My dad used to casually watch Star Trek. At this point, it was The Next Generation that was in reruns. I’d sit myself in front of my grandparents tube television and watch whatever episode came on. They were often out of order, but Star Trek is a series that says something with each episode so it didn’t matter much.
At the end of the day, when my dad came home I’d recap the episode and ask if he saw it. He did. So I’d watch more. And more. Trying to find an episode he missed. It never happened, and likely became bothersome.
The next big Trek thing in my life was a video game. This one to be exact will always be important to me.
I started playing just before I was allowed to talk to strangers on the Internet. I’d sneak a “good game” to people then after a while I made my first internet friends. I learned about modding culture and being part of a clan. To this day, I don’t like paying for multiplayer maps because I grew up in a community that made things for free for each other. This idea has likely soaked into my life as much as any episode moral.
I also got to see the difference between play-style when it came to single player between myself, my father, and grandfather who all played to varying degrees. I tried to introduce it to new people years later in high school, but my favoritism was clear.
The next Trek filled memory is visiting The Star Trek experience. We did everything. All three rides, behind the scenes tour, and I think my dad has pictures somewhere. It was a remarkable place and I wish with my whole heart that it was still there. I remember when we were leaving that my dad didn’t want to. He looked like a kid who was told that Disneyland was closing. If I knew it would really close before I could go again, I wouldn’t have wanted to leave either.
Continuing this Trek timeline, I did visit a local Trek con. A writer of one of -if not the best- stand alone episodes ever was there.
I have mixed feelings about the Trek cons. Similar to the bitter sweetness of this exact episode. It’s about people and connections lost, but never completely if the stories are remembered. Which fits for all those missing people and places from my antidotes.
Today is the 50th anniversary of Star Trek airing. An event worth dressing up for. Here’s the preview of my outfit.
So today, I’m going to watch that first aired episode and then introduce my current “crew” to TNG for the first time.
I can’t tell you what the next 50 years of Star Trek will look like for me. But, like the series itself maybe it will be filled with hope, communities who do things for the love of it, and with the guiding principle of IDIC. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.