



Gamesters of Triskaleon- Dunnat dunat- DUNAT DUNAT- that fight music, the cool weapons, the arena and the brains. This was my first introduction to a long love with Star Trek.

In 1972, we moved in for a year with my grandparents on their farm. I was in second grade, and this we never owned a television. My grandpa had this old black and white “portable” TV with the rabbit ears to help reception. This was propped up on a small table that was near the wood stove my grandma cooked on. It was an old farm house.

Grandpa introduced me to Star Trek, which was one of his favorite shows. It came on right after Dragnet, in the evening. He, myself, and anywhere between 3 and 8 cousins at any given time would all sit around the 15 inch screen and get lost in the stars- enjoying the magic and totally convinced that the Enterprise was real. I still see in my mind the juxtaposition of phasers and the wood stove.

It wasn’t until I was in 6th grade that I had actually seen Star Trek in color. I knew it was in color because of the fan mags that they sold down at the comic store. At the comic store I saw an announcement for a Star Trek Convention at the community college. Oh man! I cajoled and bribed my older cousin to drive me to the convention, where I saw Nichelle Nichols, and spent all my paper route money on an embroidered Engineering Patch, a UFP manual, and what had to be a fan made tribble. My mom pinned the insignia to my shirt on class picture day. I’m a Trekkie for life, and still have that patch. No idea what happened to the tribble.

Thomas Foss

Principle Designer



I started watching Star Trek while The Next Generation was still on its original run – I actually still remember when Deep Space Nine was originally announced. I was still only single-digit-aged, the series ended while I was ten. I watched the show religiously, well, as religiously as an elementary school student could. Each new episode aired weekly on Mondays, if I recall, and was a part of my after school entertainment. Aliens, new worlds, holodecks – it was all so magical. And the cast – Picard, so commanding; Riker, so charismatic; Geordi and Data, so smart; Worf, so cool; and Wesley, the kid I wished I could be. And for the record, I was definitely a Team Beverly (assuming such a thing existed back in those days).

I think my two most vivid memories of TNG were:

The terrible VR game from Season 5’s “The Game” – “How could people who had holodecks find this game fun? I don’t get it! How does the game even work?” Obviously, I did not quite understand concepts like addiction as a kid

My best friend’s father was a dead ringer for Commander Riker. There was actually a photo of him in a Starfleet uniform, and I swore it was just a photo of Jonathan Frakes. I was certain that if they ever needed a stand in, my friend’s father could have done it in an instant.

As of starting at Cryptic, I’ve been watching everything from the very beginning and gaining a new appreciation for the shows that I missed. But what has really fascinated me are the TNG scenes that I remember and the ones I had no recollection of. Twenty-five years later, The Next Generation is still as great as I remember.

Ryon “Melange” Levitt

Staff Content Designer



My first experience with Trek came at the ripe old age of five. I’d channel-surfed into a TOS re-run, and the TV volume was pretty high. I think it was Day of the Dove, because I remember lots of sword-fighting. My mom came in to see what all the noise was about, and asked me what I was watching. When I said “I dunno!” in response, she took a look, smiled, and sat down to tell me all about Trek – that’s Captain Kirk, the bad guys are called Klingons, that man has funny ears because he’s from a planet called Vulcan, the ship’s name is Enterprise, on and on.

It turns out that my mom watched TOS when it was originally on the air, and she was a big fan. We watched the show together often after that, along with the movies when they came out a few years later.

Paul Reed

Content Writer



I grew up on The Original Series. This was the mid to late 70s and the show was in syndication at the time. I couldn’t tell you what was my first episode. My sister was much older than me, and she was a big geek. She exposed me to Star Trek as well as all kinds of sci-fi and monster movies. I remember her taking me to drive-ins to watch horror movies and staying up late with her watching all kinds of science fiction. I remember she bought me my first book which was a graphic novel of TOS A Piece of the Action. It was a small novel sized paper back with frames from the episode, and the dialog from the show - very much like a comic book.

As soon as The Next Generation was released, I jumped on that, and then Deep Space 9, Voyager and Enterprise. When I moved to California, and met my wife, the first movie we saw together was Free Enterprise. If you have not seen it, it’s a comedy about 2 friends obsessed with Star Trek who meet Willian Shatner. Soon after that, we had a standing date to watch TNG every Wednesday on syndication together. A few years ago, we renewed our wedding vows on the bridge of the Enterprise at the Las Vegas Star Trek convention, and had the honor to have Denise Crosby preside over the ceremony.

So Star Trek is in my blood.

LLAP

Al “Captain Geko” Rivera

Design Lead

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