While I had watched the original cast Star Trek movies, I got into Star Trek heavily with The Next Generation. I was 11 when it debuted. I liked some of the episodes from season 1, but many just seemed too "bright" for me. It wasn't until they got deep into season two, three, and four, and things got a little darker (meaning story wise and overall, lighting-wise in the shows) that I felt they found their legs, so to speak, and the ride was pretty amazing.
The feature films really didn't pan out as well as I had hoped they would (good, not great), however. Unfortunately, I don't think TNG has much life left to it, except for the novels. I'm currently reading the latest one on my Kindle.