Poll Is the Trek that you grew up with also your favorite Trek?

[DonIago]

There's been some evidence of (entirely understandable!) bias among us, in that the Trek series that we grow up with we may innately tend to regard more favorably than other installments in the franchise. Nostalgia's a powerful force.

To that end, I'm curious to hear which series you grew up with, and whether you also regard it as your favorite.

I started on TOS reruns when I was five years old, but DS9 is my deepest Trek love. I think some of the newer series are very good, while I'd rate VOY and ENT near the bottom for me in part because they felt like real steps down from DS9. Perhaps one reason why is because DS9 in-universe had a lot to say about writing, and I am myself an editor-writer, so it spoke to me in ways the other series never really have.

OTOH, DISCO has done an exceptional job portraying non-heteronormative individuals, which I appreciate, while LD is just plain fun, and SNW...I haven't seen much of it yet, but what I have seen I've very much enjoyed.

I feel like any definition of 'grew up with' that I could attempt to impose would just set myself up for rebuttals (some people got into Trek as children; others got into it in their 40s). I trust the respondents to know which series they'd consider their 'formative' one.

 

[The Wormhole]

It's not really a clear cut matte like that. I grew up during the Berman era and while those particular shows will always hold a special place in my heart, I am not blind to their flaws, nor am I unable to enjoy the modern shows, some of which are actually pretty good. And as meaningful as the Berman era is to me, I am also ready to move on from it, which is why the recent wave of 90s nostalgia hasn't really appealed to me that much.

 

[DonIago]

I guess my feeling is that if you grew up during the Berman era there was (probably?) one show that really made you a fan, unless you connected with all of the ones that were airing at the time simultaneously. E.g. TNG and VOY didn't air at the same time, so if you wouldn't have watched VOY if not for TNG, then TNG would be the one that got you into the series. OTOH, if you were watching TNG and DS9 simultaneously and can't imagine only becoming a fan by watching one, then that's more complicated.

 

[Ovation]

TOS was the first (starting in 1973 for me) and remains my favourite. I’ve seen just about everything else and enjoyed it on some level but TOS is still at the top of the list. SNW is inching very closely towards a tie. Kelvin movies are not too far behind. Then the rest.

 

[comsol]

I also started out with TOS reruns back in 1973, and it is still my favorite as well (I include TAS with it). SNW is also my second favorite as well, and while I like most of the rest of Trek, TOS is Star Trek for me.

 

[Lord Garth]

All three of my favorite Star Trek series (TOS, DSC, PIC) come from outside of when I grew up (1979 baby, '80s child, '90s teen). I went through a phase during the '00s where I was DONE with '90s Trek, but I've moved past that too. So, what some people are going through now, I went through 20 years ago. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. I like TNG/DS9/VOY, I just prefer DSC/PIC. The one I keep forgetting about is ENT.

SNW? Some things about it are better than TOS, but it keeps inviting comparison, and I prefer TOS as an overall package. So, I'm comparing a show being made while I'm in my 40s to a show that came out over 10 years before I was born. I'm also comparing the format of SNW to the formats of DSC and PIC, and I prefer the formats of DSC and PIC. So, I'm not comparing SNW to anything made while I was growing up.

If you want to switch to movies, that's a different story. The TOS Movies are my favorite. Though, if I were younger, I'd still like to think I'd have preferred the TOS Movies over the TNG and Kelvin Movies.

I ended up voting No.

 

[HotRod]

I grew up during the Berman era, but my first and favourite Trek is The Original Series. There is just something endearing about those characters and that era...

Which is probably why Strange New Worlds is my second favourite show.

It's the golden age of exploration.

 

[fireproof78]

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, but TOS was my first real Star Trek experience, owed largely to my father. He had episodes on VHS, he had the Mego figures, and Concordance for me to flip through when not watching episodes. TNG never hooked me the way TOS did, with the bright colored uniforms, the flip open communicators, and the like. DS9 didn't really grab me until the "Trials and Tribble-ations" episode. Much of my Star Trek enjoyment comes from TOS/TAS and the TOS films in various stripes.

