I never really though about it till yesterday when my friend asked why I love it so much I got to thinking why do I like it I know some people like it because of the adventure some for the medical advances what is your reason
Top of the list would be the adventure, the sense of adventure. Then would come watching people I "know" handling difficult situations, how they do it. After that is that the show take place off of Earth (mostly), I've had a fascination with space since I was a child.
Why? I don't know. For me, part of it is definitely nostalgia since I've been watching for thirty-five years. Part of it is cool adventure with fist fights and feats of daring-do. Part of it is cool spaceships hurtling massive destructive forces at each other. Part of it is Captain Kirk, every kid and men who are kids at heart want to punch the bad guy, save the universe and get the girl. Part of it is arguing with other fans who see the universe differently, they should make debating the Prime Directive an Olympic sport. Lots of different reasons why I like Star Trek.
The adventure, the drama, & the idea of a world where there are starships, aliens, Starfleet, and all sorts of fantastic cool technologies. Plus that world being something fun & exciting rather than depressing & bleak makes it something to aspire to rather than avoid.
There's many reasons why. Mainly due to I am interested in the future and I am interested in the endless possibilities of space. And I like the characters as well.
I like the characters (well... some of them), the adventure, the setting, the insanely insane scope of the universe (700+ episodes, 12 movies, 500+ novels, probably as many comic books... it goes on forever!), I like laughing at the bad episodes, I enjoy the fandom... it's a lot of things, basically.
The biggest reason has to be that a lot of it is extremely well written and the universe it's created is so rich and detailed. Another big reason I think it's stuck in people's minds for so many years whereas most shows from the same time have been forgotten or treated as a nostalgia item is Gene Roddenberry's vision. Everything I want to happen to the human race happened. That makes me feel good and makes me want to keep watching. And it inspires me to behave that way in our current, less than ideal times.
Meanwhile what hooked me, aside from my diecast metal toy of the Enterprise D, was the hissing and skipping Ferengi of The Last Outpost. Hey, I was 8 years old, that genuinely interested me.
From when I first saw a clip of the forthcoming (to British Televison) Star Trek on the national news on BBC1 in most probably late 1968 or early 1969, I just thought "Wow". Kirk fighting the Gorn was the clip, and being an impressionable and slightly out there 9 year old, that memory will always live with me. It was fresh, different, clever, even cerebral as some American TV critics said, but it was just amazing. Still watch it to this day, well Kirks Star Trek, and still love it, but as a middle aged adult, I can now see its sometimes ridiculous flaws and I can nit pick with the best of them, however it will always be my favourite television programme, good or bad, always. So shoot me
The fact that it manages to be both fun AND intellectual. It does the moral debates as well as the exploding battleships. Many shows written as "entertainment" shy away from addressing fundamentally serious issues. Many shows classed as "serious" come across as leaden or depressing. Trek is good entertainment with some depth to it - the perfect balance.
Great question, but I don't have good answer. I just...do. I could give all the cliche responses but those really don't mean anything. Ask me why I like pizza and I couldn't tell you why.