I got asked an interesting question by my son (age 6) today. Recently, since starting piano lessons, he's become very interested in orchestral movie themes - H Potter, Star Wars, stuff like that. So, I had burned the DS9 theme on a disk along with various other stuff to listen to as we drove around on errands. He liked it, asked what it was from and asked me "can we watch Star Trek, I'd like to start from the beginning".
Now he's seen some episodes when I'm watching them but has only just recently gotten to the point where he's interested in something with that sort of action/dialoge.
So here's my question - where's the beginning? If I start with TOS I think I'm going to lose his interest (heresy, heresy). Seriously, 60's level effects I'm not sure he'll suspend disbelief. I don't much want to sit through the first movie, and Khan doesn't mean much unless you at least know who Spock is.
Anybody taken this on?
Posted by Kazeite (Member # 970) on :
If he's 6 year old, then I don't think that he's going to lose his interest watching TOS - children imagination often can do wonders
And if he does, then you can always skip the rest of TOS and jump to the movies. This way he'll have at least basic understanding who those people are what they do, AND have apprioprate frame of reference to appreciate refit Enterprise
All IMHO Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Hate to say it, but it's either TNG or TOS for a kid- Enterprise was cool, but not geared to children's sense of wonder, action and most imporntantly, easy to follow plot, like TOS was.
I bet he'll love Enterprise once he's in fifth grade- and he's got a better grasp of storytelling (and raging hormones).
I'd get him hooked on only the good TOS stuff (no Spock's Brain, then select TNG and finally the war epic DS9 stuff ('cause ships exploding will make any kid a fan of sci-fi!).
Read him War of The Worlds- by Wells, not Speilberg. Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
Please don't call it "Sci-Fi". It denegrates the Genre. Personally I grew up watching TNG. I never really got into TOS or Voyager. So I say start him off with TNG, and the rest will fall into place.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
Um, what? What are you referring to?
Posted by Toadkiller (Member # 425) on :
quote:Originally posted by Da_bang80: Please don't call it "Sci-Fi". It denegrates the Genre. Personally I grew up watching TNG. I never really got into TOS or Voyager. So I say start him off with TNG, and the rest will fall into place.
Take a look at the site name - we're already degenerates.
Posted by OnToMars (Member # 621) on :
I'd say start with the select TOS, Balance of Terror, Space Seed, maybe City on the Edge of Forever....um....there have to be more....
Then jump to Wrath of Khan and go through the movies and start into TNG.
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
Interesting question! My personal opinion is that the answer for which series will create a new fan will invariably depend on the individual. The first episode of Trek I ever saw was "Yesterday's Enterprise" (how confusing!), but it was DS9 that hooked me on the franchise, most specifically with season one's "Duet".
For a six-year-old, however, I'd suggest a small sampling of the various series. Start with TOS for a few episodes to show how things got started, then move on to the others in order.
I'd recommend "The Trouble with Tribbles", that's a really fun one to grab his interest. And "The City on the Edge of Forever" would be a great time travel story, too. "Balance of Terror" might be a little dramatic, but is great to introduce and underscore the concept of alien races, anti-alien bigotry, and commonality among cultures.
Believe it or not, I wouldn't necessarily do any of the movies as an introduction, for various reasons. TMP is too plodding and dull, TWOK is a bit intense for a 1st grader, TSFS is a sequel, TVH is IMO the least Trekkish of the films and doesn't really capture the spirit of the franchise (despite being very fun and relevant in some ways, it's not great for a Trek primer), TFF just sucked, and TUC would probably be a bit over his head with all the politics.
As for the other series.... well, there's so many in TNG it's hard to really screw up. The real meat of DS9 might be hard for him grasp at such a young age (though I could be wrong). Voyager was decent, but simplistic in some ways.
I know I haven't been the most coherent, but I'm working retail during the holiday season, so cut me a break. I'm this close to hating all of humanity at the moment. Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Aren't we all? Try working for FedEx at the holidays....
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Hmmm - tough call with TOS. I never appreciated the show until watching a marathon on Cable here in Australia they showed the entire season 1 at once - I watched pretty much every episode - and sat through the eps I had seen as one offs... by about the eighth episode the sixties film grain, crappy effects and bright garish colours began to disappear - and I really saw the show for it's core strengths of characters and story telling.
Hmmm a 6 year old... I'd say start with - oh it's so hard... The Movies??
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
If he says he wants to start at the beginning, start at the beginning. If you get a couple episode into TOS and he says "oh, man, this is so old and so crap", switch to TNG or something.
Posted by Vice-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
At 6 years old even Spock's Brain might seem more interesting at his age. Although I'd hate to explain the short skirts, go go boots, and garish colors than why Spock got a remote control.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yeah, he's still a bit too young for the whole "pussy makes the world go 'round" speach.
Posted by Vice-Admiral Michael T. Colorge (Member # 144) on :
Isn't that speech best for Enterprise?
