Monday, March 12, 2012

The logical thing for me to geek out about

This week's League assignment:
“What media announcement had you throwing fist pumps and doing roundhouse kicks in the air, and did the final result live up to your dreams?”
Generally speaking, I don't get that excited about things (and have been duly branded a killjoy or alien because of it), but if there was one thing that got me geeking out more than anything else, it was the announcement about "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Back then, though, there wasn't the day-by-day kind of updating we're used to now, where we'll see on multiple Web sites if the director of a project decides to dye his pubes chartreuse and how that indicates how he will totally ruin our favorite character.

I'd heard rumblings about a new Star Trek show, and pretty much all I knew was that it didn't involve Captain Kirk and crew. But I didn't really hear much of anything else until I saw the trailer for the show on the "Star Trek IV" video release.

 
I was 12, going on 13 when the show debuted, and I was heavily into all things Trek at the time, so this was really the perfect show at the perfect time for me. This was also around the time I was trying to emulate a certain Vulcan crew member from the original series (the logic involved there was that if I didn't have discernible feelings, they couldn't be hurt. Junior high school was the pits), but despite my cool demeanor, people still knew I was excited about it.

I only wore a costume to a con once. Honest.
Watching the show now, though, the first season in particular, is a bit cringe-inducing. But I still love it, because it reminds me of a time where I had yet to assimilate every bit of Trek lore (no pun intended).

I was telling a friend at work recently about being at a Trek convention after the first season of TNG had aired, but before the second had started, and getting news updates at one of the panels: Jonathan Frakes had grown a beard after shooting the first season, and we didn't know if they would let him keep it for the second season of the show.

A Star Trek convention in 1988 was sorta like having the Internet stuffed into a hotel. Often baseless speculation about your favorite shows, buying a bunch of useless crap you didn't need but coveted nonetheless, and of course, weirdos in and out of costume. I know; I was one of them.

My fellow leaguers weighed in on this as well: