Star Trek

Good morning, Creatures.

I am what I like to call a Legacy Nerd.

My parents are nerds, and I am one too. Dad’s a rocket scientist (No. Really.) and Mom regularly schools me on things trending on the internet before I’ve even heard of them. Apparently, I’ve also been going to Sci Fi conventions since before I can remember. Or walk, for that matter. Not to mention the fact that I grew up in a city nicknamed “The Rocket City.” Sure, it’s in Alabama, but it’s not really what you would expect from the state when everyone there is an engineer and there are literal rockets included in the skyline (although, they took down the Saturn 5 rocket and lay it on its side to preserve it in its own massive building.).

What the heck does this have to do with Star Trek?!

Both of my parents were pretty big Star Trek fans when I was growing up, both regularly watching The Next Generation and Voyager. Though Mom gets slightly more nerd-cred here for watching all of Enterprise and owning the Star Trek cartoon series on DVD. I, on the other hand, recall Star Trek to be about the most boring thing in life when I was growing up. Not even deigning to be in the same ROOM when it was on.

Imagine my surprise when I went to go see the first installment of the J. J. Abrams’s flavor of the series. Despite my best efforts, I had a small emotional attachment to the original series. I recall listening to my parents fondly recall their favorite episodes from the original series and how much they loved the show when they were growing up, so I guess a sort of nostalgia had rubbed off on me by default. Plus the movie looked like it was going to be a crazy action flick in space, so I was in. I expected it to at least be entertaining.

I was NOT expecting to suddenly and inexplicably want to watch everything having to do with Star Trek ever.

It was like some huge, cartoonish nerd switch had been flipped over in my brain. I would devour ALL the Star Trek EVER. Including the cartoons. Including Enterprise. I would watch it while clutching my squeaky tribble plush that I got at a Star Trek convention my parents dragged me to when I was ten and RUE the fact that I hadn’t paid better attention at the aforementioned convention because I could have learned Star Trek things at it and I had missed that opportunity forever.

I knew where I could get the episodes. Mom and Dad, after all, have a lot of it in their DVD collection. I called Mom and told her what had happened and asked if I could borrow them at some point….

And she laughed.

TRIUMPHANTLY.

And said, “Ahahahaha! Your GENES are kicking in! Sure, you can borrow them.”

Well played, Mom. Well played.

I will begin my voyage on the Starship Enterprise today. Love or hate the latest incarnations of the franchise, know that they have brought another fan into the fold. Given my family’s history with the series, some might even say “home.”

That’s all for now, and as always: Thanks for reading!