Your life...before Star Trek....

[Cloud William]

Wow. I could quote several posts in this thread and say "me too". Instead, I'll waste bandwidth telling pretty much the same story a little differently.

I was born in 1968. The first memories I have of television (black & white until my parents got a 25" color console in 1978) are of Sesame Street and Star Trek. I remember Star Trek being on TV every Monday through Friday at 7:00 pm during the 1970s.

Since then, TV channels running ST: TOS reruns have been a little harder to find, but I bought TOS on DVD a couple of years ago and go through phases of watching it all the time and then not at all for a few years. I'm in a huge ST phase right now and just finished watching The Immunity Syndrome about 30 minutes ago.

Why does Kirk call Kyle "Mr. Cowell" in this episode?

Ah, who cares! I just love ST, and have all my life.

For whatever it's worth, I've seen maybe five episodes of TNG. I watched it when it first came on (I was 19) and it seemed like a show for children. That's not intended as an insult to TNG fans - just my opinion. I've never watched VOY, DS9, or ENT. I have seen the TOS movies 1 though 5 but can't bring myself to watch 6. I guess I'm too much of a Kirk fan.

 

[Mr_Homn]

For whatever it's worth, I've seen maybe five episodes of TNG. I watched it when it first came on (I was 19) and it seemed like a show for children. That's not intended as an insult to TNG fans - just my opinion. I've never watched VOY, DS9, or ENT. I have seen the TOS movies 1 though 5 but can't bring myself to watch 6. I guess I'm too much of a Kirk fan.

Try watching some of the episodes after season one, in TNG. Season one is really goofy at times. Season 3 is where the show hits its stride. Episodes like "Chain of Command" are hardly what I would call suitable for children.

And... you do know that star trek 6 is a TOS movie, right? kirk and all... it also ended the kirk era on a way better note than star trek 5

 

[Captain Robert April]

Born in '64, and reportedly, I watched the show on NBC with my dad, so my life before Star Trek would best be described as "infancy."

 

[Alienesse]

Sitting here and reading about your life before and after a 44-year old show that I've only recently begun to love is quite a surreal experience. I didn't even exist in 1966, so it's like traveling back to a time that I would have loved to experience myself. The beginning of Star Trek, I wish I could have been there for it. But I guess now is as good a time to enjoy and celebrate Star Trek as ever.

I was born in 1981 and only discovered TNG in the 90s, being on the other side of the Curtain and all. I fell in love with it, of course, and didn't miss an episode. Very few people did back then. At that time, TNG was all of Star Trek to me. After it ended, they started showing DS9, but I had grown so attached to the beautiful Enterprise and her loveable crew that I couldn't really watch anything else.

So I forgot about it for a while, until three years ago, when I stumbled upon 'Skin of Evil' on AXN one night and that was it, I was rehooked and this time I was in for the whole ride. I watched DS9 and discovered that I had been missing a lot.

The surreal part is that I watched TOS for the very first time last year, which means I've had almost a lifetime without it. I went to watch the latest Star Trek movie and, deeply impressed with the character of Mr. Spock, I came home determined to see where it had all started. I borrowed a TOS DVD, being quite sure that the show would look old and I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I in for a surprise! I absolutely LOVED it and now I wonder what the blazes (a bit of Dr. McCoy-speak there) I've been waiting for all this time.

Sorry for the long post, but if I can't tell you guys, then whom can I tell, right?

 

[number6]

Born in '64, and reportedly, I watched the show on NBC with my dad, so my life before Star Trek would best be described as "infancy."

Same here.. Born 1965.

 

[Lowdarzz]

I was 3 when my Dad sat me down and switched to The Corbomite Manuver on the tube. Star Trek has been there ever since.

 

[Slightly Insane]

My life before Star Trek is significantly recent. Like, perhaps a little over a month ago was when I got into it. I wasn't much different, just, now I like Star Trek in addition to the other things I liked.

 

[Gojira]

I caught Star Trek in re-runs in the early 70s when I was about 10. I don't remember my first episode nor how I started watching it other than we recently got cable in our area and I was watching everything on WPIX channel 11 out of New York City. I soon became obsessed with the show and still am.

Before that Superman and Batman were still my obsessions and I watched the old Adam West series and the George Reeves series.

 

[Joker]

My first episode of Star Trek was The Royale.

I was pretty young at the time, and I liked it. Watched TOS after that at some point, and liked that too. Didn't like Voyager, only recently developed a liking for Enterprise.

My life before Star Trek was about the same as my life before Boston Legal, House, and the other shows I like... not much different.

 

[JWD75]

I was introduced to Star Trek when my dad took me to see The Search for Spock. I was immediately hooked and began watching the reruns. I was seven or eight at the time so I don't have many memories of my life before Star Trek.

