The Adventure Begins!

So I've been on a real Star Trek kick of late. At least part of this is nostalgia for the days when I was really into Star Trek and enjoyed keeping up with everything Trek-related, and the rest is because the hype is starting to build for the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed revamp, of which I am very skeptical.

I have a long history with Star Trek. In fact, my parents say they used to watch the show in their newlywed days. (One of the interesting points they make is that in 1966, it was one of the few shows in color -- and it made excellent use of that advantage). I first encountered the show when I was in Grade 1, when it was required after-school viewing for all the kids at Grandview Heights Elementary School. Trek was soon overshadowed by Star Wars, but I remember making my parents take me to a Star Trek convention in 1977 or 1978 at the Edmonton Gardens, at which George Takei was a guest and they showed several episodes on film! I saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture the opening weekend at a friend's birthday party, and promptly forgot it. I loved Star Trek II, though, and was a moderate fan through the 1980s.

What really set off my Trek fandom was a combination of debut of The Next Generation and my discovery of Star Trek comics. I was already very much into comics when I picked up the first issue of the third Star Trek series (the second published by DC) in 1989 and was very impressed by it. That should come as no surprise, given that Peter David wrote that comic and he's long been one of the better Trek writers out there. (One of the first autographs I got from a comics creator was Peter's signature on Page 1 of Star Trek #1 during an appearance at All About Books and Comics in Phoenix in 1990). I quickly collected the 1st DC series and most of the Marvel series and was tuned in to TNG every Monday night. I read some of the novels, too, though time became a factor as I graduated from university and got myself a proper job. I went to a handful of conventions, though found them to be a bit too repetitive to stay too excited about them. My first interview with a Trek person was with John De Lancie, aka Q, who came to Flagstaff for an almost embarrassingly small convention held in what was essentially a barn. My interest in Trek waned after Next Generation went off the air and the Generations movie came and went. I had trouble getting into DS9, mostly because where I lived it was only broadcast over the air on a weak signal that was very much a pain to tune in as it required disconnecting the cable, etc. I kept up with Trek comics through about 1997, when the rights jumped over to Marvel again. I tried a few issues, but was no longer overly interested.

A few years later, I was working at Variety, I got to attend a very cool premiere for the Director's Cut DVD of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, at which I shook the hand of director Robert Wise (look up his amazing credits if you don't know who he is). And when they were set to publish a giant 90th Anniversary tribute to Paramount, and I got the Star Trek assignment. I interviewed Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Michael Dorn, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, John Billingsley, Nicholas Meyer and, topping it all off, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I also had the opportunity to chat with producer Naren Shankar (now on CSI) about a year ago, and we talked about the series and the ways in which it holds up so many years later.

Now, we're back to the start of this story and my renewed interest in Trek. I still have all my old Trek comics — a collection bolstered a few years ago by the acquisition of a near-complete run of the old Gold Key series that ran from 1967-78. I'm also intrigued to see if I'll find a new perspective on the stuff I never got much into, Deep Space Nine in particular, as I keep seeing talk about how that series in particular paid off creatively in later seasons.

I'll be starting with the original series and working my way through the episodes. I'm not going to commit to any format or anything, and expect some episodes will evoke long diatribes while others are merely checked off the list. I may post weekly; I may post a couple time a week. But I'll get there one way or another.

First up: The Cage!!