Trek Thoughts #2: first memories
Aug. 3rd, 2023 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alchemicinkI wanted to write something about my earliest introduction to the Star Trek franchise. But, to be honest, I was eight years old, so my memories on the exact order are a bit jumbled!
Nevertheless, there are a few things that still stand out. So here's a bit of reminiscing on my earliest Star Trek watching days:
Firstly, I have this weird memory of watching Levar Burton sharing behind the scenes clips of TNG on an episode of Reading Rainbow?! I actually have no clue if it was actually Reading Rainbow (because why would there be Star Trek clips on that??) or maybe that's just where I recognized Levar Burton from, but I remember being interested enough that I wanted to check out the show myself.
What I think I actually stumbled across during my search was an episode of Voyager instead. In fact, it might have been the episode "Nothing Human" but I don't know for sure. But it had Star Trek in the name, so that was good enough for me! This was around 1998, 1999-ish, so it may have been the easiest series to find at the time too. We did not yet have satellite TV, so there were only about 10 channels to choose from.
Anyway, at some point afterwards, I learned that my Dad also watched Voyager on occasion, so I started watching it more regularly. (The idea is that we could talk about it together, but honestly, I loved the show a lot more than he did lol)
Luckily for me, Voyager was airing as the series which launched the (now-defunct) UPN channel, so reruns were on practically ALL THE TIME. But for a long time especially, there was an episode every weeknight at 10 p.m.
My parents were quite strict about bedtimes in my younger years, so I wasn't allowed to stay up that late on school nights. But they did let me use the VCR to record the episodes. I taped over episodes usually (because they'd often rerun again anyway), but whenever there was one I'd particularly enjoy, I had to be reaaaaally careful not to accidentally record over it. My parents still have all those VHS tapes at their house actually... I stumbled across several recently in a search for something else on tape.
Alas, I do not have a VCR now. But I'd love to watch the commercial breaks now just as a sort of late 90s, early 2000s time capsule.
Of course, on Friday nights, I was allowed to stay up and watch that night's episode live. I have such nice fond memories of camping out by the TV on Friday nights to enjoy an episode of Voyager, and then waking up early Saturday morning to switch over to cartoons.
The younger me really was quite obsessed with Voyager up until the series ended, and even afterwards too. (Again, there were plenty of reruns in those days!) I remember filling pages of notebooks with doodles of the different characters.
Eventually, I did get to watch TNG (as I'd originally sought out) and DS9 too. Thank goodness for TV syndication, right? So those three series together really cemented my lifelong love of Star Trek and sci-fi in general. I keep coming back to them time and time again, like rewinding the tape on an old VHS.
Nevertheless, there are a few things that still stand out. So here's a bit of reminiscing on my earliest Star Trek watching days:
Firstly, I have this weird memory of watching Levar Burton sharing behind the scenes clips of TNG on an episode of Reading Rainbow?! I actually have no clue if it was actually Reading Rainbow (because why would there be Star Trek clips on that??) or maybe that's just where I recognized Levar Burton from, but I remember being interested enough that I wanted to check out the show myself.
What I think I actually stumbled across during my search was an episode of Voyager instead. In fact, it might have been the episode "Nothing Human" but I don't know for sure. But it had Star Trek in the name, so that was good enough for me! This was around 1998, 1999-ish, so it may have been the easiest series to find at the time too. We did not yet have satellite TV, so there were only about 10 channels to choose from.
Anyway, at some point afterwards, I learned that my Dad also watched Voyager on occasion, so I started watching it more regularly. (The idea is that we could talk about it together, but honestly, I loved the show a lot more than he did lol)
Luckily for me, Voyager was airing as the series which launched the (now-defunct) UPN channel, so reruns were on practically ALL THE TIME. But for a long time especially, there was an episode every weeknight at 10 p.m.
My parents were quite strict about bedtimes in my younger years, so I wasn't allowed to stay up that late on school nights. But they did let me use the VCR to record the episodes. I taped over episodes usually (because they'd often rerun again anyway), but whenever there was one I'd particularly enjoy, I had to be reaaaaally careful not to accidentally record over it. My parents still have all those VHS tapes at their house actually... I stumbled across several recently in a search for something else on tape.
Alas, I do not have a VCR now. But I'd love to watch the commercial breaks now just as a sort of late 90s, early 2000s time capsule.
Of course, on Friday nights, I was allowed to stay up and watch that night's episode live. I have such nice fond memories of camping out by the TV on Friday nights to enjoy an episode of Voyager, and then waking up early Saturday morning to switch over to cartoons.
The younger me really was quite obsessed with Voyager up until the series ended, and even afterwards too. (Again, there were plenty of reruns in those days!) I remember filling pages of notebooks with doodles of the different characters.
Eventually, I did get to watch TNG (as I'd originally sought out) and DS9 too. Thank goodness for TV syndication, right? So those three series together really cemented my lifelong love of Star Trek and sci-fi in general. I keep coming back to them time and time again, like rewinding the tape on an old VHS.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-22 11:36 am (UTC)Oh that does sound neat!