To commemorate Star Trek Day, I thought we could share our entry points to the franchise. I expect we’ll find the full range of experiences.
My divorced mom was a big fan of TOS, so much so that I was almost named Kirk.
Being divorced w/ 3 kids the TV was a pretty good babysitter. Something to keep us distracted while she did cooked and cleaned.
I’ve seen every episode of TOS at least 20 times, over the years, so remembering the first one is impossible. However as a kid my favorite one was the one with Gorn!
Used to watch and record episodes of TOS off TV55 onto VHS to rewatch later. Lots of fun kids will never experience today.
My first introduction came from an episode of Reading Rainbow in which LeVar Burton takes the viewer on a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the props and special effects work on this other show he’s on called Star Trek: The Next Generation. I watched whatever the next episode was after that airing. According to IMDB, that episode aired August 15th, 1988, so it likely was a rerun from the 1987 season.
Germany, 1992: During a lesson, my music teacher played the theme from “Raumschiff Enterprise” - that’s what TOS is called here - to test his new sound system. 🎼
I wanted to have this track, searched in music and video stores, and the only thing I found was a VHS tape of Star Trek 6. And guess what: this particular music theme was not used in the movie, but the plot and effects captivated me. 🖖
Around the same time, the second season of TNG had its first run in Germany 📺. This series had a similar piece of music 🎶, so I stayed tuned - and lucky me, a few months later there was a rerun of seasons 1 and 2 almost every weekday, followed by the remaining seasons every weekday from summer 1993 until summer 1994. And during that time I also found the Soundtrack with the TOS theme. ✌️
Started watching TOS in reruns in the late 70s and 80s.
I was a very lonely teenager in a blue collar, uneducated family when TNG premiered. I watched every episode of the first season alone in the dark on an old B&W tv as they were watching other stuff on the good TV. TNG opened my eyes to a world of possibility, the diversity and wonder of life, leadership, and aspiring to something bigger than my small world. There was plenty of criticism about the Wesley Crusher character in those early years, but as smart nerdy boy, I was grateful to see his character and how he was treated by the Geordi, Data and others. Gave me hopeMy mom’s home taped betamaxes of TOS
My dad watched TOS with me when it first aired, but I was too young to remember it. My first recollection is watching it in syndication. I went on to read my dad’s many books, especially the Star Trek Concordance and the James Blish adaptations.
TOS in the early 90s.
Boy, was I disappointed, when I discovered how old it already was 😅.
TNG was being first aired throughout my childhood and I would catch the odd episode here and there when I got to stay up and watch it with my parents to guide me, as suggested. But I didn’t get into Trek properly until I worked in construction as a labouror, my first job. When there’s no work, there’s daytime TV re-runs. The Space Network, the Canadian version of The Sci-Fi Channel, would run 2 TNGs back to back from 12-2. I got way into it then. I then watched all the series’. Now, every year or two, I’ll just throw on the first episode of TOS and go right until the end of the whole franchise in mostly air date order. I even have a playlist that has all of the overlapling seasons from the 90s to play as one big series, playing each episode by air date/chronological order based on a chronology I found online. Keeps it spicy.
It’s interesting to play by air date. I never considered that, but it would be cool to have to have it rotate between series the way a fan in the 90s would have watched it.
So you use jellyfin to make this playlist?
I use Plex. Jellyfin looks great, I try it every so often to see how it’s progressed, but it’s just not quite polished enough for me to make the switch yet.
I used this as my guide: https://thestartrekchronologyproject.blogspot.com/2009/09/and-now-conclusion.html
Except of course the Enterprise finale, I watch that at the end of enterprise, not in the middle of TNG.
TNG 4x17 - Night Terrors
Still a fave.
I actually don’t have a satisfactory answer to my own question.
Star Trek was a prominent part of the popular culture when I was a kid, so it was easy to have a basic knowledge of TOS without actually seeing it.
I think I probably saw Star Trek IV first, and the first episode I can clearly remember watching is “Unification II”, though I’m pretty certain I saw something before then.
Mother watched it while I was in the womb. I came out already addicted.
I don’t remember exactly what lead up to it, but I ended up watching reruns of Voyager with my dad every day back when Spike TV was still a thing. I think that really improved my relationship with him.
My parents bought a TOS DVD set. They watched it originally when it was airing.
I remember watching “Encounter at Farpoint” when it originally aired. I had only heard of Star Trek, maybe seen a photo of Spock or whatever — I must have been ten or so — but I was hooked on TNG from that episode on, and eventually caught up on the TOS episodes and films.
