to exploring what you can do before and during a battle to ensure that it ends up being the challenge it’s supposed to be. These suggestions assume that you’re playing regular old 3.5, but most of them should hopefully be applicable to some extent beyond 3.5.

Wait… I have to come up with the plan?

The two greatest mistakes I made with the hydra battle were: (1) I didn’t fully understand how to effectively use a hydra, and (2) I was unprepared for how powerful level 15 characters are.

My D&D experience at that point was pretty limited: long story short, I played for about a month under 3.0 rules and then was the DM for the next several months using 3.5 rules, and that was it.

It took me a while to get comfortable with level 15 characters, and by the end of the quest I had figured out some things that might have helped that hydra battle, as well as numerous other battles, to be a balanced challenge for my players:

Know the level: If you’re launching a new campaign, set the starting level as one you’re familiar with, whether through DMing or through playing (preferably both).

If you only have experience with very low-level campaigns and are sick of never getting past level 3, don’t just start a new campaign at level 16; start somewhere close to what you’re used to and gradually work your way up from there.

Think of it this way: if you had only ever seen Star Wars: Episode I, skipping Episode II and watching Episode III would make almost enough sense for you to get away with it, but watching Episode I followed by Empire Strikes Back would be totally nonsensical.

Slowly progressing up from levels you’re familiar with (or progressing down, if you’re one of those strange folk who’s never played a character lower than level 8) gives you the opportunity to gradually get a feel for new feats, spells, etc. by having them slowly trickle into your campaign instead of needing to suddenly deal with new magic items, three attacks per round, obscenely high skill checks, etc. all at the same time.

Know the PCs: Ask for your characters’ backstories. Read your players’ character sheets. Look at HP, AC, saves, skills, feats, class features, equipment… you don’t need to memorize everything, but you should be familiar enough with them to know the characters' strengths and weaknesses. Know the basics about each race and class represented in your campaign.

I allowed a shadowdancer to join in the middle of one of my campaigns before I had much of a chance to review what a shadowdancer can do, and my ignorance of his character put me and my monsters at his mercy. Knowing the PCs puts them at your mercy (as it should be): in the same campaign, the players were strong in every department except for long-range offense, so any time I wanted to guarantee a tough battle, I threw in some enemies that attacked from a distance and were difficult to reach for melee combat.

At the very least, know your PCs well enough so that you aren’t surprised when the villain around which your entire campaign revolves, Lord Karthlor the Terrifying, Destroyer of Worlds, is suddenly polymorphed into a banana.

Know the enemies: Check challenge ratings and encounter levels. Understand everything your monsters and NPCs are capable of; don’t gloss over that stat block! Make sure your attack bonuses and save DCs are high enough to present a challenge to the party. Consider damage reduction, flight capabilities, AC, etc. and think about whether or not the party can overcome them. Anticipate any tactics or dirty tricks the party might try.

Look over the stats before the session or before the battle to ensure that nothing gets forgotten (I’m looking at you, fast healing!). If necessary, make notes to yourself about tactics and special abilities; concise and often incoherent notes such as “Ranger - bad!” and “Use electricity!” and “DODGE!!!” are effective and also double as suggestions for buying a new vehicle.

Know your place: Choose the right location for your battle, and know all of the specific terrain rules and hazards that go along with it, plus the weather conditions. An open road in broad daylight with some suspicious-looking bushes is a perfectly acceptable location for a battle between a few kobolds and a party of first-level yahoos, but it’s hardly ideal for a battle between epic-level heroes and the stealth-reliant assassins that have been following them.

On the other hand, having those assassins surprise the epic-level heroes at midnight amongst boulders and large piles of rubble next to a river of lava at the base of an active volcano is perfectly acceptable, but bear in mind that pitting yahoos vs. kobolds in such a place will not likely end well for your players or for your flammable kobolds.

Make sure you know whether the environment will help or hinder those involved in the battle, and to what extent; a fight between a party and their evil clones should theoretically be even on a level playing field, but put the bad guys on a tiny raft approaching the good guys on the shore or put the good guys at the bottom of a tiny well with the bad guys looking down at them (and probably spitting on them), and the dynamic of the battle changes and the difficulty shifts.

Status report: Consider the party’s condition at the beginning of the battle. Will this battle be the first one of the day when everybody’s rested and at full health, or will it be the last of a long string of battles when the players are worn down and have no more spells left?

Assuming that the battles are of about average difficulty, lower-level characters can handle very few battles before needing to rest, mid-level characters can handle a good number of battles before needing to rest, and higher-level characters can almost go on indefinitely thanks to special abilities and lots of items. Think about the shape the party will be in before and after each battle to help you gauge whether or not you should adjust the difficulty.

Put it all together: So, to sum up this section, consider how the PCs, enemies, location, and previous and future fighting will all interact in a battle. Could fully-rested PCs defeat the enemies in an empty, open field? (If they are facing a pair of dire sperm whales, my guess would be “yes.”)

What if they’re injured and running out of spells? Will the location give an advantage or disadvantage to anyone involved in the battle? (And, by extension, does the location make it possible or impossible for one side to defeat the other when it wouldn’t be that way otherwise?) How long could the PCs and enemies survive in the chosen location if they were exploring there without fighting anything—that is, is the location suitable for a long battle, and is it suitable for a battle at all?

Proper preparation goes a long way in making a battle the challenge you want it to be, and a battle that is thoughtfully crafted is almost always more satisfying and memorable than a battle against a random critter from the Monster Manual thrown at the party in a hurry. Unless the party demands a tavern fight and you have the Tarrasque come in to eat the tavern.

Perhaps we made a tactical mistake…

So you’ve memorized everybody’s character sheet. You can recite the stats for every monster in the Monster Manual. You know every square inch of the battleground for the fight to come. You’re ready. This is going to be the most awesome battle ever. The poet Homer would come back from the dead just to write an epic about it.

Yet, planning is only the recipe… you still need to bake the cake. And if the cake falls apart and burns up as it bakes, not even Homer Simpson will write an epic about it. But, if it melts in the rain, Donna Summer might sing about it.

…But I digress.

