To Boldly Go Where Everyone Else Did 20 Years Ago

Do you ever have a day where you don't watch TV and you feel pretty dang good about yourself?  Today is one of those days... so far.  

Currently, I am watching Star Trek The Next Generation on Netflix and I am on season 4.  You know how when you start to read a book and you just can't get into it for the first few chapters and then suddenly it hits you that you are loving it?  That is where I am on Star Trek The Next Generation.  I should have always loved it, right?  I did as a kid.  Didn't I?

It is not as great as the original Star Trek.  (Oddly enough the Next Generation effects are dated enough to look the same as the original.)  But it has its place.  It really is quite different from the original.  So I will not compare.  I feel that is wrong.

Part of why I couldn't get into Star Trek The Next Generation is because of my wife.  She watched them for years with her family growing up and I got the impression she didn't like it, that somehow it was a form of abuse for her.  But I was wrong.  She does like it.  She just doesn't want to watch it again.  Weird!

For me, everything after Season 2 is all brand new.  I stopped watching it back then.  I guess I might have gotten too cool for it.  I remember my best friends would watch it.  And D's girlfriend was really into the whole Troi aspect of it.  Like, each time Troi would say: "I sense a lot of conflict in this alien being and that they are not telling the truth", it would generate all new discussion.  For me, I am thinking:  "Really, Troi?  You say that about everyone you encounter.  Isn't it possible that alien ships encountering this huge mother of a ship with tons of firepower might not tell the complete truth when lined up in the crosshairs?"

But I like Troi.  I like everybody.  I even like Wesley Crusher.  Funny, I am trying to think of who I don't like.  I think I am suspicious of Riker not being likable.  At the start of an episode, I have doubts about him, but he always wins me over by the end.  

I was pretty mad at Troi for being such a big baby when she lost her empathic ability a couple episodes back.  She resigned and went through the whole drama thing.  I know that was the point of it all.  She was finally learning what it was like to be human rather than betazoid.

So perhaps all of this is me coming to terms with my inner nerd.  Or is it innerd?  I know with all my star wars movie knowledge and other geek things I do, I have always qualified on some level.  But I think embracing Star Trek The Next Generation as something great at this point in my life is really saying a lot about how uncool I have become.  Finally!!!