TNG is 20 years old this week, and everyone's going on about Star Wars' 30th.
11 years old, I was in my parents' bedroom, taping the premiere on Betamax while mom got dinner ready. I remember being amazed at how DIFFERENT everything looked on that 13" television, and how much I hated the Galaxy-class Enterprise's shape - at the time, I remarked that the stardrive section without the saucer looked far more proportionate to how the Enterprise SHOULD look. I looked in amazement when Deforrest Kelley showed up to give the show a TOS blessing, and cheered when the Hood showed up (thus validating my love for the design when most 80s Trek fans despised it). And I remember the shock at discovering that Farpoint was alive, as my pre-pubescent naivete couldn't grasp the meaning of the identical sets and Troi's hammy reactions. Ahh, those were the days.
Happy 20th, TNG! Where were YOU guys when you saw the premiere?
Mark
Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
Not to make you feel old... but I would've been three when it originally aired in the US.
Though I reckon it must've been a good half decade later when I got to see it on the BBC. I can't really recall my first taste of TNG, but I since I was so young and I loved TOS, I imagine I was quite accepting of something that was clearly Star Trek, even if it was decidedly less colourful.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
I was 15. We had it on the TVs in the living room and in my parents bedroom. I kept running back and forth watching from either set, and talking with my dad about the show.
During the commercials by buddy would call and we'd talk about the episode. Ahh the days before the Internet and all these chat features...
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
I was two, so I obviously don't remember the first airing. Probably didn't even see it. But I have very distinct memories of watching early eps on my grandmother's television. I rarely thought to watch it at home until DS9 started. But when we were at my grandparents' there was little to do, so I'd watch TNG on a fuzzy black and white TV. I remember seeing parts of Heart of Glory, Conspiracy, and The Royale. I wish I'd been mature enough to understand what was going on and really appreciate its significance.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I was plunked down in front of the TV, aged 12. I'd been looking forward to it for months as I'd kept up with the updates provided in STARLOG, even the drawings of Enterprise that Andy Probert had provided. I remember how frantically worried I was when I couldn't find any episodes for the weeks after that & when "The Naked Now" showed up in January, I was SURE I'd missed months of backstory.
Interestingly enough. I still have the videotape I made of that initial pilot, complete with 1987 commercials.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
You couldn't wait four days for this post, Mark?
I was ... nine.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
I really wasn't interested in TNG when it first came out. I think the first episode which really got me curious was "The Best of Both Worlds". The two parter was certainly a draw for most people to TNG.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
TNG finally started in the UK on BBC2 in 1990, believe it or not. I think Sky had been showing it already.
Posted by HopefulNebula (Member # 1933) on :
I was all of 18 months old. My mom was off doing something--don't remember what, but she wasn't in the house--and my dad plopped me in front of the TV and said "hey, you'll like this." As it happens, I was fascinated, even though I didn't really "get" it at the time.
(For what it's worth, I don't actually remember this; my dad told me the story. I do remember watching TNG as a littl'un, though.)
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
I was 13. I do remember that I watched it every week, but for some reason, the thing I remember most is the Cheerios promotion where you could get a poster of the Enterprise and enter a contest to visit the set or something.
Oh, and here's something I made for the anniversary. Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Kawaii!!!
Bottom left, is that a Q? So cute...
Fourth row, next to last, what is that? Think it's familiar.
Don't know any of the Enterprise aliens as I've only seen one episode, when the yankee and the brit are trapped in an escape pod. Blew my socks off, that.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Oh, that's awesome. I'm pretty sure they're all supposed to be TNG aliens. Let's see here:
Human, Bajoran, Ferengi, Bolian, Andorian
Vulcan, Romulan, Borg, Trill, Cardassian
Klingon, ?????, Benzite, ?????, Zakdorn
Q (or any number of energy beings), ????? (poss. those wierd guys who had Riker trapped in an asylum), Child of Tama, ?????, Pakled
16/20 = good for Mark.
Mark
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Yup, all of them appeared on TNG!
Human, Bajoran, Ferengi, Bolian, Andorian Vulcan, Romulan, Borg, Trill, Cardassian Klingon, Android (like Data), Benzite, Bynar, Zakdorn Q, the Traveler's species, Child of Tama (or Tamarian), Tarchannen III species (that Geordi turned into), Pakled
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Line 3 position 2 - Data Line 4 position 4 - The creature Geordi starts to turn into. Line 3 position 4 = ??
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Ahh, okay. I thought it was a Bynar, but they're typically more purple, so...
Mark
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Pretty sure that is a Bynar, Mark. And the bottom, 2nd from left, is the Traveller. Should I be embarassed that I got 20/20?
--Jonah
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I've been trying to remember when I first heard there was going to be this new Star Trek show, but I can't. Earliest memory I can sum up about it is a picture of the cast on the wall of my brother's dormitory at school, which I thought looked really cheesy. . . Awful-looking tight uniforms! The dark-haird chick's outfit (and hairstyle) is worse though. Is that a Klingon? Is that yellow guy an alien? What's that on the black guy's face? Why do they have an old bald guy in the crew?
Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
It was not until 1989 when TNG first aired in Germany. I knew little about the series before I actually saw it, I only remember that I didn't like the Enterprise-D a lot. I watched "Encounter at Farpoint" together with that girl from the university who was interested into Star Trek too. At some point in the middle of the double episode I got a call from my father who wanted me to pick him up somewhere. So my first experience with TNG remained incomplete.
Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
quote:Oh, and here's something I made for the anniversary. [Big Grin]
Cuuuute! But I got just 18/20.
Posted by Captain Serek (Member # 1038) on :
I was 26 and I taped it and all the subsequent series afterwards.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
If you REALLY wanted to pick the cool little picture apart - the Trill Spots should actually be that species from "The Perfect Mate" - since the Trill first showed up with spots on Deep Space Nine. Posted by AllansFirebird (Member # 1331) on :
Hmm, when TNG premiered, I was exactly one year from being born! I don't think I picked up on Star Trek until I was about 3 or 4 years old.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Same Here, although the earliest TNG episodes I remember watching as a kid was BOBW and Yesterday's Enteprise. I was more concerned with the starships and special effects than the actual plot, but then again what kid wasn't.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: If you REALLY wanted to pick the cool little picture apart - the Trill Spots should actually be that species from "The Perfect Mate" - since the Trill first showed up with spots on Deep Space Nine.
True enough - and none of the elusive Spotted Trill showed up on the series. However, there was one rather sexy example of the species on the bridge in "Insurrection", so I guess the above picture is still valid.
Mark
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
^That was a conscious choice on my part for the Trill, using the one showing up in Insurrection rather than the rather unremarkable version in the TV series.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Still, I calle dit out as Kriosian/Trill. You have to admit Kamala is competition for the sexy spots.
--Jonah
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
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