Lubbock’s Fox Kids Club & How I Became a ‘Star Trek’ Geek

If you were a kid, parent or, let's be honest, even a college student in the 90s here in Lubbock, chances are you watched the brilliant programming block known as "Fox Kids Club" on KJTV 34.

Some of the best cartoons ever created came on right after school, interspersed with skits of awkward local broadcast majors doing their best to tolerate bratty children and commercials for awesome things like Fruit-By-The-Foot and Kinex.

The lineup changed here and there. but was always one I would gladly watch today. My favorites were "Tiny Toons," "Animaniacs," "X-Men" and the outstanding, breathtaking and arguably best Batman anything ever: "Batman: The Animated Series."

My mom tolerated these cartoons reasonably well as they were intelligent and funny, even though cartoons were not her "thing" per se. She was biding her time for her show: The syndicated reruns of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

That was our compromise: She sat through my shows, and I sat through hers.

However, I never once didn't enjoy "Star Trek." I could have easily gotten up and done something else; I had a room full of toys. As a matter of fact, I grew to love the show.

I very vividly remember how shocked and intrigued I was at some of the plot lines.

Worf, a good guy, kills a guy over...honor? Awesome. La Forge finds a skeleton embedded in the ship? Yes, please. It was my first "adult" show, and I was allowed to watch it because it was smart. It set the bar for what I see as quality television even to this day. (Just not the first season. The first season is kinda garbage.)

Related: Do You Remember Lubbock's "The Box"?

"Star Trek" is 50 years old today, and although the original series in not my "Star Trek," I still love it and enjoy it -- especially 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," which was made before I was born but strikes a deep emotional chord with me.

I'd love to shake the hand of whomever programmed FOX 34 back in the 90s. Their choice to air "Star Trek: The Next Generation" after Kids Club quite honestly shaped who I am today. I'm a geek who believes in the principles presented in the "Star Trek" universe: Equality, ethics and boldly going where no man has gone before.