A Little Bit About Me and My Scifi

I’ve been wandering around the internet for over 10 years now and thought I’d give this blogging lark a go. Before I really get started I thought I’d tell you all a little about me.

I’m originally from Lewisham, South London, though my family moved a couple of miles east to Greenwich when I was 5. And there I lived ’till I departed for University in the tiny city of Durham in the far north of England. I’m back in Greenwich now with my parents though I’m hoping to soon get a place with my lovely fiancée once we’re settled in more permanent employment.

I studied Civil Engineering at University and, despite earning my degree, I didn’t get on with it too well so I’ve had a change of path and I’m now working as an IT Support Technician.

Anyway, the main point of this blog is to talk scifi so I’ll get right to it.

My earliest memories of watching Science Fiction are Jon Pertwee Doctor Who and the various Gerry Anderson puppet shows (Stingray, Thunderbirds and most of all Captain Scarlet) which were all being rerun frequently on the BBC2 in the early 90s. Back then we had only analogue terrestrial TV (broadcast TV for the Americans among you) with a measly four channels (how did we cope?!?) but all the good stuff was happening on BBC2 and that’s where a couple of years later I discovered a show that literally changed my life. If it wasn’t for me discovering this show, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be the same guy I am today, I certainly would never have me my Fiancée at the University Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. This is the show that got me into non-children’s TV Science Fiction:  Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Now at age 8, I had no idea that Star Trek as a franchise existed. I just knew this awesome show called “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was on and I loved it. People have commented that my accent is a lot more RP than your average person in South London, especially compared to my siblings. I’m pretty sure that has a lot to do with the fact that I idealised Captain Picard (and Colonel White from Captain Scarlet) from a young age.

I later saw the odd episode of the Original Series and Voyager and rented a few of the movies on video from the Library, but it wasn’t till I was about 12 and my parents decided to get cable broadband which came with a free basic cable TV package and I got access to SkyOne that my Scifi viewing really took off.

Suddenly there was Star Trek on at what seemed like all times of the day and night and I quickly watched as much as I could. Deep Space Nine quickly rose to the top of my Star Trek pile with TNG and at one point I they re-ran DS9 from start to finish every weekday morning at 6am and I got up early every day for the entire run to watch it Emissary->What You Leave Behind. The Dominion War had almost begun by the time my parents found out what I was doing.

SkyOne also exposed me to Stargate, Buffy and later Battlestar Galactica, which I watched on the first run before it even reached the US, and UK Gold let me watch loads more classic Doctor Who.

Around the same time I really got going on the internet and joined a few forums and created my online persona of warpfactor with that flag-merge (see the top of the right-hand column) that has been my online image for around 10 years.

The rest, as they say, is history. I’ve definitely missed loads of stuff off this story, but it’s just a brief overview of where I got started with Science Fiction and some of my favourite stuff.

I’ll be back as soon as I can think of something interesting to say.

Live Long and Prosper!