Why I Love Gene Roddenberry

I’ve never been in space.

I’ve never traveled at warp speed.

I’ve never seen or used a transporter.

I’ve never met Gene Roddenberry.

But I love the man and have so for over 46 years.

Or maybe it’s what he did for me and my life.  I remember watching the pilot for a new TV show called Star Trek.  I was a TVholic back then and loved to sit myself down in front of the TV for hours of exciting shows every day.  TV was my escape.

My parents were first generation Americans and they took that very seriously.  Both worked so they could give us a good life.  I am the youngest of four boys and the only one to graduate from college.  My parents saw something in me that even I didn’t see at the time.

I was a dreamer and a tinkerer.  I would take some junk from my father’s work shop and turn it into a toy or create a device I thought would change the world.  None did, but to my parents I had some kind of gift.

Star Trek was billed as a new space adventure.   I loved adventure shows.  Lost In Space was high on my list and I thought this new Star Trek would be just like it.  It wasn’t!

Roddenberry gave me something very different.  He gave me a window into ideas, technology, and dreams.  His Star Trek series only aired for two years yet it left an indelible impression on my young teenage mind.  His show supported the idea that wild, unimaginable, yet simple technological devices could be invented and used in every day life.  I was in awe of the man and what he stood for.

After college I developed a career in technology marketing.  Technology was in my blood.   I loved it and still do.  Many of my jobs included some form of teaching.  Seminars and train the trainer programs were a major part of my life.  And through those years I became a Trekkie.  I think I’ve watched every Star Trek TV series more times than I care to say, every movie, too.  I cannot recite the names and stats of the shows nor the stars, but I can talk to the technology – Gene’s technology!

During his early years as an author, Gene sold stories to flying magazines and poetry to publications such as The New York Times.  Later he became a screenwriter for many of the hits airing at the time.  He pitched ideas for new TV shows and continued to dream.  He was an author with a dream – or should I say dreams.  His mind was a fertile incubator for ideas, plots and inventions.

Gene has impacted many people even after his death.  Star Trek was the first TV show to have an episode housed in The Smithsonian which also has a replica of The Enterprise, on exhibit.

Now, after retiring from my career in technology marketing, I’ve begun to live my dream to write.  My novels contain technology, and ideas for devices that someday might turn out to be more than just an idea.

Young people are the seeds for our future.  Why?  Their minds are fertile.  They have dreams that we cannot even begin to understand.  If we can plant a seed in one of their minds that someday grows into reality, then we’ve accomplished quite a bit.  If stories only help our young people to escape into another world where reality is different, we’ve won.

Yes, I love Gene Roddenberry.  I love what he did for technology, dreams and innovation.  I love what he gave me as a teenager and for all the years after I first saw Star Trek.

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