I threw a campaign where a city was under siege, and a few arrow demons (four arms, two big longbows, lots of hurt) had taken up sniping positions in the buildings surrounding a small city square. The party arrived on the scene, spotted one of the demons, shot at it once or twice, missed, and assumed it was just an illusion or something of that nature when it didn’t shoot back; they proceeded without too much caution into the center of the square.

The remainder of this story involves a dead vigilante who never got to roll for initiative, panic, disorganized execution of a nonexistent plan to kill the demons, and me remembering halfway through that the demons had damage reduction. If the survivors’ HPs were added together, the total would be roughly equal with the number of players. Oof.

What happened there? Aside from forgetting about the demons’ damage reduction (because I failed to write a note to myself saying “DR DEMON!!!”) everything I did went exactly as planned. It was the right challenge rating for the group, but there were the arms… so many arms… and the amount of damage I could dish out with multiple bows in an ambush was staggering, especially when all the arrows were directed at the one person that had gone ahead just a little too far.

I wasn’t expecting anybody to die before the battle started, and I really expected them to go into each building together and systematically wipe out the demons rather than split up and have one or two people mucking about in the square where all the demons could shoot at them.

I even anticipated that the battle might be a bit too difficult and worked in the fact that these demons were all mercenaries, and a few of them could have been convinced to leave or fight for the good guys for enough money or with a good Diplomacy check… if anybody would have rolled higher than a 7 on a Sense Motive check.

Shame on me, I underestimated the power of the arrow demons and expected my players to show a little more common sense. Perhaps we’re all equally to blame for the fiasco that was this massac—er… battle. Maybe it was just bad luck; if the person who initially shot at the one demon had hit the target and figured out the demon wasn’t an illusion, or if the players would have rolled higher on their Sense Motive checks, things might have turned out better for them.

Regardless of the causes, when a battle falls apart because of an unexpectedly high difficulty, steps need to be taken to get things back on track, both for the enjoyment of the players and for the success of the quest… provided that you’re interested in seeing them succeed at all and aren’t constantly trying your darndest to kill them off. Drew.

In the event that you’d prefer not to annihilate or nearly decimate your players’ party, there are some steps you can take during a battle if you see things starting to go sour:

Retreat: If the situation permits, remind the players that they can run away. During one quest I ran that I had reused from the previous year, the party encountered some girallons (four arms, rending, lots of hurt… hm… I’m seeing a pattern…) in the woods.

The quest was originally written for a group of six people who found the girallons to be a solid challenge, but the current party only consisted of five people; I figured that the extra XP they would gain by not having a sixth member would help to make up for their reduced number, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

The party’s barbarian pulled off a phenomenal critical hit against the first girallon and felled it, leading everyone to believe that these were big, fuzzy bags of easy XP they were fighting. Oh, how wrong they were.

One person after another was ripped apart, and the cleric ended up running in and out of the fray to drag bodies away and do some healing. Astoundingly, they managed to survive and moved on to nearly get slaughtered by minotaurs at a later date under similar circumstances, but there’s a lesson in here somewhere about the value of retreating from time to time.

Drop clues: If your players are finding the battle to be too difficult because they are doing something futile without realizing it, it’s OK to let them know. Dropping a hint like, “You’ve been slashing away with that sword and the monster doesn’t even have a scratch on it,” suggests to the player that the monster has damage reduction of some kind instead of a huge HP total like the player might mistakenly believe. You might have your players make a Wisdom roll to realize a better battle strategy if it’s obvious that they really don’t understand what to do.

Remember that it’s technically the characters who are fighting, not the players, so there’s always the chance that the character will pick up on something that the player does not.

Hold back: If the enemies have any attacks or abilities of any kind that haven’t yet come into play, ignore them. Don’t rend, swallow whole, constrict, trip, etc.

Move around so you can’t use your full attack. Rely on spells and abilities with low save DCs. Don’t try to flank anyone; only attack the characters with the most HP or highest saves.

Line up or cluster together to become easier targets for spellcasters; don’t use cover; provoke attacks of opportunity, perhaps by leaving one target to pursue another; charge whenever possible for the -2 to AC if the +2 to attack isn’t going to make a difference (that is, if your attack bonus is already through the roof); etc.

Doing all of these at once will make it obvious that you’re not trying, but using a few of them can make a big difference for the players.

The fewer, the merrier: If there are any enemies who haven’t yet joined the battle but are going to join in soon, forget about them; unless they’re somehow a threat to the enemies who are already engaging the party, they’ll only cause more trouble.

The more, the merrier: Add things that will work in the players’ favor:

“Hey, look! That bugbear just kicked over a mound of fire ants we didn’t notice!”

“Hey, look! There are two potions of Cure Light Wounds on this dead guard (instead of the none you had planned)!”

“Hey, look! It’s a purple worm! Wow, our whole party just got swallowed whole and we’re all going to die! Double wow! There’s another fighter in here who probably got eaten just before we did and will probably help us to fight our way out!”

“Hey, look! There’s a band of elves marching over the ridge! Maybe they can reattach Sir Malroc’s head and vital organs!”

The more plausible the addition is (for example, if you had heard rumors about a wandering band of elf surgeons who specialize in head and vital organ reattachment), the less your players will feel like you’re getting soft on them.

Fudge the numbers: Pretend that dragon started out with fewer hit points than you gave her. Pretend that the brutal critical hit you just confirmed was actually just a regular hit. Change the damage you’re about to give to a number that’ll knock a player to -9 instead of -14.

If fudging individual rolls rubs you the wrong way, consider applying a -2 penalty to everything your bad guys do, and maybe write it off as sloppiness caused by overconfidence from wiping the floor so far with the good guys.

Alternatives to death: This can be tricky to pull off, especially on the fly, but certain enemies might be willing to negotiate with the party: “We’ll let you live if you hand over all your gold,” or, “Scrag want goat. Bring Scrag goat and he not eat you.” Heck, maybe even one of the enemies might pipe up and just talk through the conflict, depending on how it started.

Some enemies might demand that the party surrender and be thrown into some musty prison somewhere, be made into slaves, or be brought elsewhere for a proper execution, thus keeping them alive long enough to find a way out of their new predicament, perhaps in a battle that’s more evenly balanced.