I think this is part of my the Kelvin films and Discovery hold special places in my heart, even if different, they hit the right tone for characters, exploration, and adventure.

 

[Tim Walker]

I was born in 1956. ( I am now 67 years old). Watch TOS during its initial run back in the '60s.

If I had a favorite, it would be TOS.

 

[Dukhat]

51, born in 1973. I grew up with TOS reruns, the TMP films, and all of the secondary forms of ‘canon’ at the time (FASA/Star Fleet Battles RPGs, early novels, comics, reference material like Bjo Trimble’s Star Trek Concordance, etc.) TNG came out right when I first started high school, and I watched it religiously along with DS9 and VOY while I was in college. By the time of ENT however, I was starting to feel jaded about Star Trek. But if I had to choose one Trek that had the most influence in my life, it would be TOS. It has become a cultural phenomenon that I don’t think anything since has come close to surpassing.

Is TOS my favorite? Not sure. I did very much love DS9, and I find TOS to be very dated now. But I find that of all the Star Trek series and films made then and now, only TOS and the trilogy films of TWOK, TSFS and TVH have any rewatchability factors for me.

 

[1001001]

I was born the same year TOS premiered, but of course wasn’t aware of it until reruns in the 70’s.

There’s a lot I like about Modern Trek. DSC, LDS, and SNW are all shows I really enjoy.

But ultimately, I’m a Berman-era guy. TNG through ENT. I was in my 20’s and 30’s for those.

All of this to say, technically, no.

 

[farragut79]

DS9 is my favorite but TNG will always be that special series for me. My grandfather used to watch it with me when it first premiered on Saturday evenings where I grew up (central North Dakota).

 

[Greg Cox]

I grew up on TOS, long before the latter-day shows came along, so it will alway be "my" STAR TREK.

 

[Paul755]

yes and no. TOS is “my Trek”

But I grew up during the Berman era, watching TNG weekly starting during S5 and then every series as they came out.

But it was The Undiscovered Country that got me into Trek and my parents bought me a ton of TOS episodes on VHS for 9 bucks at Blockbuster. So that’s the one I came to love more.

 

[BillJ]

Grew up on TOS. It is my favorite Trek, by a wide margin.

 

[Brennyren]

Yes, though I wouldn't always have said so. I started watching TOS in reruns in the early 70s, and I promptly fell in love. When TNG came around, I was obsessed with it, and proclaimed it my favorite, not least because I fiercely defended it against other fans who said it wasn't "real Trek." (Boy, no one else has had an experience anything like that, huh? ) Also I had a ferocious crush on PStew.

But after TNG ended, I had no real urge to go back and rewatch it. Same with VOY -- I loved it while it was on, but once it ended I was over it.

TOS, on the other hand, I can rewatch for hours on end. Not every episode, no, but probably better than two-thirds. And if I see that Wrath of Khan, or The Voyage Home, or The Undiscovered Country, is on, I'm there. Guaranteed.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Grew up watching TOS first run and rerun. I'm also quite fond of DS9, ENT, SNW and LDS. So a little Berman and Kurtzman too.

 

[Farscape One]

I grew up on TNG, DS9, VOY, and reruns/Blockbuster tapes of TOS. I was already 22 when ENT started.

TNG (specifically Data) made me a scifi fan, but my favorite is DS9. And since I was watching since it premiered, when I was 13 and still 'growing up', I put down 'yes'.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yep. Grew up with TOS before any of the others and it remains my all-time favorite. DS9 is second and TNG third.

 

[Admiral Archer]

Up until Strange New Worlds came out, I thought there would never be another show like Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was born the summer between TNG's second and third seasons, and so TNG has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember. But Strange New Worlds meets two criteria for me that give it an edge above all other Star Treks: first, it is just plain FUN to watch; second, I firmly believe it is the show Gene Roddenberry wanted to do all along starting in 1964, but never had the budget or resources to make possible. TNG will always have a soft spot in my heart, and I adore Picard Season 3 for being the perfect sign off for that crew, but Strange New Worlds is the best Trek we've ever had.