Age and how you got here...

[Greg Cox]

55, and I have dim memories of watching the show during its original run on NBC, but I grew up on the syndicated reruns which I came to know by heart. Discovered "organized" fandom in college, around the time of the first two movies.

I've enjoyed all the spin-offs and reboots to varying degrees, although I considered myself a Trekkie long before any of the latter-day shows debuted. I remember watching the first episode of TNG while cat-sitting for a friend, not long after I moved from Seattle to New York. And, by coincidence, the first episode of ENTERPRISE aired the night before I moved to Pennsylvania. My TV set was all packed up and my cable connection had been shut down, so I watched that first episode with a Star Trek fan club in Greenwich Village . . . . Seemed like a great way to spend my last night in NYC!

 

[Nerys Myk]

56. started watching around age seven. It wasn't my favorite show (that was Batman) but I do recall playing Star Trek with my sisters. Not sure if I was into SF at that age, though a lot of the TV I watched was in that genre and I started reading comics around the same time. We moved to Japan around the time Trek was cancelled, so it was a couple of years until I saw Trek again. Now it was in syndication and running in the afternoons and weekends. At that point I became hooked. My best friend was also a big fan, so it was fun to have someone to talk Trek with. By that point I was a SF fan too, reading Verne, ERB, Asimov and others.

 

[Grant]

55

And like most people from that age group I started watching in syndication in 1970 or so.

Five days a week after school at around 4pm. They ran them in production order so that's how I always watch them and think they should go.

I watched them endlessly for years but somehow didn't catch Omega Glory until 1976 !!!

I yelled out to my girlfriend/later wife who was also a huge fan, "Wow, this is the only one I've never seen!!"

I had the World of Star Trek book that listed all the episodes.

Edit:

My age group is "winning" the poll----Yay! LOL

 

[MacLeod]

I suspect most will fall into 35+ Age bracket as they would be just old enough to remeber a time when TOS was all there was TNG was just on the horizon.

 

[Kemaiku]

Recently 30 so just scraping into that bracket.

In 1990 or so when I was 6, BBC started showing TNG in the UK, and there were reruns or VHS of the original series around the same time, I got all the first 6 movies on VHS as well, even some of the animated episodes, so I'd seen nearly all of the TOS era by the mid 90's.

This was along with shows like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants, Forbidden Planet, Twilight Zone, Invaders, Babylon 5 etc etc

So add a lot of Lego and building nothing but Scifi toys for years and I didn't stand a chance really.

 

[Grant]

After the 1970s the frequency of airings went down and I suspect the number of new fans went down.

The original airings would have attracted teens, college kids and a few open minded grown ups.

But for 8-13 year olds from 1970-1977 it was ubiquitous on tv 5 afternoons each week and sometimes also on Saturdays and Sundays as well.

I would bet my life saving the 50-59 age group is the largest group of TOS fans hands down.

 

[Metryq]

50. Grew up in a house with 5000 books in it, many of them sci-fi, and my dad used an episode of TOS in one of his high school literature classes. I know TREK was on in the house before that video recording, but I firmly remember playing and replaying "The Enemy Within" on that reel-to-reel VTR, and freeze-framing the VFX shots.

 

[BK613]

Been a fan since the 70s reruns (though I have memories of my older brother and parents arguing about watching it during its original run.)

I ended up here because a Google search gave hits for work Shaw was doing back when he posted his work here.

 

[urbandefault]

I'm 55. There are a couple of memories of trying to watch in the original run, but that wasn't usually a possibility. It really clicked with me around 1972, in the afternoon reruns. I'd get home from school just in time to catch the opening credits.

 

[Redfern]

52 years old (1962-11-21), and started watching regularly in August or September 1972, though I have 'fleeting" memories of "The Doomsday Machine" initial broadcast in 1967.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Melakon]

Baby boomers rule!

 

[Push The Button]

I'm 48, and I started with TOS reruns in the early 70's. Before TAS, TMP, TWOK, TSFS, TVH, TFF, TUC, TNG, DS9, VOY, GEN, FC, ENT, INS, NEM, '09 and ID.

 

[GNDN18]

46. Started watching TOS when the Kaiser affiliate in Detroit was picked up by our local cable company in 71 or 72. Followed TNG and DS9 through law school, lost track of it all when I moved to northern Michigan and went without cable for awhile. When the intrawebs made it up north, I got back in the game.

 

[HIjol]

I am 57 and my Mom, who instilled a love of reading in me, and as a Teacher, taught me how to read early, knew of my love of Science Fiction. One night, she told me we were going to watch a science fiction Space show, and on that first night, we did. That was all it took. That 9 year-old is still with me, and always will be!

