Full disclosure, I watched the original Star Trek when it first aired. Now it's known as TOS, The Original Series (NOT The Old Series, though of course it is).
Yes, I am a fan. I have seen all the movies, watched all of TNG (The Next Generation) several times, some of Voyager, some of Deep Space Nine, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. Yes, there are more series to explore, but I do watch other things as well AND I have other things in my life.
I had a friend who was a big fan as well. She once dressed as a Klingon to go to a Star Trek convention. Some years later she met the man who she would marry. She did not tell him about her foray as a Klingon and as far as I know she never has. They have teenage children now, to provide perspective on the passage of time.
I have never been to a Star Trek gathering. I did make my son a Captain Picard uniform when he was about 5 years old. He enjoyed it and later my daughter also wore it.
When my daughter was about 3 years old, we were watching TNG. She looked at the screen, where Lieutenant Worf (the Klingon, for you non-Trekkies) was doing something on the bridge. She pointed to the screen and said, "who's the chocolate-headed guy?"
Why all the love for Star Trek? I think it's because of the positive messages it sends. In the 1960s, a Black woman on the bridge of a star ship, as well as an Asian. The first inter-racial kiss on television. A sometimes heavy-handed, but well-intentioned messages of hope, that different types of beings can get along (though there always have to be some bad guys or the stories get boring) have been a significant part of the series all along.
We're taking a bit of a break from Star Trek at the moment, watching some excellent Korean television. But that's another story.
I also watched all of the original Star Trek series. "Beam me up, Scotty" was something we all said and would loved to have happen.
ReplyDelete