@StarTrek on Twitter is re-tweeting people with that hashtag. I became a fan of TNG because of LeVar Burton and stayed for VOY and Jeri Ryan. ETA: https://twitter.com/vltrdlcrz/status/627549534910976000
It was an escape from a terrible childhood. I probably learned more from Captain Kirk and Mister Spock during my formative years than from any of the adults that were around me.
I started watching in the mid-70s because the Junior Scholastic magazine we read at school mentioned something about the show and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I quickly became a fan and have been in love with Kirk ever since.
This. My daughter refers to Leonard Nimoy respectfully as "grandpa", and has for years. I didn't tell her to do that, she just knows the deal - that the person her dad is owes more to Spock, Optimus, and Kal-El (and Kal-L) than to anything from his bio-contributors.
Same here Bill. If I had a nickel for every ignoramus, selfish a-hole, racist, or drunk that was in my life back when I was a child... Trek was something better, something to aspire to, an escape, if only temporary.
My dad was a fan of the show and he encouraged me to watch reruns of TOS and TNG when I was a kid, as well as all the movies. Later on I returned the favor and got him interested in DS9, VOY and ENT.
Me mum hated STAR TREK with a heart-felt passion and as a 9 or 10 year old kind of developing an antisocial nature, anything to annoy the parents was something to be embraced. Dad, on the other hand, didn't give a toss. I suspect he always considered it a kid's show and simply never took an interest in it. Fishing shows, with Fish-Cam watching carp investigate a baited hook piqued his interest much more. Which is why I was kind of surprised he never took to TREK, because to my young mind, it seemed to be a very "adult" show. I don't know ... I guess I always imagined him siding with me on it and encouraging my fandom, for that reason. More than any of that, though, the simple fact is ... I was hooked!
My mother never said anything one way or another, but sometimes my dad would say something like, "How can you watch things like this about things that could never happen?" But he didn't say it often and never really discouraged my interest.
I've always liked science fiction. The first "adult" book I bought, was "Journey The Center of the Earth". I was already watching shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost In Space, so Star Trek (TOS) was a "logical" next step. It was a show that grew with me. I started watching for the aliens, ships and ray guns but as I entered my teen years I discovered the theme and messages of the episodes. I'd like to think it influenced who I became.