When were you introduced to

[Tonguez]

D&D - 3 plastic bullywugs and a carrion crawler 1981. My mother later bought me the red box set

Star Wars - parents took me and brothers to see it

Earth sea - High School

H.Potter - second or third movie (my neice tooked about the books beforehand)

Magic The Gathering - via Pokemon

Marvel/ D.C - Incredible Hulk TV (Bill Bixby/Lou Ferigno) and Wonder Woman (Linda Carter). My elder sister had a Nova comic, then the 1980 Spiderman movie.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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

D&D

1977

Star Wars

1977

Earth sea

1994.

H.Potter

1998 or so, but I never read a word of it or saw any of the movies.

Magic The Gathering

1993

Marvel/ D.C

Assuming we’re talking the comic books, 1972-1973.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Marvel/ D.C - 1966

Eff it, I'm old.

Edited to add...

Star Trek - 1966

Hey- someone here’s older than me!

 

[niklinna]

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

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

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.

• D&D (Holmes Basic): Must have been 1980–81. Got it from a novelty mail-order catalogue. Had no one to play it with.
• AD&D: A couple months later, joined a high-school group that was playing it. Original DM ran many homebrew Monty Haul dungeons. My first characters got killed by goblins and by the other party members (to be fed to vorpal rabbits that had us surrounded) When that DM moved away, I ran published modules for the group. Also got them to try Star Frontiers and the FASERIP Marvel Heroes RPG. Also bought the Indiana Jones game but it did not seem playable. Although it had those cool cardboard minis.
• Star Wars: Saw the original in the theater (in a rural area so not as soon as it came out). Must have been 1977 or 1978. Really enjoyed it (I was 9–10). Saw the holiday special on TV, I think—it is not a memorable show unless you were an adult, I suspect—I've certainly seen clips on the Internet since. Also saw Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in theaters, did not enjoy either, nor any Star Wars thing since. Except a pair of excellent one-shot RPG sessions at a gaming con several years ago.
• Star Trek: Watched the original series in abridged reruns (as I later found out) on TV. Saw a few episodes of the cartoons in first run, whenever that would have been, but don't remember them well.
• Battlestar Galactica: Saw it in first run on TV, late 70s.
• Earthsea: Never read it. Saw part of the TV series but I couldn't say when. Would like to read it some day. I have read several other works by Le Guin, thought they were okay.
• Harry Potter: Read them as they came out. Liked some a lot, others not so much. Saw a couple of of the films in theaters, thought they were overdone.
• Magic the Gathering: Early 90s, a co-worker tried to get folks interested. I was not interested, and have never played it.
• Marvel/D.C.: The comics or the recent films or what? Watched the 1960s Batman in reruns on TV in the mid 70s. Watched the Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends cartoon (with Iceman and Firestar), 1981–1983. Watched that live-action version where Spidey would shoot "webs" made of inch-thick rope, so cheesy; late 70s. Read some X-Men comics lent by friends while in college, 1989–1991. Amazed at how bad the writing was. Saw some of the early Batman/Spider-Man films (the Tim Burton/Sam Raimi ones and sequels) in theaters, whatever years those were. Saw Guardians of the Galaxy in theaters, was not impressed; haven't seen any other MCU films, nor any of the current DCU films (if that's what they're calling them).
• Stargate: Saw the original film in the theater whenever that was out. Never watched the TV show.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

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

Okay, I'll bite.

D&D

1986 when I played one session of Tomb of Horrors and my fighter died. I played a few other games after that, then bought the 2e PHB the very day it came out, in 1989. The rest is history. (In that I've played D&D nonstop ever since, even while playing other games).

Star Wars

I am certain that I saw Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back in the theatre, but my first memory is Return of the Jedi when it dropped in 1983 (I can remember lining up for it and watching it, and even talking about it with my friends after). I know that I HAD seen the other two going into RotJ because I knew who everyone was and what the story was, but I don't remember the first time I'd seen them. It was likely multiple times. I DO remember seeing Star Wars on a TV in a gym in elementary school, but I don't remember what year, or how many times I'd seen it before then. Probably a few.

Earth sea

I don't know what that is.

H.Potter

I've never read the books, but I saw the films as they came out.

Magic The Gathering

I played it in Alpha, in 1993, with a friend's decks, but I didn't own my own cards. I owned my own comic and game store by November of that year, but I didn't manage to get any Magic in to sell until Unlimited came out. (Which was apparently December of 1993, so I guess I didn't wait as long as I feel I did? Perhaps it was Revised in April 1994 that I first managed to carry in reasonable quantities - it was hard to get) I honestly can't believe that Magic wasn't older at the time I started selling it. It feels like longer.

