I grew up with TNG, but the Kelvin movies will always be "my" Star Trek.
Poll Is the Trek that you grew up with also your favorite Trek?
- Thread starter DonIago
- Start date
*sheepishly raises hand*
I have to vote yes. I just admitted in the ENT forum that it's my favourite series. It's the only one I watched start to end when I was old enough to know what was going on (beyond the beaming and warping), yet too young to be cynical about writers and producers.
DS9 is my super close second place, so the overlap definitely factors in there as well. I tried but couldn't really get into the Chris Pine era movies, or the newer streaming shows. They're all good, but without the nostalgia element it's just not the same.
So yes, my growing up show is still my favourite series. Good ol' NX-01, I guess I love to root for the underdog.
I have to vote yes. I just admitted in the ENT forum that it's my favourite series. It's the only one I watched start to end when I was old enough to know what was going on (beyond the beaming and warping), yet too young to be cynical about writers and producers.
DS9 is my super close second place, so the overlap definitely factors in there as well. I tried but couldn't really get into the Chris Pine era movies, or the newer streaming shows. They're all good, but without the nostalgia element it's just not the same. So yes, my growing up show is still my favourite series. Good ol' NX-01, I guess I love to root for the underdog.
I grew up in the 80s & 90s and have vague, terrifying recollections of TOS: "Operation: Annihilate!", and ST II & III on telly, but it was TNG that I watched all the way through (mostly) and got me into Star Trek. However, DS9 was my favourite Trek at the time.
Now, my favourite series is Lower Decks
(with DS9 a close second), and my favourite film is III: The Search For Spock.
Now, my favourite series is Lower Decks
Like several folks in this thread, I started with TOS reruns in the 70s. The original series is still my favorite with TNG second.
Something is compelling about the interplay between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. All later series had more of an ensemble cast, lacking that particular TOS dynamic. I also prefer the emphasis on exploring space that later ship-based series didn't use to that degree and also that TNG largely abandoned in later seasons
I sampled VOY, DS9, and ENT when they came out but quickly lost interest in them all. Within the last several years I have watched all three of those series and while I enjoyed them all in different ways, they will never approach TOS and TNG for me. I know people rave about about DS9 in particular but I just don't hold it in that high regard. Maybe it's because I didn't watch it in the first run, I don't know.
For new shows, I've only seen the first season of SNW and enjoyed it greatly. The Kelvin movies, while fun as a lark, are forgettable for me.
Something is compelling about the interplay between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. All later series had more of an ensemble cast, lacking that particular TOS dynamic. I also prefer the emphasis on exploring space that later ship-based series didn't use to that degree and also that TNG largely abandoned in later seasons
I sampled VOY, DS9, and ENT when they came out but quickly lost interest in them all. Within the last several years I have watched all three of those series and while I enjoyed them all in different ways, they will never approach TOS and TNG for me. I know people rave about about DS9 in particular but I just don't hold it in that high regard. Maybe it's because I didn't watch it in the first run, I don't know.
For new shows, I've only seen the first season of SNW and enjoyed it greatly. The Kelvin movies, while fun as a lark, are forgettable for me.
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I grew up with the TOS films and TNG, but no, I think I like and hate all the Treks I've watched about equally. They all have their positive parts and none of them are perfect.
I watched episodes of TOS first, but never really "watched". Just a handful of episodes here and there.
But I "watched" TNG (and everything else after, then backtracked to TOS) so would define TNG as the one I grew up with and have to admit, TNG is still my favourite to this day.
But I "watched" TNG (and everything else after, then backtracked to TOS) so would define TNG as the one I grew up with and have to admit, TNG is still my favourite to this day.
I grew up with TOS films and no, not by a long, long distance are they my favourite.
I like all of Star Trek, but for me the favourite is TNG-ENT.
I like all of Star Trek, but for me the favourite is TNG-ENT.
At this point, it's interesting to me to see that by a significant margin people do seem to feel that the series they grew up with remains their favorite, though it's more challenging to say how much of that may be a nostalgia factor and how much of it may be because the series they grew up with is simply "objectively" very good...or, if you prefer, that they were lucky enough to get into Trek during a good time for the franchise.
While I could probably have made the poll more granular, I have to admit I lack the enthusiasm to create a poll that lists each individual series to ask whether that's the series that someone feels they grew up with and whether they feel it was their favorite series...but if someone else wants to pick up that ball, be my guest!
Anyway, it's been enjoyable to read everyone's stories. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
While I could probably have made the poll more granular, I have to admit I lack the enthusiasm to create a poll that lists each individual series to ask whether that's the series that someone feels they grew up with and whether they feel it was their favorite series...but if someone else wants to pick up that ball, be my guest!
Anyway, it's been enjoyable to read everyone's stories. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
In the main, I actually grew up with… other shows. Not Star Trek. We had the movies on video, I saw *bits* of TNG, really bits and a few TOS episodes in the 90s.
I didn’t get into Star Trek until the mid-00s and by that point I was going on 26.
I think the way it was repeated in the UK (piecemeal, scarcely, rarely) is so different to the way kids must have experienced it in the USA. When I was a kid, 1979-1990 say, Star Trek just didn’t seem to be on TV in the UK, or at least not very much.
I think I was more exposed to Irwin Allen shows like Land of the Giants or Lost in Space, Gerry Anderson stuff like Stingray and Thunderbirds as well as Doctor Who when I was a kid. Star Trek was more like a cinema thing.