Even with animals and monsters who can’t talk and only seem to want the party dead, you might be able to develop a peaceful way out, like removing the thorn from the lion’s paw.

Even if there is no way to avoid death as a final outcome and the entire party is slain, you might have an evil cleric revive them and command them to do his bidding as his servants, or you might send them on a quest in the afterlife to gain enough favor with the gods to be restored to life. This isn’t Final Fantasy; losing a battle doesn’t necessarily mean it’s game over.

Bottom line: No matter what you do, try to make it plausible, and give your players as much of a chance as possible to fix the situation before you start interfering. Add things to the battle that could possibly have been there the whole time; take things away from the battle that the players never realized were there; and give your monsters and NPCs a logical reason for the actions they take.

Create the illusion that you had planned it all along, and an atrociously failed battle saved only by the grace of the DM can be transformed into a heart-pounding but successful close call.

That’s it? I was just getting started!

In my experience, battles that are too hard are easy to fix. Battles that are too easy, however, are hard to fix. I ran a campaign where the characters became epic along the way, and even before they made the transition to epic it was difficult to create battles that were anywhere near being challenging enough. Everyone had become so powerful that only the most complex enemies and the most sophisticated battle strategies could challenge them.

Also, the list of monsters with an appropriate CR for those characters is shorter than a legless gnome, so I ended up doing a hefty amount of NPC creation.

Due to time constraints, I basically had to ignore almost all of the advice I gave about proper battle preparation, and most of my battles suffered for it. They were almost always too easy; most battles were over quickly, and I often had trouble threatening the party at all. I felt powerless to do anything about it without putting in the kind of extra planning that requires failing out of school or switching from sleep to caffeine delivered intravenously.

I ended up falling back on the following tricks to increase the challenge of my battles after they had started:

Threat assessment: Is your battle too easy because you can’t hit one player’s AC? Is your battle too easy because everyone keeps succeeding on their Will saves against your enchantments?

If there’s anything obvious that is allowing the players to fare so well, start targeting only the players you can harm, and/or take away whatever it is that’s causing your players to kick your butt. Disarm the dude with the vorpal sword. Shine some light on the area so that blasted rogue can’t sneak attack from the shadows. If you find that a player is using the same tactic in every battle to take your monsters down, use that tactic against him or her, or keep that tactic from being effective.

One player in my epic-level campaign dual-wielded swords with Wounding, and thanks to Haste, had something like 17,000 attacks per round. Give or take. Having all of my bad guys die of Constitution loss after about three rounds is bad enough, but constantly recalculating HP and Fortitude saves was truly vexing.

My solution was to start introducing enemies with an immunity to ability score damage, and also to start striking back with characters with Wounding weapons of their own. *WHAM!* A dire flail to the face! *WHAM!* Look, your face is bleeding! *WHAM!* Look, I’m wounding you! *WHAM!*

And, if that doesn’t work, just house-rule the problem out of existence. (“Sorry, man, each sword can only do 1 Constitution damage per round, even though you have 17,000 attacks. My villains are not anime characters and do not contain 12 gallons of blood for you to drain them of. Tough noogies.”)

Call in reinforcements: If one monster isn’t strong enough, have another one join the fray. There might be an endless supply of kobolds behind those suspicious-looking bushes, so keep them coming until there are enough to make your players sweat. If that isn’t an option, pick any monster or any stock NPC that might fit the situation, regardless of CR, and add as many as you think is reasonable.

If Xandor Soulbane, leader of the Army of Hextor, is totally surrounded by the good guys and is taking a beating, send in a few soldiers to distract the party. They might not pose much of a threat, but they cost you nothing to add and can draw one or two characters away long enough for Xandor to make an escape or to have more of a chance to dish out some heavy-duty damage before he falls.

Perhaps the greatest stroke of spontaneous genius I ever had was during a final battle where the evil NPCs were putting up a great fight, but didn’t have enough hit points to last for more than a few rounds. I had a flesh golem come crashing through the wall, as if the villains had been impatiently expecting him, and I also threw in two invisible lackeys who each fed a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds to the main villain every round, baffling the players about how he could “drink air and gain hit points.” I can’t speak for anyone else, but I love how the battle turned out.

If all else fails, make up a monster on the spot and arbitrarily choose its HP, AC, attack bonus, damage potential, and one or two special qualities like spell resistance or an immunity to fire; mutant skeletons and funny-colored oozes can fit in almost anywhere for this purpose.

Fudge the numbers: Basically, do the opposite of everything I suggested for when a battle is too hard:

Pretend the dragon had the maximum possible amount of hit points when starting the battle. Automatically confirm any possible criticals. Add +2 to everything the enemies do. Re-roll any 1s on your damage dice. Forget the 1d4-turn wait for breath weapons; make it 1 turn. Increase damage reduction, elemental resistance, or spell resistance if they haven’t come into play yet.

The element of surprise: Suddenly reveal that the villains tied up a character’s loved one and threw her into the lake behind them. Have the enemies start to burn down the town or try to collapse the tunnel you’re in. Have an enemy pull out an item that suddenly teleports everybody to a random location on the battlefield. Have an enemy keep whispering over his shoulder and trick your players into believing that there’s another monster in hiding for them to go after.

Along the same lines of calling in reinforcements, have an ethereal filcher pop into the middle of the battle and steal the players’ healing potions. Allow a poisonous insect to land on a player’s neck undetected and bite him or her for a high-DC Fortitude save. When a monster dies, have it explode. That is, explode like a bomb, not explode like the pig-lizard in Galaxy Quest; the biggest challenge to come out of that would be getting the stains out of your clothes.

Things that come completely out of left field, when used sparingly and reasonably, can panic, confuse, and distract players enough to squeeze more of a challenge out of a battle than there really should be. Just look at how much chaos I caused by having that arrow demon sniper unexpectedly wait for the party to enter the square before retaliating.

Desperation attacks: Some video games feature enemies who use “desperation attacks” once they take a certain amount of damage, attacks that are more powerful than or very different from the attacks they’ve been using; that concept can be applied to enemies in D&D as well.

