What brought you to Trek?

[Captain Randy Hall]

I've been thinking about how I got involved with Trek. I wrote an article about it several years ago. Maybe it'll be done best if I put it in two entries.

So without further ado...Cubes, College and Captain KIrk,Part 1

I love Star Trek. I like Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and all the Stargate shows.

But I love Star Trek.

Of course, this wasn?t always the case.

My first exposure to Star Trek took place while the show was airing on NBC in the late 1960s, and my twin brother, Wayne, and I were growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania.

One night, our family happened to turn on "By Any Other Name," and that episode had a profound impact on Wayne and me: We were afraid to fall asleep that night for fear we’d be turned into cubes and crushed. (And yes, we know the crew of the Enterprise was really turned into dodecahedrons with 12 sides, but that wouldn’t have comforted us at the time.)

When our mother found us still wide awake the next morning, she declared there’d be no more of that show for us!

I didn't have any further contact with Trek until Wayne and I went to college in Maryland during the mid-1970s.

Part 1 done here

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Now for Part 2 of Cubes, College and Captain Kirk

I didn't have any further contact with Trek until Wayne and I went to college in Maryland during the mid-1970s. It seemed that every time I walked through the recreation center in the men's dormitory, Kirk and Spock were battling "to de det" on the TV. It was always the same episode, and one of the few things I remembered about the series was that Kirk and Spock were friends, so why were they fighting?

Eventually, during what must have been my 50th time catching part of that episode, I asked a friend who watched it regularly what was going on. He suggested that I sit down and see for myself. "Why not?" I thought. "It's not like that's going to change my life or anything."

I quickly developed a voracious appetite for all things Trek. I was in front of the TV every weeknight at 6 p.m. when Channel 20 aired the series.

Those of us who watched the show regularly had a bit of competition when each episode started. The first person to figure out which show was coming on had the bragging rights for the day. I was very good at that contest, but one night I was baffled. When someone called out "This Side of Paradise," I got excited. That was the only episode I hadn't seen.

"Amok Time," the show I'd watched in bits and pieces for years, became my favorite episode. To this day, I still enjoy the concept of Kirk fighting Spock, and the solution was McCoy. "In a pig's eye" is one of my favorite lines in all of Trek.

In second place is the third-season character piece called "The Empath." Each character's willingness to sacrifice himself for the others was an incredible story in the much-maligned third season.

So what caused me to become such a devoted Star Trek fan? Many things. I loved its optimistic view of the future. The stories were imaginative and deep. Spock and McCoy always had those wonderful arguments.

But the biggest reason I got into Trek was because I identified with the captain, James T. Kirk. Here was a man in an alien environment, doing things he never dreamed of doing with people he barely knew. And he wasn't just surviving; he was thriving on the challenges he faced.

I was in college, which felt like an alien environment sometimes. Some of the homework consisted of things I never dreamed I'd do. And I knew very few people when I first came to the school. During those times when I felt like giving up on that term paper or got tired of studying for that big test, I thought about how Captain Kirk would give it one more try, so I did even though that sounds like a cliche these days.

One wintry day, I was searching a local book store to find Christmas presents for family and friends. Along the way, I spotted something with the Enterprise on the cover, the first Star Trek concordance. At that point, I knew no one would know I wanted it, so I instituted a new tradition of buying "a Christmas present for myself."

More than 30 years later, I still follow that tradition. This year, I bought all three DVD sets of the remastered Star Trek series.

When I graduated magna cum laude, one of my teachers asked me if anyone had been an inspiration to me during my college years. I immediately responded: "Captain James Kirk? She replied: ?Oh, you have friends in the military?"

Ever since then, Kirk has been one of my heroes, which is one reason I'm still unhappy about his shoddy death in Generations and would like to see that undone. I never really wanted to see Kirk die. I just like the idea of the captain and the Enterprise still out there somewhere, still boldly going where no man has gone before

And there you have it!

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Perilous punctuation.

 

[Mr. Scott]

I literally grew up with it. I was born the year after Star Trek came out ('67). I probably saw the original episodes pooping in my diaper wondering who that strange Canadian fellow was. I watched the reruns as a kid (somewhat, I am from Memphis, and they did not show much Star Trek reruns) watched the animated series, then the first TOS movie came out when I was about 12, with the rest history.

Star Trek in one form or another has been on for 43 years in one form or another, TOS, reruns, animated series, the eleven movies, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise, which are now being reran all over the World now. Star Trek is ingrained into American culture, far, far more than any other franchise.

I don't know if the kids like Star Trek enough to keep it going another generation, but the overall series has been around two generations, and through a lot of changes in style. Actually, I still expect to see Star Trek shows, either new or reruns until the day I die. It's timeless.

 

[Pinkle]

My parents would watch it, and my big brother got into it (although moreso Star Wars), so it was just natural for me I guess. I love sci-fi in general! I'm not really sure what sparked it for me at first though...probably tribbles haha.

 

[SFRabid]

I had two friends that were big into Trek before the time of TNG. I watched it but was not captivated the way they were. Once TNG got better I enjoyed it for the "exploring new worlds" parts. I like to travel and see new things. Star Trek became like a vacation to places I will never get to go. So for me, adventure is what keeps me coming back to Trek. I think that is also something that separates ST from other science fiction. It has always been about exploring new worlds. In a lot of scifi series the exploring is already done and they focus on the conflict. With ST there is always somewhere new to go.

 

[Jan]

I'm saw TOS on its first run as an early teen. On a black & white TV, no less. As to how I found it, as far as I can recall, it was purely by accident. I think it was on either just before or just after The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and in those pre-remote days sometimes you just set the channel you wanted and stayed with it all evening.

Jan

 

[Sector 7]

When I was a small, abused child the one bright spot of my childhood was my Uncle Jerry. He's the one who stopped my stepdad from beating me (until Uncle Jerry's death when I was 9). With me on his knee, my uncle and I watched the moon landing every evening until he carried me to bed fast asleep. It was the last thing I really remember us doing together before he died in November of 1969.
In the early 1970s I found Star Trek, a television program about people like my uncle and me... adventurers and dreamers exploring the stars! It took me away from painful teenage years to a place where everyone cared about each other and no one hated you for being different.
Needless to say, I have been a fan ever since. I even made a foray into Hollywood and created a series (rejected by TPTB, but it was an adventure).
Now, after being disappointed with much of modern Trek, Star Trek is coming back to life and I am as EXCITED as I was watching the moon landing or my first TOS episode.

 

[Cali]

I caught an episode of Voyager one evening on BBC2 and was hooked. That was... seven, eight years ago? Something like that. Since then I've seen most of Voyager and TNG and bits of DS9 (am planning to buy DS9 on DVD, starting today when I ordered season 1 and watch it all the way through) on Virgin 1. Seen the odd episodes of TOS and Enterprise. I think my favourite series is DS9 now. It was pure chance that I saw my first Star Trek episode. I stayed for the spaceships and the music and the fact that I like astronomy.

Being at this board has since introduced me to Farscape and Firefly, for which I am very grateful.

 

[ltcmmanderdata]

I started watching star trek as a kid with my older brothers and sisters.

 

[crusher]

I got hooked on scifi when they started showing Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space when I was kid after school. I would rush home each day to see the next adventure on one of those shows. From there I watched anything scifi or read what i could find at our small library so i have read everything by Arthur C Clarke.

 

[Archerslady]

My best friend in High School got me interested in "Star Trek". TOS was in re-runs after school and "TNG" was on the air at the time.