Looking Back: November, 1996
When First Contact came out, I was in college. By luck, my own dormitory was hosting this big Star Trek party on the opening night. We watched "The Best of Both Worlds" and shared Star Trek stories, with Star Trek food and drink available. (I promise I didn't have too much Romulan Ale.) Then we all went out to a theater, where half the seats were sold to us. It was a great experience to see the film with so many Star Trek fans, as opposed to just the casual observers. It doesn't seem all that long ago.
Star Trek First Contact (November 22, 1996)
As 1996 came to a close, “The Macarena” craze was fading, and the world was at a point between “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” and “MMMBop”. The United States, after a busy year hosting the Summer Olympics and holding a Presidential Election, was enjoying good times. The economy was on fire and the internet was turning into a phenomenon. On the down side, there was global warming, a hole in the Ozone layer, and Boris Yeltsin. In the fashion world, the rise in women’s pants began to fall (at the same time thong underwear began to become popular) and smaller eyeglasses became the rule. Meanwhile, women all over America were asking their hair stylists for “the Rachel”, a haircut named after a character on the sitcom “Friends”. As for technology, there was a new way of communication for the hearing impaired called “text messaging”. However, it had yet to catch in popularity, partly because texts could only be exchanged between users of the same network.
President: Bill Clinton
U.S. Population: 265 million
World Population: 5.8 billion
National Debt: $5.2 trillion
Average Movie Ticket Price: $4.42
Cost of a postage stamp: 32 cents
Average cost of a gallon of gas: $1.29
Dow Jones: 6,522
Average Household Income: $35,492
Hit songs:
“Wannabe” – Spice Girls
“Don’t Speak” – No Doubt
“Little Bitty” – Alan Jackson
“Where Corn Don’t Grow” – Travis Tritt
Hit movies: The English Patient, Space Jam, 101 Dalmatians, Jerry Maguire, Michael
Hit TV shows: The Drew Carey Show, JAG, The Real World, Home Improvement, The Jerry Springer Show, Deep Space Nine
November and December 1996 Saturday Night Live Hosts: Phil Hartman, Martin Short, and Rosie O’Donnell
Births:
January 19 – Michael Jackson Jr., son of the King of Pop
February 25 – Isabelle Fuhrman, actress (played the title role in the 2009 film Orphan)
Deaths:
November 30 – Tiny Tim, musician
December 6 – Pete Rozelle, NFL Commissioner (creator of the Super Bowl)
December 25 – JonBenét Ramsey, murder victim
Events:
November 25 – An ice storm struck the U.S. and killed hundreds, some directly and some indirectly
January 20 – Bill Clinton was inaugurated for his second term
Would Have Been the Last Star Trek Film She Could Have Seen: Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a crash August 31 1997
Wouldn’t Have Meant Anything to Most People Had you Said it in November of 1996: Harry Potter
What this time period meant to me: Watching Wisconsin go crazy over the Green Bay Packers, thinking the Macarena was silly, attending a Star Trek First Contact party, and waiting for the Star Wars films to be rereleased.
When First Contact came out, I was in college. By luck, my own dormitory was hosting this big Star Trek party on the opening night. We watched "The Best of Both Worlds" and shared Star Trek stories, with Star Trek food and drink available. (I promise I didn't have too much Romulan Ale.) Then we all went out to a theater, where half the seats were sold to us. It was a great experience to see the film with so many Star Trek fans, as opposed to just the casual observers. It doesn't seem all that long ago.
Star Trek First Contact (November 22, 1996)
As 1996 came to a close, “The Macarena” craze was fading, and the world was at a point between “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” and “MMMBop”. The United States, after a busy year hosting the Summer Olympics and holding a Presidential Election, was enjoying good times. The economy was on fire and the internet was turning into a phenomenon. On the down side, there was global warming, a hole in the Ozone layer, and Boris Yeltsin. In the fashion world, the rise in women’s pants began to fall (at the same time thong underwear began to become popular) and smaller eyeglasses became the rule. Meanwhile, women all over America were asking their hair stylists for “the Rachel”, a haircut named after a character on the sitcom “Friends”. As for technology, there was a new way of communication for the hearing impaired called “text messaging”. However, it had yet to catch in popularity, partly because texts could only be exchanged between users of the same network.
President: Bill Clinton
U.S. Population: 265 million
World Population: 5.8 billion
National Debt: $5.2 trillion
Average Movie Ticket Price: $4.42
Cost of a postage stamp: 32 cents
Average cost of a gallon of gas: $1.29
Dow Jones: 6,522
Average Household Income: $35,492
Hit songs:
“Wannabe” – Spice Girls
“Don’t Speak” – No Doubt
“Little Bitty” – Alan Jackson
“Where Corn Don’t Grow” – Travis Tritt
Hit movies: The English Patient, Space Jam, 101 Dalmatians, Jerry Maguire, Michael
Hit TV shows: The Drew Carey Show, JAG, The Real World, Home Improvement, The Jerry Springer Show, Deep Space Nine
November and December 1996 Saturday Night Live Hosts: Phil Hartman, Martin Short, and Rosie O’Donnell
Births:
January 19 – Michael Jackson Jr., son of the King of Pop
February 25 – Isabelle Fuhrman, actress (played the title role in the 2009 film Orphan)
Deaths:
November 30 – Tiny Tim, musician
December 6 – Pete Rozelle, NFL Commissioner (creator of the Super Bowl)
December 25 – JonBenét Ramsey, murder victim
Events:
November 25 – An ice storm struck the U.S. and killed hundreds, some directly and some indirectly
January 20 – Bill Clinton was inaugurated for his second term
Would Have Been the Last Star Trek Film She Could Have Seen: Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a crash August 31 1997
Wouldn’t Have Meant Anything to Most People Had you Said it in November of 1996: Harry Potter
What this time period meant to me: Watching Wisconsin go crazy over the Green Bay Packers, thinking the Macarena was silly, attending a Star Trek First Contact party, and waiting for the Star Wars films to be rereleased.
Many record labels advertise their music as "the soundtrack to our lives". Well, the Star Trek films are the soundtrack to my life! 