Perhaps the monster being fought is wearing a small magical item that no one noticed that casts Mage Armor on the wearer or grants the wearer an extra attack after they receive enough damage; to discourage the player from wearing it after defeating the monster, perhaps the item only works on a specific creature type or crumbles into dust after being used, etc. Players can generally spot that this is also a desperation attack for the DM, though, so be careful if you use this.

Bottom line: Add stuff if it’s plausible, but be ready to explain to your players why they are not allowed to explode when they die. Surprise, panic, distract, and confuse your players. If you pull it off properly, you might just convince your players that your lame-o excuse for a battle was really a clever ploy to catch them off-guard… if your Bluff check is high enough.

Don’t Overdo It

If you have the time and energy to plan thoroughly in advance, if you or your players are dissatisfied with the level of difficulty of a battle, or even if you want to draw out or cut short a battle for some reason, consider these suggestions. However, don’t forget that players sometimes enjoy a battle that’s too easy or two hard, whether you planned it that way or not.

Just don’t go crazy with trying to salvage every battle that doesn’t go as planned; if your players are sharp, they might be able to tell you’re making stuff up when they start seeing elves who reattach heads and vital organs on every hilltop and street corner.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Wow, another guest post! This time, my brother-in-law is back with a response to my Marvel movie post from a few weeks back.


Imagine this: you plan on going to a movie. This movie is not only gaining its reputation for great directing, visual effects, beautiful scenery, extraordinary music and the like, but it is also the story of a great character embarking on a wonderful journey. Furthermore, this character happens to be the product of a brilliant scientific endeavor, or a freak accident, or a genetic mutation, or the son of a god. This movie exists as a fantastic achievement all on its own. Even if you saw no other movie, this one would be worth seeing.

Now imagine this: Not only did this movie make sense all on its own, as its own movie, but this movie exists in a network of other movies; a universe, perhaps.

Take the Pirates of the Caribbean movies for instance. Pirates exists in its own universe. The problem with these movies, however, is that you must see Movie #1 before you see Movie #2, and even though Movie #2 isn't worth seeing [Editor's note: BEG. TO. DIFFER.], Movie #2 must be seen before Movie #3.

In 2007, with the creation of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Marvel has created what is called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU includes the following movies: Iron Man 1 & Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America. You may wonder: X-Men, Spider-Man, and a few other movies with Marvel characters came out around that time; why not these?

You see, not all Marvel movies are Marvel Universe Movies. Marvel sold the rights to many of their characters to make some money. Blade 1 & 2, all of the X-Men series (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and X-Men: First Class), Spider-Man 1-3, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, the first Hulk, and the two Fantastic Four moves were all produced primarily from other companies like 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Universal Pictures, Colombia Pictures & Lionsgate.

It was not until 2007 that Marvel really stepped it up and decided to create their own Universe. Take a look at movie enterprises like Pirates of the Caribbean, or Star Trek, or Transformers, all with good and strong fandoms. These fandoms draw from of a string of movies, tied and connected in a series, and even a reboot or two. This I would call building a vertical universe where one story builds off of another.

MCU is more of a horizontal universe that will have vertical stories built in. Iron Man 1 is the predecessor to Iron Man 2, but it exists in the same world, the same universe as Thor, and Captain America. Each movie exists as a solid, coherent, fantastic movie in its own right. But it also exists in an ever developing universe of movies. Yes, we will still see vertical developments, movie upon movie and a reboot *cough* *cough* Star Trek. But now, there is a new giant entering the cinematic stage…

…but this one is not green when angry, nor is it the son of Odin. No. This movie giant is the combination of stories and heroes, the union of myth and magic, the joining of different characters from across the big screens to save our world once more.

I do have one caution, however: Do not be mistaken with another X-Men or the new Spider-Man reboot. They are still not a part of the MCU. The movie to look forward to is the movie that will literally unite their worlds: The Avengers!

A User's Guide to Star Trek: The Original and Animated Series

So you've read my introduction to Star Trek and you want to give the original series a try, or you love other flavors of Star Trek but could never get into the original series, or you're a diehard fan who's got a limited window of opportunity to expose someone to Star Trek for the first time. Where do you begin?

Any fan worth his or her weight in gold-pressed latinum can rattle off at least a few of the "best episodes" that every fan should see, but the best episodes of a series aren't always the best starting points for a newcomer. A list of the Top 10 Best Star Trek Episodes might be fun for the fans, but it won't necessarily include any episodes that establish characters, concepts, and plot threads that are helpful or even essential to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the series...or any of the series that followed.

In order to aid the newcomer who doesn't have the time and/or interest to watch everything, I have compiled a guide to Star Trek that is, with any luck, both reasonably objective and relatively comprehensive. If an episode is accessible to first-timers, fleshes out the details of the greater Star Trek universe, and/or provides useful background for future episodes and movies, then it's probably on my list.

Each of the three seasons of the show is introduced with a blurb about what to expect, and the episodes are presented in chronological order (ignoring the wonky order in which the episodes were originally aired). The highly episodic nature of the series makes it easy to skip around without getting lost, so I encourage you to use your own discretion in crafting a viewing plan (if you're actually crafting a viewing plan).

...BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

The adventures of the starship Enterprise and her crew continue in the oft-forgotten Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS), which I also address in my guide. There's been a bit of debate over how canonical TAS really is, but numerous small references in The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine (DS9), Enterprise (ENT), and a few motion pictures seem to indicate that these are the canonical animated adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Indeed, the series feels very much like a fourth or fifth season of TOS, albeit much shorter, and with more recycled music.

No guide to Star Trek would be complete without a discussion of the six feature films starring the original cast of the original television show, so I will conclude with a brief romp through the movies; nothing says you can't start there instead. Though the films may at first be a little difficult to follow for someone with no prior knowledge whatsoever about the universe or characters, there's enough continuity and character development throughout the movies to significantly decrease the barrier to entry with each installment.

So, without (much) further ado, I give you one fan's as-objective-as-possible guide to getting as much out of the original Star Trek as possible without actually watching the whole thing. Because seriously, busy viewers might take years to get through everything, and subjecting casual or reluctant viewers to every single episode inevitably ends poorly.

