Age and how you got here...

[Willow]

I'm 47. Watched TOS 5 days a week during the big re-run era in the 70s. I remember Chekov being my favorite. I DONT know why! On recent rewatches I've noticed he's not even a big main character. I always loved the interaction with Bones/Spock/Kirk. i went to college in the late 80s, watching TNG. I remember having a "Data" crush.

Then life happened. And I kinda fell away from it all for 20 years until I got Enterprise on Netflix. Not ashamed to say it's my favorite.

 

[Redfern]

You know how Calvin was always pretending to be Spaceman Spiff? That was pretty much me as a kid, only instead of Spaceman Spiff I pretended to be Captain Kirk.

I still want to be Captain Kirk when I grow up!

Actually, that's how I "got into" Trek. I mentioned earlier in the thread that I started watching the syndicated reruns in late summer of '72. But here's the initial reason.

Having jsut moved into a different neighborhood, my father told me about some boys he saw playing at the edge of a construction zone. (It was an apartment complex that was still erecting new structures.) Meeting the pair and talking with them a bit, one of them, Kyle, asked me if I watched the show. He liked to "roleplay" Kirk and he wanted someone for to play as Spock and various other roles. Desperate to earn a new friend, I agreed, but I needed to know what Spock did and usually said. So I started watching initially as a kind of "research". Eventually, that clinical curiosity gave way to genuine interest and enjoyment. You can barely imagine how thrilled we were when AMT released the "Exploration Set". (Okay, by today's standards, they're woefully underscaled and a bit mishapened, but compared to the felt tip pen phasers and makeup compact communicators we had earlier, they were museum quality replicas!)

BTW, in our various "Let's pretend" scenarios, Kyle was always the "action lead" while I handled the numerous "character roles". Kyle would be Steve Austin and I'd be Oscar Goldman, or the John Saxon android losing his faceplate. He's be Captain Crane and I'd be Admiral Nelson. He's be Taylor and I'd be Cornelius. I didn't mid. I thought I had the more interesting characters.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Warped9]

Interesting that while the 50-59 age bracket are the largest group they are only about 30 percent of the fans voting here. The bulk of the rest is under that age bracket.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I still want to be Captain Kirk when I grow up!

Growing up? Never. Gonna. Happen.

 

[Q2UnME]

50 here. I grew up on the syndicated reruns of the 70's, though I've been told I watched most of the episodes during the first run (was way too young to remember it).

I found this place on a recommendation form a former (?) member during Enterprise's run. StarTrek.com was just too full of trolls. I like this place.

Q2

 

[Kor]

30-39 range here. I grew up with TNG as well as reruns of TOS. As a wee lad, I enjoyed the bright colors and exciting adventure of the original series. But later on, I came to appreciate the stories, characters, and real-world allegories.

Kor

 

[Kilana2]

Who voted 90+ ???????

 

[MANT!]

53 here, and my mother (who started me off while watching first run Outer Limits when I was 2) had me watch "The Man Trap" on it's very first broadcast in Sept 1966, she kind of fell away from Star Trek (she preferred the anthology shows) but let me stay up and watch it once per week...even let me stay up late when it was put into "The Death Time Slot" on Friday..it was my one show I could stay up late to watch. After it's Network run it was shown every evening at 6PM..

Never lost my love for it..the model kits were bought and AMT hit a roll with numerous releases during the 70s, discovered organized fandom in 1975 (high school) became a member of Sacramento S.T.A.R. (Star Trek Association for Revival)..Joined the USAF and kept my love for Star Trek alive (everywhere I went it was showing in syndication!, even the UK)
About the time it disappeared from broadcast TV, it was available on VHS..but I had already made copies from it's broadcast..then upgraded with the DVD sets and finally my Blu-Rays

Started with Trek BBS around 2005 ,soon after my divorce. Love the group of crazies on this site..

 

[neovoid]

I'm 52, I remember watching with my dad during the first run(I was also a huge Batman fan remember waiting to see him on sesame street). I watched during the 70s, and played Star Trek with friends. My mom made me a itchy polyester uniform (gold of course) that I wore all summer. My dad would make multiple ships and the Star Trek Exploration Sets (regluing the handle of the phaser on after much play). My parents spoiled me with all the Mego stuff (had the tape recorder that I used to scan the back yard for klingons, and other things) and the walkie talkies where I learned to talk to myself . I seen the motion pic (in 16mm?). I remember rushing home in the 80's to see this "new" Star Trek and wondering if it will be any good.

