Yesterday Star Trek celebrated its 50th anniversary. It really is hard to believe that Gene Roddenberry’s wagon train to the stars has persisted for five decades and is still going strong. The original series was never a ratings juggernaut and was canceled after only three seasons. It gained popularity in syndication, though, and here we are 50 years later with six series, and a seventh on the way, and 14 feature films.
I was born long after the original series premiered and didn’t really show much interest in the films of my youth. Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, came along at an important time in my life. My family moved when I was in the fourth grade and I had a hard time finding friends. What I did find, though, were reruns of The Next Generation at 7:00 every weeknight on channel 13.
I immersed myself in the 24th century. I didn’t know much about Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but Picard, Riker, Data, LaForge, Worf, Crusher and Troi became integral parts of my life. Wesley even became a part of my life, though my deep envy of him caused deep hatred for him. As I’ve written before, I didn’t have a lot of friends in junior high, but the crew of the Enterprise was there for me almost every day of the week.
My love for Star Trek faded somewhat in high school as I attempted to distance myself from my nerdiness. I made it to the end of Next Generation’s run, but missed out on Deep Space Nine and Voyager. I eventually came back to Star Trek for Enterprise and finished Deep Space Nine. J.J. Abrams’ reboot also excited me, but made me long for Star Trek’s return to television.
I love the Star Trek movies but it’s at its best on the small screen. Modern Star Trek movies have to be blockbusters. They can bear some of Star Trek’s DNA but, at their core, they need to be action movies. Star Trek television series provide the best opportunity to explore Star Trek’s ideals and principles, the ideals and principles that have allowed it to persist for 50 years.
So as we celebrate Star Trek’s golden anniversary, I am very excited that it is returning to television. I don’t know if CBS All Access counts as television, but it’s the closest thing we’ve had in 11 years. Star Trek: Discovery is going to explore a new time period, after Archer and before Kirk. I have a lot of hope for Discovery because Bryan Fuller is producing it. Fuller is responsible for one of my very favorite shows ever, Pushing Daisies. Pushing Daisies was about a pie maker who could bring dead things back to life; hopefully Fuller has the same touch with Star Trek on TV.
I haven’t been around for all of Star Trek’s 50 years, but it has been around for most of my 34. Star Trek really was one of my best friends and every night it helped me forget about the days at school getting bullied. Star Trek has made an indelible mark not only on my life, but on our culture as well. Here’s to hoping we get another 50 years of boldly going where no one has gone before.
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