Marvel/ D.C.

Late seventies or early eighties. I started collecting Amazing Spider-Man with issue #257 & Uncanny X-Men at #197. I owned a few issues from earlier than that. Heck, my parents had some comics too. Again, I've owned a comic & game store since Nov. 1993, so I've seen a LOT of comics over the years. I have a hundred thousand of them right now.

 

[gamerprinter]

D&D 1977, my next door neighbor's grandson, a couple years younger than me, when he visited, I was the kid in the neighborhood that played with him. That year, I was 15, he was 13, he suffered dyslexia and his teacher recommended he play D&D for all the reading required. But I didn't start playing regular weekend games until the summer of 1979.

Star Wars 1976, I saw an article about the coming first movie in some 8th grade weekly reader type publication. Then saw it at the theater the first day it was released in 1977.

The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (you didn't mention this, but I think belongs on this list). Summer of 1977, between 8th grade and high school. (Notice how key 1977 was for me, at least regarding this list.)

Earth Sea, I found UKL sometime in high school, say 1980 would be my guess, I read the trilogy. I read them, they were okay...

H. Potter, eh, I think I saw one of the movies, on TV, I didn't go to the theater for it, and certainly didn't read the novels, and hardly intrigued.

Marvel/DC, I've always been aware of them, and aside from a few issues of horror comics like Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie and Vampirella, I was never into comics, and am really not into the movies, though have seen my share a various movie Supermans and Batmans, a Spider man, and have avoided the rest for the most part, except catching one of them on TV at somebody else's home (I don't watch TV at home).

Dr. Who, probably sometime around 1980 (the 80's anyway), when Tom Baker played Dr. Who, and it was on Channel 11 PBS. I've seen an episode or two of the newer Dr. Who's, I was never a big fan.

Star Trek, despite having been already alive when they were first aired, I was like 2 years old, but my parents didn't watch it. So while I could have experienced the original airings, I didn't notice Star Trek until the re-runs in the 1970's. I also went to 3 or 4 of the Star Trek movies when they were first released.

Also only tangentially related to this list, at least from my perspective, in July/August of 1977, I purchased Lafcadio Hearn's Kwaidan, a collection of Japanese ghost stories translated to English and other works, at the airport bookstore, and read it on the flight to my second trip to Japan, where I even visited the author's home in Kyoto. The first story, Mimi-Nashi, Hoichi (Hoichi the Earless) would inspire me to develop and publish my Kaidan setting of Japanese Horror (PFRPG) 2010-17...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

RE: The expansions to the conversation

I discovered Star Trek in reruns in the early 1970s, about the same time as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, and the original Kolshack, the Night Stalker. All continue to be favorites in reruns.

I was introduced to Dr. Who on a trip to London in the mid-70s, when I picked up a dozen or so of the books in Harrod’s to entertain me while we were in the hotel room. I only got to see the odd episodes or movie until I moved to Dallas/Fort Worth in 1982, where the local PBS station pioneered airing a lot of UK TV shows, including Monty Python’s, The Two Ronnies, Blake’s 7, and many, many others.

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

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.

 

[Ryujin]

RE: The expansions to the conversation

I discovered Star Trek in reruns in the early 1970s, about the same time as The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, and the original Kolshack, the Night Stalker. All continue to be favorites in reruns.

I was introduced to Dr. Who on a trip to London in the mid-70s, when I picked up a dozen or so of the books in Harrod’s to entertain me while we were in the hotel room. I only got to see the odd episodes or movie until I moved to Dallas/Fort Worth in 1982, where the local PBS station pioneered airing a lot of UK TV shows, including Monty Python’s, The Two Ronnies, Blake’s 7, and many, many others.

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

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.

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.

 

[MarkB]

One old series I loved, but which is practically unknown today is Star Cops. It was a BBC production, with ropey special effects, but its portrayal of a near-future burgeoning multinational community in Earth orbit was surprisingly hard-SF, with realistic portrayals of vehicles, people and habitats.

 

[Ryujin]

One old series I loved, but which is practically unknown today is Star Cops. It was a BBC production, with ropey special effects, but its portrayal of a near-future burgeoning multinational community in Earth orbit was surprisingly hard-SF, with realistic portrayals of vehicles, people and habitats.

Not surprising since the creator worked on both "Doctor Who" and "Blake's 7." If I remember correctly it's available on Tubi. At least it was, a few months back.