13 is the right age to get hooked on Trek. Most of us became fans as kids or teens, right?
11. So right in-be
tween.
One of the things I liked about Star Trek was that I thought of it as one of the first "adult" things I was into. Not including
ALF, it was the first live-action series I was a fan of. But go easy on me. To me, "adult" meant "not a cartoon". Obviously not what I think now, but it's what I thought at the time.
The Simpsons was a novelty, being a cartoon that was for adults. It was a huge deal. But we're getting off track... the point is I never thought of Star Trek as "kiddie" and what I liked about it was I thought it was the opposite. This was "grown-up". This was stuff that adults liked. And argued about. I felt like I'd joined a different league and stepped up.
When I got online in 1996 in high school, and stood up to middle-aged posters twice or three times my age on bulletin boards like this (but not
this one yet), once again, it felt like a big deal to me. Later on, I was a moderator here with posters in their 40s and 50s in a lot of cases, and here I was, I was 22. It felt awkward sometimes. But eventually that awkwardness wore off.
So, "Don't you want to watch Star Trek with little kids?" Some people might want to do that, but that's not my mindset. So I think that pre-teens or teens is about the right range. Sure, you can get something out of it when you're younger than that, but there's probably a lot you're going to miss. But I guess that's part of watching it again to find out what went over your head before. I know one size doesn't fit all.
My brother started showing my niece TOS at age six. But before that, he used to tell her "Captain Kirk Stories" sometimes before bedtime.