Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1966. I’m sure there are some of you out there who were nary a twinkle in their parents (or grandparent’s) eyes at the time, yet this little show has endured for nearly 50 years, and it’s fandom still grows every day. I’m curious to hear when many of you first saw it – what do you remember, and what got you hooked? That’s what you call good television writing!
Budding Trekkie – Me in 1966 – Mom didn’t know it was picture day, hence the Medusa hair…
In 1966, I was 5 years old. With 7 older siblings I rarely had control over what was being watched, but I’d be off playing with my toys or coloring anyway. I knew that everyone liked watching that odd show with the spaceship. It wasn’t Lost in Space (although they watched that too) and my brother liked it so much he had this poster of that funny-looking man on it. I remember passing his room and being strangely intrigued by that poster; actually a little scared since the man with the pointy ears and intense brown eyes looked so, well, sinister. Yet he was strangely (pardon the pun) fascinating. Later in my teen years, that poster hung proudly in my room. (That poster is still rolled up in my basement).
The infamous Spock poster
My sibs loved watching that show, yet to be honest, I don’t actually recall watching a full episode of Trek in the first two years when it aired. The first episode I recall seeing from across the room was All Our Yesterdays, where Spock and Zarabeth are falling for each other. (As I checked the facts it turns out that All Our Yesterdays originally aired on March 14, 1969 and repeated on August 5, 1969). This must have been the summer repeat, because my parents would have never let me stay up that late in the school year. (At this point Star Trek was aired in the ‘death slot’ of Friday nights at 10:00).
Birth of a fan girl…
As to my impressions? Well, that cave did look mighty cozy, and the lady was so pretty and the man with the funny ears kissed her, so they must live happily ever after, right? But I was called to bed and didn’t find out. A few years later, when we got cable just to watch Trek reruns on WPIX, I appreciated the scene much more in my budding adolescence (and growing crush on that funny looking man). When we finally got a color TV in 1975, I was thoroughly enchanted by the brilliant color in the episodes, and just loved the heroism, drama, and just plain romance of the series. …Yesterdays was one of my favorite episodes, and by the time I graduated in 1979, I must have watched it a couple dozen times. (No wonder I never had a date in High School!)
Anyway, That’s my Trek backstory — please share yours! I want a lot of comments! Thanks, Therese
I was 8 years old when Star Trek came out in 1966, and I wasn’t allowed to watch it then. My mother controlled the television, and there was something she wanted to see at that time on another channel.
But in the summer of 1969, during the summer reruns of Season Three, my mother had already seen whatever that other show was, and she turned to Star Trek for lack of anything “better.” The date was July 8, 1969, and the episode was “Spock’s Brain.” Yes, the first episode I ever saw was the one that most people claim is the worst ever! I’ll always have a soft spot for it, though, because it was my first. (I also don’t think it’s the worst. Heaven knows it’s not GOOD, but it has a certain goofy charm, which some of the other bad episodes — like “The Alternative Factor” or “And the Children Shall Lead” — do NOT have.)
Spock is present in “Spock’s Brain” only at the end, when he sits up at the end of the operation restoring his brain and starts to babble. I wanted to know who he was and why he was so special that someone would take his brain and why he talked differently than everyone else. I didn’t know it then, but that would be the beginning of a total fascination with all things Spock. 🙂
I already loved science fiction, though, and although Spock was my entree into Star Trek, he would not be the only thing I loved about it. I had pictures of the three main characters on my bedroom wall during my adolescence, and when I was younger and still figuring out how to behave in the world, I’d ask myself what Kirk, Spock and McCoy would want me to do in this situation.
My mother also got hooked on Star Trek, which was quite surprising because she’d always thought it was strange that I read science fiction, and she didn’t like much else in the SF/F realms. She’s loved fairy tales as a girl, though, and I think perhaps Star Trek affected her in the way that fairy tales did and in a way that other science fiction did not. Mom also had a crush on a Star Trek character, though hers was on Jim Kirk, and she never really understand why I loved/identified with the alien.
My mother is 81 now, and she still watches Star Trek occasionally. My mother and I are very, VERY different, and Star Trek is one of the few things we agree on. I’ll always be grateful that she turned it on, on that long-ago July 8th.
So yes, given that today is July 8th, this is my Star Trek anniversary! Therese had no idea of that when she posted this question; I’ve just always had a certain amount of fate going on where Star Trek is concerned. 🙂
Well, Cory, it that isn’t serendipity I don’t know what is! Happy Trek Anniversary to you! And what a sweet connection between you and your Mom! Bless you both.
Trek got me through some hard times; my Dad passed away in 1974 and he had enjoyed Trek too (especially Uhura, whom he joked he’d run away with!) Trek gave me magical world where everything would turn out right in the end, and it was a comforting place.
Don’t remember the very first time I saw it. It was first aired in the UK IN 1970 I think, when I was 17. I do remember when I fell in love with Spock, which was when he said, “very bad poetry Captain” in Catspaw! I remember me and my friend Lynn squeeing over Amok Time the day after that aired. It all crept up on me, I think, and I can only remember a time when all my contemporaries adored it.
J, I remember when I started watching it regularly in syndication in the early 70’s, my fellow middle schoolers thought I was nuts, but within months, they were all into it too!
It was in the 70s when I finally got to see and I love the bridge crew, Kirk,Spock, McCoy,Sulu. Scotty, Uhura and Chekov, it, as I was living out west in Queensland at the time.and I was married with three children. So I did not get to see it until we moved to Brisbane Australia, I had heard about it and wanted to see it, My mother and father and my children use to watch it So did my husband every now and then I was 27 then….I am now 66 and still love it,
Lovely! I’ll always love it too!
Peter & Enid from Canberra
Merry Christmas,give us a call asap.