 

[Shatnertage]

Since I saw this in the 1970s when I was pretty young, I honestly can't remember. I do remember thinking that the live-action version was a sub-par version of the cartoon, though.

 

[Gary7]

The surreal part is that I watched TOS for the very first time last year, which means I've had almost a lifetime without it. I went to watch the latest Star Trek movie and, deeply impressed with the character of Mr. Spock, I came home determined to see where it had all started. I borrowed a TOS DVD, being quite sure that the show would look old and I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I in for a surprise! I absolutely LOVED it and now I wonder what the blazes (a bit of Dr. McCoy-speak there) I've been waiting for all this time.

That's wonderful to hear. I doubt many people have "gone back to the beginning" having started with TNG or later and said "wow, this was some great Star Trek--now I get it." From what I've seen, a lot of folks tend to be turned off by the primitive SFX (in comparison to later series) and cheesy planetary sets. So it's refreshing to see someone who really appreciates TOS.

I first saw Star Trek as a very young boy... this was while it was airing during the late 60's. I didn't know the concept of a show being on at a regular time each week, so inevitably I missed a lot of episodes. But fortunately I caught enough of them to get hooked, to then later follow the series in syndication. I started drawing the Enterprise with magic markers on large 3'x4' bond paper. I still have them! Eventually I plan to get them scanned into digital form. I even made "rough" replica hand phasers out of ceramic clay during summer camp sessions. Anyway, I was hooked... and despite liking the other Star Trek series that came out later on, I still enjoy TOS with all of its kitschy flair. The only thing that bugged me were the extremely spartan and often difficult to believe SFX for the ship during conflicts with other vessels or phenomenon (cruising through space and orbiting planets was pretty darned good). But the remastered version has solved some of that (though the effects often look too much like CGI... not nearly as convincing as the actual model).

It's been an amazing ride to see the Star Trek phenomenon develop as it has. To think that those Mego figurines would be worth so much today (mine were thoroughly played with and eventually destroyed or given away). Or that you'd see amazingly believable prop reproductions by a company like Master Replicas, after being so deeply disappointed in that horrid first toy replica of the phaser back in the 70's (which looked more like a pathetic flashlight on steroids) and the ridiculously too small AMT Exploration Set model kit.

Part of me wishes my parents hadn't been so hard on me for my "hobby"... because I'd have gone into writing, set design, or some other craft just to be involved with the series during TNG, DS9, Voyager... Being a part of the legacy, even behind the scenes, would've been an honor and privilege, something I'd cherish the memory of for years to come.

 

[number6]

Much of my like before Star Trek was spent drooling, pooping in my diaper, and playing with toys in my crib...much like TOS purists today.

 

[Warped9]

Much of my like before Star Trek was spent drooling, pooping in my diaper, and playing with toys in my crib...much like TOS purists today.

That drive-by was unnecessarily low, even for you. It smacks of trolling.

 

[number6]

Much of my like before Star Trek was spent drooling, pooping in my diaper, and playing with toys in my crib...much like TOS purists today.

That drive-by was unnecessarily low, even for you. It smacks of trolling.

Oh relax, Cupcake. It was a joke.

 

[Joker]

Heh. Raw nerve.

 

[number6]

I guess..

 

[T'Grinch]

Be nice guys.

 

[Alienesse]

From what I've seen, a lot of folks tend to be turned off by the primitive SFX (in comparison to later series) and cheesy planetary sets. So it's refreshing to see someone who really appreciates TOS.

Well, that's the thing! TOS is a prime example of the fact that the SFX do not make a show. It's just there to support the story, but it's the quality of the story and characters that drive a TV show or a movie. And I believe that's why TOS is still appreciated today, because they had some very good stories and character chemistry. I actually think that the lack of SFX capabilities at that time compelled the writers to come up with the best ideas they could find and have the show focus on the people rather than on the technology. Which is why it will probably draw new fans for years to come, because technological progress happens very fast but people don't change that much.

Part of me wishes my parents hadn't been so hard on me for my "hobby"... because I'd have gone into writing, set design, or some other craft just to be involved with the series during TNG, DS9, Voyager... Being a part of the legacy, even behind the scenes, would've been an honor and privilege, something I'd cherish the memory of for years to come.

Yeah, I feel the same way. Listening to people like D.C. Fontana always makes me jealous of Star Trek writers. It must be great to know that you've helped create it. Well, not jealous, really, I have tremendous respect for them.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I found Trek when I was hospitalized at the age of seven after a trampoline accident. I was really into the Ninja Turtles and Batman.

Of course, there were those Ninja Turtle-Star Trek crossover action figures.