When Did You Fall In and Out Of Love With Trek

[Bread]

As a child growing up in 1970's Britain, Star Trek used to be shown on the BBC at 1925h on a Tuesday evening, it changed my life, the colour, the stories, the vibrancy. The movies had a similar effect on me too, TWOK being my favorite.

For me Voyager and Insurrection onwards killed any interest in Trek I had. I got the impression that there were people involved in Trek who thought we'd watch anything with Star Trek in the title, Voayger and thos movies seemed to confirm that to me.

Voyager was a good premise ruined by tired storytelling and poor characterization. The TNG movies just died a death after First Contact IMO, not that I really enjoyed that to be honest.

When Enterprise came, I was moderately interested and some of the latter S3 and the S4 episodes sort of sparked me up.

As happy as I was to see Abrams/Trek09, as wonderful as it looks and as well as it was received, I've really lost my Trek Mojo.

 

[6079SmithW]

I fell out of love with Insurrection. It was a huge let down for me after loving First Contact. I fell back in love with '09. I never fell out of love with the various series. I watched DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise from beginning to end while they were on air.

 

[boco]

about 20 years ago... TNG

 

[xortex]

DS9 was like getting stuck in thick molasses or glue. The malaise set in and I started realizing I was watching a show that was watching me all of a sudden. I quickly switched to Voyager to quick things up but that was too quick. Needless to say Enterprise wasn't just right, at all. Oh, yea, I heard they made a few movies too. It's hard for me to believe anyone likes the 09 movie's plot. Yea, the pacing and action were top notch considering they hade more money than all the previous films put together almost. All I can say is vapid and mawkishly emo, but I knew that prior to it's release because of the people that wrote it also wrote Transformers. That movie was so devoid of a soul it was almost scary. It almost sucked the life out of my room. Even now the writers are petetioning the fans for ideas to throw into the next film. It's unbelievably bizarre and yet still people are mesmerized by it.

 

[Sky]

Love at first sight when I saw The Man Trap in the 1980's. Fell out of love during the DS9 - Voyager times. I got enormously enthusiastic about ST09 and even travelled to the next country to see it sooner but was so disappointed that now I don't have any expectations anymore. I'll watch old TOS episodes from time to time and read TrekLit but that's it.

 

[RyuRoots]

Saw TVH and TUC, enjoyed them. Started to really get into ST with S2 of TNG. Was pretty happy with it and DS9 through their entire runs despite some bumps. Voyager was mostly good, despite considerably more bumpy roads. I even found some good in the trainwreck of INS. It's not until NEM and ENT that I really started to feel like ST was on a road I had no desire to follow.

I wouldn't say I fell back in love with ST with Star Trek XI, but it was good. I don't think it'll ever be at its highest point (on the level of DS9 again).

 

[Trek Survivor]

Like the OP, I'm from the UK. First fell in love when we rented "Encounter at Farpoint" in the summer of '89 on VHS; the following year, BBC2 broadcast the show at 18.00 on Wednesday nights.

Was very into all things Trek then for the next seven or eight years. I followed DS9 through to its conclusion in 1999 but pretty much fell out of love with Trek around the same time. Didn't really watch any Voyager after season 2 - still haven't, but looking to remedy that soon!

I got back "into" Trek c. 2006; just happened to catch a few TNG episodes on TV and reminded myself how much I loved the franchise.

I haven't seen any Enterprise (besides the very first episode) or loads of Voyager still, so I have a lot of "unexplored" Trek. Quite nice to think there's lot of Trek still waiting for me out there. My main loves are still TNG and DS9.

 

[Admiral_White]

I first started watching Trek as a kid, during the TNG series and TOS movie era in the late 80s/early 90s. My dad was a big Trek fan and he kinda got me hooked too. I'd often come home from school and after tea be at the tv for 6pm for Trek on BBC2.
I have to say that I enjoyed DS9 the most, and at the same time had the most disappointing ending to any of the Trek series (Enterprise coming a close second). I have often thought that DS9 had another season in it, and for the series to conclude without Bajor in the Federation yet-Sisko's mission from day one, as well as some other plot elements that had been left, was deeply unsatisfying. I'm just glad the saga continued in the form of several novels which told the story of this missing '8th season' and resulted in a much better ending than the series finale.
While I sometimes enjoyed Voyager too I often found some of the acting to be rather hammy to say the least, which detracted from some of the actually good storylines. Enterprise for me didn't actually do much until the final season. The first two seasons were a bore, and the third was just depressing. Obviously Earth would survive the Xindi, so it was just a case of filling a whole season with as much drawn out drama as they could possibly think of. Typically when season 4 came up with some good stuff the series was cancelled, just before the Romulan War would have come up in the Trek timeline.
Thanks to the continuation of Trek in the series of books that are constantly released, I've never fallen out of love with Trek. Yet. Luckily the continuation of many of the loose ends, as well as some very compelling new storylines which studio budgets might not have allowed a series to portray, have kept my interest going.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I always liked Trek as a little kid and had all the toys and related stuff. But I really didn't fall in love with Trek until 1986 when I discovered there was a world beyond what we had seen onscreen with various books, comics, and technical manuals.

