Exploring Star Trek Again

 “It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

— Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Kirk and Khan pass nearby, trading shots,
in a Star Trek: Attack Wing game.

We’re a fandom family. Even so, our enthusiasm has limits; like most fans, we have our favorite films, books, and television/streaming shows. It’s not comprehensive. Even within a genre we can’t watch and read everything, nor must we like one thing because we happen to enjoy another, similar thing. Some past media fades as our interests change (and sometimes as the media changes). But overall we enjoy immersing ourselves in fantastic fictional universes that cater to our tastes. Star Trek remains perhaps one of the oldest fandoms among science fiction aficionados. And yet I suppose I’d characterize my activities regarding Star Trek over the years as “dabbling.” But now my teenage son’s getting interested in it after seeing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the big screen (after a viewing of the classic Trek episode “Space Seed” that introduces Khan). So we as a family are exploring it (again, for some of us) and we’re enjoying some father-son Star Trek gaming, too.

I have, at various times in my life, immersed myself in Star Trek; but never to any lasting, deep level as I have Star Wars or even Indiana Jones. Often my interest in it came from a belief that if I enjoyed science fiction I should also enjoy Star Trek. As a kid I’d seen a few episodes in syndication on TV. I bought Star Fleet Battles: Captain’s Edition Basic Set shortly after it released and I gave the system a try, but I found it dreadfully complicated. In my early adult years, fresh out of college in the early 1990s, I started watching Star Trek: The Next Generation with friends. I avidly followed Deep Space Nine when it premiered, though my interest lasted only a season or two. Around this time I devised a very basic Star Trek roleplaying game I ran a few times with friends who were also fans. Even while working at West End Games I still found time to dabble, following the first season of Voyager and going to the theater to see the first few Next Generation films. During my desperate freelance years I wrote and edited for two different Trek roleplaying games and ran a game or two at conventions.

So my interest in Trek has lurked quietly but steadily in the background of my life. Aside from the few reference and author copies of the roleplaying games I worked on I really don’t have many Trek-related games. I picked up Decipher’s colletable card game when it released and played around with it on my own (the cards are still around here somewhere...). I bought into WizKids’ Star Trek: Attack Wing game since I liked the system as seen in the X-wing Miniatures Game; over the years I’ve acquired a decent number of ships and played out a scenario occasionally. I joined a game or two at conventions, including a few with my son when he was younger; we invariably experienced crushing defeats at the hands of the Borg or Dominion. The only other game we’ve tried is Star Trek Panic, based on the cooperative Castle Panic. So most of my Trek gaming has been as relatively casual as my fan interest.

I’m sure my son’s been aware of Star Trek for a while, but never really felt compelled to dive into it like other media we adore. Obviously we’re huge Star Wars fans. My wife’s engaged my previously casual Godzilla and kaiju interests and excited our son with it. We all have our favorite Doctors from both classic and more recent Doctor Who. I’ve enjoyed aspects of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, though others in our family have a passing interest in it. We all have our favorites movies among the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one of the more recent series we’ve discovered.

I’m not quite sure where my son caught his recent interest in Star Trek, given it’s occasional quiet presence in the cultural background. Perhaps he found inspiration in a recent double-feature screening of the original episode “Space Seed” and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He’d seen the film before, but not the episode on which its titular character was based. Afterward he asked if we had any episodes of the television series. Over the years of shopping at our regional used bookstore — which carries a decent selection of CDs, board games, roleplaying games, and DVDs/Blu-rays — I’d picked up a few seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (I still have a few VHS episodes I bought ages ago as “research” for writing for those games.) After seeing Khan in the theater (which we have on DVD) my son found a three-season DVD set of Deep Space Nine and a few of the movies we don’t have; he later found season two of the original series. So we started diving into Trek, beginning with some NextGen Ensign Ro episodes (to provide some context for DS9). A few classics followed, notably “Darmok.” We watched Star Trek IV: The Journey Home, which was a fun romp and quite a tight story. Then a few original Trek episodes, “The Trouble with Tribbles” and “A Private Little War.” I’m sure we’ll continue our Trek viewing well into the summer.

Parallel to our media consumption we’ve looked over my small fleet of Star Trek: Attack Wing vessels and fought a few scenarios: a Maquis ambush on a Cardassian patrol; Federation ships protecting outposts from Romulan or Klingon attacks; and, of course, Kirk’s battle against Khan in the Mutara Nebula. As my son experiences the Trek universe for the first time he’s forming his own opinions about favorite characters, starships, and aliens...which influences his game decisions. He’s often thrilled to see how game elements reflect the realities of the setting seen in media. I suspect we’ll get Star Trek Panic to the table, soon, too, especially after we watch a few more original series episodes.

Although my own interest in Star Trek has ebbed and flowed over the years, I’m pleasantly revisiting it all as my son discovers it for himself and shares his enthusiasm as we explore it together. It’s inspired a few family conversations about our favorite (or least favorite) episodes and films, how we as the older generation discovered and reacted to Star Trek in a very different media landscape, and, of course, some of the larger lessons the series tried to instill in us. While the original series episodes can seem dated as products of their time, the show and later iterations still hold up in both entertainment value and the messages they present about our current society...even decades after they premiered. It’s a wonderful family journey in television and games, an uplifting diversion in troubling times that might inspire us to pursue some of the hopeful, compassionate aspirations Trek envisioned for our society’s future.

“Humans do have an amazing capacity for believing what they choose — and excluding that which is painful.”

— Mr. Spock