Star Trek is a massive television and film franchise comprising a large number of TV shows and films.

The fictional chronology of Star Trek mostly spans between the 22nd and 25th centuries, with a branching-off point from real history in the late 20th century. By the late 1990s in Star Trek's timeline, a series of destructive wars begin taking place, ultimately culminating in the invention of warp drive in 2063, which allows spacecraft to travel between the stars.

By the 22nd century, humanity has partnered with a large number of sentient alien species to form The United Federation of Planets, a large union of different species joining together in a single interstellar nation. However there are other interstellar nations hostile to the Federation out there as well who provide a source of conflict in the various Star Trek TV series and films.

With few exceptions, most Star Trek TV series and films focus primarily on space exploration with a starship crewed by Starfleet officers on a mission of peace and diplomacy. Star Trek's vast and sprawling canon is filled with many and varied stories spanning multiple genres. If you like pulse-pounding action, Star Trek's got that. If you like deep, cerebral, philosophical stories, Star Trek has that too. And if you like comedy, Star Trek has plenty of that as well.

If you're new to Star Trek it can be intimidating to know where to start. Generally-speaking, you can watch any of the Star Trek shows or films individually without having seen any of the others. The sequencing is important, but not essential for enjoying the story.

If you're just looking for a quick taste of the best of Star Trek without committing to a whole series, pick one of the more highly-rated films to watch, or a highly-rated episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation or Voyager, as those series are the easiest to jump into a random episode of with little context and have aged the best.