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Well......no. TOS was just as...ah...."hormonally attractive" to it's viewers.
Many of the first wave of Trekkies were teenage boys when TOS aired- those veryshort skirts were part of the 60's appeal. Enterprise's sexality was more blatant, and ultimately less effective, but times had changed and standards had risen after TNG and DS9.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I tend to think that a 6 year old is going to be much more forgiving of TOS special effects than an older person, simply because he'll have less to compare it to. Unless he's super advanced for his age (and yes, everyone thinks that their kid is advanced) he's much more likely than adults to see a ship, rather than a big wooden model (I don't think kids completely understand cartoons until they're around 8, for that matter).
So yeah, show him some TOS. I'd go with BOT (for super fight battles), Arena (for manly man battles), Amok Time (to make him like the characters), Doomsday Machine (space battles again, everyone loves them), and then whatever. And, as Tim said, if he doesn't like it switch to TNG. Although I'd be very selective about the first couple of seasons there, too.
Also, don't overload him. Do one or two episodes at a time. Don't sit him down and try and get him through a season in a week.
If he likes TOS, you could always get him TWOK for Christmas...
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
I grew up on TOS re-runs (parents were fans from the get-go), and I loved them, even though I didn't always get what was going on. By the time I was twelve, I had my brain wrapped all the way round it, and was perfectly primed for TVH and TNG. By that time, I was already writing, drawing, and gaming Trek. And no, I didn't lead a sheltered childhood.
My only real suggestion would be to make sure you keep track of the timeline. Start him on DS9 at the appropriate point in TNG's run. Ditto for Voyager. I actually did something really cruel for a friend of mine who I was taking on a crash course through Trek -- I showed the first act of Generations up to the loss of Kirk after TUC. Then I hit stop and the rest didn't get seen until the end of TNG. For him, it was exquisite agony, and seeing Kirk in the Nexus had a lot more impact (as did his later death[?]). Your milage may vary.
--Jonah
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Wow, to be able to experience that for the first time - i.e. not even seeing Generations for the first time but just all of TOS and the TOS movies UP till that scene. And then jump to Encounter at Farpoint.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
It's almost cruel.
But I'd tend to think that any time-sorted order might be lost on someone that age. At least with regards to TOS. How many arguments have been made about what that order is, and I suspect a six-year-old would find little benefit there. The confounding temporal quality kind-of works in your favor, TK. At that age I knew that my dad liked it a lot, and that my dad was smart, and so I got a lot just out of watching it with him. (also plaguing him with questions).
Which is to say that I grew up on TOS and I'd say it played a big part in my morality and fascination with the sciences. I worry that we're focusing too much on the 'adult' TOS episodes. Things like "I Mudd", "Devil in the Dark" "Plato's Stepchildren", "Mark Of Gideon", "Savage Curtain" and "Shore Leave" (gads, even "Charlie X") are gonna catch their attention, focus it. Bright colors, action, unambiguous morality. "Last Battlefield" left a big impression, and I only found out why much later. I do remember the first time I watched "Space Seed" and there's that speech at the end speculating about coming to see the fruit of what they planted here today (mind you, this was before TWOK). I too wondered what might become of Kahn and his supermen. It had a big impact. And then my favorite movie of all time ever came out and answered my question for me.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Hey Charlie X - was scary - well that scene with the woman with no face!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
No.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
I had no problem suspending disbelief when I saw the TOS-ep with the silicon cave monster, I actually felt for it when seeing the cavern of crushed eggs and hearing Spock's paraphrasing during the mind meld. And Bones was the funny too. This was when I was 12, ie twice as dumb as six, so your squirt would like a lot of the eps, I'll wager. Although I don't think Mudd is so appropriate, kids can't relate to boozing, whoring smugglers until they've seen and accepted Han Solo, so I fear he might be at a loss with Mudd.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Oh - I've ALWAYS loved "Devil in the Dark" - the mind-meld scene is AMAZING. As I've said elsewhere previously - I'm a TNG/DS9 introductee - not TOS - so when the episode can distract me from the "sixties-ness" of everything - it had to be a good episode.
What happened another time was that on cable here they had a TOS season 1 marathon - before that i'd only ever seen a scattering of TOS - after about the first 6 episodes - the "sixties-ness" - the film grain, the low-quality effects etc became unnoticable - and I began watching and appreciating the episodes for what they were. They are amazing stories no matter what. I was able to experience Trek like someone who was watching it for the first time when it first aired.
And YES - that woman with no face was freaky!
Posted by steve12553 (Member # 1809) on :
I was 13 when TOS came out. I saw some of the episodes in black and white because we didn't have a color set yet. It was wonderful, like nothing I ever seen before. You son should adore it. You must remember that if the newer series' were not flashier with better special effects and equal good stories for their time there would not have been 5 series and a cartoon series and nearly a dozen movies. If yoy haven't seen the later ones the earlier ones work real well and you have a foundation to really appreciate the newest ones.
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)