According to IMDB users, the best season of Star Trek is Picard Season 3, which reunited the cast of The Next Generation in fan-pleasing fashion. Prodigy Season 2, an animated sequel in spirit to Voyager, is the second highest-ranked season. Strange New Worlds Season 2, is third highest, followed by Lower DecksSeason 4.
Both Prodigy seasons are in the top 10, and four of the five Lower Decks seasons are in the top ten. The only legacy show in the top 10, doubtless in part due to the difficulty of making ~26 great episodes a season, is Deep Space Nine Season 4.
| Rank | Series | Season | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Picard | 3 | 8.740 |
| #2 | Prodigy | 2 | 8.085 |
| #3 | Strange New Worlds | 2 | 7.970 |
| #4 | Lower Decks | 4 | 7.840 |
| #5 | Strange New Worlds | 1 | 7.830 |
| #6 | Lower Decks | 3 | 7.820 |
| #6 | Lower Decks | 5 | 7.820 |
| #8 | Lower Decks | 2 | 7.810 |
| #9 | Prodigy | 1 | 7.775 |
| #10 | Deep Space Nine | 4 | 7.680 |
The Worst Seasons of Star Trek
Short, ten-episode seasons also make it easier than legacy shows to have clunkers.
Discovery Season 4 is the lowest rated season of the 52 seasons so far, beating out Starfleet Academy at #51 and—the reason I wrote this post—Strange New Worlds Season 4 at #50. (More to come on that another time.) The worst legacy season is The Original Series Season 3, at #42.
Personally I think Picard Season 2 is the worst Star Trek season, and one of the worst seasons of television in general I’ve ever watched. I’ll never watch a single episode of it again, unlike most of these other seasons, from which I will cherrypick some good episodes.
And Discovery Season 4 is much preferable to me to Discovery Season 3, whose season-long arc is one of the worst and least enjoyable I’ve ever encountered personally.
| Rank | Series | Season | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| #42 | The Original Series | 3 | 6.863 |
| #43 | Short Treks | 2 | 6.850 |
| #44 | The Next Generation | 1 | 6.748 |
| #45 | Discovery | 3 | 6.662 |
| #46 | The Animated Series | 1 | 6.644 |
| #47 | Picard | 2 | 6.630 |
| #48 | The Animated Series | 2 | 6.567 |
| #49 | Discovery | 5 | 6.270 |
| #49 | Strange New Worlds | 4 | 6.270 |
| #51 | Star Fleet Academy | 1 | 5.920 |
| #52 | Discovery | 4 | 5.815 |
Best and Worst Season by Series
Strange New Worlds has the highest difference between its best- and worst-ranked seasons: 46 ranks (from #3 to #49). Picard is next least consistent, with 36 ranks difference from its best and worst (from #1 to #37). TNG itself is third least consistent, with 33 ranks different from its best to worst season (#11 to #44).
The two-season animated shows are most consistent. The Animated Series is consistent, but consistently bad: 2 ranks difference (from #46 to #48). Prodigy has 7 ranks between its seasons (#2 and #9).
All four second-wave shows—TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT—started with their worst-ranked seasons. Fortunately in those days a bad first season was not enough to get a show canceled. Interestingly, each first season of DS9, VOY, and ENT is ranked higher than the first season of the show proceeding it.
| Series | Best Season | Worst Season | Total Seasons | Best Rank | Worst Rank | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Original Series | 1 | 3 | 3 | #14 | #42 | 28 |
| The Animated Series | 1 | 2 | 2 | #46 | #48 | 2 |
| The Next Generation | 6 | 1 | 7 | #11 | #44 | 33 |
| Deep Space Nine | 4 | 1 | 7 | #10 | #40 | 30 |
| Voyager | 4 | 1 | 7 | #20 | #39 | 19 |
| Enterprise | 4 | 1 | 4 | #12 | #34 | 22 |
| Discovery | 1 | 4 | 5 | #23 | #52 | 29 |
| Short Treks | 1 | 2 | 2 | #31 | #43 | 12 |
| Picard | 3 | 2 | 3 | #1 | #37 | 36 |
| Lower Decks | 4 | 1 | 5 | #4 | #24 | 20 |
| Prodigy | 2 | 1 | 2 | #2 | #9 | 7 |
| Strange New Worlds | 2 | 4 | 4 | #3 | #49 | 46 |
| Star Fleet Academy | 1 | 1 | 1 | #51 | #51 | 0 |
All Seasons of Star Trek Ranked
The full list.
| Rank | Series | Season | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Picard | 3 | 8.740 |
| #2 | Prodigy | 2 | 8.085 |
| #3 | Strange New Worlds | 2 | 7.970 |
| #4 | Lower Decks | 4 | 7.840 |
| #5 | Strange New Worlds | 1 | 7.830 |
| #6 | Lower Decks | 3 | 7.820 |
| #6 | Lower Decks | 5 | 7.820 |
| #8 | Lower Decks | 2 | 7.810 |
| #9 | Prodigy | 1 | 7.775 |
| #10 | Deep Space Nine | 4 | 7.680 |
| #11 | The Next Generation | 6 | 7.673 |
| #12 | Enterprise | 4 | 7.662 |
| #13 | Enterprise | 3 | 7.654 |
| #14 | The Original Series | 1 | 7.645 |
| #15 | Deep Space Nine | 7 | 7.636 |
| #16 | Deep Space Nine | 5 | 7.619 |
| #17 | Deep Space Nine | 6 | 7.600 |
| #18 | The Next Generation | 5 | 7.596 |
| #19 | Picard | 1 | 7.570 |
| #20 | Voyager | 4 | 7.562 |
| #21 | The Next Generation | 3 | 7.538 |
| #22 | The Next Generation | 4 | 7.531 |
| #23 | Discovery | 1 | 7.513 |
| #24 | Lower Decks | 1 | 7.490 |
| #25 | Voyager | 7 | 7.488 |
| #26 | Voyager | 5 | 7.452 |
| #27 | The Original Series | 2 | 7.446 |
| #28 | Discovery | 2 | 7.443 |
| #29 | Deep Space Nine | 3 | 7.427 |
| #30 | Enterprise | 2 | 7.365 |
| #31 | Short Treks | 1 | 7.325 |
| #32 | Deep Space Nine | 2 | 7.319 |
| #33 | Voyager | 6 | 7.285 |
| #34 | Enterprise | 1 | 7.258 |
| #35 | Voyager | 3 | 7.212 |
| #36 | The Next Generation | 7 | 7.168 |
| #37 | Strange New Worlds | 3 | 7.090 |
| #38 | Voyager | 2 | 7.088 |
| #39 | Voyager | 1 | 7.087 |
| #40 | Deep Space Nine | 1 | 6.984 |
| #41 | The Next Generation | 2 | 6.891 |
| #42 | The Original Series | 3 | 6.863 |
| #43 | Short Treks | 2 | 6.850 |
| #44 | The Next Generation | 1 | 6.748 |
| #45 | Discovery | 3 | 6.662 |
| #46 | The Animated Series | 1 | 6.644 |
| #47 | Picard | 2 | 6.630 |
| #48 | The Animated Series | 2 | 6.567 |
| #49 | Discovery | 5 | 6.270 |
| #49 | Strange New Worlds | 4 | 6.270 |
| #51 | Star Fleet Academy | 1 | 5.920 |
| #52 | Discovery | 4 | 5.815 |
Photo credit: StarTrek.com.