Early 2003 was when the romance ended, though. I felt that Trek had stopped moving forward and could only duplicate or copy TOS from here on out.

I didn't mind Star Trek XI and thought it was a fun movie, but a reinvention of TOS wasn't really what I wanted to see. As a result, I'm far more excited about new books that continue to take Trek further into the 24th-Century than Star Trek XII...

 

[Gojira]

Fell in love with TOS in the mid 1970s as a young teen. It took me a while to open up to TNG but when I did it has become an equal favorite of mine. The only series I really didn't care for was DS9. I loved all the movies and am looking forward to the next one so my love for Trek hasn't ended.

 

[spooky spice]

Love at first sight, first time I saw an episode of Star Trek when I was 5 or 6.

Fell out when I saw the most recent movie

 

[Saxman1]

Fell in love with TOS first run, fell out with the Space Nazis in ENT. Got the love back after getting TNG and TOS on DVD. Watched the entire ENT series over the summer with the kids and we concluded ENT was pretty good overall, save the Space Nazis. Even they thought it was stupid and an inferior sorta-retelling of COTEOF.

 

[Gary7]

I grew up watching TOS. It was the iconic futuristic world we'd all want to eventually come into being. I used to dream being on board the Enterprise, serving under Captain Kirk. Well, then when I got into my teens, I began to realize that this imaginary future was WAY off... with our space program crawling along after that amazing first burst of progress (getting to the moon).

The first two seasons of TNG aired when I was overseas and unable to see it. When I returned to the USA, I was able to catch reruns of the first season. It was OK... I was intrigued but not ecstatic. When season 3 came around, it was THEN that I began to really appreciate it, following it all the way up to the end. DS9 was interesting, but didn't capture my interest as much. I didn't care for the "space soap opera" style. I didn't make a point of seeing every new episode. Later on, I'd get back into it once things started getting interesting, like the Maquis conflict and the Dominion War. VOY seems to have a lot of promise and I gave it a chance... but then lost interest in catching every new episode. By the time the 4th season started, I got interested again. Sure, it had its fair share of bad episodes, but overall I enjoyed the stories and the characters. ENT was a big disappointment. I didn't like how "happy go lucky" Archer was. I didn't like the obvious breaks with TOS canon. I stopped watching it... until the 3rd season, when things changed for the better and I let go of needing TOS canon compliance. I really started liking the show... and then it was abruptly canceled. I thought that was a bad move.

So, I've had ups and downs with my feelings about Star Trek, but mostly up. Nemesis was a DISASTER, IMHO. It was a shameful way for the TNG movies to end, and it's too bad that it is too late for any kind of make-up movie.

 

[bbailey861]

Fell in love with Star Trek late 60s. Have never fallen out of love with it but have often been very disappointed.

 

[Winterwind]

In the late 70s. I'd seen Star Wars in the theatre when I was 4. I misread Star Trek in the TV Guide as Star Wars, watched it and loved it ever since. And I haven't watched SW since the original theatrical releases for the original trilogy.

 

[Satyrquaze]

I fell in love with Trek after seeing TWoK on TV sometime around 1986 when STIV came out.

Soon after that TNG premiered and I was hooked.

I think I actually lost interest with a portion of Trek after the first season of VOY. I tried to like it, I honestly did. But, I just couldn't give two shits if these characters (who were not interesting to me in the slightest) made it back to the Alpha quadrant or not. I, however, continued to happily watch DS9 through to the end of the series. When ENT came out I simply found that I didn't have the time to watch it.

I largely blame my disinterest on Voyager.

While I really liked (2009), I haven't really figured out what the future holds for Trek. I'm waiting for the next installment with baited breath.

 

[Bread]

I felt that Trek had stopped moving forward and could only duplicate or copy TOS from here on out.

That is a really interesting point - my apologies to you if I've taken it out of context.

But even if I have, I've been thinking about this a lot and I was wondering what people's views where around the idea that each new incarnation must either go forward in terms of the time in which it is set.

All this going backwards stuff (Enterprise) is going to be picked to death in terms of canon and rejected by the core fan base or, or if it remains in the same era as TNG, it just turns into a soap opera (DS9 and Voyager).

That said, DS9 was achingly close to greatness IMO, it was just a bit too dark and not all of the cast seemed to enjoy what they were doing.

IMO, you know you are in trouble when the producers have to whip out something from TOS to keep the fans engaged.

 

[Relayer1]

I liked TOS as a kid and started buying books in my teens. I liked Next Gen and it had some great moments, so I was already a fanboy by the time of DS9.

DS9, despite finding it hard to like and uninteresting at first, is (in my opinion at least) the absolute peak of Trek and will remain my true love.

Even the car crash that was Generations and the Voyager TV series couldn't kill my love, and seasons 1 to 3 of Enterprise certainly didn't help. Season 4 was a major improvement and Insurrection / Nemesis were OK-ish.

Trek XI was actually better than I first thought.

I must admit, I still love Trek...

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Fell in love with DS9. Not out of love yet, despite everything.

 

[SheliakBob]

Fell in love with Trek when I watched "Mantrap" when it first aired.
As of the JJTrek Abomination, Trek is dead to me.