What Does Star Trek Mean to You?

[warduria]

Hello Everyone - I've been lurking for a while, and like so many of you can't wait until May 7th. Many of you often discuss this film and how it will relate to existing Canon, and that is great as it helps keep Star Trek sane and on point. But besides that does anyone have a personal connection to Star Trek, maybe personal is not the write word, but maybe emotional?

I like so many grew up on all the various Star Trek TV series. I wanted to be an astronomer, or an engineer and be a part of that adventure. But then the computer bug took hold and I've been programming or testing software ever since, living a quite boring life with not much adventure, more well worn rutts in the road. I've tried to go back to school but well that's had issues. When I see the latest trailer for this film, the visuals, the dialog, the music, man it really hits me.

I really hope that this movie would do much more than entertain, but will inspire millions of youth still in school to get fascinated with science, with enginnering, and enter the ranks and help drive technology of the future towards well Star Trek. I would love to see more people get behind NASA, get behind space exploration, and fill the ranks as scientists and engineers. This movie could not only jumpstart the Star Trek franchise, but could jumpstart science, adventure, and a sense of purpose in youth and older today.

I'm sitting here tonight watching that trailer over and over again, as I try and come up with a schedule to get back to school myself, and become one of those engineers. At the beginning where he says "You're father was captain for 12 minutes" or something then he says "dare you to do better"... that line and if you remember in the recent Transformers movie where they make the choice to get in the car [or not too... adventure or not] and that awesome song by Goo Goo Dolls about taking that leap... those lines really get to me and so much meaning I think to the human spirit and to each of us. We make our lives, sure we have factors of our surroundings that affect our choices, but in the end it's up to us. It's almost a call to action, a call to step up and take control of your life and make the best of it... or to not and just live your life essentially on auto-pilot... hopefully I'll be switching off my auto-pilot soon... well, that's what Star Trek means to me... Anyone else care to share?

 

[LadyPenelope]

can i just say, what a lovely topic for a thread

for so many people star trek is so much more than just another show, and i agree - it inspires people to think about space and science and all the good stuff.

apart from being a convenient alternative to doing my a level homework, star trek effectively sparked my love for physics, which makes it one of the reasons that i'm starting a level maths and physics in september, and fingers crossed doing a physics degree after that. that's how much it means to me, quite a lot in fact, lol.

"a call to action" - i like that idea, and i hope this can be said of the new movie when it comes out.

 

[Basil]

The original series meant to me that the intellect could triumph over the animal instinct; that what we did with our minds was as or more important than what we did with our bodies. We were imperfect beings who would often fail, but it was the desire to be better than ourselves that gave us nobility. By comparison, Star Trek 2009 looks like a typical high-octane, low-mentality action movie, albeit with some of the trappings of the show.

 

[RyanKCR]

I was formally introduced to Star Trek via TMP. To me Star Trek was about exploring deep space and what we discovered there and how that changed us and how we look at ourselves.

 

[kitsune]

Star Trek tells me that life won't be so mundane and boring in the future. Too bad I was born 400 years too early.

 

[sbk1234]

To me, Star Trek means hope.

 

[QuasarVM]

To me, Star Trek means the spirit of exploration; doing what's right -- even in the face of adversity; and friendship.

 

[Praetor]

To me, Star Trek offers the hopeful notion that mankind isn't simply a carbon-based machine driven by animal instincts - that there is more to us than what we may see on the surface, and that with work and self-determination we can grow to be more than the sum of our individual parts, both as individual people and as a species.

 

[NCC-1701-B]

to me, it means everything. I sometimes have dreams where i am on the enterprise or voyager or something like that. i am even listening to The final frontier sound track now!

 

[Thor Damar]

It shows us what possible futures there may be for us and that somehow we can make it to the stars. Basically humanity overcomes itself.

(I also like the Astro-Political aspect of the Trekverse.)