Oh, and because the official Star Trek website features full episodes of every series for online viewing, each episode title links to the full episode so you can watch it RIGHT NOW, FOR FREE. [EDIT: Oops, not anymore. But you have Netflix, right?]


Star Trek: TOS - Season One

As with any new series, Star Trek took a little while to find its footing. Costumes changed from the pilot episode, sets and props were updated as time went on, actors gradually figured out who their characters were, and the series itself took some time to determine who the main characters were. Even so, some of the most beloved and identifiable episodes of the series come from the first season, so don't let me stop you from watching anything that isn't listed here.

"The Cage" (Note: This episode isn't on the Star Trek website at the time of this post.)
Every series needs to start somewhere, and Star Trek's pilot episode, "The Cage," is not it. While "The Cage" is the Star Trek premiere that series creator Gene Roddenberry originally pitched to the network executives at NBC, it is not the pilot episode that would eventually kick off the series. That distinction goes to "Where No Man Has Gone Before," which changed or did away with the things the network execs didn't like about the first pilot—most notably, the entire cast (except for Leonard Nimoy as Spock).

Still, "The Cage" is an interesting look at what Star Trek might have been, and the fact that it was rejected by 1960s network executives should not be an indicator of its quality: the episode is solid science-fiction about aliens wielding the power of illusion; the characters are memorable; and in one viewer's humble opinion, it has some of the best character development in the entire series. While this first pilot may not be essential viewing for the uninitiated (especially if you watch "The Menagerie," discussed later on), it's possible that a viewer on the verge of giving up on Star Trek might just find this different enough to be to their liking.

"Mudd's Women"
In addition to being a generally good introduction to the characters and concepts of Star Trek, this marks the first appearance of one of the original series' few recurring non-crew characters. Harry Mudd lends some comic relief to the show while illustrating that, in the midst of all these weird aliens and powerful starships, there's still room in the galaxy for a man who's just trying to make a dishonest living. Of course, if you're not interested in Mudd, then there's always his women, who showcase the skimpy female outfits TOS is (in)famous for. (It's okay; you can smack me.)


"The Enemy Within"
Showcasing the first of many transporter accidents, this episode goes to show that some of Star Trek's most iconic and futuristic technology can be as dangerous as it is helpful when things go wrong. We also get to see Captain Kirk go to character-defining extremes, which is a treat for anyone who likes to see actors act outside of what their roles normally require.


"The Naked Time"
Those of you who watched "Mudd's Women" for the women will be sorely disappointed by this episode. However, those of you looking for widespread character development resulting from an inhibition-destroying virus have come to the right place.


"Charlie X"
Never give an unstable teenager godlike superpowers. Watch the mayhem from the sidelines as you get acquainted with the musical talents of the ship's crew, and pay attention to the fleeting mention of a space probe agency that gets brought up a few more times throughout Star Trek history.


"Balance of Terror"
What do you do when confronted by an enemy who you haven't seen for a century? With starship combat tactics mired in guesswork, a ranking officer coming under suspicion for his ties to the enemy, and fuzzy lines separating heroes from bad guys, this episode serves as a strong introduction to one of the Star Trek universe's most memorable recurring villains, the Romulans.


"The Galileo Seven"
If transporter technology can malfunction to cause problems like the ones seen in "The Enemy Within," then it'd be much safer to just fly from one place to another in a shuttlecraft, right? Right? OH JEEZ WE'RE GOING IN FOR A CRASH-LANDING! Tense situations, plentiful action sequences, and resourceful solutions characterize this parable against ever, ever leaving your starship for any reason. Erm...story about how cool and dangerous shuttlecrafts can be.


"Court Martial"
First trip to a starbase? A good look at SPACE JUSTICE? Sign me up!


"The Menagerie, Part 1" "The Menagerie, Part 2"
Remember when I talked about "The Cage"? This is a brilliant way to stretch your budget—use footage from an unaired pilot episode to provide enough flashbacks to fill not one but two episodes. Some of this season's most identifiable characters appear in these episodes: first and foremost is Christopher Pike, the now-disabled and disfigured former captain of the Enterprise. Also of note are a green-skinned Orion slave girl and the bigheaded Talosians, but they're old news if you've already seen "The Cage." However, if you have seen "The Cage," then it's worth watching these episodes to see what happens when the Enterprise gets dragged into a return trip to a planet where visitation is punishable by death.


"Shore Leave"
What do Starfleet officers do for rest and relaxation when given shore leave? Get accosted and terrorized by a slew of fantasy creatures, including Don Juan, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and an Irishman. We get a crude glimpse into the psyche of a few characters, which provides enough characterization to warrant a mention. Ten bucks says there'll be a sequel in The Animated Series.


"Arena"
Barren landscapes, hand-to-hand combat, and individual ingenuity are some of the hallmarks of the original Star Trek, and this episode has 'em in spades. As an added bonus, we get a good look at a member of a lizardlike race of aliens known as the Gorn, who retain surprising popularity considering they were almost never to be seen or heard about again.


"Tomorrow is Yesterday"
Time travel is a recurring plot device found in every Star Trek series and in more than one of the films. The method of time travel here is a noteworthy one, as are the measures the crew must take to preserve the integrity of their timeline after the entire Enterprise gets thrown back to the 1960s...in full view of the US Air Force.


"A Taste of Armageddon"
Star Trek is often a show about real-life social and political issues explored through the lens of science fiction, and while numerous episodes on this list already demonstrate this well, I'll admit to playing favorites: "A Taste of Armageddon" is one of the all-around best episodes of the original series, in my opinion. It's an episode that puts a powerfully thought-provoking spin on the nature of war, it showcases exactly what kind of a leader Kirk is, it offers one of many demonstrations of the famous Vulcan mind meld technique, and it's just good sci-fi.