Star Trek means so much to me and the person I am now (the philosophy, the ethics and ideas) it has been part of my life for so long I can't remember a time when it was not. Does that male me a trekkie?

 

[RandyS]

^No. It makes you "normal".

Like the rest of us.

 

[Forbin]

57 (58 in June). Pretty sure I started watching it from the get-go, when it premiered on NBC.

 

[Body of Landru]

24. I've been a sci-fi/horror/monster movie fan for as long as I can remember so I've always been familiar with Star Trek. I started watching the original Trek with the daily reruns on Sci-Fi in the early 2000s. I guess I must have been 9 or 10. I got into the movies shortly after that, then Next Generation, and eventually the later spinoffs.

The original Star Trek is still my favorite TV series of all time. I also enjoy TNG and DS9. Voyager was hit-and-miss and I can't say I cared much for Enterprise (which I watched first-run on UPN).

 

[Grant]

This is basically the nicest, controversy free, least stressful thread ever.

I can read and appreciate every post and it's heartening to see how many folks are my age and also how many younger and older people like the original series---except for that one really old dude---"you're just not welcome here man!!"

Seriously, I wonder how many very old (70+) TOS fans there are out there who maybe aren't online to the extent that younger folks are.

If someone were, say 20, when the show premiered in '66--they'd be 70 now.
I think it would be fascinating to hear from someone who was an "adult" when the show first aired and was open-minded enough to accept a fairly out there show like TOS.

 

[Kilana2]

This is basically the nicest, controversy free, least stressful thread ever.

I can read and appreciate every post and it's heartening to see how many folks are my age and also how many younger and older people like the original series---except for that one really old dude---"you're just not welcome here man!!"

I once asked who voted 90+, nobody answered. Maybe someone has voted for one of his/her grandparents .

Or this guy who voted 90+ was a Vulcan. In this case he/she is quite young.

 

[Grant]

This is basically the nicest, controversy free, least stressful thread ever.

I can read and appreciate every post and it's heartening to see how many folks are my age and also how many younger and older people like the original series---except for that one really old dude---"you're just not welcome here man!!"

I once asked who voted 90+, nobody answered. Maybe someone has voted for one of his/her grandparents .

Or this guy who voted 90+ was a Vulcan. In this case he/she is quite young.

Actually, I figure that 90+ vote was a joke on someone's part, but if that person was real--I'd love to hear from them!

 

[Kilana2]

I guess, it was a joke. As to TOS, a 19 year old fan is quite young. I know, that Brie is quite young, but 19 is very young for TOS. Good to see young people appreciate not only nuTrek but also TOS, which must be very antique compared to nuTrek for them. Kirk & Co still attract people of all ages.

 

[Grant]

57 (58 in June). Pretty sure I started watching it from the get-go, when it premiered on NBC.

If my math is right, you would have been 9 when it premiered---that's freaking awesome.

I can't imagine a more perfect age than 9 to have seen it premiere first run.

Then with each repeat viewing as you grew older--you get more of the philosophy, subtleties, continuity, etc.

Did you have you're own set, or did your folks watch it or did they simply let your watch it by yourself or with siblings on the "main" tv set?

Also, for those folks who saw it first run--then there is the chance you saw it in B&W.

Pretty sure when I saw it in my own room starting in 1973--it must have been on a B&W tv.

AMAZING COINCIDENCE---I happen to be online at the library on my laptop and as I'm sitting here an elderly lady walks by with a Spock/Nimoy T-shirt on.
I've never seen that outside a convention.

 

[johnnybear]

51 and been a fan since the BBC first screened the show in the early 1970s! My first view was of Court Martial and it didn't make me a fan overnight! Not sure which episode actually did but Arena sure scared the pants off me in the first repeat season in 72!
JB

 

[Disco]

31 and watched TNG first, still my favourite. I think my parents might have recommended I watch it after I watched and enjoyed Star Wars...

 

[Forbin]

57 (58 in June). Pretty sure I started watching it from the get-go, when it premiered on NBC.

If my math is right, you would have been 9 when it premiered---that's freaking awesome.

I can't imagine a more perfect age than 9 to have seen it premiere first run.

Then with each repeat viewing as you grew older--you get more of the philosophy, subtleties, continuity, etc.

Did you have you're own set, or did your folks watch it or did they simply let your watch it by yourself or with siblings on the "main" tv set?

You're math sounds right, and yes, it was the perfect age. It helped shape my philosophy of life.

I had a TV in my room, but the folks let me watch in the living room on the color set. They thought the show was stupid, though.