217: Where the Trek Begins

[Brendan Sears]

Where the Trek Begins

Riverside, IA, is an ordinary Midwestern town but for one rare distinction: It's the future birthplace of James Tiberius Kirk, Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Brendan Sears makes a voyage to Riverside to learn what it really means to be a Trekkie.

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[scnj]

Wow. You followed the Enterprise through the desert? That must have been surreal to say the least.

 

[molimo223]

This is awesome! I love your style of writing - very engaging! I couldn't stop reading! I never really watched Star Trek before either, but now maybe I will!

 

[Glerken]

Wonderful read, well written and engaging.
So was Caties.

One of these days I might watch a star trek movie. One of these days...

 

[The Random One]

Are you serious? You went to a dead-end town in the middle of nowhere and it just happened to randomly be on the one day in which there was a trekkie gathering in there? That story is awesome beyond belief.

I now wonder if when someone decided Kirk had been born in Riverside they meant that town or they just made up a name that sounded rural-American and it happened to match a city or twelve.

 

[Tiamat666]

I think Star Trek sucks.

Well no, maybe it doesn't suck completely, but it's pretty lame. Everything is shiny, humanity is so nice and perfect, the aliens all look like humans (yes I know the explenation and it's lame), the stupid holodeck where it's possible to simulate everything, time travel (only cool if it's done right, and in ST it isn't)...

Maybe I would have liked Star Trek better if I hadn't seen Star Wars first, which is a thousand times more colorful, deep and interesting universe.

 

[heather_hangs_it]

loved the recounting of your almost-failed road trip! sorry, but if i were there, i might have demanded skipping out on dinner with the fam for that experience. the imagery you used was great... hope to read more from you!

oh, and tiamat666, you really can't compare star trek and star wars. apples and oranges, really. i think fans might sometimes be only a fan of one or the other. no need to hate on the whole legacy just because you didn't dig it...

 

[L-tothe-bizz]

This was a great story, even though I would have skipped dinner to stay as well. But it had me laughing out loud throughout. Alas, I've never been a big Star Trek fan, but I know several people who are, and you've captured the pain of being an outsider on all the Trekky jokes...well, maybe pain isn't the right word

I've recently joined The Escapist, and I'm already enjoying this!

 

[natey]

I too am a Star Wars child, but you helped clear up the confusion of this Roddenberry something or other. A great read!

Seems like a heck of a gamble, wandering around in the desert. Good thing that spaceship showed up. Sounds a little like A New Hope, but that's impossible.

 

[dorm41baggins]

I wonder what the reaction of all those trekkies who had traveled to the birthplace of Kirk for the screening was when they finally saw it and realized, five minutes in, that the movie changed the continuity so Kirk wasn't even born on Earth- let alone Iowa.

 

[Justin Brandau]

Very late reply.(not sure why it came up tonight) but I think this story was and is bunk. As a person who lived the next town up at the time this story was written. As well as being a fan and active member of events in the small town. I can feel very confident in saying this story while well written is bull hock!

 

[pilouuuu]

I think Star Trek sucks.

Well no, maybe it doesn't suck completely, but it's pretty lame. Everything is shiny, humanity is so nice and perfect, the aliens all look like humans (yes I know the explenation and it's lame), the stupid holodeck where it's possible to simulate everything, time travel (only cool if it's done right, and in ST it isn't)...

Maybe I would have liked Star Trek better if I hadn't seen Star Wars first, which is a thousand times more colorful, deep and interesting universe.

I grew up with Star Wars too, but now I find much more entertainment in watching Star Trek The Next Generation episodes after the disappointing SW prequels. Those movies were reason enough to not like the franchise as much as I did. I just pretend the two first prequels didn't exist, but I still can't enjoy watching the movies again as I did before because now everytime I look at Darth Vader I remember the two annoying actors who played him and I go "Noooooooo!".

Star Trek is fun because it has no limits. While Star Wars was more about action and mysticism, ST can talk about politics (in an engangin way, unlike The Phantom Menace), ethical dilemmas, humanity, destiny, science, etc, etc, etc. And if you think that time travel was done badly on Star Trek then you never seen Yesterday's Enterprise.

Thanks George Lucas for making me enjoy Star Trek more than ever!