I count myself one of the original fans of Star Trek; I fell in love with Trek the instant I saw TV Guide's Fall Preview issue and couldn't wait to see the first episode. Not only did I watch the first, but every episode thereafter of TOS!
Happily-hooked on Star Trek, I attended the first Star Trek convention in New York City. I had the pleasure of meeting Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett. They were dumbfounded at the number of fans who showed up.
Later, my friends and I got involved in "Deluge Monday", a nefarious plan to inundate CBS with mail protesting Trek's cancellation. I don't know whether DM worked or not, but Star Trek stayed on the air for two more years. And because of my involvement with fandom, I made the acquaintance of fellow fans all over the country. I attended SF conventions in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. I had the great privilege of meeting famous science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov, Hal Clement, and Ben Bova, among others.
I had always loved science fiction; now, I became addicted to it. I read widely and eventually got up the nerve to start writing my own stuff. I'd been writing for many years, but my first attempt at an SF novel eventually morphed into Judgment on Tartarus, my first published book, and the first of a trilogy.
Fifty years later, I'm still an avid Star Trek fan ( I prefer the term Trekker to Trekkie, but we won't get into that here! ) I owe that TV show so much; it literally changed my life!
So let's celebrate Star Trek's 50th anniversary. May it go on forever! And please feel free to let me know how Trek influenced your life.
MRTighe
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