Hello everyone. I am the newest contributor here at Redshirts Always Die. Before I started providing more thorough coverage of the franchise we all love, I figured I would take a little time to introduce myself and let you know where I’m coming from.
Star Trek has always been a part of my life. When Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country came out, my sister and I had the chickenpox. My dad had asked my mom if he could go see it and she said, “You can do what you want.” So of course being the big Trekkie my dad was, he went and saw it. My mom wasn’t too happy about that and this lead to my Trek related lesson: If a woman says “do what you want” that usually means that you shouldn’t.
Later on, I remember having the “I Can Draw Star Trek” book and watching “Space Seed.” My dad encouraged me and together we would watch whenever it was on. I had a few novels then (Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens comes to mind), but I wasn’t really that into them at the time. The one thing that sticks out to me that made me really enthusiastic about Trek was when I watched Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Eleven year old me was completely enthralled at that point. In fifth grade, some 20 years ago, I remember writing a short story for class where I was captain of the Enterprise.
As I became older, I was able to get all the original series on DVD followed by the animated series. While I was stationed in California for the Marine Corps, these were my connection back to my family. During the fortieth anniversary, I really got into the novels. I read quite a few titles including Prime Directive by the aforementioned Reeves-Stevens team, Spock, Messiah! by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr., Vulcan’s Glory by D.C. Fontana, and The Entropy Effect by Vonda N. McIntire.
Once I was stationed with my permanent unit, I got into Enterprise. I watched the entire series as it came on when SyFy had it. During that time I also watched a few Next Generation episodes, but my knowledge was contained mainly to their movies. It wasn’t until I was well out of the Marine Corps that I caught up on the other series, but more on that later.
Next: Is Star Trek: Discovery Worth Watching?
By the time Star Trek (2009) came out, I was eagerly anticipating seeing my first Trek movie in theaters. My previous record for seeing a movie was held by Titanic when it came out. I saw 09 about eight times at the box office and even picked up the comic Countdown. One of my last viewings was with my dad. Since there were rumblings online about some of the fans not liking it for one reason or another, I was was curious as to his thoughts. He enjoyed it almost as much as I did. Ever since then, we have seen Into Darkness and Beyond together.
It was after seeing Beyond and the announcement of what would be Discovery that I decided to catch up on the rest of the franchise. I did my first beginning to end watch of TNG and later went on to Deep Space Nine with little trouble, but found myself struggling to get through Voyager (and still do). I also decided to check out Star Trek Continues during this time. And yes I know it’s not official canon, I consider it the fifth season of TOS with TAS being the fourth. Once DSC started, my dad and I continued our tradition of watching new Trek together, this time with my girlfriend. Most every Sunday we gathered to watch Discovery and enjoyed it thoroughly.
For the season finale, my dad and I watched it together. When the final scene happened, my dad was nearly crying tears of joy. Some things during the season didn’t make much sense to him, but I was able to explain a few things. I think up until the moment the Enterprise appeared, we was a bit skeptical of when it actually did take place.
So far I have not been able to attend any convention, Trek specific or otherwise, but hopefully I will in the future. My favorite thing about Trek is that even when it seems dark, you can always see the bright hope of a future worth fighting for. This is one of the things that has directed my line of thinking.
As far as writing style and approach from me, you can expect me to provide facts on the subject matter and opinions based on the question, “Where does Star Trek want to take me today?” This is how I have approached each iteration of Star Trek I have come across. While season two of Discovery is airing, I will post reviews of each episode and provide my thoughts on what could happen. Until then, I will provide my thoughts on season one. I will also provide from time to time reviews on some of the novels I have read, including the tie-in novels for DSC.
I know this is a bit long winded, but I am now finished. If you would like to interact with me, you can follow me on Twitter @thekrishill. I am also in quite a few Star Trek groups on Facebook.
I look forward to providing the best content I can for those of you that follow this page.