Star Trek's Impact On Your Life

[VulcanMindBlown]

How has the Star Trek universe impacted your life? It seems, even above most or all other Sci-Fi, Star Trek impacts people's lives in a positive manner that is more than entertainment. For example, there are inventors, space explorers, and other things that have impacted people's direction, if not career in life.

For me, I started watching Star Trek during the changing times of the late 2000's. The economy was bad, our politicians were bad, and the religious (that includes people who don't believe in the supernatural, because it is a belief about metaphysics) landscape was changing. Star Trek made me stop and think about it's impact on my life, rather than just taking it without thinking. I also realized that we should tolerate people who don't believe in what we believe in, and not interfere with other cultures that are not our own. I became an unofficial philosopher (though I have taken Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy 101) with the help of Star Trek. I was a growing and developing boy in middle school that had Trek sort of the things out.

If you don't mind me saying, and I am not intentionally starting a flame war, realized that we needed to change the direction of our country politically and religiously in part do to Trek . I don't agree with the Secular Humanism/Progressive/Socialist vision of (some) of Star Trek. I plan on being a Evangelical Pastor and maybe a politician someday. Hopefully you guys don't mind this last paragraph.

 

[auntiehill]

UM.....you might get more responses by putting this is the GENERAL TREK forum, rather than the Misc. forum, as it is a "general Trek discussion."

 

[VulcanMindBlown]

Should I delete this and repost it?

 

[auntiehill]

If you can..you probably need to ask a Mod to delete it for you.

 

[DimesDan]

Should I delete this and repost it?

or ask one of the mods, like @Locutus of Bored to move it upto Gen Trek.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

There you go.

 

[maneth]

One thing that sets Trek apart from much of our entertainment is its positive view on the future of humanity, even if it's called naive by many people (myself included in my darker moments).
Regarding the rest of your post, I personally do accept that religion has had a positive impact on many people's lives. I'm just constiutionally unable to let go and have faith, nor do I see the need for that.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I've mentioned this elsewhere on the board before, but Star Trek introduced the Vulcans and their logic, and more specifically, Vonda McIntyre's Vulcan concept of "Mastery of the Unavoidable" as presented in the Star Trek book "Dwellers in the Crucible". I'm convinced that understanding that concept (combined with Ford Prefect's ideas about saving sanity for when you need it from Douglas Adams' "Life, The Universe, and Anything") very literally saved my life when I was going through a very very dark time.

So Trek's impact on my life? I'm *alive*.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I never felt "inspired" by STAR TREK to go in a direction in my Life that I wasn't naturally inclined to, on my own. But I've been inspired by people like Gene Roddenberry. Not him especially, or specifically, but just the kind of Man who's driven to succeed. He was a World War II pilot and a policeman. People like that have got some balls, but they tend to be fairly conservative. They're not usually creative people. In that sense, GR broke the mould, kind of. And then to make it in Hollywood, as almost this Walt Disney type ... the Man was no slouch! And that inspires me. When you see a movie star who's made it, you know a lot of it is just luck and good looks. But think of a cop on the street, writing a ticket. Would it ever occur to you that he might light a match and set the world on fire? HA!

Outside of that kind of "inspiration" to say, "if a cop can climb that mountain ..." STAR TREK is mostly a Nostalgia Fest, for me. Other shows, or cartoons, I try to watch from when I was a kid and I balk at how atrocious it seems to me now. How could I have enjoyed this as a kid, it's embarrassingly bad! But STAR TREK is the equation that works. The magic still happens. Q snaps his fingers, or Kirk snogs an android ... and I'm there. I want to be with these characters. I guess it's like the Jesuits say, "give us their first 7 years, and we've got them for Life." That's what STAR TREK did, with me, kind of.

 

[Tracy Trek]

Other shows, or cartoons, I try to watch from when I was a kid and I balk at how atrocious it seems to me now. How could I have enjoyed this as a kid, it's embarrassingly bad!

That's how I feel about some of the things I liked when I was younger.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I try to be a little more generous, and remember that both I and entertainment on TV and film have matured in the meantime. There's usually still *something* to like about them, even if we would do them differently, now. Maybe that's part of why there are so many reboots in the last few years.

 

[2takesfrakes]

That's how I feel about some of the things I liked when I was younger.

Haha ... aww! Glad I'm not alone >: )

 

[F. King Daniel]

Far too much of my brain is dedicated to unimportant Star Trek trivia. Often I think, it's too late for me to know this much about anything useful.

 

[OtherGene]

In an uncertain world the familiarity of 90s Star Trek used to give me great comfort. I'd always enjoyed TOS and the movies but during that decade (and occasionally now, if I'm honest) the production values lavished on the Enterprise D made it appear a good place to be, for work or play. Escapism at it's best, shut the world out and watch a TV show for fifty minutes. DS9 took me a little longer to get to grips with probably due to the Cardassian design (!) and whilst some of the stories of Voyager may have left me a little cold the clean lines and familiar uniforms always let me feel like I was returning to the world I enjoyed.

By the time of Enterprise I think I must have been in a better place because I enjoyed that, aesthetics be damned, and I look forward to Discovery, as should we all.

 

[Tracy Trek]

@OtherGene, you've summed up my thoughts better than I could.

 

[TheSubCommander]

For me, Star Trek has always just been there, and it is one of the few shows (all series) that is something I can keep coming back to, no matter how much time goes by. I grew up on TOS reruns and the movie era, and even remember when TMP was in theaters. I just loved Star Trek back then, and remember my small group of friends and I would talk about Star Trek, along with other geeky things. Star Trek got me through some difficult times of depression and loneliness during my young years. As a teen, I watched TNG in first run, oftentimes with my Mom, who is no longer around, so those memories have become a lot more cherished these days. I went into the Army over the summer of 1990, during the break between BOBW 1 and 2, and remember crowding into the common area TV room to see part 2. I didn't get to see the later seasons of TNG and early seasons of DS9 regularly, but got to see enough to stay mostly up to date. By the time Generations hit the theaters, and Voyager debuted I had just got out of the Army to go to college, and returned to the weekly watches with my Mom for the first couple seasons. For me, the 1990s were the high water mark for Star Trek, with having the last TOS film, last half of TNG, most of the TNG films, DS9, and VOY. I was also around with the debut of Enterprise, and while I fell off the wagon for a bit during season 2, I came back by season 3 on, and really liked that show, too. I eagerly awaited Star Trek 2009, because I wanted to see what direction they took Star Trek, and with that film, I was pleasantly surprised. I won't lie, and think STID was a disappointment, but I think they more than made up for it with STB. I can't wait until Star Trek Discovery.

 

[1001001]

The main impact Star Trek has had on my life is to separate me from many, many thousands of dollars of my hard earned money.

 

[OtherGene]

@OtherGene, you've summed up my thoughts better than I could.

Why not have a try anyway?

 

[Tracy Trek]

^When I was younger I was more optimistic about things and thought maybe some of the ideals of a peaceful world and other ideals in Trek might have been someday possible. Like you said, I found it comforting. And I still enjoy it. It still captures my imagination. But I'm more jaded now.

 

[Markinvirginia]

I have always gravitated towards the philosophy of improving yourself. I definitely picked that up from Star Trek. With every experience I at least try to gain something important from it. Of course, treating others its respect and respecting (though not necessarily agreeing with their view).