Dude, your mom sounds genuinely amazing. Props to her for getting you into Trek!

She was and is at once formidable and kind. And, I thank you for your recognition of her amazingness and for your kind words, SPECTRE

68

Yay, at least I don't feel like the oldest person in a thread again.

But, does not...wisdom come...with age, Master?

Wait, actual age or mental age?

(30 and 17)

I grew up watching TNG on TV as well as every following series. My father was a Treky so there wasn't a time that Star Trek wasn't nearby.

HIjol: Actual age, 57
Mental age, Just turned 17 sometimes, otherwise,
It's a Sliding Scale

Don't
Lose Your Inner Child!!! EVER!

55, and I have dim memories of watching the show during its original run on NBC, but I grew up on the syndicated reruns which I came to know by heart. Discovered "organized" fandom in college, around the time of the first two movies.

I've enjoyed all the spin-offs and reboots to varying degrees, although I considered myself a Trekkie long before any of the latter-day shows debuted. I remember watching the first episode of TNG while cat-sitting for a friend, not long after I moved from Seattle to New York. And, by coincidence, the first episode of ENTERPRISE aired the night before I moved to Pennsylvania. My TV set was all packed up and my cable connection had been shut down, so I watched that first episode with a Star Trek fan club in Greenwich Village . . . . Seemed like a great way to spend my last night in NYC!

And there, my Friend, is the Treatment, and the beginning of the first chapter of your new book, Titled,

"Age and Arrival, Greg Cox on Trek"

Write it!!!

 

[RandyS]

I'll be 45 in April but like all males, I'm going on two.

I got into Star Trek at birth in April 1970, and watched it with my mom, who was a fan since 1966. She and I saw all the movies together up til Nemesis, and watched all the spin-offs together, except for DS9, which mom didn't like much, although she did watch and enjoy the Tribbles episode (obviously), and the Quark as the Roswell Alien show. We watched all the rest together until she died in April 2003.

 

[tafkats]

I'm 34 and grew up on TNG. Until recently, when it started streaming on Netflix, there were large chunks of TOS I had never seen. The video store near my parents' house had a handful of episodes on VHS, so I saw "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "Space Seed" sometime in high school. I remember catching "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Immunity System" while visiting my grandparents, since they lived in a city where it was aired in syndication. And beyond that, I actually learned the plots of most of the classic episodes from books ("The Star Trek Compendium," "Worlds of the Federation," and so on). I had actually probably read more novels about the TOS characters than I had seen episodes.

An interesting effect of that is that, having been exposed to movie-era TOS and some of the later novels before most of the episodes, it surprised me when I saw some of the earlier incarnations of the Kirk-Spock-McCoy dynamic, especially Spock and McCoy. Especially in Season 1, they were often written with what seems more like open hostility, and that kind of threw me.

 

[HIjol]

I'll be 45 in April but like all males, I'm going on two.

I got into Star Trek at birth in April 1970, and watched it with my mom, who was a fan since 1966. She and I saw all the movies together up til Nemesis, and watched all the spin-offs together, except for DS9, which mom didn't like much, although she did watch and enjoy the Tribbles episode (obviously), and the Quark as the Roswell Alien show. We watched all the rest together until she died in April 2003.

Hey, Randy, see my Post above. I am so sorry about your Mom. A while ago, but never forgotten, I am sure. Bet our moms could have shared some stories, eh?

 

[wildsulu]

hi all,

I'm 35 and of the TNG generation and it took me a while to get past the obvious studio sets of TOS. But TOS simply works. All 3 protagonists appeal to me. Spock is inspiring. Seriously. Yeah I'm a vulcan fan first. I like Kirk because he's judgemental (in a good humane anthropocentric way), macho and he can bluff his way out of situations. Bones is even more anthropocentric but I have a weak spot for stubborn people. And now I want a mint julep

My favourite episodes/movies: For The World Is Hollow..., Space Seed, Corbomite Maneuver, Star Trek VI

I'm here because I'm least familiar with TOS, compared to the other series. I want to learn more about TOS. New ways to look at it. What are the hidden gems? I've only seen TOS 3 times. And some of the movies probably only twice. What to watch first, you tell me

 

[Sir Rhosis]

I'm 51.

Syndication, 1973, WXIX, Channel 19.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Kelso]

I'm 34. I was a fan of the movies and TNG as a youngster. I discovered my uncle's VHS collection of the original series when I was 9 or 10 and it quickly became my favorite TV show (and remains so to this day).