Star Trek... the final frontier. I'm a fan of scifi--movies, shows, books, video games--but I've never seen a season of Star Trek. It feels like a (black) hole in my cosmic pop culture lexicon.
I'm not one to want to watch or read something simply because everyone else has, but Star Trek is classic. It feels like the bible of the modern scifi religion. And I'm sick of missing all the references.
So I'm embarking on a quest to rectify this gap, and because I'm having trouble justifying watching 176 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (132 hours, or 5.5 days) with zero productive purpose, I'm giving myself a continuing mission:
to explore these strange new episodes and pull one startup, entrepreneurship, tech, or investment lesson from each.
Scifi is a great predictor of future tech trends and my go-to genre for (healthy) escapism at the end of the day. I feel like it's valuable to envision where tech could be far outside the confines of what's feasible today.
I'm not even sure I can do this. Some of these posts will be short. Some will be pathetic. Some, hopefully, will be useful and inspired. I am not committing to doing this within any set time frame. I promise nothing except to plow forward until Netflix asks if I am, in fact, still watching. These are the voyages of Startup Trek.
Why TNG?
1. I tried The Original Series (aired 1966-1969), and although I appreciate how groundbreaking it was, the hokeyness and crappy effects are tough to handle 50+ years later. 2. Nostalgia. TNG aired from 1987-1994, when I was a kid, and I have vague but happy memories of catching bits of episodes with my dad when I was too young to know what was going on.
3. Picard just seems like a badass.
Are you a Star Trek fan? Any reflections, tips, or strategies on what I'm about to do?
Get started with my post on Season 1, Episode 1, “Encounter at Farpoint” here.