Celebrating the 50th: What was your first Star Trek Experience and most memorable episodes!

jake477

We all have a first experience with the Star Trek franchise and remember it like it was only yesterday. I have been a fan since I was a kid and still remember the first time I saw Star Trek DS9 on VHS. I remember seeing the Episode with Tosk and the so called "Hunt". I remember being in awe of the phaser fights and instantly liked Captain Sisko's character. My first Star Trek Movie was Generations, by then I watched a lot of TOS reruns after school and TNG, having both in the same movie seemed amazing at the time, Data was an absolute riot to see him sing that "lifeforms" song. My most memorable Star Trek experience came when I saw First Contact on VHS. I don't know if you would call it a horror movie but man it felt like I was seeing "The Hills have Eyes". The Borg from Voyager with the grit from TNG. The remember freaking out when the Borg were chasing the security teams down the halls and getting their butts handed to them as a kid Worf's security squad was like the SWAT Team, they always prevailed and seeing them helpless for the first time I truly had that "oh TRIBBLE" moment. Still today the Borg make my hair stand on the back of my neck when watching First Contact even as an adult.

When all of my friends in the 5th grade were watching Batman & Robin, Catch that Kid and all those other early 90's - 00's movies, I was binge watching Star Trek marathons in the afternoon and watching the films.

Here's to another 50 years of new stories and the life lessons that go along with them.

antonine3258

TOS, old grainy, staticy reruns from another city's UHF station - I especially remember Immunity Syndrome and Journey to Babel as episodes I saw, but I was really young then, so the space action caught my eye more than dialog.

Of course, since I'm here, still have an eye for action.

warmaker001b

Early 80s, watching TOS reruns.

iconians

Early 90's. Watching TNG. Most memorable episode I remember was Unification part 1, mostly because of the cliffhanger ending. I know it probably doesn't stand up to the test of time today, but for me it was special, because I remember asking my mother who that guy was, and she said it was "Mister Spock".

I had no idea who "Mister Spock" was, but the tone of her voice led me to believe it was somebody of great importance. Suffice to say that episode led me on the path where I am today.​​

grandnaguszek1

I pretty much grew up watching next generation episodes every night with my dad when I was little. I loved it so much that we would finish all 7 seasons and then start over again. Later on we ended up buying the TOS box set and started watching those, and then DS9 after that.

jonsills

About my earliest memory is of watching the Enterprise gliding over the surface of one of those TOS planets that looked like my dad's bowling ball. I can't recall a time when I wasn't either watching the show or reading (and critiquing) the novels. (Fair warning: do NOT ask my opinion of Marshak and Culbreth' Phoenix novels, unless you've got a spare half-hour or so for me to rant.) TNG premiered not long after I was first married. My children are growing up with reruns of everything except VOY, not that they really care yet...​​

cptjhunter

Watching old TOS reruns with my Dad in the Mid 70's, on channel 11 in NY, when I was in elementary school. Watching the TNG episode in the early 90's, when I was home on leave in the early 90's. The one where Picard, and Riker phaser the guy in the head. His face melts, his head explodes....My father, my 9 year old brother, and I looked at each other in disbelief....My father and I looked at my horrified brother, and said at the same time..." Don't tell mom."

markhawkman

For me it was a viewmaster reel with the first part of Beyond the Farthest Star

TAS rocks.

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iconians

crashdragon wrote: »

Think it was 78', Australia just got TOS. I was a wee dragon at 4 years old. Watching it with my parents so that I wouldn't start getting curious again and take something apart. Or set up new traps around my money box.

Yeah, if you take random things apart in Australia, you might end up getting bitten by a funnel web spider or something.

​​

evilmark444

As a little kid I remember watching and enjoying TWoK and some other TMP era movies, but there's one line that pushed me from Trek Fan to Trekkie:

"I am Locutus of Borg."

https://youtu.be/ItHcsIHshhs

grandnaguszek1

I specifically remember my favorite episode as a child being "Q-who?"

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jorantomalak

rattler2

I was born in 87 so... I grew up with TNG.

shevet

I would've been about seven, I think, walking downhill with my mum on the way to school. I was prattling about the solar system, as was my wont back then, and I'd said something about the hypothetical planet Vulcan.

