Star Trek

Think of TOS (The Original Series) as Greek Morality plays on a stage.

TNG (The Next Generation) is the same, but with a budget and special effects - what Roddenberry imagined for TOS.

For someone new, I'd say start with TNG, it captures the essence of the original but is more watchable for someone who didn't grow up with the original Trek. Plus everything else really builds from it, sort of. Well, at least Voyager and Deep Space Nine are set in the same timeframe and kind of follow TNG canon.

Edit: the special effects on TNG were pretty much the best you could do for TV at the time. Remember, a large TV then would've been 20" or so.

I have kind of a background knowledge, but did exactly that and have almost finished Lower Decks. It is the first ST thing i've watched for years, and yeah there are some references but overall I think you'd really enjoy it without knowing about the full history.

About to start of Strange New Worlds :)

Generally you can watch any of the shows without having watched the previous ones. There will be some episodes with references that will go over your head and there will be some occasions where you might want to look something up (for example episodes that assume you already know about certain alien species). But you'll be able to follow the plot just fine. Maybe Lower Decks would not be the show I'd necessarily start with, as a lot of the humor relies on references to older shows. Strange New Worlds should be a perfectly fine starting point though.

If you do want to give an older show a go though, TNG is much more palatable for modern viewers than TOS in my opinion, although it doesn't start out the best.

I started my wife with some TOS, a little TNG, and most of Voyager to give her some foundation before we moved to the first season of SNW, and then lower decks.

Other people have already given some good recommendations, so I won't reiterate that!

What I would say is that each show to a greater or lesser degree has its own tone and style, some of it intentional and some due to the era it was made. So if you don't end up liking one of the shows, there's probably a few more out there that you will!

And if you do start with Lower Decks, be sure to come back to it after you've seen some of the other shows! It's completely packed with sometimes obscure references to the other shows.

Whichever direction you go, I hope you enjoy it! I know I have over the years. 🖖🖖