"Space Seed"
The Enterprise encounters a "sleeper ship" carrying passengers in suspended animation from two centuries ago...including Khan Noonian Singh, who is almost certainly the most popular individual Star Trek villain of all time. He's not just popular, though—he's a dangerously clever man who, by his wits and charm as much as his strength, can achieve anything he wants. Also notable is the first discussion of the Eugenics Wars, a subject that is revisited in the show Enterprise (ENT) and that forms an important part of how Star Trek's history of Earth diverges from ours.


"Errand of Mercy"
While the story itself is standard fare—forces on opposing sides of a conflict vying for control of a planet that will shift the balance of power in their favor—the significance of this episode is quite...significant. This marks the first appearance of Star Trek's signature villains, the warlike Klingons. Moreover, the planet, the people, and the events depicted in this one episode reappear or are referenced numerous times throughout the rest of this series and the series to follow. On its own, it's much like any other episode, but it sends important ripples through the greater Star Trek universe.


"The City on the Edge of Forever"
At the risk of playing favorites again, I'm including this episode not just because it's frequently cited as the best Star Trek episode of all time, but because it's arguably the best episode you can show a person who is so turned off by the idea of Star Trek that they're only willing to give this show just one shot. This episode requires no previous knowledge whatsoever, takes place on Earth in the comfortably non-futuristic year of 1930 (thanks to what might be Star Trek's most memorable method of time travel), and plays out like a normal, compelling drama with a sci-fi twist. If that isn't enough to win someone over, then they're hopeless, and/or should definitely give the show one more chance with the more lighthearted "The Trouble with Tribbles" (discussed later).


Star Trek: TOS - Season Two

While the first season of Star Trek contains a number of "classic" episodes, the show didn't fully hit its stride until the second season, when the plotlines began to diversify, the main cast was solidified (with the addition of Russian navigator Pavel Chekov), and the series began to explore more of the possibilities presented by the characters and ideas of the first season. As a guy who craves variety, continuity, and good pacing in his television shows, I can tell you that this season of Star Trek is by far the most consistently enjoyable for me to watch.

"Metamorphosis"
Star Trek is big on blobular and supernaturally powerful aliens, and while plenty of other episodes provide a good exposure to this staple of the series, this episode has the added benefit of introducing Zefram Cochrane, the man who allowed the Enterprise to go zooming around the galaxy by inventing warp drive...which is particularly interesting because the man's been missing for 150 years.


"Amok Time"
The Vulcans are unquestionably one of Star Trek's most popular and identifiable alien races, and this episode explores their emotionally restrained and highly logical culture...and the last sliver of uncontrollable passion that remains in them. Without a doubt, this is one of the most foundation-building episodes on the list: the concept introduced here of pon farr is referenced often enough in geek culture and revisited in Star Trek III, Voyager, and Enterprise.


"The Doomsday Machine"
If there's one thing you can count on in TOS, it's that Kirk is the only captain in Starfleet who hasn't gone completely insane. At least, that's what you might be led to believe from episodes like this one, which gives you a peek at another ship in the fleet, her captain, and the aftermath of a mission that did not end well. As an added bonus, this episode introduces the father of a key character from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as well as an iconic doomsday machine that has been a popular additon to various Star Trek spinoff novels, comics, and video games.


"The Apple"
I'm personally not wild about this story of a primitive culture that worships a god that's actually a fancy machine, but it demonstrates beyond the shadow of a doubt that any crew member wearing a red shirt will almost certainly die in the most horrible way possible.


"Mirror, Mirror"
We get a good look at the sinister possibilities of alternate realities in Star Trek's first foray into the Mirror Universe (with more forays to follow in Enterprise and Deep Space Nine). We get to see a completely different spin on the characters (thanks to another transporter malfunction), and the impact on pop culture is not to be underestimated.


"I, Mudd"
Harry Mudd is back, and with more women than ever before...he's got an entire planet of them under his command. Not only do we get a little taste of plot continuity in a predominantly episodic series, but we get to see a sliver of Kirk's prowess at talking a computer to death, a skill he uses more often than you'd think.


"The Trouble with Tribbles"
While "City on the Edge of Forever" might be the best first exposure for a viewer who's highly resistant to the idea of Star Trek, "The Trouble with Tribbles" is probably your best bet for everyone else. This is another episode that's often cited as the best in the series, and I don't disagree: there's a few clever plot twists, a good dose of humor, and situations and dialogue that truly bring out the personalities of the characters—in other words, it's good and highly accessible television. On a more Star Trek-centric level, it's an opportunity to see the warlike Klingons in a more diplomatic setting (and to meet two particularly important Klingons who'll show up later), and to see what happens when the cutest little alien furballs in the galaxy win over the hearts—and workstations—of almost the entire Enterprise crew.


"Journey to Babel"
This story of political intrigue and family tension also serves as an excellent introduction to a few characters and races that appear throughout the films and episodes to come. We meet Sarek and Amanda, the unlikely parents of Spock—one a distinguished Vulcan diplomat and the other a very emotional human. We also get an exposure to the argumentative, porcine Tellarites and the militaristic, antennae-clad Andorians, who play an important role in ENT.


"The Gamesters of Triskelion"
Crew members are captured and forced to fight for the amusement of an alien race. It's a chance to see many of Kirk's trademarks in one episode: ending up shirtless in hand-to-hand combat, becoming romantically involved with the female du jour, and exercising a very direct brand of diplomacy.


"A Piece of the Action"
The Enterprise often encounters civilizations that closely resemble cultures from Earth's history, and perhaps the best example of this is the planet that grew up to be 1920s mobsters. Disguises, ingenuity, and adaptation are the order of the day, with a bit of comedy to spare.


"Assignment: Earth"
This was the pseudo-pilot episode for a spinoff that was never launched (until John Byrne's comic series four decades later). Taking place entirely in 1968, the time-traveling Enterprise crew encounters a man who claims he's been sent from another planet to help Earth...sounds like a decent premise for a new show, which is what Gene Roddenberry hoped it might become. Most of the reasons I cited for watching (or not watching) "The Cage" are applicable here.



