How important is Trek to you?
- Thread starter Matt1701
- Start date
90's Trek is really important to me, TNG has been my favourite TV show since I was a child. it doesn't hit the heights of my chosen sports team, but it's something warm and familiar I fall back on when times are tough or if I just want to enjoy something I don't need to spend too much time thinking about.
Every once in a while when I turn on a TOS episode, just for a moment, I'm that kid watching reruns after school in the early 70s.
It's kinda cool.
It's kinda cool.
It's importance led me to this site, I enjoy talking about Trek more than watching Trek. But I went on holiday and didn't miss Trek at all! Sign of a great holiday!
My life today would be completely different without Star Trek. It was my gateway into science fiction, a renewed interest in astronomy that went well beyond being able to identify the constellations (for some reason my Grade 8 classmates couldn't understand why I read astronomy books and Asimov essay collections for fun).
James Blish's Star Trek 4 and 6 are literally the first two books in a science fiction/fantasy collection that now numbers in the thousands.
Reading Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek led me to working backstage in musical theatre, on the properties crews. There aren't any TV productions in my region, so theatre was the next closest thing.
Star Trek led to science fiction, which led to reading about the Society for Creative Anachronism. To my surprise, there was a local group in my city, and I spent 12 years doing SCA stuff, learning arts, sciences, history, and daily life of the Middle Ages.
There's often an overlap between SCA people and SF/F fandom, plus gaming. We had that in our group, and some of us decided to form a Star Trek club. That led to writing, editing, and publishing our newsletter, Thataway!, and collaborating with a couple of friends on writing filksongs and a bizarre Next Gen soap opera parody.
Gaming came into it when some of us in the Shire got together for board gaming. We played some of the Mayfair rail games and the original Avalon Hill version of Civilization (long before the computer game existed). Then when Civ I was released, it was people in the SCA who taught me how to play it.
There's a Civilization forum I've belonged to for over 18 years.
There are so many more ways my life would have been completely different without Star Trek's influence, or the consequences of other things I did due to watching Trek. I wouldn't ever have gone to science fiction conventions or met some of my favorite authors (I'm not into meeting actors).
James Blish's Star Trek 4 and 6 are literally the first two books in a science fiction/fantasy collection that now numbers in the thousands.
Reading Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek led me to working backstage in musical theatre, on the properties crews. There aren't any TV productions in my region, so theatre was the next closest thing.
Star Trek led to science fiction, which led to reading about the Society for Creative Anachronism. To my surprise, there was a local group in my city, and I spent 12 years doing SCA stuff, learning arts, sciences, history, and daily life of the Middle Ages.
There's often an overlap between SCA people and SF/F fandom, plus gaming. We had that in our group, and some of us decided to form a Star Trek club. That led to writing, editing, and publishing our newsletter, Thataway!, and collaborating with a couple of friends on writing filksongs and a bizarre Next Gen soap opera parody.
Gaming came into it when some of us in the Shire got together for board gaming. We played some of the Mayfair rail games and the original Avalon Hill version of Civilization (long before the computer game existed). Then when Civ I was released, it was people in the SCA who taught me how to play it.
There's a Civilization forum I've belonged to for over 18 years.
There are so many more ways my life would have been completely different without Star Trek's influence, or the consequences of other things I did due to watching Trek. I wouldn't ever have gone to science fiction conventions or met some of my favorite authors (I'm not into meeting actors).
In some ways me and Star Trek are like a married couple. On the surface all you seem to see are insults, bitching and complaints. But in a weird way, all that proves there is a deep love there.
That is how marriage works, right? I'm referring to the fairy tale kind that doesn't end in inevitable divorce.
That is how marriage works, right? I'm referring to the fairy tale kind that doesn't end in inevitable divorce.
It’s a TV show/franchise, so not very. It could vanish tomorrow and there would still be plenty of other things to enjoy.
I’ve always thought I was strange for feeling like this. Glad to find a person of the same mind.
I’ve always thought I was strange for feeling like this. Glad to find a person of the same mind.
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Quality and Quantity....
There would be others but could those others reach the level of awesome Star Trek does at its finest?
It's been a major facet of my life now since 1966. Many of the most remarkable experiences of my life have turned upon it, and I can still enjoy it without reservation - sometimes. Which is to say, I don't like all of it by a long shot, but I do still get excited every time a new version launches. Always hoping for the best.
Yes.
opinions, opinions....
I believe the term is "IDIC."
But then, I'm a bit old and think that "The Ten Commandments" is cinema at its finest. So, there's that.
True Story
At the risk of having this sound like it is maybe gonna sound:
When I was 9, Star Trek came out
When I was 9, I was a pretty lippy smart-mouth, especially to my parents
Some mild corporal punishment was the order of the day
I received some, from time to time...
My parents were at their wits end, because the corporal was not working
Then they figured it out...
They sent me to my room
When Star Trek was on
I could hear the music
I could not see
I can remember yelling and begging them to spank me, rather than make me miss Star Trek
They did not
I missed Star Trek
The new consequence worked pretty quickly
You know, as I read this, it does sound a little like I was worried it would sound...
Thank Kahless it went into syndication, so I could see the the episodes I missed.
At the risk of having this sound like it is maybe gonna sound:
When I was 9, Star Trek came out
When I was 9, I was a pretty lippy smart-mouth, especially to my parents
Some mild corporal punishment was the order of the day
I received some, from time to time...
My parents were at their wits end, because the corporal was not working
Then they figured it out...
They sent me to my room
When Star Trek was on
I could hear the music
I could not see
I can remember yelling and begging them to spank me, rather than make me miss Star Trek
They did not
I missed Star Trek
The new consequence worked pretty quickly
You know, as I read this, it does sound a little like I was worried it would sound...
Thank Kahless it went into syndication, so I could see the the episodes I missed.
Off the top of my head I could make a list of shows which could in recent years, yes. I don't believe that Star Trek in the 21st Century has matched the majesty, depth and writing quality of a show like For All Mankind. Even on its worst days I find Doctor Who to be more entertaining. Apple TV's Foundation is doing more interesting stuff in terms of world building.
Star Trek has been playing catch-up with other shows and struggling for relevancy in a crowded market for decades now. As a franchise, it's stagnant.
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Star Trek is my escape, it's my little comfort world. As needed, I submerge myself in it.
For All Mankind has Ron Moore's name attached to it, so that makes me interested. I could be wrong, but I'm getting Jupiter Ascending vibes from Foundation. Consider me interested.
As far as Doctor Who... I binged the first seven modern seasons in 2013. They were okay, sometimes good, sometimes very good, but also sometimes really overly hyper. Unless the show has significantly changed in the past 10 years, I'd probably put it equal to Kurtzman Trek as a whole, not above.
Yes indeed.
The thing about Star Trek is that it is very much now like a comfort food. It plays with some unfamiliar elements from time to time, like adding a little spice to a familiar dish, but then returns to the same old receipie.
Now, in times like ours a lot of people want the comfort of escapism, that allows then to take a break from reality. It is just amazing to me how I watch Star Trek go from "it's ground breaking! Cell phones! Race relations! Cool technology!" to "Hey, let's just give you a nice break from reality." One seems more focused now than the other.
Fascinating, as one pointed eared someone would say. Can't remember his name. Think he was a doctor.
Make that 3 - don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching it but I very much take TV/Films as they come and just enjoy it at face value before then coming on here to read people's thoughts on stuff and discuss it.
It's the same as I treat football - I find myself spending more time talking about football (tactics, economics, club ownership, corruption in the game, VAR being wank) than I do watching it and I know longer get that post loss devastation or post win elation that I did when younger
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