Welcome to the Hawking, and welcome to our first Blog entry.
I’d just like to say a few words about why I put this group together.
I discovered Trek in the early 1990s (It was the episode the “Quality of Life”). This was arguably the dawn of the golden time of Star Trek’s 30th anniversary. Here in the UK Star Trek the Next Generation was being screened every day at 5pm and 10pm on Sky. So, either I would tape the 5pm showing to watch (my Mum was usually watching something at the time) or on rare occasions I would get to stay up until 10.
As I said, this was a golden time. Later that year, there was a new incarnation of Star Trek to watch, Deep Space Nine. For the next year or so, we would have alternating seasons of Deep Space nine and Voyager. Meanwhile the daily repeats would alternate between TNG and TOS. As a collector, I started collecting the VHS Versions of the previous movies, and in the run up to Generations on the big screen, the videotapes of the TV Movie versions of TNG two part episodes.
Actually, this video says it better than I could:
So, to put that in perspective, there were hundreds of Trek episodes I hadn’t seen yet. They were being shown twice daily Meanwhile, there was probably a new Trek episode shown at the weekend. On top of that, there were weekly showings on the BBC, there were books coming out almost monthly. We never seemed far away from a new movie, Voyager launched, and a little bit later it was the 30th anniversary, where Trek went back on its own history.
All the while I was enamoured with this wonderful universe, a place where people accepted you for who you are, where you are encouraged to be the best version of you that you can be The awesome special effects and cool battle scenes helped too.
Sadly, this golden era would end. We went back to just one incarnation of Trek on the small screen that was cancelled. On the big screen, what was billed as a generations final journey became a self-fulfilling prophecy as poor performance at the box office led to Trek being rested.
While it feels short, I look back on that era as a good run The only thing missing was people to share Trek with. My Dad was a fan before I was, but he wasn’t the type to go to a convention. It wasn’t until I ended up with an income of my own in the mid 2000s that I felt motivated to go out and seek other fans.
This intensified when 2009 came out, I started to seek out meet ups. I found clubs and conventions, but there was no new Trek, save for periodic visits to the Kelvin timeline.
Over the past few years, the winds have started to change. As corporations produce their own streaming platforms, there has been a rush to find content to fill them. Star Trek is no exception. Discovery has earned its second season Two more films are in the pipeline, one of which is directed by Quentin Tarantino. Alex Kurtzman has been named overseer of an overall franchise for CBS, which will include more shows. It looks like there is going to be plenty of new Trek on the horizon.
And that’s why I set up the Hawking. To create a group where everyone, new fans and old can come and enjoy the shared universe of Star Trek both on screen and off. It’s a fantastic time to be a fan, and I hope you will consider joining us!