Why I Parted With Trek
It lasted through elementary, middle and high school - my fascination, or apparent obsession - with Star Trek. Living in the midwest, the greatest thing that happened every 4 years or so was when Creation Entertainment brought a Star Trek convention to Des Moines.
Recently I was tagged by an old friend, J. Erik Potter, with his book meme, and more recently with a post about, well, Star Trek, and how I was always the epitome of a Trekker to him (but not a Trekkie). The difference is more fully documented on wikipedia than what I can explain here. Erik wrote that it surprised him what a Star Trek book wasn’t on my list of favorites. I thought about it for a while and realized that my Star Trek enthusiasm died right around the time I graduated from high school, but started a few years earlier.
You see, Star Trek was fun. And new. With The Next Generation and Deep Space 9, there were always new episodes coming out, unlike Star Wars. At one time I even had every Bantam/Pocket book too, before selling them at various garage sales. But in 1991/92 I lost interest, and gained interest in a new science fiction show that promised to be more than just a “forehead/alien of the week” show… the show was Babylon 5.
Putting all of my Trek enthusiasm into B5 enthusiasm “paid off” in that I was eventually asked to move to Los Angeles to help promote the show with Warner Bros. For someone who grew up idolizing Spielberg and Roddenberry, to move to L.A. to work on something you loved was an easy choice.
I have but one piece of my original Star Trek collection left, Danbury (or is it Hamilton) mint figures in a blue display case. For a collection that once pushed several hundred, now there is very little, if anything, that gives evidence to my former fascination with Star Trek.
Technorati Tags: Star Trek, Star Wars, Troy Rutter, J.Erik Potter, Babylon 5, trekker, trekkie
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Hey Troy - thanks for the update! I can honestly say I never watched an episode of Babylon 5. I take it, it would be worth my time?
I turned on Blogger’s backlink feature - like trackback so hopefully your response posts will work in the future.
Later