CBS has a habit now of putting out the first episode of the season for their Trek series on You Tube (they did it for DISCO Season 2, Picard Season 1, and Lower Decks Season 1, and this summer they had several Short Treks on there), and I'm anticipating they will do that for DISCO Season 3 in the next few weeks.
I don't necessarily agree with that Trek traditionally gets better in each fourth season. For TOS, though it never made it to a fourth season (not counting TAS) the first two seasons, and I would argue especially the first season, were stronger than the third. For TNG, I think the third season is when the series really grew. DS9 started off stronger than TNG, and Season 3 also took it to another level, but I also can see Season 4 really is when the show came into its own, with Sisko shaving his head, Worf joining the series, and it moving more toward the Dominion War. I didn't watch VOY consistently, but I could see the fourth season being the one that was where the series got better, because of Seven of Nine joining the series. As for ENT, I think the third season (along with the second season finale) is where the series jumpstarted, and the fourth season took it to another level. DISCO had two solid enough seasons so far, and though I haven't seen the third season opener yet I am looking forward to seeing it for myself in time.
How I rank the series (right now):
DS9: Some of the best writing, character development, and the Dominion War put this one over for me.
TNG: Still has my favorite crew, my favorite captain, and the franchises' best episode in "Best of Both Worlds Part 1".
TOS: The most iconic Trek characters and many of the still talked about episodes in the franchises' history. Also has my favorite villain, Khan.
ENT: I'm going slowly through Season 1 now. But when it was out I didn't like ENT until the third season and I also liked the fourth season, where I felt it really lived up to its promise of being a TOS prequel. I thought many of the ENT characters were bland and that Archer was the weakest captain, but while I'm going for the first time all the way through again I'm gaining a new appreciation for Archer and his crew. Also, the production values were great at the time and still hold up.
DISCO: Best looking of any Trek series. DISCO has movie quality cinematography, costume, and makeup design. I like Sonequa Martin-Green more than I like Burnham, but still I'm rooting for the character. Burnham and Sisko are the most three-dimensional and fleshed out black characters in Trek, and I think DISCO has focused more on Burnham than DS9 did on Sisko. Character development across the board is a bit uneven, but the cast is good. I think the arc storytelling, which is very contemporary, gives the series momentum but too often at the expense of character development for the ensemble. Also felt that this series was uneasily inserted between ENT and TOS creating some unnecessary and nagging canon issues, but overall still an entertaining enough Trek series.
VOY: Didn't get into VOY back in the day. I missed out on the early seasons so there was never time for these characters to grow on me. I liked the cast and the characters on paper, but I felt they were too bland. I only came around to Janeway after I saw the original actress/concept of the captain character, and realized how much stronger Kate Mulgrew was in the role. I still think things were a bit too easy for the Voyager crew, but I always appreciated the production values on the series. Sometimes I look at an episode and like ENT I have a new appreciation for the series but I haven't committed to looking at the entire run yet. I've long thought VOY had quite a few good original villains or could've been villains: Vidiians, Voth, Vaadwaur, Swarm, Species 8472, Hirogen, etc.
LD: I've only seen the first episode of Lower Decks. I had doubts after seeing the trailer for it, but I thought Lower Decks' first episode was stronger than expected and I liked the TNG vibe.
TAS: I'm slowly going through TAS now as well. Not a bad series, but it doesn't really grab me and compel me to tear through it. I put Lower Decks over it, so far, because the TAS animation is just old.
ST: I'm not sure if the "Short Treks" count as their own thing or as part of the respective series they belong to, but for the most part I thought some were good (like the ones with Aldis Hodge and Rainn Wilson), others decent, and some missed the mark. I also liked that they are experimenting with storytelling styles and using animation, to even produce a African-inspired holiday story for kids. The only one I haven't seen is the one with DISCO's Ensign Tilly, a character I find annoying.
PIC: I was disappointed with this first season. Picard is my favorite captain, but I didn't like a lot of where they took the character or the Federation. It was too dark and gritty for my taste and the stories were not well thought out.
(Major DISCO Spoilers)
http://blog.trekcore.com/2020/10/star-trek-discovery-review-that-hope-is-you-part-1/http://trekmovie.com/2020/10/17/a-closer-look-at-whats-coming-in-star-trek-discovery-season-3/ http://snw.trekcore.com/gallery/index.php?cat=3http://blog.trekcore.com/2020/10/star-trek-prodigy-kate-mulgrew-captain-janeway-casting/http://discovery.trekcore.com/gallery/index.php?cat=33
