Not my usual post, but something fun that I wanted to share.

I have been a fan of the classic Star Trek series since I was a kid in the 1980’s. My uncle was the “cool” member of the family and a first-generation Trekkie. He still fondly remembers when he saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture in the local theater, and keeps some old LP records on his shelf including this gem:

My uncle was a big influence on me as a kid. I loved going to his house, and gaze at all the cool 1960’s science fiction goods he kept on shelves.

As a kid in the 80’s, I was raised on Star Trek: The Next Generation and had watched it from the pilot episode all the way to the series finale. I still enjoy Next Generation from time to time even today. I have also enjoyed both Voyager and Deep Space Nine, not to mention newer series like Strange New Worlds too. Each one of these series is great in its own way, and during the Pandemic I re-watched all of them at some point or another frequently late at night or very early in the morning when I had trouble sleeping.

But even so the original series (TOS) remains my favorite, and by extension, the lesser-known but endearing Star Trek: The Animated Series.

Star Trek TOS gets a lot of criticism over the years. It feels old, out of touch, flagrantly sexist, and the special effects don’t hold up to modern scrutiny. These are all valid criticisms and I won’t try to justify them. Gene Roddenberry was a visionary on the one hand, but also a pervy guy on the other.

But what I love about TOS so much is that it had a unique combination of bold story-telling, really fantastic acting, and willingness to explore weird ideas and concepts during a Cold War period of history.

Star Trek was silly and messy, but bold, and even the episodes that are frequently criticized, such as the “Space Hippies” episode still have a lot of rewatch value even after all these years.

During the early Pandemic, I discovered an online community called “TOS Sat(urday) Night”. The idea is that Star Trek TOS is best watched on a Saturday night, and so the community, a loose network of people, all watch the same episode at the same time every Saturday night and drop silly comments on this social media service or that: X, BlueSky, etc.¹ The group follows either broadcast or production order, and usually it starts around 9pm or later depending on time zone. Sometimes we also watch a related Animated Series episode as well.

Saturday Night Trek is both a concept and a refuge from the usual frustrations in the world, an hour to explore a positive future where science and reason stand up to powerful gods, irrational machines, and crooked leaders. But also, have a good laugh about the show’s foibles, and discuss the finer points too.

So, if you are feeling burned out, and life has got you down, sit down on a Saturday night, fire up an old Star Trek episode and enjoy. May you live long and prosper.

P.S. I did not even know about Star Trek Day (September 8th) when writing this post. It was a happy coincidence.

¹ You can find me on Xitter as @cool_spock, and on BlueSky as @coolspock. The story behind the name is long. These days I use BlueSky almost exclusively. I have almost totally abandoned X.