Star Trek

I first watched Star Trek with TNG in the early 90's.  I have recently come back now and don't know where to start.  Should I dive back into the familiar characters of TNG?  Should I start at the beginning with TOS?  Being a St. Louisan I am drawn to Captain Archer and ENT.  What do you all suggest as a starting point?  I love anything having to do with the vulcans if that helps. 

alternate...Monday TOS, Tuesday...TNG, and so on.

That is a great idea!  Now just to decide which days, sigh.

IMHO, I would start with all of TNG since it gives you the best "landscape" of the Star Trek world (if that makes sense), then go to DS9 and Voyager.  I'd personally do Enterprise next and finish with TOS.  That said, the watching them all on separate days is a great idea and you'd probably catch discrepancies and nuances that folks watching on a per series basis would not.  Enjoy

Regarding the Vulcans; TOS, VOY and ENT all have a Vulcan crewmember. Spock is the blueprint of a Vulcan in TOS, but I would recommend VOY. It contains very nice scenes with Tuvok and a remarkable episode in which he becomes joined with Neelix as Tuvix. Although I can't remember other Vulcans in that series. Being a beautiful female Vulcan in ENT, T'Pol encounters some difficult moments dealing with emotions. 

Whatever you watch first, it will be lots of fun!

By the way, you can discover an episode of TNG in which the actor who plays Tuvok appeared as a non-Vulcan.

Since you are familiar with TNG start there. DS9 playes while TNG was on and VOY played while DS9 was on. 

Then I would watch maybe TOS and ENT together.

My favorite is ENT.

Personally, I watch the franchise in chronological sequence, which I would suggest for you as well.

Here is a very detailed down to the letter way to watch,

Enterprise

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

The Original Series

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

The Animated Series

Season 1

Season 2

Star Trek The Motion Picture

Star Trek II The Wrath of Kahn

Star Trek III The Search for Spock

Star Trek IV The Voyage Home

Star Trek V The Final Frontier

Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek The Next Generation

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Now during Season 6 is where DS9 begins,

the best way to do this, is to watch every episode on each dvd and alternate 2 series back and forth. It won't be exact but it will be close enough.

After finishing TNG Season 6 disc 4 I believe, you'll start DS9.

Season 6/DS9 Season 1

TNG Season 7/DS9 Season 2

DS9 Season 3, and after I want to say disc 2, you'll watch Generations, then disc 3, and then you'll begin Voyager.

DS9 Season 3/Voyager Season 1

DS9 Season 4/ Voyager Season 2

DS9 Season 5/ Voyager Season 3, and you'll watch First Contact during this season, right around the episode Rapture or so.

DS9 Season 6/ Voyager Season 4

DS9 Season 7/ Voyager Season 5, and you'll watch Insurrection during this season, right around the episode Prodigal Daughter I believe.

After that you just have

Voyager Season 6

Voyager Season 7

and then you'll end the franchise with Nemesis

after that I suggest watching all the special features for all the dvds, as well as William Shatner's "The Captains"

I realize my list is extremely OCD, but I am extremely OCD about Trek, I absolutely love it, and I've worked it all out, and this is the ultimate viewing experience.

I got a good friend of mine into Trek, and I have him watching in this sequence, and he is absolutely in love with Trek now. He had never seen it, and didn't think he would get into it, but I started him on Enterprise first, and went through the list I provided above, and he's currently on the TNG Season 6/ DS9 Season 1 combination, and he's now really loving DS9 already, and is really enjoying watching two series together.

Everyone who I have gotten to watch in this manner, really gets the full enjoyment that Star Trek can provide.

I wouldn't recommend starting with Enterprise, as I consider it to be the worst of all the series. Personally, I'd start with TOS (as it's my favorite), then watch the rest in the order they were aired: TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise. That way you get all the good and you can end with the bad. You could also watch The Animated Series, but I wouldn't really recommend it to someone that's unfamiliar with Star Trek, as it can get a little.....weird.

Worst is a bad choice of words. I understand that generally among most fans, Enterprise is considered the weaker series, but I certainly wouldn't say it's bad. Enterprise is a very good series, a very strong series.

It simply wasn't given the chance it deserved.

I mean ultimately, it's number 4 on my list of Trek series, but I still absolutely love it. I absolutely love every series of Trek. I sometimes have a hard time comprehending how any Trek series or Trek film can be regarded as bad or not good, because they are all just so amazing. Each one has it's own style and it's own unique way of telling incredible stories, and it's essentially 5 series in 1. I've grown to consider all of Star Trek as one massive series comprising of 30 seasons and 10 films, plus a remake film.

Agree with Sora.  I'm sure it's been debated in other threads, but I actually like Enterprise better than Voyager and TOS.  Without going into spoiler details, Voyager has a cheesy side love story, and while it all did link to the TOS universe, some of the side episodes (like the one with the Rock) plus the true middle-of-nowhere theme made it feel a little disconnected to me.  That said, it was still an awesome series.  Guess my only point is to agree with Sora and say that, while some may discount Enterprise, it was still pretty well done.

What is that saying - sex is like pizza (or Star Trek) - even when it is bad, it is still pretty good

You misunderstand me. I didn't say I don't like Enterprise. To the contrary, I enjoyed the series. I simply meant that, among all 5 of the series, I consider it to be the one I like the least, or my "worst" of them all, and I wouldn't recommend anyone starting with it first. But, i also consider TOS to be the best, so we differ on that as well.

Oh alright, well that's fair enough. I mean I really do love TOS. I think TOS is really really good. I mean I love all the series almost equally. It's all Trek, and it's all amazing.

Enterprise is a great series, and it's very Vulcan-heavy, but I think it works better watched as a prequel - that is, watch some of the other shows first.

TOS is always a good starting point.

Yeah I agree with that to a point. There are certain details that make Enterprise better as a prequel, mainly in Season 4. But there are some people who have never seen Trek, and are hesitant to start a series from the 60's or even shows from the late 80's and 90's, so for those people, Enterprise is good, because it gets them into Trek, and after they finish Enterprise, now they want more, and are much more willing to give the other series a shot.

I think it's really ironic, that the Star Trek series that is generally the most hated, is the best tool to bring modern day people who have never seen Trek, into Trek.