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Ask Slashdot: How To Introduce Someone To Star Trek?
First time accepted submitter red$hirt writes "I have a few friends, plus my girlfriend, who I would like to introduce to Star Trek. They do have a general interest to watch it, but I'm not sure what's the best way to start. There are so many series and movies and I would like to pick an order that keeps them interested. My first idea is to start off with a few good TNG episodes, and then let them watch First Contact. What does Slashdot think? I'm sure some of you have introduced others to Star Trek before. How did you do it, and how successful were you? Which particular episodes would you recommend watching for someone who is completely new to all this?"
KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!
If you want to keep your girlfriend, forget about Star Trek.
Just a plug for Scalzi's new book, "Redshirts" - it's only indirectly about Star Trek, but well worth the read if you want to get into Trek....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
People either know all about Star Trek or they don't. If they don't, it's because they don't want to. You'll only annoy them by trying to "introduce" them.
Sometimes I'm glad that I'm old. Sheesh, "Introduce" somebody to Star Trek. What a weird concept.
As someone who introduced my ex to Trek a few years back, and who's still in largely into it despite not being together anymore, I took the simple approach of "show the good, skip the crap".
More specifically, this is what I did:
- Saw Star Trek 2009. Explained beforehand, very briefly, that it was a "darker and edgier reboot" of the original series that for canon purposes took place in an alternate universe. Answer any questions she has ("Why is Spock bleeding green? What is a Romulan? What is Warp?")
- Showed her DS9 and TNG, especially First Contact, since that's one of my favourites, along with Generations.
- Watched some Voyager, some Enterprise, etc. A bit of everything.
And that was it. Again... show the good stuff, skip the crap stuff ("Threshold"? What is that? I am not aware of any episode with that title). It's a show with a huge body of content; there are some gems in there, but there are some poo nuggets too.
Check out my sci-fi book "Lacuna" at http://goo.gl/MVxX8
The Next Generation Q episodes are the most demented fun. From Picard waking up in bed after a sexual encounter only to be greeted by Q to my favorite exchange in the final "All Good Things" episode:
Elderly Picard: Q, where's the anomaly?
Elderly Q raises horn to ear: Where's your mommy? Why, I don't know.
Why not? I think it's the best. It's pretty much a soap opera in space. Story arcs some tech babble thrown in.
Get them to watch The Next Generation episode "The Inner Light." This was by far one of the best hours of television in history. Then maybe "City on the Edge of Forever" from the original series. If those don't hook them, don't bother trying any further, it's a hopeless cause.
Worked for me. Although, to tell the truth, Valerie watched some Star Trek with me before Stanley came along.
Bruce Perens.
Most of the faults of DS9 are however made up for by the Defiant when it decides to blow shit up in what usually amount to fantastically one sided fights.
>"I have a few friends, plus my girlfriend"
Oh, c'mon... I stopped believing you right there.
...and nothing else. She will either adapt or leave you.
The one where Vader hacks off his son's hand with a laser sword.
I think DS9 was the best. It was the most emotionally complex Trek series, and showed a future that wasn't so clean and utopian, with people who weren't so predictable. The introspective and rather cynical view it took of the Federation was by itself enough to elevate it above other series.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
>>>Please not Deep Space 9!
Probably not a fan of Babylon 5 either. (Or novels.) I know it sucks when shows make you have to remember plot details over the course of an entire season, but hey, that doesn't mean the show is bad. ;-)
B5 and DS9 still rank up there as my favorite SF shows. Add-in Hercules and Xena and the X-Files and seaQuest (year one) and earth2 and Buffy and Twilight Zone and Outer Limits..... and the 90s was an awesome decade for fantasy/science fiction television. Most of it was produced off-network as individually-funded shows (syndicated). It's a shame the syndication market died out. CW/MyNetworkTV is a poor substitute..... the independent channels died out.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip...
Agreed. It's the only series that's really put forth the possibility that the Federation as a whole wasn't necessarily the "good guys" that knew what was best for everyone. Avery Brooks might actually be my favorite Captain, even above Picard. Definitely a BMF.
My thoughts exactly. If your girlfriend can't stand Star Trek, and you're a costume-wearing Trekkie, then you're in for a world of grief. She doesn't have to be Uhura, but she should like the franchise enough to watch the series without looking like she wants to be doing something else without you. If you're not really a Star Trek fan, forget it. Watch Twilight or Lincoln Vampire Hunter with her.
Ferengis look stupid and because of that, the show looks dorky as fuck
Arrogant Hooman!
Your just jealous because we have the lobes for business and control our females! Or as you hoomans say it, we got all the money and bitches!
Star Trek can be skittish around strangers and if you approach it from the wrong side or too qucikly.
If Star Trek begins to smoke, move away quickly and cover head.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
Your friends will enjoy the moves a lot more after they absorb the chemistry; McCoy + Spock don't really hit their stride until the end of the first season. Anyway, while people with no background in StarTrek certainly can enjoy the movies, people with some background in StarTrek will enjoy the movies at least twice as much. (I say it is worth the wait; you asked for how to best introduce your friends to Star Trek... so realizing there is no need to rush anything will help you do a better job with that introduction).
TOS stories are (mostly) all well done. And the concepts are ground breaking when you consider they were presented in 1968. Some of the social points are astonishing; equality, moral dilemmas, and so on - especially(!) when you compare them to other shows that were airing in the late 60's early 70's. (Myself, I like using TOS as a mirror to get a glimpse of that generation's culture.)
So... maybe show them 3 TOS episodes then leave it at that; more than that will risk burning them out. If they like TOS they'll follow up on their own, or come back for more "home video nights." (And if you can do it, go with the re-mastered TOS; they really do look nicely done).
Maybe for a later "video night" in a do a few TNG episodes. Or they may be grooving on working through TOS. *shrug* Either way, at that point, they will ask for more or just politely nod and focus on other things.
Lastly, and this could be the most important part, show some restraint in pacing and tempo with what you play for your friends. And express interest in what your audience likes and is passionate about; you might find something new that you like, and you will almost certainly learn more about your friends.
One could show Star Trek without Star Trek, by staring with good stories.
TNG: Darmok
DS9: The Visitor
VOY: Blink of an Eye
TOS: The Devil in the Dark, The City on the Edge of Forever
(and a few others)
Such stories are accessible to new viewers since they do not depend on much cannon or story arcs or character history to be fully enjoyable. The major cannon episodes that series fans enjoy for being loaded with many intersections of individual motivations, big conflicts, implicit story, and consequence (e.g., "The Best of Both Worlds") would be lost to anyone who had not been exposed to the big players and landmarks. Starting with character development episodes would bet too much on new viewers caring about the characters on first exposure, and similarly with arc development episodes.
There are 1.1... kinds of people.