Why I Sci-Fi: Flashback!

Planets move in and out of view in the "Star Trek:
The Next Generation" opening credits.
Image Source
"Space: the final frontier."

My door isn't shut all of the way, and I sneak to the door frame. The coast is as clear as the voice summoning me from the TV. With a fuzzy stuffed-animal gripped tightly in hand, I continue.

"These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations..."

Tip-toeing to the bend in the hallway, I peer around the corner. My parents are both on the couch, the TV glowing from in front of them.  If I stand, I can see the whole screen.
"To boldly go where no one has gone before."

As the ship soars into view among sparkling stars and gleaming planets, my heart races. The title flashes onto the screen: Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's  world of space travel and adventure. I long to live in the world in this show-- each episode a new world to explore, a new people and problem to meet-- but I will settle for my view from behind the bend in the hallway, for now.

Though the episode is only 40 minutes long, the commercials stretch it to an hour. I duck into the hallway during advertisements, so I don't get caught. It gives me time to think about all the ideas swimming in my head. The episodes fill me with questions-- questions that I wait carefully to ask my mom and dad until after we watch the reruns on Saturday. Can a machine have feelings? Does age affect how much you can know? Can you have too much power? Is it wrong to force people to change if you know what they are doing is wrong? How is there an Earth that has no conflict or war?
"The Next Generation" title plate
 from the opening credits.
Image Source
Once or twice a week for months, I snuck out of my room when Captain Picard's voice called at 9:00.  I was eventually found out after I was caught sneaking back into my room one night, but my parents let me start watching it with them-- as long as my grades were good.

Even today, the opening sequence of Star Trek: The Next Generation still holds a special place in my heart. The powerful music and the opening words are still etched into my memory from years of devotion and consideration. 

 Each time I hear it, I get that same feeling that I did as a 6 year old hiding behind the bend in the hallway. Each time I hear it, I, too, wish to boldly go where no one has gone before.









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