Sorry if this has been done before, but I always think it's fun to share stories of how we got into Star Trek. For me I was ignorant of the franchise despite being a huge Star Wars fan until very shortly before TNG ended. I was around 14 or 15. I was on the phone with a friend and I heard the TNG theme song in the background on his end. I switched the channel to it for some lame moment of "hur hur I'm watching the same thing as you." The episode was "Ship in a Bottle" and even though I didn't quite understand what a "Holodeck" was or why the gold guy had yellow eyes that episode really hooked me, and from there I just kept watching Star Trek and never looked back.
How did you get into Trek and what was your first episode/movie?
- Thread starter cml898
- Start date
I can't even remember... I think I was plopped down on a couch when I was three years-old just in time for Encounter at Farpoint. Whether it was the pilot specifically or something else, random flashes from old TNG episodes are some of my earliest memories period.
Indoctrinate your young early, folks!
Indoctrinate your young early, folks!
Captain Kirk beamed me up into his.. pants. Well so I hoped. Once when I was 14 I had a dream I was on the bridge of the Enterprise and Spock was there. I was feverish at the time. Thinking really really intensely about Kirk and Spock before falling asleep failed to replicate this wonderful dream.
Back in the old days being a Trekkie was being in a secret underground club. There was no soothing internet full of fellow fans who were WRONG but still loved your true love. You had to nurse your love by yourself, in front of the tv with some extra stimulation via James Blish.
The first erotica I ever read was K/S fanzines on mimeographed style paper.
I feel.. imprinted.
Back in the old days being a Trekkie was being in a secret underground club. There was no soothing internet full of fellow fans who were WRONG but still loved your true love. You had to nurse your love by yourself, in front of the tv with some extra stimulation via James Blish.
The first erotica I ever read was K/S fanzines on mimeographed style paper.
I feel.. imprinted.
I saw my first episode—The Cloud Minders—when I was 4 or 5, one Saturday afternoon. Started watching more live action Trek, which was irregularly scheduled, and then totally trekked out on the animated series when it debuted. Live action Trek was often hard to come by in the seventies, often late at night on the weekend, but sometimes during the day, and occasionally in the afternoon throughout the week. When it was on late at night, my parents would wake me up to watch it. 
The Squire of Gothos was the last live action episode for me to see for the first time, and I was a teenager by the time that came around. But by then I'd seen other episodes multiple times. Eventually, VCR came around.
The Squire of Gothos was the last live action episode for me to see for the first time, and I was a teenager by the time that came around. But by then I'd seen other episodes multiple times. Eventually, VCR came around.
I was...exposed, to TOS in reruns by my older brother, I was like three or four at the time, so I can't specifically remember what episodes I saw back then.
That developed into his insistance that I watch the TOS movies as well, and when TNG debuted, we watched it together religiously every week, until he moved out.
While I had all that Trek experience under my belt, it wasn't really until I started watching DS9 in the third season...I initially wasn't interested in watching it, however after only a few episodes, the first being Heart of Stone, I fell hard for Trek and began what can only be described as an obsession.
That developed into his insistance that I watch the TOS movies as well, and when TNG debuted, we watched it together religiously every week, until he moved out.
While I had all that Trek experience under my belt, it wasn't really until I started watching DS9 in the third season...I initially wasn't interested in watching it, however after only a few episodes, the first being Heart of Stone, I fell hard for Trek and began what can only be described as an obsession.
the first time I remember watching Star Trek was watching Wrath of Kahn on VHS when I was about 6 or 7 years old I may well have watched it before then though but that's my first memory of watching!
when I was growing up my mum used to buy me a Star Trek video (TOS and TNG) everytime I did well at school or something
that's how I got into the franchise and after that I started watching TNG repeats on the BBC and later DS9, VOY and ENT as they aired, plus the films in the cinema!
I may well have watched it before then though but that's my first memory of watching!when I was growing up my mum used to buy me a Star Trek video (TOS and TNG) everytime I did well at school or something
that's how I got into the franchise and after that I started watching TNG repeats on the BBC and later DS9, VOY and ENT as they aired, plus the films in the cinema!
When I was about 7 or 8 years old, so around 1983-1984. My mom and dad divorced, and my mother moved, then dumped me onto my grandparents.
I would get off of school at 3:30, and my grandparents wouldn't get home until 6:30, so my great grand mother would babysit me in that time. At 4:00 Star Trek would come on.
And up until then, I had never watched anything on TV that wasn't a cartoon, because it all looked boring. But not this! This show was amazing. It had aliens, the charismatic Kirk, That really interesting guy with the pointed ears.
My great grandmother loved Star Trek. She used to tell me how much she loved watching it with her kids when it first came on TV.
My great grandmother, whom we called Mum-Mum, would make oatmeal with banana slices right before it came on. And we'd talk about the episode during the commercial break.
I was going through a very tough time in my life getting used to my new family, school was tough, and the only good memories I have of that first year were coming home to oatmeal and Star Trek.
What's funny is, This March when I started watching the TOS collection I got for Christmas, I was watching like 4 or 5 hours of Star Trek and I got up to get something to drink, and I was surprised to see the white floor. You see, at my grand parents house, as a kid, I would sit on the couch and watch star trek with my great grandmother, and there was this big beautiful oriental rub beneath my feet.
