We’ve loved Star Trek a long time. Lately, thanks to the wonders of Netflix, we’ve been able to watch episodes of it in the evenings. We’ve actually turned our kids onto it! Initially, we started watching old episodes of The Next Generation (TNG) but Darc and I have seen them so many times that we could practically recite the episodes based on the vague little episode descriptions that Netflix posted. On a whim one evening, Darc decided to hop over to Star Trek Voyager. Neither of us actually watched the series while it was on – probably due to whatever was going on in our personal lives at the time before we met. So for us, the series seems fresh and new. The kids love it too and even make up little Star Trek stories. We’ve initiated a whole new generation into the Trek world. 
As I watched my daughter mimic Captain Janeway, it made me think of when I first fell in love with Star Trek. I was about her age, a bit younger, just barely 5. Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) must have just gone into syndication or something because it was on in the late afternoon. I remember that because I remember fighting with my sister over the TV. She, in her mature teen fashion, insisted on watching Star Trek and refused, REFUSED to give over control of the TV to her little sister, who was desperate to watch Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood. I remember her standing in front of the TV and blocking me from being able to change the channel. Yes, this was long before remote control days! We were yelling at each other until finally my mother intervened. That’s how I know I was 5, because by the time I was 6 my mother and I were no longer living there.
My sister won the battle. I remember crying. I loved Mr Rogers! He was my friend! How could I go a whole day without watching him? Five-year-old little girls love their fits.
The episode of Star Trek that was on that afternoon was the one with the Abraham Lincoln character. I knew who that was! I learned about him in school and he was on money! Oh, I was mesmerized! They made him look alive again! He was almost real, this greatest of all presidents! (Until Reagan, of course! 
) Captain Kirk and the guy with the pointy ears were amazing to me, able to defeat the hated rock monster, and I became a fan for life. Heroes! I loved heroes! They had cool gadget stuff and traveled through space in a ship that was sort of like a submarine, but much more amazing. They were out there, where the astronauts had recently been, to the moon and beyond (I watched that too!). How could I not love it?
Sure, I still loved Mr Rogers. Always did! The world is a sadder place without him in it. But I found room in my heart that day for the Star Trek neighborhood too, and it’s so cool to be able to share that with my kids now.
Live long and prosper!
You knew I’d get it in somehow!
The "Ness" in DarcNess ;) 
What did you say?