"Oh," said my mum, "is that from that new American TV show?"

And I said "Huh?", as you do.

"That new American thing has someone from Vulcan, I think," said my mum. "It's on this evening. Maybe you'll like it."

So it's my mum's fault really. I have only the vaguest memories of the first one I saw - it was "The Naked Time", though, I know that much; the thing that sticks in my mind, for some reason, was the clocks winding backwards at the end. Some of it baffled me, and a number of the later episodes scared the (bleep) out of me - I was a sensitive child, though you wouldn't think it to look at me now. But I was hooked. Oh yes indeed.

psycoticvulcan

My dad was watching "The Doomsday Machine" one day and I joined him. He wasn't a big Trek fan, but it definitely captured my imagination. Watched "The Undiscovered Country" a few years later and I was officially hooked.

sarreous

I was born watching Star Trek. At some point in my childhood I decided that I was tired of it, but that's what my parents had on. At some point I started watching DS9. As I recall it was on when I should have been in bed. I didn't get what it was, just that it was Star Trek on a space station.

For my first "big" experience, that would be seeing Generations in the theater. I know some people think of it as being little more than a glorified tng episode but as a kid it was pretty great. Then later when the trailer for First Contact aired on TV, oh man, that itself was an experience. "It's another Star Trek movie! And it's the Borg! And they have a Queen! And her body is in two different pieces!!!" zomg zomg zomg basically​​

fmgtorres1979

I don't really know. My first memory of Star Trek is TOS. I remember very little but it's funny that although I can't recall specifics, I do remember the guy in a red shirt. Now, what you need to realise is that back then things were way different over here. We had only two tv channels, both from the same station (a state station). These were the early 80's. There was no cable, there was no internet, there was nothing like today and you couldn't simply look something up. We watched whatever the people on the network decided they should buy the rights too. Apparently at that time they decided to show Star Trek. I had no idea when it was on and I'd watch whenever it happened to be playing and I turned on the tv, by chance. I really don't know if I saw the motion picture before or after TNG, but even then things weren't all that different from the 80's. We wouldn't get all the seasons - we wouldn't even know (at least I didn't) there were seasons! I saw more of TNG but also every now and then. It played in the afternoon, so good luck at seeing it regularly, having to go to shcool and doing whatever I had to do according to my parents schedule. DS9 and VOY weren't all that different. A few episodes - not sure how many seasons aired here. Two or three of each, I suppose.
Fortunately, I grew up, the internet was invented and people shared. Opportunities presented themselves and I got to see every episode I wanted of all the series.

I also have a strong memoy of the motion picture. I destinctively remember turnig the tv on one night and the image I see? That beautiful ship...the camera showing the various sections, and then... ENTERPRISE. Damn it, it's a great memory.

thunderfoot

I was a small boy. Only six or seven. We were at the house of one of my parents' friends. They had just purchased a color TV. I was mesmerized by it. One of their children came into the living room and said, "Oh! I almost missed Star Trek! You wanna watch it with me?" Or something like that. The episode was Operation: Annihilate! and it was the first run. Yes, I really am that old, lol Some of you math types or hardcore fans could probably find and post the date. I don't remember it. I was instantly captured and made a fan of Star Trek and science fiction in general for life.

I suspect this was because at the time, I was seriously decided about being an NASA astronaut and flying one of those big honkin' rockets off the pad at Cape Canaveral. If it had the word 'space' anywhere within five miles of it, I wanted it. I live in Mississippi about thirty or so miles from the NASA static test site in Hancock County. I got to listen to or see every single one of those ginormous Saturn V Primary Boosters being test fired before they were shipped by barge over to Florida. I never missed one. To borrow a phrase from a song, "I still remember that rumblin' sound". It. Was. Always. Spectacular. Sometimes the huge exhaust plume would hang in the sky for hours if the the weather was exactly right.