What happened was, I was watching Trek, and a part of my mind was nostalgic and was re-living, re-creating, my earliest Trek memories. A part of my mind was stuck in the past. And that's when I realized part of the reason I love to watch trek so much is because I feel like I am with my great grandmother again. Like I can feel her presence, and I feel the happiness I had in my childhood amidst the hard times. My great grandmother and star trek were like my security blankets.
I would get off of school at 3:30, and my grandparents wouldn't get home until 6:30, so my great grand mother would babysit me in that time. At 4:00 Star Trek would come on.
And up until then, I had never watched anything on TV that wasn't a cartoon, because it all looked boring. But not this! This show was amazing. It had aliens, the charismatic Kirk, That really interesting guy with the pointed ears.
My great grandmother loved Star Trek. She used to tell me how much she loved watching it with her kids when it first came on TV.
My great grandmother, whom we called Mum-Mum, would make oatmeal with banana slices right before it came on. And we'd talk about the episode during the commercial break.
I was going through a very tough time in my life getting used to my new family, school was tough, and the only good memories I have of that first year were coming home to oatmeal and Star Trek.
What's funny is, This March when I started watching the TOS collection I got for Christmas, I was watching like 4 or 5 hours of Star Trek and I got up to get something to drink, and I was surprised to see the white floor. You see, at my grand parents house, as a kid, I would sit on the couch and watch star trek with my great grandmother, and there was this big beautiful oriental rub beneath my feet.
What happened was, I was watching Trek, and a part of my mind was nostalgic and was re-living, re-creating, my earliest Trek memories. A part of my mind was stuck in the past. And that's when I realized part of the reason I love to watch trek so much is because I feel like I am with my great grandmother again. Like I can feel her presence, and I feel the happiness I had in my childhood amidst the hard times. My great grandmother and star trek were like my security blankets.
My Dad got me into it a long time ago so I can't remember my first episode at all. I watched it before my first memories.
I'd seen "The Motion Picture", "Wrath of Khan" and "Search for Spock" on TV here in the UK through the 1980s as a 6-7 year old, but they were little more than Bank Holiday viewing, instantly forgotten and probably not really understood in the first place.
Then, when I was 9 (1989) my Dad rented the TNG episode "Encounter At Farpoint" video from our local rental store and I loved it. However, the series was not due to begin on TV until September 1990. When it finally did, I loved it even more!
So "Encounter At Farpoint" was my first TV episode, and I suspect "The Motion Picture" was the first movie.
Then, when I was 9 (1989) my Dad rented the TNG episode "Encounter At Farpoint" video from our local rental store and I loved it. However, the series was not due to begin on TV until September 1990. When it finally did, I loved it even more!
So "Encounter At Farpoint" was my first TV episode, and I suspect "The Motion Picture" was the first movie.
When I was somewhere between 4 and 6, my Trekkie Mum sat me in front of the TV for the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, saying "You HAVE to watch this!"
I suspect she's regretted it ever since.
I suspect she's regretted it ever since.
That's me too. Episode 1, season 1, 1966. I was 9 years old.
That's pretty much my story, too. It would have been back during the show's original run on NBC. My dad was a scifi fan so he exposed to Trek, as well as the Twilight Zone, the Outer Limits, classic Universal monster flicks, etc.
I remember watching TOS every night at midnight over one summer with my sister when we were kids. Since it was summer, and no school, we were allowed to stay up late and I guess we saw all three seasons as it was on 5-6 nights a week. I'm guessing I was 10 or 12. I remember Amok Time because of the fight scene with its music, and the red sky. Then in high school, I bought my first TOS book ~ Time for Yesterday. Reading them consistently thru the years, I now have over 100. About a year ago, we started plans for moving from New York to Virginia - huge change! For several months I was living alone while my husband prospected in VA. I found TOS on NEtflix and it was like watching them that first summer all those years ago. I remembered almost all of the episodes! (not going to say how many years later;D)
The Wrath of Khan was my first. I admit, I am pretty late to this party.
I grew up having a lingering bias against Star Trek and then one day sat down and watched it, and...
Better late than never, right?
JJ is that YOU! lol
For me one of my earliest memories is Tholian Web.. and the smell of pancakes and bacon from the kitchen of a farm/bungalow resort my family used to visit in the Catskills in the summers. I was already a Trek fan through my parents and my big brother Ben, and this was the early 70's when Trek was in heavy syndicated rotation.
Trek formed a bond between Ben and I, attending conventions here in NY at the old Roosevelt and later the Pennsylvania Hotel, and we shared that love it until he passed 4 years ago. He made the first call for me to Paramount to get an internship there because they made Star Trek.
I will always love Star Trek, as long as it remains true to the optimistic view of our future, and it will always remind me of my big brother who shared his enthusiasm for it way back when we were little.
Trek formed a bond between Ben and I, attending conventions here in NY at the old Roosevelt and later the Pennsylvania Hotel, and we shared that love it until he passed 4 years ago. He made the first call for me to Paramount to get an internship there because they made Star Trek.
I will always love Star Trek, as long as it remains true to the optimistic view of our future, and it will always remind me of my big brother who shared his enthusiasm for it way back when we were little.
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