Of course, there are many variable factors to include here. Rotten Tomatoes, for instance, didn’t launch officially until 2000, and didn’t become a remarkable cultural force until about 2003 or 2004. The site has more reviews of newer films than of older ones, which is going to weight approval ratings. “Strange New Worlds,” for instance, has 87 reviews, while “Star Trek: The Animated Series” (ranked third, with a 94% approval rating) only has 18. Also, a lot of the newer shows’ approval ratings are based only on reviews of their first few episodes, and don’t stand as an overall litigation of the series in question, ex post facto. The ’90s shows were judged as a whole, while “Strange New Worlds” was judged by maybe five episodes.
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” was fourth on the RT list with a 91% approval rating, while “Deep Space Nine” almost tied “Lower Decks” with 91% approval, only with fewer reviews.
Curiously, less appealing Nu-Trek shows like “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard” still garnered a lot of positive response, at least initially. “Picard” has an approval rating of 89%, bringing it in at #7, while “Disco,” the first Nu-Trek series, is in 8th with an 84. These shows are hotly contested, and /Film has gone on record as to why they don’t work very well. Coming in behind them, rather bafflingly, was the original 1966 “Star Trek” series, boasting a mere 80% approval. That is based on 42 reviews, though, some of them vintage.
At the bottom of the list is “Star Trek: Voyager” (76%) at #10, and finally, at #11, “Star Trek: Enterprise” (56%).
Nu-Trek shows can brag about this: On average, they have a 91.8% approval. Fans of the two original shows can take solace in the knowledge that their average is 87%, but ’90s Trek fans will be hurt to learn that their four shows average out to 78.75%.