"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise..."

I absolutely cannot let the 25th anniversary of the TV premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation pass without comment. Watching this show with my family is one of my earliest TV-related memories. I grew up watching Captain Picard and his crew travel throughout the universe, bringing their Starfleet idealism with them everywhere they went. I saw Star Trek: First Contact in theaters even though it was rated PG-13 and I wasn't thirteen yet. I was terrified by the Borg. I had nightmares after watching the episode where Data has bad dreams, and the one where Troi has bad dreams about "Eyes... in the dark..." (Apparently, I was easily disturbed by episodes about bad dreams. They didn't give me nightmares but just made it very, very hard to fall asleep.) I idolized Picard, and Riker, and Geordi - especially since I also loved LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow. I thought Data was awesome - and I loved that he had a pet cat named Spot. I loved Worf's gruffness and loyalty. I even liked Wesley. I was too young to find him irritating. Heh. Troi and Dr. Crusher were great as well, and essential parts of the cast (which I've already mentioned is one of my favorite ensembles). Even now, when I hear the opening monologue and the theme, I feel a rush of nostalgia that's quite powerful.

What are some of the ways this show influenced me? Well, for one thing, my preschool-aged sister and I learned how to say, "What the hell is going on here?" from one Commander William Riker - much to the shock of our parents and the horror of our grandmother. Heh. But more importantly, it continued to foster the love of space, science, and exploration that my parents had already begun in me. I know I wouldn't have been as excited as I was to do a report on Pluto in first grade if I hadn't already started to learn about planets, star systems, and galaxies from TNG and other sources at home.

This past year, after all of the Trek series were added to Netflix's instant watch option, it became tradition that my sister, my dad, and I would all eat lunch at home while watching an episode of either TNG, Voyager, or DS9 (not as much of a fan of the original series, though it's a classic for sure). We didn't get through all of the episodes. I think all of the series are available at the DVD store in town, so I might pick them up at some point while I'm here, but I'll miss watching them with Dad at home.