Memories of Star Trek

I think I told you earlier how Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine have gotten cheaper? Well - I had a few gift certificates and so I purchased the first seasons of both shows from Amazon. (The only place I have found the cheaper price so far.) I sat down to watch "Encounter at Farpoint" the other night. I was actually a little giddy. It had been years and years since I watched it, and I was remembering my mom and I sneaking out of a conference to go back to our hotel and watch it. That was so fun. Mom "breaking the rules" just a little to spend time with me doing something that we both wanted to share. I've never forgotten that.

Anyway - as the episode was beginning, it was so cool. Captain Picard, Data, etc. -- all for the first time. And yet, as the episode went on, I found myself getting a little bored. It doesn't help that I really don't like "Q" very much unless he's interacting with Captain Janeway. (John de Lancie and Kate Mulgrew were close friends in real life and it showed in their chemistry on screen.) Anyway - I found myself fast forwarding through most of the Q scenes and all that courtroom stuff. It just wasn't that good of an episode. I was surprised that I didn't enjoy it more.

On the other hand -- I sat down yesterday to watch the pilot of Deep Space Nine. Wow. That show has held up. Five episodes later I finally went to sleep. It was so fun to watch the crew start finding their places -- and the wormhole and the Cardassians and the Kai.... I had forgotten that Garek shows up in the second episode. DS9 tells such a wonderful story. I had forgotten why most people say it was the best Star Trek series. Now I heartily concur. I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Hopefully the 4-7th seasons will also get cheaper!

Engage.