We have announced our winners for our our Caption Contests. Erica was the winner of the Kirk Alone photo (#1) with the entry of “Maybe I should have brought doughnuts…” and Dave won the second Caption Contest (the Andorians) with the entry of “We are…. The Blue’s Brothers.”
It is time to run our second poll. This time we are going to ask you about your first “Star Trek moment” What was the moment you realized that you were a Star Trek fan? Were you watching a specific episode, were you attending a club meeting, was it at a convention? When did you realize that you were having fun with Star Trek? Feel free to be creative and descriptive since we know that everyone loves Star Trek for different reasons.
Please post your responses in the comments section. We look forward to reading them.
When very young, a cousin always wanted to play Star Trek. He naturally was Kirk, I was Spock, and my sister was Uhura. This is very disturbing given the new alternate universe in which we find ourselves, but I digress.
Some years later I came across the novelization to STTMP at a used book store. I had not seen very much Star Trek at that point in my life, but I remembered the fun I had playing Star Trek with my cousin so I decided to buy the book. I was hooked.
When I was a little kid, TOS was being shown locally after the Saturday morning cartoons. (This was before the advent of 24-hr cartoon channels, so Saturday morning cartoons were something special.) I have many memories of watching Scooby Doo for an hour, then the Dukes of Hazzard (yes, I liked that show, too – mostly the car), then Star Trek, while eating breakfast. Then it was time to go outside for a few hours. I usually managed to talk my friends into re-enacting our own version of whatever adventure the crew of the Enterprise had experienced that day, though we didn’t pretend to be the show’s characters.
My favorite part of Star Trek has always been the sense of hope that it engendered. Some day, some way, we as a race will somehow manage to not blow ourselves up or cause so much damage to this planet that supports us that it can no longer support life. We will come to realize that, regardless of how a person looks on the outside, whatever their beliefs may happen to be, and whether or not we agree with those beliefs, we all have the same hopes and dreams of a better life and better future for ourselves and our kids…(and their kids, and theirs, and theirs, and so on.) That sense of hope – and now Karl Urban 😉 – is why I will continue to watch Star Trek, and do what I can to make Gene Roddenberry’s imagining of the future come to fruition.
1986
Dave can you expand on that a little bit more?
When I was a kid, it was my dad who was the Star Trek fan. While watching something on TV that I liked to watch, dad would change the channel to “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. I’d complain that I didn’t want to miss any of my show. As I got older, the episode “Chain of Command” peaked my interest in it and I didn’t complain anymore. I began to like it and soon became a big fan of it. To the point I wanted Star Trek toys on my birthday and Christmas. Or my parents would pay me for babysitting my siblings with “Star Trek” books they’d buy at the store while they were out.
Then I joined the USS Ticonderoga and met Carl. My fandom exploded into many other SciFi’s (minus Babylon 5 & Star Wars, was already a fan of those).
I grew up watching TOS on thursdays after school. But I never thought I was a Trekie until I singed on with the Tinconeroga.
I was first introduced to Star Trek by my Father in the late 70’s. I remember him watching the original series on TV and I would ask him questions about the show. “How did they get their power to move the ship?” “Why are they not floating around if they are in space?” I remember going to the Star Trek:TMP/Star Wars double feature at the drive in and later being in line for opening day of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. I realized how much fun it was with Star Trek trivia when playing the Star Trek RPG by FASA and using my Star Trek knowledge to stump the gamemaster.
On the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek I finally made it to a club meeting for the USS Kelly. I had seen them before at Conduit and other conventions. After a few months of having fun I was hooked and realized that this has become a Star Trek family for me.
Waaaay back in 1966 on Thankisgiving day (evening, after the feast) I heard the kids making weirder than usuall sounds in the TV room. So I had to go in to check out what was going on. Well, just at that moment one of the Thalosins was walking away from the camera and I saw what I have called ever since, a big “butt head”.
Any how, after watching it for a while so I could figure out what was going on, I sat down to watch the rest of the show and from that day to this I watch Star Trek–All Star Trek! But my favorite is still TOS, of course with the new movie out and another one on the way that could change with seeing Carl Urban as “Bones”. Whoo what fun it will be to see Kirk, Spock, and Dr. “Bones” McCoy again!
I have been hooked ever since that episode I watched on Thanksgiving, Maybe I could be the oldest Trekkie in the Fleet, of course Dalice may be very close in age, but I don’t know if she has been a fan since the first season that Star Trek aired.