How Long Have You Been A Fan?

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I have told my story before but this being a new thread... Ten months. Watching Orange Is The New Black, with Red being my favourite character I decided to look up the actress's IMDB page and found out that she had played a Star Trek captain. A female captain? Awesome! Watched a few episodes, fell in love with Janeway and the rest is history

Now having recently watched the reboot movies (and loved them) I'm continuing with my TOS journey.

 

[wildsulu]

great story

 

[Kemaiku]

24-25 years (around late 1990 to summer 1991).

 

[Brie]

great story

Thank you

 

[Melakon]

Are you both joined Trill?

Nope, just children of the fifties!

haha if my dad was still alive he'd be arguing HE was

I used to enjoy singing "When I'm Sixty-Four" until I hit it this year.

 

[martok2112]

I was a fan for about 38 years....but fandom reared its ugly head one too many times for my liking. ....so I've been an admirer of Trek (TOS thru Abrams) for 40 years.

And btw, Brie.......hubba hubba!

 

[EnriqueH]

I think around 4-5 years old, and I'm 39.

I can remember graduating from Kindergarten, going out for lunch at fancy restaurant with my family, and coming home in time to watch Star Trek reruns in the afternoon.

I can still remember my early 80s lineup: Solid Gold, Dance Fever, Star Trek, and Sha-Na-Na.

 

[Gary7]

I remember being like 5 years old, and seeing Star Trek on the TV before I went to bed (school nights). I was mesmerized. I couldn't quite understand what I was seeing, but it was so captivating. I didn't have a very good concept of time at that age, so I wasn't aware of how TV programs are on at certain times. And Star Trek would slip from my mind until I stumbled upon it again. Then as I got a little older, I would draw the USS Enterprise (looked pretty silly... had the back end of the secondary hull upside down!--made sense to me, the shuttle needed a platform to land on, heh).

As the NASA Apollo missions progressed, I was seriously interested in it. But then there was Star Trek. *THAT* was how I wanted space exploration to be. Reality was just so darned frustrating. Huge rockets that are consumed up, leaving behind this tiny capsule that can't do anything but splash back down into the ocean? Where's the warp drive?

So I became a Trekkie. All other sci-fi paled in comparison. Oh I enjoyed other shows, like UFO and Space:1999, even Lost In Space and Dr. Who, and eventually Battlestar Galactica. But there was something about Star Trek that all the other shows lacked. There was not only a greater realism, but a compelling cast of believable actors and intriguing stories. Star Trek would always be "king" of sci-fi television for me.

I was ridiculed by some kids in school for liking Star Trek so much. And despite this other kid I knew being more of a "brainiac" than me and looking more like Mr. Spock, he awarded me the nickname of Spock. I guess the way I looked and my athleticism, being a Star Trek fan just didn't fit other people's expectations. I only wanted peace but others could care less. It disgusted me how cruel human beings could be. And then there was the Starship Enterprise where people of all races and genders were welcomed and people got along. It was of course fantasy, but I've long had hopes that we'll achieve a greater social maturity... somewhere down the line. Recent chaotic events are sure making that hard to come true!

I'm an adult and I'm not the "devoted" Trekkie I once was, but Star Trek has always held a special place in my heart. I'm not embarrassed by how I feel. I embrace it. It is part of who I am. And although it took a long time, it's sure great to see how respected and revered Star Trek is these days. Look at the outpouring of empathy and grief over the dying of Leonard Nimoy, someone who was pretty much Star Trek personified. He's the one who really held the torch for us all.

Btw Brie, yowza! You really rock that Star Trek uniform.

 

[Brie]

Thanks Martok2112 and Gary7

On another note I've dealt with the same kind of kick-back for liking Star Trek so much. That's part of the reason I like conventions so much. I'm accepted and understood. I too wish the world was like that of ST where everyone is accepted and loved no matter what. You're right humans are unkind people, especially to people like us who don't fit into society's standards of "normal."

 

[Taylirious]

I don't feel I fit in among fans. I don't know enough or like the wrong thing about Star Trek.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I don't feel I fit in among fans. I don't know enough or like the wrong thing about Star Trek.

Neither of those things matter.

 

[Brie]

I don't feel I fit in among fans. I don't know enough or like the wrong thing about Star Trek.

Negative thoughts attract negativity. Write positive things, not things that are dismal or bleak.

 

[Taylirious]

My bad.

 

[martok2112]

I don't feel I fit in among fans. I don't know enough or like the wrong thing about Star Trek.

Negative thoughts attract negativity. Write positive things, not things that are dismal or bleak.

Too late.....MUA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

<----- casts evil glare at TayLaLaLa


Small one! You shall be ostracized, chastised, forsworn, and smote from this existence for your lack of Treknicity!


Of course, I keeeeed.


TayLaLaLa, you needn't worry about not knowing enough, or liking the wrong thing about Trek. You will always be welcome among some, or many sects of Trek fandom and admirers. Why they have to be so factionalized simply defies logic and decency.

There is no wrong thing about Trek. Anyone who tells you otherwise, and tries to make you feel lesser for liking an aspect of Trek that they can't handle is an asshole of the basest existence.

 

[CorporalClegg]

The Voyage Home was the first movie I ever saw in a theatre. I was five. And I absolutely loved it.

And I realize that was almost 30 years ago.

 

[RandyS]

Since April 17, 1970. In short, my birth. My mom had been a fan sine the NBC years, and she used to tell me I watched the first round of reruns as a baby with her. She liked to say how I laughed and pointed a the TV whenever Spock came on. She also told me how in 1973 (which I do kind of remember) we would watch TAS together on Saturday mornings, then TOS that night. She used to think it was funny when I would ask her, "mommy why are Kirk and Spock cartoon men in the morning and real people at night?".

