Lizards have shared with us some of their favorite Trek and non-Trek memories. Enjoy as I have.
TAZZIE:
I love Trek because of the hope it gives the future. And that people are people...You can watch Trek and recognize people you know in the characters, even the aliens. I've worked for a Ferengi, I'd swear I've talked to a Vulcan, I've even met a few Klingons. Star Trek shows us a future where, people are still people, we have defeated Hunger, Prejudice, Racism, Poverty, many Diseases and yet still find things to strive for, argue about, love, have fun with and life goes on. Mankind basically remains Human.
I also love the way Trek gives us a commonality on the Internet to meet and mingle with kindred spirits. I have found a great many friends on the net and They are ALL trekkers!!!!!!
SHAKAAR:
Back in '96 I went to my first ever ST convention with Robert Picardo, and it was one of the best days I'd ever had! As for more recent ST memories, since I started "hanging out" at the ST chat rooms in February last year, I have made so many wonderful friends in the past 12 months, both here in Australia and overseas, all with a common interest in ST.
MARLEEI:
I would like to say that most of the chatters from the past year have become GREAT Friends and people I will carry with me in my heart the rest of my life. Many of you have touched me in many ways. Thank you all for your kindness and caring.
TECHNOTREKKIE:
My favourite Star Trek memory was probably the first time I watched Trek. I was at a friend's house, and they had this weird show on TV. I asked them a couple of questions about it and they introduced to the world of Star Trek the Next Generation. I've been hooked on Trek ever
since.
SIRELLA:
Best memory was being invited to attend
Dennis and Brianna's wedding it was truly an honor to be able to be a
part of their very special day. It was also a thrill to meet other
online friends all at once and be in the presence of real live
Klingons!!
MR HOMN:
Best Chat Memory, Meeting people because of Brianna's and Dennis' Wedding & in California
Worst...The flight to and from LA
DANAH:
Best are the many chats with my love. I
dislike
being in public rooms when people start to fight and use bad language.
My best Star Trek memory of 1998 is without a doubt meeting my favorite
Star Trek character and actress Kate Mulgrew. She was the nice, warm and
very friendly and as amazing as the character she portraits in the show.
KAHLESS:
Easy ... visiting the Star Trek sets and collecting DNA from Jeri Ryan.
BAT'AL:
Falling in Love Falling in Love
CAPT. MUDD:
First meeting Syl, Ben, B and Dennis
online....lovely people, all of 'em.
S'TORAN:
Chat memory: Guarddog proposing to Kurtsgirl online.
Non-chat Memory: Going to see ST: Insurrection with all the chatters from
around here on opening night (the whole group was S'Toran, Kate, Slomo,
Slomo's brother, Bailey, and Lilac)
BRIANNA
My favorite Trek memory is when I would go into my mom's bedroom and
watch ST:TNG with her at night. I got to sit/lie on her water bed and I
liked it. We would also eat, and drink in there too. We would talk during
breaks about what we thought was going to happen next and wait to see who
was right. Mom was always right! I guess that she would know what was
going to happen more than I did becaused she grew up watching TOS! Who said
that you couldn't learn anything from TV!
My favorite Non-trek memory is, well, I have many. First, it was going into the chat room for the first time and meeting everyone there. Shellie was one of the first people I met and she even made me a birthday card...I still have it! Another favorite memory is when I first met Dennis, now my husband, in the chat room soon after his birthday. On Jan. 17, 1998 he asked me out. Of couse, I said yes! On Feb, 2, 1998, he asked me to marry him, but it was hush-hush until he could come down for the first time. You see, he lived in Canada. Then comes that first moment when we first met each other face to face. It was like seeing the sun for the first time in my life. But then again, when he came back the second time, that sun returned and has been with me from that day on. Oh, and of couse I can't forget when we got married. Let's just say that for both me and my mom, you needed a bucket because we were crying so much!
Another favorite memory is when I saw my step-father, Ben for the first time. Now, that was cool! At our, Dennis and I's, wedding, we met three of the people from the chat room and haven't been the same since. You guys know who you are! LOL!
Why I Like Star Trek
S'TORAN of Vulcan
Star Trek as Gene Roddenberry created it, and as seen in the television series The Next Generation, stands for all that the human race could become. At the inception of the series in 1966, most of the science fiction of the day was apocalyptic in nature and gloomy in the extreme. Star Trek changed that.
The vision that Gene Roddenberry had was revolutionary. It set a positive and bright future before viewers that were overloaded with care at the height of the Cold War. It could not help but be a hit. This is evidenced by the letter writing campaign started by Bjo Trimble in the series' second season when NBC threatened to cancel it. Suffice it to say that the series, as well as the concept of Star Trek has come a long way in the thirtysomething years it has been around.
