So How Would You Answer This Question?

[Sector 7]

To quote Peter Griffin "Daddy loves you, sweetheart, but daddy also loves Star Trek. And to be fair, Star Trek came first."

Classic. I used that one once on my kiddo. She never asked me that question again!
She was always more into soaps, so I told her to watch DS9.

 

[SFRabid]

Lots of ST series could be considered soaps.

 

[EEE]

Too each their own. My Dad found the military aspects of trek laughable amd Mom couldn't get past the funny looking aliens. She once said Worf should wear bangs. I gave up on getting them into Trek.

What if a character told Worf to his face that he should wear bangs?
Your mother is a racist.

There I said it .

If the aliens were real, she'd be a xenophobe. As it stands, she could just be a hairstylist. (I don't believe people playing pretend, with some amount of rubber on their heads, constitutes a "race" for her to be a racist)

 

[drasche]

I think we are all missing the point here: what did the daughter want to watch?

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

How about telling her "to get a fucking job, get her own place, buy her own TV and she can watch whatever she wants. Until then get into the kitchen and make me some pie".

 

[Captain Mike]

This doesn't suprise me one bit. I know and talk to alot of people and eventually when the conversations jump to entertainment, most (and I say 9 out of ten) generally ask me that or generally spout something about how stupid the show's' are and were. I also agree with another poster here that it could have been any good Star Trek movie.

I originally saw TOS when I was four years old and loved it. So your daughter's age should not be an issue.

But show her something good from TOS, after explaining that NEM is garbage. The Naked Time, The Doomsday Machine, The Devil in the Dark, Balance of Terror, Amok Time, The Trouble with Tribbles, The City on the Edge of Forever, Mirror, Mirror...that should do for a start.

After that, start on DS9. You might get around to TNG eventually but honestly it hasn't aged well.

ANY well performed episode from ANY of the shows could be used in that example. Not just TOS.

 

[joeE17]

I was watching some Trek (specifically Nemesis) when his daughter got all upset because there was something else she wanted to watch on Tv. She couldn't understand how or why people like Trek, or what people see in it.

It was something I didn't have an answer for. But for me I like the stories, I like the special effects, and I love seeing Starship/spacecraft designs. A lot of the stories are very unique stories that you just can't find in things like a cop show or a sports show or a medical show.

So how would you explain things to her?

I like to remind my wife (who hates Trek) that without it we would never have met. So even non-believers have to accept it has its positive side.

 

[Tan Ru]

Just tell her that you enjoy the the stories of adventure and character driven inter-action.

And that over all, ST is a well-crafted program with good production values and very good acting.

What's not to like? 'cuz it's set in the future and in outer-space? So what? 'cuz it's fiction? So is most television/movies. Big deal.

Trek rulz, and that's all there is to it.....

 

[Mistral]

I'd answer, "I'll tell you AFTER my show is over. Now, go run out and play in traffic."

 

[BarryWaddle]

Wait until she's a bit older, and explain that they're all basically morality plays. Nichelle Nichols used that exact term when discussing Trek with Gene Roddenberry 40 years ago. They all have some connection to today's society. From the fall of the Berlin wall (ST6), to terrorism (The High Ground), to themes of sexual preference (The Outcast), to the Japanese internment during WWII (Detained)...Though I think they overdid WWII at times.

Jimmy Smits said it best at the 1996 SAG Awards. "It's not just about Klingons and photon torpedoes." Members of each series (to that point in time) were presented that year with the award for "Best Portrayal of the American Scene."

Yeah, I remember the strangest things...I have too much time on my hands...