TNG was on in the late 80s, I suppose, but my Mother deflected me from it as she said it ‘wasn’t real Star Trek’. I think I saw First Contact before I saw TBoBW.
I didn’t get into Star Trek until the mid-00s and by that point I was going on 26.
I think the way it was repeated in the UK (piecemeal, scarcely, rarely) is so different to the way kids must have experienced it in the USA. When I was a kid, 1979-1990 say, Star Trek just didn’t seem to be on TV in the UK, or at least not very much.
I think I was more exposed to Irwin Allen shows like Land of the Giants or Lost in Space, Gerry Anderson stuff like Stingray and Thunderbirds as well as Doctor Who when I was a kid. Star Trek was more like a cinema thing.
TNG was on in the late 80s, I suppose, but my Mother deflected me from it as she said it ‘wasn’t real Star Trek’. I think I saw First Contact before I saw TBoBW.
In terms of what was on first run, no. I remember the bulk of Ds9 and Voy's runs and Enterprise. I'm a TOS and TNG purist who thinks of that as "real" ST and the others as imitations at varying quality levels. I did watch TNG reruns as a kid at that same time though.
Eh. I miss the 24th Century shows, for all of its flaws, down to the LCARS...not Picard...the Berman ones. I wish they had SNW or LD writers back in the day. Imagine Data causing everybody to breakout into Shakespeare quotes while scanning an anomaly, after playing one of the plays on the holodeck...
And swordfights breaking out all over the place, too...
I can't really say 'grew up with' since I would see my mom watching ST while I was young and didn't really get into it. For me AOS drew me in like no other and I will now defend it with my dying breath. So I would say it's not what you grew up with but what first captured your attention.
The first Trek I saw was TOS in reruns in the mid-80s when I was in my early teens, but TNG and especially DS9 made a fan out of me. Initially VGR was a huge disappointment to me because I felt that it could've been so much more than TNG-lite, but it's grown on me in subsequent rewatches. ENT was huge for me and got me started in online fandom. I haven't seen the more recent shows yet.
Babylon 5 is my all-time favorite sci-fi show, and for a long time, DS9 was my absolutely favorite Trek show because it came closest to the idea of story arcs spanning several seasons with the occasional episodic episode thrown in.
But now with streaming services it feels like the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, it's no longer enough to just watch every episode of a show to get the most out of it, instead you have to watch every episode of several shows and dozens of movies to get the most out of a new show or movie, which can easily add up to hundreds of hours of viewing. This is particularly true of MCU and Star Wars. Sometimes it's so refreshing to just watch an episode or two of a show and to know that you aren't missing anything essential if you haven't seen the whole show or franchise before.
Babylon 5 is my all-time favorite sci-fi show, and for a long time, DS9 was my absolutely favorite Trek show because it came closest to the idea of story arcs spanning several seasons with the occasional episodic episode thrown in.
But now with streaming services it feels like the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, it's no longer enough to just watch every episode of a show to get the most out of it, instead you have to watch every episode of several shows and dozens of movies to get the most out of a new show or movie, which can easily add up to hundreds of hours of viewing. This is particularly true of MCU and Star Wars. Sometimes it's so refreshing to just watch an episode or two of a show and to know that you aren't missing anything essential if you haven't seen the whole show or franchise before.
Yes.... I got into Star Trek with TNG in daily syndication and then DS9 from the begining when I was in 3rd grade.
For me, TNG and DS9 are still tied as my favorite series. Next though would be TOS, then ENT and VGR.
TAS? A TOS epilogue that doesn't really stand on its own.
PRODIGY? Great for what it is. LOWER DECKS? Far more bad than good, but at least entertaining viewing. PICARD? A different series every season. DISCOVERY and SNW? Unwatchable...
For me, TNG and DS9 are still tied as my favorite series. Next though would be TOS, then ENT and VGR.
TAS? A TOS epilogue that doesn't really stand on its own.
PRODIGY? Great for what it is. LOWER DECKS? Far more bad than good, but at least entertaining viewing. PICARD? A different series every season. DISCOVERY and SNW? Unwatchable...
TOS is my Trek; I started watching it in syndication, but I do remember having the bejesus scared out of me by the Salt Vampire when the series ran the first time. I was so excited when the animated series came out. I just bought the series.
I was excited when TNG came on the air. I was disappointed with the first season, and almost skipped the second season, but after I watched the first few seasons, I was hooked...for a while. Read the TNG novels, and abandoned TOS almost altogether.
But I came back to TOS--I can't remember how long ago. It was probably during the movie era. I am one of the few who liked TMP and loved II and forward (well, V was not a favorite).
Haven't seen the new television iterations except for clips. I liked the 2009 movie, but mostly because I was glad to see Leonard Nimoy in it. I know he was proud of creating a character that could be inhabited or performed by other actors, but I just can't go there (yet?). He will always be my Spock, and TOS will always be my Star Trek, and I'm cool with that (at the moment).
I was excited when TNG came on the air. I was disappointed with the first season, and almost skipped the second season, but after I watched the first few seasons, I was hooked...for a while. Read the TNG novels, and abandoned TOS almost altogether.
But I came back to TOS--I can't remember how long ago. It was probably during the movie era. I am one of the few who liked TMP and loved II and forward (well, V was not a favorite).
Haven't seen the new television iterations except for clips. I liked the 2009 movie, but mostly because I was glad to see Leonard Nimoy in it. I know he was proud of creating a character that could be inhabited or performed by other actors, but I just can't go there (yet?). He will always be my Spock, and TOS will always be my Star Trek, and I'm cool with that (at the moment).
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