I would stop short of making Star Trek a religion unto itself, but its provocative and controversial themes, in my opinion, have helped to shape the society we live in today. Star Trek was the first to show a woman in a position of authority (and a woman of colour at that!), demonstrating what we all know at a gut level to be true: there should be a free and equal footing for all. (In fact, Uhura is the Swahili word for "Freedom.") The Original Series also showed the first interracial kiss on national syndicated television between Uhura and Kirk (though they left an out...the kiss was forced on them by a godlike entity). Kirk married an Amerindian. Spock was an racial hybrid. The list goes on.
Star Trek was also the first to put forth the idea that science should take a front seat in the development of culture. After all, it was technology that carried them to the stars, technology healed the sick, and technology fed the masses (including Tribbles!). Our own society tries to reflect that as well.
The most important reason I am a Star Trek fan, though, is the adherence to the doctrines of Tolerance for others and Non-interference in the affairs of others. Tolerance is often an unemployed solution in the affairs of this world, whether it be with a difficult employer or difficulty in relations with another nation. Let them be themselves. In turn, as they let us be ourselves, we may learn from each other and strengthen each other. Personally, I find this better than fighting senselessly all the time about things of little or no consequence.
Non-interference is another little-practised ideal. From meddling in your roommate's social life to meddling in the affairs of another nation, runs a gamut of hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and social evils. If we leave well enough alone, we can let them choose their own path to success (although I always appreciate advice along the way). Properly applied, both of these things will strengthen the individual and society, in which we, as individuals, must function. Star Trek, as Gene Roddenberry planned, has given us an example to emulate. Do we dare ignore it?
LT. LEAH:
A FAN'S VIEW OF "STAR TREK"
I have been a fan of all science-fiction starting at a very young age of two or three years old. Our housekeeper and baby- sitter, thought the television set was the baby-sitter, while my parents were off to work . I watched many movies and television shows about UFO'S , aliens taking over the earth, and so on for hours at a time. Many shows and movies amused and scared me to death at this tender age. It was not until I was about six years old that the real space race started with the launch of a Gemini capsule, and I realized that I really liked astronomy and science-fiction very much. All through school, when I read in the science book for the school year, and it had a chapter on astronomy. I would beg with the teacher all year until I could persuade him/her to study the astronomy chapter.
I have always been very emotional and sensitive child and later adult. During my adolescent years, it seemed many of my problems only got worse. I did not have an easy time in school and was only an average student. My emotional problems and other factors in my life made me loose a great deal of interest in school by the time I was in junior high school. My escape was through television , but it also helped me through many problems, too. My grades did not improve greatly in any one subject. I liked English enough to want to write someday, so I wrote in diaries, and short stories. I wrote mostly for my own pleasure and usually on subjects that I already knew about it.
In nineteen sixty-six, a new science-fiction show called "LOST IN SPACE " was on the air and I watched it faithfully. One night, my father said to turn the station to another station and watch "STAR TREK" and you might like this show better. I did and I loved it. I do love all science-fiction television and movies now. During the summer breaks from school, I started to write " STAR TREK" stories for fun. I would make-believe I was a character on the show and later wrote a biography sketch of my character. This book of short stories that I wrote as a teenager and later adult for my favorite television show. The "STAR TREK" phenonomen was and still is an incredible impact on my family and me through the years. I wrote letters to the networks to keep the show on the air for the three years it was on the air. I wrote a letter to name the first space shuttle, the U.S.S. Enterprise, which is now used as a ground trainer at Edwards Airforce base. Also as a young teenager, my niece ,nephews, and I would act out "Star Trek" episodes and act as the actors doing parts of the show. We would change the floor plan of the house as parts of the ship, too. It was a fun experience and helped with my drama career at the time. I have been to many conventions, joined many clubs, and helped with a "STAR TREK" farce that was performed at the first "STAR TREK" convention in Salt Lake City Utah in August, nine-teen seventy-six. I was assistant director, helped with casting and script rewrites, designed and built the sets, gathered properties. I made costumes, and worked the set , plus acted in the play, too. It was a great and fun experience. As an adult, I went to movies, read books, and watched the reruns and the new shows of "STAR TREK" as well. I hope you enjoy reading this book and I have had to write the book. It has all been done for the love of this one television show and how it has impacted my life from teenage years to adult. Some of my early episodes are very poorly written, but I want to try to keep them in the original form, to emphasize how my writing affected me as a teenager. Also in later stories ,that were written as an adult. I am very thankful that computers have been invented and that I can write all these stories onto the computer. The computer will preserve them and refine them to the quality that they can become through the power of the computer's word processor. I am also very thankful for a wonderful television show called "STAR TREK" and its many activities in the forms of shows, movies, amusement parks, Earth Tours, conventions, and cruises, etc. that make it an exciting future for us all someday.
