Ranking every Star Trek series from the worst to the greatest

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation

Just barely shy of our number one spot is Star Trek: The Next Generation, the show most frequently cited as the best Trek has to offer. For many fans, this was their first introduction to Star Trek. It premiered in the late ’80s, when fans of the original show were now old enough to have children of their own to be watching Trek with. And boy, did they have a show to be watching. Every week, The Next Generation served up razor-sharp storytelling that tackled deeply complex emotional quandaries — like The Original Series, but on steroids.

From “Inner Light” to “Darmok” to “I, Borg,” The Next Generation approached science-fiction through the eyes of morality and philosophy and wrapped elegant stories up in the comforting colors of the carpeted bridge, manned by none other than the French captain with a British accent, Jean-Luc Picard. Patrick Stewart’s tour-de-force performance is a high point of the entire series, and his world-class acting never wavers, even when the writing isn’t at its best.

The rest of the bridge crew as just as memorable: Brent Spiner as Data, the android who longs to become human; Jonathan Frakes as First Officer Riker; LeVar Burton as blind engineer Geordi La Forge — the list goes on and on.

Although the first two seasons started out a little shaky, by the time The Next Generation found its rhythm, it gave fans some of the best science-fiction ever to air on television.