fanboy

Unlike most fans who got to watch the series, I learned my Trek via the novels. This guy in my high school, Ericson Chua, pushed Star Trek (and Tom Clancy) on me. And pretty soon, I was hooked. I was into Classic and The Next Gen, and bought and devoured every novel I could get from National Bookstore Greenhills. A lot of the books weren't great, but there are gems in there. And regardless of style or technique, a kid couldn't ask for more than space myths about friendship, life and destiny.

And then I found out everything I knew wasn't canon. The books weren't kosher. I was out of sync with the TV series and the movies. So in 1995, I got myself the Star Trek Chronology by Michael and Denise Okuda. It summarized all episodes from Classic to TNG Season 5, provided graphic timelines, included the alternates, explained stardates and all that awesome shit. It was all indexed and cross-referenced. It was a great way get on track and figure everything out.

Anyway, watching this new Star Trek got me missing my old books. They sit on my top shelf gathering dust. But I'm thankful I kept them all, and with this awesome reboot, everything seems so fresh and great again. It's a good feeling, and I know it sounds incredibly funny, but I feel a certain amount of hope and joy.

PS: I haven't heard from Ericson in awhile. I hear he went on to work for Canon Japan, either designing or writing code for the CCD that's inside my professional digital camera. That or NASA. I forget.