Everyone has turning points in their lives. I could include among mine the day I answered a personal ad that led to me meeting the woman I would marry; the days I brought my kids home from Korea and a few others.

One of them, however, happened exactly 30 years ago today. This is the 30th anniversary of the day I became a Star Trek fan.

How do I know this so exactly? Mostly, it's because it happened immediately following game 1 of the 1975 World Series. I was at a friend's house watching the game, and Star Trek came on immediately after Luis Tiant finished off the Cincinnati Reds. The episode was Who Mourns for Adonais, the one where the Enterprise is captured by a being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo. It was a good episode with lots of action; Scotty gets zapped by Apollo, the ship gets "grabbed" by his giant hand/energy field. The best part was when the Enterprise fires on Apollo's temple/power source as Apollo shoots lightning bolts at the ship. Let me tell you, for an 11-year-old, a guy shooting lightning bolts out of his fingertips is pretty damn cool! I just watched the episode again tonight and it is still very good.

So, I was instantly hooked. I started watching the show religiously (5PM on channel 10 in Providence). I bought whatever I could, especially the James Blish novelizations of the episodes, which I read over and over again. In those pre-VCR days I taped the audio of the episodes off the TV onto cassettes.

What about Star Trek grabbed my imagination? There are a lot of things. At a young age, the stories (which can be watched on so many levels) and the action interested me. As I got older, I started to recognize the things that Gene Roddenberry was trying to say behind the stories. Star Trek (in all it's incarnations) dealt with heavy issues like war, intolerance, racism and many others.

Of course, the overriding philosophy of the show that humanity will eventually overcome all the issues that divide us today, solve the problems we face and go to the stars remains extremely compelling. As good as some of the new wave of science fiction shows like Firefly and Battlestar Galactica are, Star Trek's optimistic outlook on humanity still make it shine over every other science fiction show ever aired.

The other big moment in my life relating to Star Trek was the day I discovered fandom. One day in the winter of 1982 I was reading a free weekly paper in Providence called The New Paper. I noticed a classified ad with the headline Attention Star Trek Fans. The ad was for a local Star Trek fan club called the USS Ursa Minor. I responded to the ad and soon heard from Admiral Dave (although I think he was only Captain Dave back then). We soon met, and we became (and remain) great friends. I also joined Starfleet: The International Star Trek Fan Association and The Boston Star Trek Association and was heavily involved in fandom until the kids came home. Even today I still run the USS Christa McAuliffe's email list, which has helped keep the group that I co-founded nearly 20 years ago alive.

Without a doubt, the greatest gift that Star Trek has given to me is my friends. I have made so many wonderful friends over the years, many of whom I consider family. I can't even imagine what my life would be without them. It's truly remarkable that this TV show brought us all together.

So, thanks, Star Trek for 30 great years. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next 30!