Launching The Mission...

I was probably something of a latecomer to the world of Star Trek. I was a huge fan of Doctor Who when growing up in the 1980s and I saw Star Trek as very much the opposition.  I also didn't have much of interest in American television, other than being a casual viewer of shows such as The Dukes of Hazard and The Fall Guy that we seemed to have on every Saturday tea time.  My first real encounter with Star Trek would have been when I saw the first two movies in the cinema, but that was because they were science fiction and there wasn't so much of that around in those days, and this didn't trigger any particular interest at that time.

Of course, back at this time, Star Trek meant uniquely the adventures of Kirk, Spock, Bones and company. That of course all changed when The Next Generation launched in 1987. My first exposure to this was seeing an episode at a convention (Tachyon 88 in Stourbridge), which didn't particularly impress me. I did start watching it when UK showings started in 1990, but didn't stick with it that long. But this was around the same time that the series was starting to hit its stride in the States, culminating in The Best of Both Worlds. I was then sucked back in and by the time that Deep Space Nine and Voyager both launched I had been converted and would definitely class myself as a fan. However, my peak fandom didn't last that long and I bailed before the end of Voyager and was only a casual viewer of the first two seasons of Enterprise.

Of course, this chequered history of my Star Trek fandom hasn't stopped me picking up the shows on DVD and Blu-ray. In the case of some of the series, it is to give me a chance to rewatch them since I have only seen most episodes once. In the others, this is for a first viewing. And this includes The Original Series which, despite its iconic status, I have never watched. Having recently completed my collection, it seemed like a good opportunity to do a proper watch through. And I thought that it might be interesting to try blogging about my experiences, not least to keep my motivation for keeping going.

I'm going to watch the shows in the order in which they were made, rather than the chronology of the fictional worlds (so I'll be starting with The Original Series rather than Enterprise). The exception will be where the various series overlapped during the 1990s where I will attempt to interweave them appropriately in order to keep track of the various cross-overs. My source for this ordering will be the excellent Star Trek Chronology Project. I've not yet decided whether to include The Animated Series, which I know has a controversial status in terms of canon. That will probably depend on how well I get on with The Original Series. My intention at this stage is to not include Discovery or the Kelvin-verse movies, because they are just so recent and probably don't warrant a re-watch. However, who knows how old they will be by the time that I get there...

As well as general waffle about the episode, I'm going to try and keep track of the various planets that feature or are mentioned in each episode (a Planetary Gazetteer if you like), as well as the various starships that appear and what we learn about them (some Starship Spotting).

So, that's my introduction to all of this. I think it is time to see what's out there...

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