Good episode for introducing Star Trek to children?

[indranee]

I feel like its probably mostly american kids nowadays that would get bored with TOS right away....for instance, I tried showing my nephew (who is 5) an episode of TOS, and he lost interest pretty quickly...

I showed him the new movie and he loved it. I plan on starting him off with specific TNG, DS9, and VOY episodes, but I have to find episodes that have sufficient comedy and LOTS of action. Im thinking lots of klingons....

The thing is, nowadays, american kids have more than one entertainment source, if they dont like what you are watching, they can go watch tv in the other room...too much stimulus...
Back when I was a kid, it was star trek or nothing, and that allowed me to focus on the show and realize that it was awesome...(although I think as soon as I heard the intro music I was a fan)

Yeah, I think the new movie has the right touch of action and repose for kids these days. I'd start with that, except you need to really hammer home the fact that it is set in the alternate universe. Once my niece got that (and she loved the new movie), she was really curious about the older shows and movies. I should mention that she *has* seen quite a few of the older series episodes as well as First Contact, Generations, and all of the TOS movies -- so she's pretty much a Trek veteran for a 10-year old.

But I agree that the new movie is a good intro in terms of generating interest in the younger kids.

 

[MacLeod]

For kids that age i might go with something like "The Trouble with Tribbles"

 

[TOSalltheway]

Something from TOS. It's bright, colorful and has a far greater sense of fun and adventure than the later shows. Try Journey To Babel or maybe The Galileo Seven if Arena isn't your thing.

I would think Babel would be too complicated for a young child. I would have to go with my all time favorite episode of "The Corbomite Maneuver". On the surface it is a very simple show, the gad guy is after us. At the end it has the pure Trek message of friednsip and logic over violence, plus the alien is played by a 5 year old that they would enjoy.

 

[Greg Cox]

Well I thought the Void was entertaining but also interesting with a nice and hopeful message at the same time. I hope you aren't offended for me saying this, but Arena is kind of crude. It's basically a glorified wrestling match. Star Trek can do much better than that.

No offense taken! But I do remember that it was one of my favorite episodes when I was a kid.

You can't go wrong with giant lizards. Just ask Godzilla.

How about "Devil in the Dark" which is another good "monster" episode? And with a positive message no less.

I wouldn't use Devil in the Dark for young children.

Scenes like this might be disturbing.

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Depends on the kids, I suppose, but it's hard to imagine that the average seven-year-old would be disturbed by this. It's pretty tame by modern standards.

Plus, as I recall, I loved scary stuff when I was that age. I grew up on THE OUTER LIMITS, TOS, DARK SHADOWS, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc. My favorite TOS episodes at that age were the ones with the monsters in them: the Gorn, the Horta, the Salt Vampire, etc.

Granted, that was a long time ago, but I doubt that kids have changed all that much. My six-year-old niece can't get enough of zombies and dinosaurs and zombie dinosaurs. I just got her a pop-up version of FRANKENSTEIN for her birthday.

I suspect it's adults who don't want to expose kids to anything scary. Kids eat that stuff up . . . .