KATE:
Anyone who knows me is sure to guess what my fondest memory of the
chatroom is:
on April 24th 1998 not long after I went into the academy for the
first time, I met mrpink for the very first time. I was actually
feeling very down and was talking to another chatter about my woes
when he began to speak to me. He had been through something quite
similar and was very good at listening but most important he
understood. We just seemed to click right away. Before I left that
night we exchanged E-mail addresses something I never gave out to
anyone but for some reason I knew right away that I could trust him.
Two days later I checked my E-mail and there was a letter from him. He
told me a bit about himself and I replied telling him about me. It was
2 days after I sent my E-mail before we hooked up again in the chat
room. He suggested that I get ICQ to make it easier to chat and so I
did. after that we spent hours chatting to one another each evening
words cannot describe how magical those first few chats were. I found
myself falling very deeply in love with him right from the first chat
(which is really ridiculous unless you have been thru it). As it
turned out, he felt the same way!! (I still can't believe that I fell
in love with someone I had never seen let alone met before!) And so
two weeks later I hopped on a bus to Toronto (I had never been there
before) to meet mrpink for the first time. All I knew was that he was
going to be the one on stage holding a bass guitar. fortunately when I
got there the band hadn't started playing yet so we got to meet ahead
of time. The best way to sum up the evening without writing a novel is
that is was magical!!!! We have been falling deeper in love ever
since. We plan to get married. As soon as we set a date I will let you
know :o)
My Best Non-chat memory is September 23 1993 1:37 PM - the moment I became a mom!!!!
MR PINK:
I have two favourite memories. The first is meeting the woman I am
going to spend the rest of my life with in the Star Trek Chatroom. I
have detailed the entire account in an open letter entitled "I Am Not A
Geek", which will be available online sometime soon. Sufficed to say
that my life will never be the same again, and I owe it to Star Trek of
all things. I think we've only ever sat down and watched two or three
episodes together, but it was our mutual interest in Trek that
originally brought us together. For that I will be eternally grateful
to Gene Roddenberry.
The second fond memory I have is the first time I saw a Star Trek movie in the theatre. It was 1980, I was eight years old. I lived in a small town just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. We only had one movie theatre and it wasn't playing Star Trek: The Motion Picture on it's opening night. My dad has always been a trekker and he absolutely HAD to see it on opening night. We always used to watch TOS eps together when I was a kid. Around my house it was always, "When is Star Trek on dad? Is Star Trek on tonight?" He got me a Kirk doll and he made me my own phaser out of fiberglass and gave me an old wallet to use as a comminucator and an old style tape recorder with a strap to use as a tri-corder. We had to go to Toronto to find a theatre that was playing it. We took my mom and my sister, but I hardly noticed them (they weren't really into Trek that much). The whole way I just kept asking my dad questions; "Do you think Sulu will be in it? Do you think Scotty will be in it?". My dad kept saying, "Michael, EVEN Nurse Chapel and Yomen Rand are in it," I was so excited. We went down early and went to McDonald's. Of course we had the Star Trek Happy Meal (I wonder what THAT box would be worth today? - lol). I still remember the silly joke on the side - "Why was the crew of the Enterprise not hungry when they started their mission?... Because they had just LAUNCHED!" - ugh! I thought that was soooo funny when I was eight! We arrived at the theatre and of course there was a HUGE display in the lobby and attendants and movie-goers alike were dressed in costumes and excited as h-e-double-hockey-stick. Even though we'd just eaten my dad and I each got a chocolate bar and split a large popcorn (back when they used butter - lol) and a large coke. Until then I'd only seen Star Trek on our little black and white television. It was like no Star Trek I'd ever seen before. It was HUGE, it was DARK, and it was in COLOUR! I had so many questions during the movie and my dad never lost his patience once, he kept whispering the answers and explaining things to me. The whole way home we played Star Trek in the car; we'd pretend we were the Enterprise and the other cars were Klingons, or we'd pretend we were V-GER searching for earth. My dad and I fell out some time after that and, fortunately, rekindled our friendship some years later. But, no matter what the status of our relationship at the time, we always go to see every Star Trek movie in the theatre together. There have been many better movies made since The Motion Picture, but every time I watch it, I am reminded of the first time I saw it with my dad.
LWAXANA:
I don't know if I can name a favorite Trek memory. Getting married to Ben is at the very top of the list of course. We spent our wedding night viewing ST: First Contact at a theater in Oklahoma City. Ben and I have been on our honeymoon ever since. Second best would be Brianna and Dennis's wedding last year. We met face to face for the first time, BaT'aL, Kahless, and Sirella (although I had met Sirella before, no one else had). All lent their uniqueness to the ceremony and celebration. And we have added another Trekker to the family!
Third was our trip to Hollywood. There we met Marc Wade, Guy Varadam, Jamal Green, and Suren, all of PDE. We also got introduced to Jeri Ryan, after which Kahless said he was going to chop off his hand because she shook it. We also got to visit The Experience in Vegas, and believe me, the attraction is aptly named! All in all, the last 2+ years have been wonderful for me.