Friday, December 2, 2011

Shatner, Stewart, and Seth








This one is for Dad, the English Professor, and lover of Science Fiction.

I got into Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG) when I was ten. My best friend and her brother were really into it, and I didn't take any interest until my Father told me that he liked Star Trek: The Original Series (ST:TOS). However, he mentioned that he only enjoyed the episodes which were written by science fiction novelists. Dad had no interest in the "Cowboy Planet" or the "Nazi Planet". Dad swore up and down that the series took a massive nose dive when Roddenberry insisted on doing the writing himself.

When I decided to jump into the Star Trek pool, The Next Generation was going into it's last season. Which was bitter sweet for me because I could still watch new episodes, and catch the old ones on reruns; but, the series was coming to an end. Luckily for me, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) and Star Trek: Voyager (Voyager) were on the horizon, so I could enjoy those from the beginning.

Dad would pretend to sleep in his Lay-Z-Boy while I would watch the various Star Trek series. He would occasionally interject such things as, "Oh, how does it feel to kiss latex?", and "Look at that guy!. He looks as though he ran into a paint shelf". My Mom would tell him to stop making fun of the things I was watching. However, every once in a while he would see an episode he really liked. I remember we were watching "Deja Q", and it was the first episode Dad had ever seen Q (who was, and still is my favorite character aside from Data); of Q he said, "Now, that is a brilliant character".

My Father was very particular about what he watched, and he would fall asleep often, in protest, if he didn't enjoy what the rest of the family was watching. Well, he's gone now, and I miss him. My love of Star Trek carries on and whenever I watch any of the series now, I think of my Dad, in his Lay-Z-Boy, poking fun and occasionally enjoying what we were watching.

2 comments:

  1. This is so brilliant; I love it, and how about those times he answered the Jeopardy questions while he was half asleep!

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  2. That's so true. That one time at the Emergency Room Dad was sitting there answering all of the questions on Jeopardy with his eyes closed!. Guess that's what's happens when you go to University when you're 16-years-old.

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