Breja: And the original isn't "very long", it only has three seasons.
DaCostaBR: With 25 episodes each. It's pretty long.
I'd hardly call a three season series long, but anyway I don't see how it matters. Every episode is a separate story. It's not like he has to watch the whole thing or needs to watch them all in a short period of time.
johnnygoging: This show is only tangentially connected to the previous shows. You can just go in without having seen any of them and that's the way they intended it.
You know, I'm really not sure if it is. If they wanted the show to be as accesible to new audience as possible they wouldn't bring in Sarek as a key supporting character, or Harry Mudd, or make the main character Spock's "sister" and make the old USS Defiant a plot point. I honestly don't know what the intention here was.
PixelBoy: Newbies should be warned not to watch any remastered episodes* though, the CGI in the 60s series looks very out of place and will ruin the experience.
I hate TOS remaster. Like you say, it's out of place and it just reeks of fakeness. It's like watching Cassablanca with a mew soundtrack with modern pop songs. Leave the show as it was. And it's Star Trek. It's about the plot and characters, not the effects.
PixelBoy: Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Cut is the only exception where it's actually a good idea to get that, as it has some scenes which were originally meant to be in the movie, but were left out as they ran out of time to produce them.
That is one of the most radical improvements in terms of Director's Cuts I know. It makes a pretty average movie into one of the best in the entire franchise.