It Was 40 Years Ago Today
\Roddenberry taught the world to say\"Beam me up, Scotty."
Actually, that line of dialogue was never uttered in an episode of Star Trek. It's a popular myth.
"Mr. Scott, three to beam up."
That is actual dialogue from the series. But not in the first episode.
I remember sitting on the floor in front of the tv in our house on 13th Avenue South in Fargo, North Dakota at 7:30 pm to watch the first episode of Star Trek. Little did I know then what an effect it would have on my life. I was barely seven years old, but I was already a die-hard sci-fi fan.
While I liked Star Wars when it came out, and anxiously awaited each and every movie that followed, they never caught my imagination as totally as Star Trek did. Maybe it was because Star Wars was about humanoid aliens and Trek was about the human experience among aliens. I don't really know. I do know the best Trek eps have always been about how our humanity reacts to the larger world around it.
Some of the episodes from The Next Generation seemed to connect more deeply with me than others. The Inner Light is a good example, and maybe DS9's The Visitor is an even better one. Both of those really, really grabbed me.
Now it's forty years later, and I have a daughter who's also a die-hard Trek fan. She relates to Kathryn Janeway, which I think has helped her develop an appreciation for Katherine Hepburn movies. I hope she hasn't given up on her idea of entering the Star Trek writer's competition. I think she'd do well.
May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet.
Live long and prosper.
Star Trek.com: Star Trek at 40
Actually, that line of dialogue was never uttered in an episode of Star Trek. It's a popular myth.
"Mr. Scott, three to beam up."
That is actual dialogue from the series. But not in the first episode.
I remember sitting on the floor in front of the tv in our house on 13th Avenue South in Fargo, North Dakota at 7:30 pm to watch the first episode of Star Trek. Little did I know then what an effect it would have on my life. I was barely seven years old, but I was already a die-hard sci-fi fan.
While I liked Star Wars when it came out, and anxiously awaited each and every movie that followed, they never caught my imagination as totally as Star Trek did. Maybe it was because Star Wars was about humanoid aliens and Trek was about the human experience among aliens. I don't really know. I do know the best Trek eps have always been about how our humanity reacts to the larger world around it.
Some of the episodes from The Next Generation seemed to connect more deeply with me than others. The Inner Light is a good example, and maybe DS9's The Visitor is an even better one. Both of those really, really grabbed me.
Now it's forty years later, and I have a daughter who's also a die-hard Trek fan. She relates to Kathryn Janeway, which I think has helped her develop an appreciation for Katherine Hepburn movies. I hope she hasn't given up on her idea of entering the Star Trek writer's competition. I think she'd do well.
May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet.
Live long and prosper.
Star Trek.com: Star Trek at 40
Comments