Today I begin an epic adventure to watch and review all of Star Trek. Every episode, and every feature film. All of it.
This has been a plan long in the making. Ever since I was old enough to turn on the television I’ve loved Star Trek. My “first contact” was sitting there, barely four years old at the crack of dawn, rewatching my Dad’s copy of The Search for Spock. I have vivid memories of being awestruck at the sight of the breezing, sun-kissed trees of the Genesis planet. A familiar sight, yet so alien at the same time.
In that moment almost thirty years ago, strange new worlds were tantalisingly real. A life-long Trekkie had been born.
My passion for all things Trek and science fiction has remained strong long into adulthood, although I don’t play with the toys as much these days. All I’ve needed to know about life I learned by watching Star Trek, to paraphrase the old classic college poster.
But it’s true. Star Trek gave me a passion for exploration, for science and technology, for being part of a team, and, on a more macro level, part of a fair and just society. It’s been a major driver of my love of media, of other television programmes and motion pictures. It’s one of the primary reasons I enjoy analysis, or as I much prefer calling it, “getting geeky”.
Star Trek has been the basis of my creative output many times over the years. A few years ago I created and maintained a small YouTube channel. I’ve produced podcasts and live streams and worked with other, larger content creators such as WhatCulture and TrekCentral.
These adventures were a lot of fun, but none played to my primary strength as a writer. I’ve been writing professionally for almost a decade at this point. It’s not quite as glamorous as a snazzy video on YouTube, but I believe it’s still the best way to be creative and share ideas.
Case in point: Jamahl Epsicokhan and his magnificent website, Jammers Reviews – easily the best place on the internet as a single source for thoughts on Star Trek.
I’ve been an admirer of Jammers for many, many years. I’ll never try to hide how greatly his website has inspired my own. I’m hopeful that he might actually get a kick out of the idea. Who knows.
I am coming into this with my eyes wide open. Painfully open. Reviewing every Star Trek episode and feature film is a massive task. Jamahl started his journey in the early nineties, possibly even earlier.
All I have right now is what’s in my head. I know I’ve seen everything, but seeing and creating nearly a thousand substantive and entertaining reviews is another thing entirely.
This will take a long time. Years. Decades. I might not even finish.
But I’m choosing to start today, with this post. A declaration of intent to finally begin this exciting new mission.
Let’s see what’s out there.
Engage.
