So, what got you into Trek? And what does it mean to you

[Ralphis]

I'm not sure which came first for me, the TOS movies or TNG, but I was obsessed with both for some reason as a child in the early and mid 90's. I loved the look and feel of the TOS movies, and I had VHS tapes full of TNG episodes I recorded off of TV. I think a lot of the deeper story elements in TNG went over my head as a kid, but I just loved the characters so much (and still do).

I did kind of stop watching Star Trek as I got older, but when DS9 aired in reruns on TNN/Spike in the early and mid 2000's it basically revitalized my love for Trek. I wasn't a big fan of DS9 when it originally aired, but for some reason it really registered with me that time around.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

In 1979 at the age of two. Introduced to it by my humanist grandfather, who died a couple of years later. Mostly saw the movies until they started releasing TOS on VHS in the UK (I was just a little bit too young to have caught it's run on the BBC).

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Started watchign the re-runs in the ealy 70s. Grew up with it. TMP when I was 13. WOK when I was 16. Watched TNG starrting senior year in college. It bascally represented good entertainment in my formative years and beyond, which i can look back on fondly now in middle age.

 

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Loved science fiction and space as a kid growing up in the seventies. Then they aired nine TOS episodes on Swedish national TV in 1977 and I was sold. Bought and played with the Mego action figures with my friends. Learned a lot of English reading the fotonovels. Saw some more episodes on a family trip to the US in 1979 and then TMP and all the other movies in the eighties. Didn't get to see all the TOS episodes until Sweden finally got cable in the late 1980s.

Kept up my Trek interest over the years, although depending on where I lived and what TV channels I had access to, it took some time to see it all. I didn't get to see DS9 until nine years ago, and have still to see TAS.

 

[JoeCabby]

I started watching TNG in elementary school around age 12 I think? I honestly don't remember. Was always one of my favourite shows in high school. I guess I never understood why I liked it so much. I think it was just fascinating stories set out in space. I also loved X-Files and Sliders so I think the whole scifi fantasy thing always stuck with me. Stopped watching when TNG went off the air and didn't watch the rest of the Star Trek's until just a few years ago.

On the flip side, I seem to have turned my 3 year old daughter into a Trekkie. I usually watch Star Trek on my lunch breaks and stuff, but occassionally I'll watch an episode or 2 at home and she'll sit with me and watch. Well the last few times I gave her the iPad to play with, she turns on Netflix and watches Star Trek TOS. She's always been into Princesses and female super heroes (Wonder woman is her favourite) So i was pleasantly surprised that she's all into Star Trek right now. I hope she can be my watching buddy once the new Trek series is out.

 

[Galileo7]

When I was a young boy I watched both Lost In Space and TOS in reruns weekdays after school on a local UHF station.

 

[dswynne1]

My mom. It was the 1970s, back when TOS was in reruns. That got me interested in science and technology, starting with the Space LEGO stuff when I was a kid.

 

[Kirby]

It was 4th grade, so circa 1977, and I went over to my friend Jim's house after school. His end of the neighborhood got this new-fangled thing called cable TV first, so we were flipping around channels and found TOS, I think it was Tomorrow is Yesterday. We had never seen this show before, but we liked it! Immediately after that episode we found another episode on our local station.
We ended up watching two episodes a day after school for a couple of years and then TMP hit the theaters. The rest is history.

 

[Smellmet]

Watching TOS reruns with my dad aged 6 or so in the late 70's followed by my first trip to the cinema to watch The Motion Picture. What does it mean to me? A hell of a lot. I almost can't remember my life without it.