Being a TOS fan back in the day...

My parents watched it while I was an infant, so when I found it in the 70's, it clicked. I immediately identified with it. Yes, I caught hell in school. Wouldn't trade THE ONLY SERIES for anything.

 

I, too, caught a glimpse or two of the show in the late '60s, but I didn't start watching regularly until 1970.

I guess you could say the first wave of fans were those who saw the show from the beginning. The second wave could be those fans who started watching when it went into syndicated reruns throughout the '70s. And I would consider myself one of the second wave. The third wave could be those who got into the show after seeing one or more of the films, and admittedly the line would get blurry here. I've known of some folks who saw the films and had no idea they were spun off a decades old television series.

Any subsequent wave of TOS fans could have come from being introduced to Trek through any one of the spin-off series until finally you get to JJtrek.

 

As a young boy in the mid-'70s, I first experienced both the reruns of TOS Mondays through Fridays and the new Saturday morning TAS. It was five years before TMP, so Star Trek was an important part of my boyhood.

 

Interesting thoughts, Mr. Hengist.

 

I think I got into Star Trek around 1970 as a 5 year-old. It was in reruns then; I remember watching it around my lunch on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I remember asking for it, to watch it, as the weekends would approach.

I remember there was a local Buffalo station that began re-running TOS every weekday at 4pm around 1974. I rushed home that first day only to hear the telephone ring. It was my grandmother. God-bless her....she had been reading the TV Guide and saw that Trek was listed...and she called to tell me. If the weather was good we'd have a good picture, if it wasn't, I'd be watching Snow Trek......and loving it. Eventually I consumed everything TOS; the Blish books, the tech manual, the AMT offerings and Viewmaster.....even Spock Must Die!

I also remember my peers mocking my taste in entertainment. I had two friends that were closet fans. I remember pulling out the Blish books in school during reading period and being laughed at. It didn't bother me, TOS was far more intelligent and compelling than about 90% of anything else on at the time. - to me.

I remember my early teens years and being up at a summer camp as a staff member. One Saturday night the gang looked to head into town to see a movie. It was one of the Muppet movies from that period around 1981. NEVER AGAIN would I let anybody try to shame me for my love of TOS. Lol!

From about 78-84 I saw very little of my favorite all-time TV series. School and life in general kept me busy. One Wednesday night in 1984 I stumbled across TOS....The Tholian Web.....and believe me when I say this, it was like seeing some cherished, old friends once again after many years. I was hooked all over again.

 

I became a fan as a 10 year old in 73. It has been a life changer for me. I really got interested in science, astronomy because of Star Trek.

Before the movies and before the other shows and way before the internet it was fun hunting down other fans and trying to find any information you can.

 

Became a fan at the age of four of five in the early '70's, loved the show, had the Mego toys as a kid, saw the animated show and movies, have gone to the local conventions, and joined the local clubs...and am still a fan.

 

Born in 1962, I was aware of Star Trek during its original run, but Lost in Space was the preferred show at the time. I became a fan of Star Trek in the fall of 1973 when one of our local television stations began airing the program weekday afternoons after school. At around the same time, James Blish began writing his adaptations and I would eagerly wait to buy each book as it was released. I can also remember buying the Franz Joseph blueprints of the Enterprise around this time as well. I still have on my book shelves the Blish books, the blueprints, The Making of Star Trek, The World of Star Trek. David Gerrold's book on the making of The Trouble with Tribbles, the Alan Dean Foster books and other Star Trek books that were published in the mid to late '70's. I also remember discovering Starlog magazine in the summer of 1976 and subsequently subscribing to the magazine for several years.

 

September 1966, my mom (an excited Outer Limits/Twilight Zone fan) plunked down my 5 year old butt next to her and scared me sh*tless watching "The Man Trap". It wasn't her favorite show (she liked the anthologies much better) But it became MY show and I tried desperately to be good so I could see each and every episode (didn't get to see them all first run..sometimes I was a little hoodlum)

On Christmas 1967 I received my first "Enterprise" model kit..and I, with help from my dad, built it and it survived for the better part of a year of hard play (with many repairs along the way)

By 1968 (when the 3rd season aired) I was allowed to say up VERY late on Fridays to see Star Trek..I felt almost like an adult being allowed to stay up so late. In 1971 I started reading the James Blish adaptations..and followed them all the way until his death..


In the 70s, when the re-runs became popular, I found more and more
that my favorite show was even better than I remembered (even if the only station running it where we lived had a picture quality like the following..) [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d_eIDGS8jA[/yt]



In 1975 I was immersing myself into the local fan scene with a membership in the Sacramento Star Trek Association for Revival or S.T.A.R. and became a part of the local amateur conventions held at Sacramento City College and the big 1976 con at Cal Expo.



I bought Starlog magazine and kept my inner fan happy with "The Booklet of General Plans" and the "Starfleet Technical Manual" modifying several AMT kits to match the ships in the manual..and studying electronics in school (Good old Scotty was my favorite character and in a small way I wanted to emulate him)

I built all the model kits I could get my hands on.. then heard about Star Trek Phase II which became a movie that re-started the franchise for a new era.. TMP, though a slight disappointment, was still New Trek and I went many times after seeing it at it's local premiere.

As a young adult, I played the "Starfleet Battles" boardgame but the USAF took up most of my time..my fandom didn't wain but became more individual in nature with all the movement a military career required. I still built any new kits (based on the movies) and saw each film several times after catching them on the first night..

In the 80s, the Cons became more and more commercialized. After TNG it seemed that everyone was a Star Trek fan.. but I continued following my individual path..
getting my sons exposed to Star Trek in all it's forms..

but the best damn time to be a Star Trek fan was the mid to late 70s..when we the fans "owned" it in our small way..Before it became the corporate juggernaut it is today..

 

There's a lot to be said for this.