When were you introduced to

[Cadence]

D&D - 1981 Moldvay Basic (saw it in adds in comics and then owned a copy by years end)

Star Wars - had the comics by 1978 and probably toys in 1978, not sure if I actually saw it in 1977 or just on rerelease in 1980

Earthsea - 2000s for volumes 1-3, 2019 for 4-6

H.Potter - Early 2000s, from some Nieces and Nephews while on vacation iirc.

Magic The Gathering - 1994 (just before Fallen Empires)

Marvel/ D.C - By 1977

Avengers - My first issue off the stands was #214 in late 1981

Narnia - 1978/79 - Lots of folks in 3rd grade

LotR - 1980/81 - Lots of folks in 5th grade

Watchmen - 1985 off the stands

Sandman - Not sure if I started with issue 1 or 8. Could have got 1, not added the title, and then gone back? Probably 1989.

Black Company and Glen Cook - 1990?

Star Trek - Probably by 1979. Grandfather had a rerun channel we didn't get. Chose to see Black Hole instead of Star Trek at the theater.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I managed to hunt down the DVDs of the series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" as well as the two movies "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler" a few years back. About due for a rewatch. "Space: 1999", which I watched in the late '70s/early '80s also reminded me of the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series from which it took several pieces of the Moonbase Alpha set, "UFO." I think that we got it about 1973, on the CBC network.

Around the same time we had a couple of Canadian green screen SciFi shows. One I've been trying to track down for years, but can't remember the name. I'm pretty sure that it starred Diane Nyland and it was on our OECA (Ontario Educational Communications Authority) network. Though government funded, it was essentially like the American PBS network, and frequently shared programming with them (Doctor Who, for example). The premise was a Barbarella-esque female protagonist, of course dressed all in silver, trying to save the Earth from aliens. It was truly terrible. The second green screen show was "The Starlost" which aired on our CTV network and starred Keir Dullea ("2001: A Space Odyssey). It's also notable for having actors like John Colicos (Baltar from the original "Battlestar Galactica") and Walter Koenig (Checkov from ST:TOS) appear on it.

I remember UFO & Starlost!

I haven’t seen much of the former, and the latter was a dim childhood memory until I stumbled across an episode on YouTube about 16 months ago. I think they’re all there. I watched a few episodes before I got sidetracked. I still have that tab open…should really finish them off.

 

[Ryujin]

I remember UFO & Starlost!

I haven’t seen much of the former, and the latter was a dim childhood memory until I stumbled across an episode on YouTube about 16 months ago. I think they’re all there. I watched a few episodes before I got sidetracked. I still have that tab open…should really finish them off.

I recently saw that UFO was on one of the free streaming services (either Yubi or Roku, can't remember). Yes, I noticed that several posters had uploaded the entire Starlost series to Youtube, a little while back. Just goes to show how poorly their algorithm does at removing copyrighted content

EDIT - Confirmed that "UFO" is on Roku.

 

[billd91]

D&D
Star Wars
Earth sea
H.Potter
Magic The Gathering
Marvel/ D.C

D&D - 1980 is when I first heard of it from a friend at school, 1981 was when I first got to play it.

Star Wars - early 1977. I remember the trailer from when I went to see the Gus/Freaky Friday double-feature at the local drive-in with my parents. I didn't know what it was for sure, but it sure did draw me in. We saw the movie a few months after it came out in 1977 (school had started by the time I saw it).

Earthsea - still haven't read any of the series but I probably heard of it in college in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Harry Potter - 2000. My cousin's family was visiting from the east coast and her daughter had a copy of either Prisoner of Azkaban or Goblet of Fire. So my wife and I looked into it as a series to start reading to our young daughter.

Magic: The Gathering - 1994. I started playing just as Legends was coming out. Played for a few years then it go. My younger daughter plays it now and has my cards.

Marvel/DC - early 1970s. I have no idea what life was like without comics in some way. We didn't just have DC and Marvel but also Charlton, Archie, Harvey, and Gold Key. Of the DC/Marvel titles specifically, I probably started out with more DC because of their broader reach in the Silver Age with Batman, Superman, and Aquaman. But around 1976, my allegiance was shifting thanks to the Fantastic Four and Avengers. By the time I started getting the X-Men shortly thereafter, I was a Marvel man.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I watched Space: 1999 during its original run and almost every time it airs in reruns.

I am just watching it for the first time ever! Just finished the second episode and I am digging it quite a bit.

The original Battlestar Galactica was something I half-watched. I liked the visuals- especially the fighter ships- but not the stories so much. Same goes for the Gil Gerrard Buck Rodgers series. If they’re in reruns, I’ll catch the odd episode or two for the nostalgia hit.

Watched those two with my dad as a kid. He didn't read sci-fi at all, but he absolutely introduced my brother and me to it via movies and television shows.

