The Good Stuff

First Contact Day

On April 5, 2063, a Vulcan survey ship lands in Bozeman, Montana after detecting a warp-capable ship launching from there earlier that day. The Vulcans are greeted the ship’s designer and pilot, Zefram Cochrane, and the rest is (future) history.

I’ve always been a hardcore Trekkie, having started watching the original series in reruns as a kid in the Seventies, seeing all of the original cast movies in the theater, watching all of the spinoff series from The Next Generation through Enterprise live in broadcast. I read the comics and the novels, played the video games and got the roleplaying games. I’d return to Trek whenever I needed it, and these last few years I’ve needed it a lot.

At the beginning of the pandemic I started rewatching The Original Series, introduced my son to Deep Space Nice, and then proceeded to rewatch all of The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Enterprise, and am currently working my way through the last few seasons of Voyager. I’ve read giant stacks of Star Trek novels and comics, technical manual and series companions. And with all of the new Trek being produced–Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and Strange New Worlds, to say nothing of all of the legacy shows being available to stream, I don’t think there has ever been a better time to be a Star Trek fan. And with the state of the world and all of the challenges facing us today, it’s arguable that we’ve never needed Trek more than we do right now. Stories about competent people working together, overcoming their differences and finding strength in their diversities, solving problems with science and cooperation. Sounds pretty good to me.

Happy First Contact Day to all who celebrate. Live Love and Prosper, Peace and Long Life.

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