Why are we Trekkies?

[Nakita Akita]

what are some people's favorite things about Trek?
I'm sure we all have spouses, Significant others, friends etc. that would rather get dental work than sit through a Trek movie.
But what makes you love Trek?
I really first watched DS9 late at night after I got home from work. It was re-runs. I sometimes would catch the end of TNG on those nights. But I liked DS9 more.
I caught some reason-runs of TNG about 6 years ago on TV and have become sort of a Trekkie.

I think I like the idea of everyone getting to do whatever they want with no concern about actually 'working'.
But I like the idea of there being other 'people' on planets as well as other life.
For me I think it would only be interesting for a little while to see other species of people but it would be more interesting to get to go to other planets and see the animals and plants. ( like the episode where Riker Gets bitten by the vine)
What is it that is the attraction for others?
The tech?
Medical?
Space ships flying fast?
Blowing stuff up in space?
The chicks with the jumbo jugs?
Being able to Transport places?
Not having to do 1 hour commute to work?
Others?

 

[Vger23]

I loved Star Trek from Day 1...which based on my memories and my parents' recollection, was about 3 years into my life. I remember watching re-runs during the late 70's as a very small boy while my parents made dinner. It was the flashy colors, the Enterprise, the phasers, etc. that kept my attention.

I stuck with it because it's an awesome adventure. It's the embodiment of everything that's exciting to human beings: "What if we could put all this crap behind us and get on to exploring the galaxy and meeting other life-forms on distant worlds? What will they be like? What might we discover about ourselves along the way?" Nowadays, we take the premise for granted because it's become so common and typical...but the Star Trek format it really is the greatest area for telling fun adventure stories about humanity. The characters also were a huge draw for me. I loved the TOS characters...the other series have great characters to some degree too.

 

[CRM-114]

Sitting here, I'm admittedly hard-pressed to think of any particular reason why I like Star Trek. It strikes the right nerve, I guess, as I don't really care for much science fiction beyond it.

 

[Trekfan12]

I was young when Trek first came on, but when it came back in syndication I was able to really appreciate it. I love the hopeful message for the future it shows. That we DO survive into the future and that we get past all the hatred and bigotry that have been part of our society. And that the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC showed we can life together. Of course there will always be the dark side of life, wars, disease. Those didn't disappear. but the atmosphere of cooperation and caring and love, brought me back. I enjoyed the camaraderie between the crew. I loved the banter between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, they were a family. It also helped me through some difficult times that I have gone through in my personal life and kept my mind focused on other things.

 

[Greg Cox]

I honestly can't remember not being a Trekkie. And I'd like to say that I was originally attracted by its optimism, which is indisputably part of its appeal, but given that I was about eight years old when TOS debuted, I was probably first lured in by the monsters, the excitement and adventure, and, yes, the mind-blowing Twilight Zone-ish twists and concepts.

"Whoa! The god-like alien was really just a child?"

"People line up to go into disintegration chambers voluntarily, because a computer game declared them dead? Wow!"

 

[Sophie74656]

I can't say there was one particular thing. I've always liked sci fi. Growing up my dad always watched Star Trek so it was on often and I was aware of it. One day I started paying attention and started enjoying the story lines and connecting with the characters.

 

[sbk1234]

I know I'll sound like a cliche, but what finally cemented my love of Star Trek was the desire - the need to believe that there's hope that people can get better than they are today. It was very therapeutic, especially with so much human excrement around, even in my own family.

 

[Kor]

I also grew up with science fiction, and for the longest time I found it utterly bizarre when people didn't like it.

Kior

 

[Greg Cox]

I can't say there was one particular thing. I've always liked sci fi. Growing up my dad always watched Star Trek so it was on often and I was aware of it. One day I started paying attention and started enjoying the story lines and connecting with the characters.

I gotta to give a lot of credit to my dad, too. He loved science fiction and monster movies and comic books and made sure I was exposed to all the good stuff growing up: King Kong, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Shadow, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits . . . and STAR TREK during its original run on NBC.

 

[The Wormhole]

Why are we Trekkies?

Because it's a cool show.

 

[Push The Button]

Because.. When I was young, I didn't care about sports (watching or playing them), cop shows, which brand of pants or sneakers I was supposed to be wearing, or any of the pre-teen sluts-in-training in my school. I was moderately smarter than most of the other kids, and most of them hated me for it. I never had any friends, and didn't want any. I developed a genuine dislike of, and revulsion toward others that I have retained to this very day. Most people are just plain shit.

Trek showed me a better place, full of better people, a place that I loved and wanted to be a part of, not one that I hated and was trapped in.

 

[mos6507]

Star Trek is the primordial Sci-Fi concept. Forbidden Planet may have come first, but Star Trek really laid down the full foundation.

Star Trek as a 50+ year franchise is almost an entire genre to itself, with various sub-genres. This provides a "big tent" in which people can come and sort of declare what part of it speaks to them most.

So I look at Trek from a Generation-X lens that begins with TOS reruns in the 70s and peters out somewhere around Insurrection when I felt the franchise had run out of steam, with the sweet spot being the early 80s TOS films. That's my thing, what Star Trek was at that moment in time when I was a pre-pubescent kid. So it's mostly childhood nostalgia.

 

[SPCTRE]

I'm sure we all have spouses, Significant others, friends etc. that would rather get dental work than sit through a Trek movie.

no not really

 

[Refuge]

Escapism. Re-runs of the Original. Captain Kirk. Tribbles. Picard and Data. Voyager.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Because.. When I was young, I didn't care about sports (watching or playing them), cop shows, which brand of pants or sneakers I was supposed to be wearing, or any of the pre-teen sluts-in-training in my school. I was moderately smarter than most of the other kids, and most of them hated me for it. I never had any friends, and didn't want any. I developed a genuine dislike of, and revulsion toward others that I have retained to this very day. Most people are just plain shit.

Trek showed me a better place, full of better people, a place that I loved and wanted to be a part of, not one that I hated and was trapped in.

I can empathize with that.
I remember when I was about 9 years old 'discovering' that kids were stupid and wanting to be an adult.

I only had two close friends in Highschool.
Most of the time I hung out alone riding around on my bicycle. Teenagers were really annoying to me. They were stupid and dangerous.

I'd like to think that it can all get better.

 

[cosmic mouse]

Not sure I'm actually a Trekkie (haven't seen most of the TV series actually), but I did watch the OS and the first few cinematic films as a kid, like many of you guys...
When I was as young as 5 I wanted to be an astronaut and my interest in the cosmos has never really waned since then. I sometimes just sit in silence and ponder the vastness of space... it enthralls me really. Add onto that the undying optimism that the series exude and there you have it.