• D&D - mid 80s
• Star Wars - early 80s (the first movie I saw in theaters was probably Empire Strikes Back)
• Star Trek - early 80s (I have fond memories of watching TOS with my brother and dad, swapping a bag of M&Ms, which were normally forbidden save for special occasions in our household. The second movie I saw in theaters was either Wrath of Khan or E.T.)
• Dune - mid 80s and I was too young for for the movie. The heartplug scene came on and I ran into my room to read a book about dinosaurs to calm down.
• Earthsea - early 00s, and I so wish I had come to it sooner
• Middle-earth - mid 80s; I am unsure if I saw the Hobbit movie or read the book first
• Conan the Barbarian - mid 80s, probably watching Conan the Destroyer
• H. Potter - early 00s, after the hype had already started building.
• Magic The Gathering - early 90s, and I absolutely didn't understand it, scorned this newfangled flash-in-the-pan card game.
• Marvel/ D.C - I became aware of them through the movies and cartoons in the early 80s, but didn't really start collecting comics until the late 80s.

 

[Ryujin]

D&D - 1980 is when I first heard of it from a friend at school, 1981 was when I first got to play it.

Star Wars - early 1977. I remember the trailer from when I went to see the Gus/Freaky Friday double-feature at the local drive-in with my parents. I didn't know what it was for sure, but it sure did draw me in. We saw the movie a few months after it came out in 1977 (school had started by the time I saw it).

Earthsea - still haven't read any of the series but I probably heard of it in college in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

Harry Potter - 2000. My cousin's family was visiting from the east coast and her daughter had a copy of either Prisoner of Azkaban or Goblet of Fire. So my wife and I looked into it as a series to start reading to our young daughter.

Magic: The Gathering - 1994. I started playing just as Legends was coming out. Played for a few years then it go. My younger daughter plays it now and has my cards.

Marvel/DC - early 1970s. I have no idea what life was like without comics in some way. We didn't just have DC and Marvel but also Charlton, Archie, Harvey, and Gold Key. Of the DC/Marvel titles specifically, I probably started out with more DC because of their broader reach in the Silver Age with Batman, Superman, and Aquaman. But around 1976, my allegiance was shifting thanks to the Fantastic Four and Avengers. By the time I started getting the X-Men shortly thereafter, I was a Marvel man.

My first introduction to Classic Literature was through the Gold Key adaptations, when I was maybe 4 years old.

 

[GreyLord]

So, what year were you introduced to the big following things:

D&D

Mid to late 70s. It was still relatively young at the time. So was I. Bunch of kids at the school were playing it. I had no rules, no idea what they were when I first started. Later got the rules.

Star Wars

1977 or whatever year it was when it first came out in the theater.

Earth sea

I really don't know on this one. It was around when I was a kid in school (which was a long time ago). I knew about it before I bought a copy. The copy on my shelf appears to be the 13th printing, which was after December 1979, but I knew about it a long time before that. I can't recall when I first heard about the book..

H.Potter

I think I saw the first book on the shelves around 1999 or thereabouts. Didn't buy it, didn't read it. More notice on it came when the first film came out.

Magic The Gathering

Once again, I am unsure. I know I didn't have a great deal of interest in it myself but I had kids that got really interested in it, probably around the early or mid 90s (not sure which). I know I had another kid which got REALLY into Pokemon cards and the game as well later than that.

Marvel/ D.C

That was a while ago. Probably as far back as when I was really little. However, I didn't REALLY notice until X-men revamped their line-up and started making waves. Once again, probably around the same time as D&D was noticed by me. Giant-Sized X-men had already come out, but the new line-up just captured my attention. My favorite was never Wolverine. It was always Cyclops and Nightcrawler that rocked.

I also remember over a decade later playing the X-men game in the arcade. Beat it (with a ton of quarters) while also playing with a team-up between Cyclops and Nightcrawler. Having those two in it made the entire game the greatest arcade game ever!!!

Other big-name geek stuff that I may have left out.

Star Trek?? Doctor Who???

Start Trek was from the early 70s, though I think it was on re-runs at that point. Was too young during the intial craze/showing to even really realize anything.

For me my introduction to D&D would have had to be in 2003 or 2002 during high school, Star wars would be in the mid-90s when the special editions came out. I had no clue what earth sea was until Sci-fi did a horrible job, Potter I got into it due to a cousin gifting me the first book. Magic would have to be also during High school so 2003. Marvel/D.C the 90s when the cartoons were happening. Stargate happened when the movie came out.

People are so young...and you are now one of the older people...

I still claim to be young in spirit though.

 

[GreyLord]

Comics-wise, I was aware of it from school age and would read occasional graphic novels. Went through a phase of getting into Batman around the time the BBC Radio version of Knightfall was on the air - 1994, according to Wikipedia. I read Spider-man for a long time, got really into it, then the Clone saga and the massive reset-button mashing that capped it killed my interest.

BBC radio had a version of Knightfall???

How did I miss this all these years? Where can I get a copy now!??

 

[Ryujin]

BBC radio had a version of Knightfall???

How did I miss this all these years? Where can I get a copy now!??

This looks promising:

 

[MGibster]

So, what year were you introduced to the big following things:

D&D
Star Wars
Earth sea
H.Potter
Magic The Gathering
Marvel/ D.C

I bought my first D&D module, At the Keep of the Borderlands, in 1986 or 1987.

Star Wars: It must have been around 1979 or 1980.

Earthsea - I've never read it.

Harry Potter - I was 21 when I first saw a Potter book at the store. Haven't read them.

Magic the Gathering - I played in 1994.

Marvel/D.C. 1979 - I literally cannot remember a time when I didn't know who Superman or Spider-Man was.