 

[golddragon71]

I have always found myself wondering how people get into a fandom. Were they raised around it, did they stumble upon it, did they seek it out? Then while thinking about that I start thinking if these people have ALWAYS been a fan or if the recently converted. this gets me into my next topic.

How did you become a Trekkie and how long have you been a fan?

A little back-story on my trek fandom...I was never a Star Trek fan growing up, I was always into Sci-fi but ST never really interested me. I have memories of my dad talking about ST or watching episodes but I was very little and would kind of tease him for being a "trekkie." About a year after he passed away (and after much badgering by some of my ST fan friends) I decided to watch the show. I started with the pilot episode and after about 5-10 episodes I was hooked for good. I then spent the next year watching every episode from every series and every movie and documentary about ST. So all in all I would say I have been a fan for a little over a year.

A lot of my reasoning for never having watched ST before was my age, I'm a fairly young trekkie (21) and was never really raised on Trek, but that didnt stop me from being the self aclaimed biggest fan haha. I know every trekkie wants to make that claim and I'm probably wrong in calling myself the BIGGEST fan so I'll downplay it a bit and say I'm the biggest fan of my generation. After having watched the show Star Trek became my life, it defined who I was essentially. I started traveling to Conventions, cosplaying as a red shirt, I collected ccomics, and toys, and costumes and trinkits, basically anything I saw that was Star Trek I bought. When I went to my most recent convention the moment I first saw Shatner in person I cried. Some of my friends thought I was down right insane and laughed at me quite a bit haha. I then proceded to sit in on his Q&A panel where I preceded to cry some more at his heartwarming stories and gratitude toward our town and the people who helped set up the convention. Then on the all too sad day that Nimoy died, I cried and cried and cried, I was hysterical for a portion of the day. His death hit me in a weird way. I never met him I wasn't related to him yet his death hit me so strong that I thought I was losing it haha.

Here is me at one of my conventions cosplaying as a red shirt (I died shortly after this picture was taken lol)

I know I am a huge Trek fan, especially for having not been a fan for very long, but I also know a lot of you out there are equally as big of fans as me so lets hear it, how long have you been a fan and what got you into Trek?

Well, I've told my story before many times but what the heck.
i became a Trekkie/Trekker in the Mid to late 80's i had my first exposure through Star Trek the Motion Picture which was not an overwhelming introduction (although the movie would grow on me later on) I skipped Wrath of Khan theater wise but watched it several times on video. I saw Star Trek III in theaters and had started reading the DC comics run here and there during that time.
By the time Star trek IV had come out I was really getting into watching the original series. It had started with a PBS type station the previous Summer that had aired three uncut episodes commercial free every Saturday night from 11:30 PM on (no more Saturday night Live) after the Voyage Home had come out I was pretty much a full blown Trekkie from that point on. the Next generation was a religiously watched series (for at least the first three or four years) and the DC comics runs are still among my favorite reading materials. i've gone back and forth over the years between Star Trek and other interests but Star Trek is pretty much a permanent part of my life regardless of whatever else i'm into.

Now then just as a side note.
I find it Hard to believe you were killed Brie as you are a female redshirt and despite the high mortality rate among the male redshirts female redshirts have done remarkably well on the Enterprise (In fact, only two lady officers among the redshirts suffered in the course of the series and movies and of those two only onbe died on duty...or on screen for that matter.)


Lt. Marla McGivers (Space Seed)
Marla chose to leave the Enterprise (and by extension: starfleet to live with Khan and his followers it wasn't until long after their time on Ceti Alpha V that Marla was killed by a ceti eel placed forcibly in her ear by one of Khan's former followers turned renegade. One could say she made her bed and died in itanother could say she was murdered but regardless her deathdid not occur during her performance of duty to the ship.

Yeoman Leslie Thompson (By any Other Name)
Poor yeoman thompson was the victim of the Kelvan dehydration field. Rojan used her as an example to keep kirk and his officers from resisting their occupation and control of the Enterprise. on the upside she was listed as killed in performance of her duties.

 

[Shawnster]

All my life. I cannot remember the first time I saw Star Trek. I was born in 71, after Star Trek went into syndication. My earliest Trek memory is watching I, Mudd, but I know I'd been watching Trek regularly at that point.

I owe my love of science fiction (and auto racing) to my father. He would tell me stories about the shows he'd watched growing up such as Twilight Zone, Captain Video, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, etc... We saw every Trek movie together from TMP in 1979 to Nemesis, most of them opening weekend.

Not just Trek. We went to Logan's Run when I was around 3 or 4. We watched the premiere of the original BSG together (he was putting together a model X-Wing for me during the episode). Basically growing up if it was science fiction, we watched it together.

 

[Gary7]

Thanks Martok2112 and Gary7

On another note I've dealt with the same kind of kick-back for liking Star Trek so much. That's part of the reason I like conventions so much. I'm accepted and understood. I too wish the world was like that of ST where everyone is accepted and loved no matter what. You're right humans are unkind people, especially to people like us who don't fit into society's standards of "normal."

You're welcome. Great topic, brought out some terrific contributions. It's true, that unsettled or insecure people have a difficulty tolerating what's different from them. Even with full fledged adults. It's astounding, really. Worst case is where religion comes into play. We're still seeing Biblical era like conflicts going on today. Makes it clear we're living in a technological society not a modern one. Yeah, we're lucky to have Star Trek. A pocket of civility. Let's just hope it keeps growing. And the great thing is being able to look back on the past and have the wisdom to see why things happened the way they did, and to rise above it. Only then can you truly laugh back at taunting without feeling slighted.

 

[JoeCabby]

TNG during the second season. So I was about 8 then. I just remember watching it on tv and just loved it. I don't remember anyone else in my family watching it, I think it was something that I just stumbled upon while flipping through the channels.