Star Trek: TOS - Season Three

The third and final season of Star Trek is widely considered to be a disappointment by cast, crew, and fans. The show had just returned from cancellation (poor ratings, but faithful viewers), but a reduced budget and some significant behind-the-scenes personnel changes changed the feel of the show dramatically. There's a few worthwhile episodes in the bunch, but I find that too many of the episodes are heavy-handed with their underlying message, lack truly memorable scenes and characters, and develop in unpleasant or bizarre directions.

"The Paradise Syndrome"
How far will a crew go to recover their lost leader? Character development abounds when the Enterprise is without her captain, and the captain without his Enterprise...or his memory. Even though no direct connection is ever stated on film, this episode ties in with The Next Generation (TNG) episode "The Chase," so we've got some implied continuity as well.


"The Enterprise Incident"
The return of the Romulans is marked by a plot to capture a Roman cloaking device, which will render a ship invisible and virtually undetectable. There's subterfuge and...sensuality? Interesting (and, for some fans, controversial) character development, and we also get to know these crafty Romulans better.


"The Tholian Web"
The elusive Tholians appear throughout the various Star Trek series, though almost always in name only. Here we catch a rare glimpse of them in action, as the Enterprise is trapped in their energy web. We also catch a glimpse of a memorial service for a lost senior officer, and the character development that accompanies it. Additionally, this episode serves as the foundation for a two-part Mirror Universe story on ENT, which you would never expect based on this description.


"Day of the Dove"
Klingons are loose aboard the Enterprise! Throw in a powerful alien that meddles with the crew, the Famous Spock Nerve Pinch, and another Particularly Important Klingon Who You'll Meet Again, and you've got a fairly well-rounded sample of what TOS brings to the greater Star Trek universe. Plus, you get a pretty comprehensive tour of the ship (to your left, you'll see a Klingon taking over the bridge...).


"Requiem for Methuselah"
I've tried not to select episodes that have more connections to "expanded universe" material than the movies and shows, but this one features a character who has captured the imaginations of several Trek novelists in particular. The character in question is the master of an impressive home with many treasures of the distant past, living on an otherwise vacant planet with a mysterious young woman at his side. Meanwhile, everyone else is dying of plague.


"The Savage Curtain"
A powerful alien forces people to fight each other for sport. Erm...for research. The premise may sound familiar if you've been following along thus far, but it's the infamous and legendary characters introduced here that have nabbed this episode a spot on my list. We've got a ruthless human who becomes relevant on ENT, as well as—at least within the context of the Star Trek universe itself—the most influential Vulcan ever and the most unforgettable Klingon of all. As an added bonus, Abe Lincoln fights Genghis Khan, and that makes us at Exfanding very happy.



"All Our Yesterdays"
This one will teach you to stay away from the library. A dash of consequence-free time travel and a hefty dollop of appropriately out-of-character character development make this an interesting watch. What can I say? I'm a sucker for character development, and because the series concluded with another "Look out, there's an impostor Kirk on the loose!" episode ("Turnabout Intruder") instead of a grand finale, I'm content enough to let this episode cap off the final season of TOS.



Star Trek: TAS - Seasons One and Two

I won't spend any time reintroducing the characters and universe in this guide—though if this is where you choose to jump into Star Trek, you'll do just fine watching all the episodes in order and skipping the ones I point out here. Virtually all of the recurring characters, races, and technologies had been fleshed out and poised to make their impact on spinoffs to come by the end of TOS; most of what I spotlight in TAS is either an encore or minor elaboration of something that's already been covered.

Many of the original series' writers returned for TAS, as did the actors who played Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and Nurse Chapel. Woefully absent, due to scheduling commitments and budget constraints, respectively, are Sulu and Chekov. Very few voice actors were brought in outside of the main cast—you can bet good money that any given woman was voiced by Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) or Majel Barrett (Chapel), and that almost anyone or anything else was voiced by the versatile James Doohan (Scotty).
The one place where TAS truly shines is in its ability to depict anything the writers and animators could come up with—hence the addition of M'Ress and Arex, two distinctly alien bridge crew members. Creatures, locations, and situations that would have been too expensive or complicated to pull off in live-action at the time became commonplace thanks to the animated medium.
There are still times when the animation (and plot) exudes a distinct "1970s Saturday morning family show" feel, but if you enjoy or can tolerate that, you'll find some well-paced Star Trek that's at least on par with anything in Season 3 of TOS. You're probably sick of reading italic text by now, so let's speed this up and smash both seasons together into one list:

"Yesteryear"
Whereas most of Star Trek's time-travel episodes deal with the preservation or improvement of the current timeline, this sort of follow-up to "City on the Edge of Forever" explores what happens when the timeline is already broken from the get-go. This episode also provides a good deal of background on Spock, his family, and the planet and people of Vulcan, with some of the specifics coming in handy during one particular ENT story arc.


"More Tribbles, More Troubles"
There's not that much to be said aside from that which should go without saying: this is a sequel to "The Trouble with Tribbles." Take it as you will.


"The Infinite Vulcan"
This tale of cloning and weird science was penned by Walter Koening, who was woefully not playing Chekov in this show. If you're curious about the Eugenics Wars discussed in "Space Seed," you'll get a smidge more insight here; otherwise, congratulations, talking plants.

"Once Upon a Planet"
Another sequel, this time to "Shore Leave," which...hang on, you owe me ten bucks.


"Mudd's Passion"
This time, the smug smuggler has gotten his mitts on a love potion, an item of interest to a certain nurse with feelings for a certain pointy-eared crew member...It's one last outing with Harry Mudd, with fun character moments a-plenty (much to the joy of anyone hoping for Arex and M'Ress to have more screen time).


"The Time Trap"
A familiar Klingon and his crew get tangled up in a space-time warp that sends them and the Enterprise to a starship graveyard with no way out. This interstellar Hotel California is home to representatives of numerous alien races seen throughout TOS and TAS, so be sure to impress your friends when it comes time to play Name That Humanoid.


"The Slaver Weapon"
Here's a curiosity: A crossover story featuring the ancient Slavers and the feline Kzinti, two races from writer Larry Niven's fictional "Known Space" universe. Given the depth with which the Kzinti are portrayed here, along with the fact that they're space cats in pink uniforms, it's no wonder they've enjoyed a certain amount of popularity over the years, though almost exclusively in the "expanded universe" material.


