40 years ago those words began a series on tv that would remain on the air for two seasons, get cancelled, and then, due to people power, was renewed for a third. Yep! Star Trek was a progenitor of the movement that gave us Ned Lamont and the "dust up" over Path to 9-11. I've watched Trek ever since I was a boy. I played Star Trek at recess with Mike Dowlass. He was always Mr. Spock and I was always Captain Kirk. When they showed the episode "Arena" with the Gorn and it turned around to face the camera I was terrified. I remember running out of the room cowering in my brother's room until the commecial break was over. The next day Mike and I would act out scenes and I would practice the explosion tumble in order to impress Stacy Natway; my little Yeoman Rand...
So the years go by and Trek turns into a geek's show even when the much cooler and hipper Next Generation Trek shows up and I love it. then Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise- to say nothing of the ten movies and the animated series. Still, thru all the years Trek has been an inspiration and a pleasure. There are countless moments where I've applied the "lessons" of trek to life and the desire to go forward (sorry, to boldly go forward) with the idea that we, as a species, could go beyond the hate and prejudice and superstitious dogmatic pessimism that permeates our culture today.
sometimes I grow saddened by the balkanization of trek. By that I mean, with the advent Of the internet that has brought people from a wide range of situations and geography together, there has evolved a kind of balkanization of Trek; when once someone said they liked Star Trek you talked to them and enjoyed their company as a fellowship of fandom, now factions have emerged in Trekdom where those that love the original series and hate the newer ones malign and denigrate those that love the Next Generation. The Niners hate the Voyagers and everyone hates Enterprise.
Still, this diary is not about the fractures. This diary is about how I feel about Trek and all it's incarnations. I want you to share moments when Trek impacted your life or favorite lines that you've perhaps uttered in conversation or simple just like hearing.
One of my favorite lines is from the third movie; when the enterprise is destroyed and burning up in the atmosphere, Kirk asks, "My God, Bones! What have I done?" McCoy replies, "You did what you had to do, you did what you always do; turn death into a fighting chance to live." Ahh! Moments I see repeated here and elsewhere on the web as we face an enemy far greater in insidiousness than Klingons or Borg.
"In every revolution there's one man with a vision"
One of my favorite concepts from Trek comes from "The City on the Edge of Forever" when Kirk informs Edith Keeler that the three most important words in the galaxy are not "I love you" but "Let me help". I say this all the time actually. Believe me, the good folks at the Daily Kos have helped immeassurably those that need to find a voice and connect with others to affect change, to give hope, and to empower those driven by the need to know to speak truth to power.
As I was driving my youths on a summer mission trip down a highway in Florida doing about warp 70, a tire exploded and I yelled out to the kids, "Hang on!" thinking about the Khan's Defiant firing a photon torpedo at a helpless Enterprise. I got the van to the curb saftly because I feel in large part that kirk wouldn't have panicked so why should I?
So tell me... your stories, your lines, your Trek moments and "Let's see what's out there"