Happy Trek 50th! It's only now I can be excited

Hey, it’s Sept. 8!

My early fandom benchmarks & treasures

The Official Big 5-0 is here, at last.
 
Everyone and their alien dog is doing the Star Trek thing: mainstream news, bloggers, entire nations of state-owned media.
 
So, just as I promised when I started this blog, I'll take the personal route on this landmark day.

And say, after a year of joining fans worldwide to celebrate and reflect on Gene Roddenberry’s gift to us all, that I’ve got to come clean and admit it:
 
I take Star Trek for granted. And always have.
 
I mean, don’t get me wrong: I likely would not have wound up with a lot of my life choices—from a wife, to the expression of career training in numerous fields—had it not been for the little space saga that could.
 
By that I mean the original series, of course—no bloody A, B, C, D, V, E, J, or new D—and the by fact that I was but a kid when I got trekkified: one hour at a time, one day at a time, every day after school. Just like so, so many others.

I fell for those characters, I fell for that universe. I fell for the fact it was our universe—as both a history buff and a NASA kid, it made complete sense.
 
Because here’s a second admission: I can be deadly with the practical and the pragmatic. I had a “Well, yeah” put-down comeback that was years ahead of the “Well, duh” fad...and I used it full force, on wide-beam setting on Star Trek. 
 
Of course our technology would progress from the wheel to the horsepower to the airplane to the starship… from fire to oil to antimatter. And for a species that grew from the level of caves to city-states to nations to United Nations, well of course we’d eventually become a union of intelligently populated planets—once we found them. And once they found us— because they, like us, had to figure out the self-survival recipe or they'd never have made it to the stars in the first place. (Well, most of them, anyway. Cue the grumpy Vulcans.)
 
I read the early books like Star Trek Lives!, grappling with why Trek was so mold-breakingly popular. I saw the interviews… I read the fan letters, the magazine essays.  Optimistic future, humanity survives, we don’t kill each other or the planet or the new kids we find out there to play with …yadda yadda yadda... yeah, yeah yeah.
 
It was a concept that got so many young people excited and engaged...and still does.

Me, not so much. Remember, I was "well, yeah" when "well, yeah" wasn't cool. I mean, I knew how to gush—I just didn't see the need. Duh.
 
But the years since this teenager fell for that vision of future history have hardly been rosy.  World progress has not been inevitable; tolerance and diversity and justice have not arisen automatically, along an ever-rising path to global peace and prosperity.

The go-go ‘70s grew into the cushy ‘80s and the dot-com ‘90s...and then, just about the time Star Trek's optimism seemed old hat in many ways... along came a global melt-down, a rebound of intolerance and pushback, and a generation that never saw a hot world war — but was sure plenty scared of a hot world.
 
And then Leonard died.

As I said at the time, his passing hit me not just hard, but unexpectedly: with guilt. Guilt that, while favoring McCoy and Scotty, and mourning De and Jimmy, I had taken Leonard and Spock far, far too much for granted.

And as the Five-O party started, and all the old truisms and quotes were trotted out again to explain Trek's appeal and Trek's longevity... I realized I was guilty once again. Of taking the core of the whole damn franchise for granted.

Even more than in 1966 or even 1986, Star Trek is an incredible gift of inspiration and hope, an ageless lesson in diversity and respect, a needed lesson in rationality and curiosity...and a damn flexible storytelling vehicle with great characters, cast, commentary and yes, canon—which you might say the biggest sign of respect of all: from creator to audience.

Yes, the years go by, world progress is not on autopilot, and it's actually gotten easier to gush about Star Trek. I bet we'll be saying the same thing after the next 50.

Duh.



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Have a great #happy50th day today! 
Remember to share your pics of your party or meetup tonight at Larry Nemecek's Facebook or on Twitter with the hastag #mytrek50 ....
And if in L.A. (or on Facebook Live) drop by our "we are all fans" Trek50 meetup tonight at Lucy's in Hollywood anytime from 6-10 p.m., co-hosted by Roddenberry's Mission Log podcast, for a toast on Star Trek's debut half-past hours across the US time zones, shared on Facebook Live.

The REAL 50th at last!—and if in L.A., come toast with us

After all the big conventions and events, after all the special merch, after all the other hoopla... it finally all comes down to Thursday....THIS Thursday, Sept. 8...at 8:30 pm Eastern*... at the hour when "The Man Trap" first flickered across NBC's airwaves.

So where will YOU celebrate Star Trek's actual 50th anniversary of its aired debut?**

Lots of folks are having get-togethers in their homes ... or nearby watering holes, or pop-culture storefronts: many will be screening "The Man Trap" at its debut hour—all over the world, actually. Feel free to take snaps of your own celebration and share with us on the Trekland Facebook page that night! 

But IF you're in SoCal with no prior plans and want to share the night with Trekfans... please do so! Here's an invite to join us that night to toast Star Trek's 50th at Lucy's El Adobe, right across the street from Paramount Pictures and a onetime watering hole of Gene Roddenberry and friends. You can check out his autographed photo to the joint (right)!

Together with co-host John Champion of Roddenberry's Mission Log podcast, my Portal 47 will be lifting a toast at 6:30 pm* to the debut of Star Trek on the equivalent of its premiere in Eastern time—and then twice again on the half-past hour for Central/Mountain and Pacific times. 

You're on your own for drinks, and some of us are getting dinner around 7:00.

 

But we'll have a giant 50th Anniversary card to sign ... and some other fun and a surprise or two as well. Most of all, we're coming together to mark this landmark that has meant so much to so many.

And for those around the globe not with us in person, you can join us in spirit: I plan to film each toast, and any fun surrounding subspace chatter, all live on Facebook Live online at my Trekland Facebook—again, at 6:30, 7:30 and 9:30 PDT.*

For a Thursday night, and after all the big extravaganza of the past few weeks, I just wanted to do something relaxed, in an LA venue of even a tenuous Star Trek connection... with a vibe where folks with no plans otherwise could come for fan fellowship and fun. There may even be recent tales of Vegas, New York and elsewhere...or memories from further afield in fandom, back further on the timeline.

Hey, we only get one shot at the true golden anniversary moment for Star Trek—just make you sure to mark it somehow, somewhere, with fans you love and enjoy. Maybe that means we'll see you at Starbase Lucy's!

If you do plan to come by... PLEASE just help us keep tabs on turnout and click the "Going" button on the Facebook Event page—thanks!






*As my talented buddy and fellow STC'er James Kerwin pointed out, Daylight Savings Time was not created until 1967—so, techincally, celebrants this year ought to mark "The Man Trap"'s 1966 debut at *9:30* PM EDT—an hour later—to compensate.

**And yes, we all know by now, thanks to the wackiness of younger-brother sales and marketing, Star Trek actually flashed on-air before an audience the TWO DAYS before NBC's Sept. 8 premiere— on the CTV, in Canada!