"The Pirates of Orion"
So far we've only seen a green-skinned slave girl from Orion; now we get to see some dudes from Orion. We also see a Federation freighter, which demonstrates that starships do other things than just saving the galaxy every week—they also have their cargo holds raided by pirates who stand between a dying crew member and a cure.


"The Counter-Clock Incident"
Questionable science drags the crew into a negative universe where they age backwards. Once again, the series finale doesn't have much finality about it, but it fills in a little bit of Enterprise history by introducing the ship's first captain (preceding Kirk and Pike, which I guess is implied by use of the word "first") as well as his wife, the ship's first chief medical officer.



Brief Interlude
If you've had ample exposure to both the live-action and animated series, you may enjoy the Star Trek: Mission's End comic miniseries, which provides more closure as a series finale than "Turnabout Intruder" or "The Counter-Clock Incident" and helps pave the way for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Speaking of which, why don't we kick off our otherwise brief exploration of the movies by allowing me to digress for several paragraphs into a discussion of...


Star Trek: The Motion Picture
It can be difficult to appreciate ST:TMP without the proper context. To some, the film might seem like a long, dull, plotless yawner with no real villain and no real conflict, but the more I get to know the original series, the more I understand what the film is going for. The story about this mysterious cloud that's messing with Earth isn't the point of the movie, you see.

The Enterprise crew aren't just a group of coworkers; they're a family. A family who survived countless alien encounters and strange phenomena during their time together, only to go their separate ways after the TV series ended. ST:TMP isn't just about the reunion of the characters, but also the reunion of the actors, who hadn't performed together onscreen since Star Trek's cancellation a decade prior. Everyone gets their moment to shine when they return to their comrades, and it's just as much for the characters as it is for the actors.

The long, sweeping shots of the Enterprise in space are for the fans who grew up watching Star Trek on tiny television screens that may not have even been in color. We get a chance to savor the craftsmanship and grandeur of this fantastic vessel that can carry hundreds of people through the stars. We get the opportunity to experience some of the wonder of the creatures and phenomena that exist in this universe, and only some of them blow up. It's an art piece just as much as it is a movie.

The film is perhaps best understood as a reunion episode of the TV series adapted to take advantage of the big screen. In fact, the story was adapted from what would have been the pilot episode of the planned spinoff series that never happened, Star Trek: Phase II; increase the budget and extend the running time a little bit, and you've got a motion picture.

There's conflict between Kirk and this young upstart who's taken his captain's chair. Spock has grown unsettlingly distant through his pursuit of pure logic. Even the Enterprise herself is barely spaceworthy when the crew is called upon to save the day. It's just like old times, but times have changed, and the story of that reconciliation is just as important as the story of how Kirk and company stop the unstoppable cloud thing. Given that the Enterprise is a vessel of exploration, it's only fair the audience gets to share in the awe and mystery of the unknown through big artistic shots and a main plot that doesn't hand you all the answers at once.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is, I would argue, a good film, but it is a different film than the average moviegoer may appreciate. I just waxed philosophical for five paragraphs—if your attention is starting to wane by this point, then this film is probably not for you. Otherwise, be sure to give it a try—it's an easier transition from the television series than starting with Star Trek II, it makes good on one of my wafer-thin reasons to watch "The Doomsday Machine," and it really is a visual spectacle, albeit of a different variety than the films to come.


Star Trek II-IV: The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home
If you spend any time at all on the Star Trek films, make sure you watch these three. This movie trilogy tells one continuous story that ties in with the television series, develops the characters significantly, fleshes out the greater Star Trek universe, and sets several precedents for the films and spinoff series to come. Love, loss, revenge, new beginnings, friendship, and time travel...it's all there.



If schedule and enthusiasm permit, "Space Seed," "Amok Time," "Journey to Babel," and "Tomorrow is Yesterday" provide valuable background for these films, and it's helpful to have at least a little bit of exposure to the Klingons through episodes such as "Errand of Mercy" and "Day of the Dove" before jumping into the trilogy.


Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
There's two reasons to watch STV: Either you're a completionist who wants to see all six original films without skipping any, or you really, really like Star Trek. What could have been a thought-provoking story about faith and family ended up being the one Star Trek film that most writers are afraid to reference for fear that it might be considered canon.

While STV has a good number of quotable lines and humorous moments that might make it more appealing, the plot isn't as engaging and true to the characters as in the previous films, nor are the special effects as dazzling. I feel about it the same way I feel about Space Quest 6: it's nice to have another outing with these characters, but it's an outing that might cause more harm than good. If religion, horse theft, and rocket boots are of interest to you, then you might enjoy the film, but most fans would probably agree that STV is neither necessary nor recommended to gain a better appreciation of Star Trek.


Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
The final voyage of the Enterprise finds the crew in position to finally make peace with the Klingons—or plunge themselves into all-out war. With a satisfying blend of action and drama, each character receiving some time in the spotlight, and plot elements that connect to the past while looking ahead to the future (TNG), I'd be hard-pressed to think of a more fitting way to conclude the original Star Trek.

----

Three seasons of live-action television, two short seasons of animated television, and six feature films is quite a bit to watch...and I've barely scratched the surface. In addition to the episodes I didn't discuss (which I would still encourage you to watch if you've got the time and interest), there are many more ways to get your original Star Trek fix, should you find you need it:

Several actors reprise their roles in various cameos throughout the spinoff series and films that follow. The characters live on in books, comics, video games, audio dramas, and J.J. Abrams' reinvisioned universe that emerged in the 2009 film simply titled Star Trek. Even sticking with the episodes we have, all three seasons of TOS are now available in a remastered format with enhanced and modernized visuals. That's a lot of ground (space?) to cover, so don't worry about running out of material if you get hooked.

I hope that this guide has served/will serve as a helpful starting point for an enjoyable and comprehensive experience of Star Trek for the reluctant and/or busy viewer. I'd love to hear any stories of what did and didn't work for you, and I'm open to suggestions about refining this list to keep it as thorough and relevant as possible.

Now, then. The word is given. Go watch some Star Trek.


[Images from memory-alpha.org]