So, I guess I can blame the United States government for my badly over-developed Star Trek addiction. They primed me.
DesiLu Productions and Gene Roddenbery merely sealed the deal, lol.

starswordc

First serious Star Trek experience? The novel Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

jorantomalak

jonsills wrote: »

About my earliest memory is of watching the Enterprise gliding over the surface of one of those TOS planets that looked like my dad's bowling ball. I can't recall a time when I wasn't either watching the show or reading (and critiquing) the novels. (Fair warning: do NOT ask my opinion of Marshak and Culbreth' Phoenix novels, unless you've got a spare half-hour or so for me to rant.) TNG premiered not long after I was first married. My children are growing up with reruns of everything except VOY, not that they really care yet...​​

So whats this about Marshak and Culbreth Phoenix Novels?

*steps back and runs out of the thread leaving the inhabitants at the mercy of the oncoming rant*

iconians

starswordc wrote: »

First serious Star Trek experience? The novel Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

Okay, could you go into more detail with this story? You never saw any of the TV shows or movies before picking up this novel and reading it.

So, how'd that happen? What made you want to pick up this book and read it, that hooked you into Star Trek?​​

evilmark444

Having LOVED the Star Wars EU, I've tried to read several Trek novels over the years ... never been able to get more than a chapter or two in, they just don't grab me the way the star wars novels did.

jonsills

jorantomalak wrote: »

jonsills wrote: »

About my earliest memory is of watching the Enterprise gliding over the surface of one of those TOS planets that looked like my dad's bowling ball. I can't recall a time when I wasn't either watching the show or reading (and critiquing) the novels. (Fair warning: do NOT ask my opinion of Marshak and Culbreth' Phoenix novels, unless you've got a spare half-hour or so for me to rant.) TNG premiered not long after I was first married. My children are growing up with reruns of everything except VOY, not that they really care yet...

So whats this about Marshak and Culbreth Phoenix Novels?

*steps back and runs out of the thread leaving the inhabitants at the mercy of the oncoming rant*

Too tired right now. Suffice it to say I'm no fan of K/S slashfic, especially of the hurt/comfort variety.​​

janus1975

My very earliest memory was I think, seeing random snippets of TOS but it didn't really grab me (I was barely in school if that). My first serious memory would be seeing WoK complete with being freaked out by the bug crawling out of the huge rubber ear...

However my first real "serious" viewing of Star Trek would be TNG. It came out when I was around 12, so I could understand it properly and was blown away. It was amazing and futuristic to 12yo me, even if now the whole "pink and beige interiors" thing and huge Cheerleader Troi hair just screams, "Eighties!"

starswordc

@iconians: Well, I was certainly aware of it before that, but I was only five when TNG wrapped and Dad wouldn't let me watch DS9, I guess because he thought it was too grimdark. But I found the novel on my grandparents' bookshelf when I was about eight (it was probably Grandma's, RIP) and read it cover to cover because I wanted to see what Star Trek was. It's a really good novel, a lot of little nods to events and trivia about the franchise (which I can appreciate nowadays knowing a lot more of the lore), plus minimal use of technobabble: the Reeves-Stevenses don't use a made-up idea when real physics will do the job. Also Zefram Cochrane is a considerably more sympathetic figure and a better portrayal of a realistic scientist than what First Contact made him into. They also write both the Kirk and Picard crews very well and let Wesley do some good without being insufferably annoying (not to mention poking some fun at him early on),

So anyway, that, plus the Silver Edition Star Wars VHS, plus C.S. Lewis got me into sci-fi and fantasy, and to this day I don't really identify as a member of any particular fandom. I watched sporadic reruns of the shows on cable and finally sat down to start watching the series through once Netflix was a thing.

wombat140

A happy evening watching the 2009 "Star Trek" film on DVD at a Saturday club. Most of it was drowned out by our constant cries of "don't be daft", "did anyone hear what he said?", "it's behind you!" and "what the freak happened there?" I know a lot's been said about that film, but I think they get the gist across pretty well, even though in the form of an all-out action movie - I fell for Mr Spock immediately. Later I got a box set of the actual Original Series and liked that better because I'm not really into that kind of action movie - and also realised the true awesomeness of Lt Uhura, who sadly isn't really a thing in the 2009 film.