In a recent interview with the L.A. Times, for their Hero Complex series of interviews,  Rod Roddenberry discusses J.J. Abrams 'Star Trek', his life and love for all things trek, 'Days Missing' the new comic from Roddenberry Productions and Archaia, and the Roddenberry Legacy.

Hero Complex: First, let me just say, sorry to hear about your mother. I lost my father last year, and I know it’s not easy.

Rod Roddenberry: Sorry for your loss.

HC: Thank you. I’ll ask you about your mom in a moment, but first, let me start with a question I’m sure everyone asks: What was it like growing up being the son of two of the most famous people in science fiction history?

RR: You know, you always need perspective on these things to give a fair answer. And I can’t say I have perspective. But for me, growing up was fairly average, although I guess slightly privileged. My parents did keep me slightly down to earth, I believe. Kirk and Spock did not show up every night at the house for dinner. The Hollywood schmoozing parties of the old days --- those sorts of things didn’t happen. My father kept his home life and his work life pretty separate. He went to work in the morning, he did what he did. I went to school and -- “Star Trek” was not shoved down my throat. Occasionally a fan would send something, and I would see it, and I knew my father worked on “Star Trek,” but I didn’t really get the enormity of what it was.

HC: I was looking at your biographies on the Internet, and it looks like you spend a lot of your time in the world of science fiction, but it looks like you also straddle the world of hard science too -- things like Project X and your association with JPL and NASA. Would you care to go into that a little bit? And also, what’s your educational background that drew you into both worlds?

RR: Well, I was sort of a goof off in high school. I cared more about girls and being cool than getting an education.

HC: Pretty much like everyone else, I think.

RR: Well, toward my senior year, I was able to choose some courses and one of the courses I chose was astronomy. I became enamored with that, just loved the creative side of science, where you would get some data — some information — then it was up to your imagination to find out why that data existed. And the creative part of that I loved. And that kind of brought me full circle into “Star Trek.” Of course, the passing of my father and the learning of what “Star Trek” was -- the fact that it was more than just entertainment, the fact that it touched lives and, I would say, made this world a better place in some small way -- THAT really inspired me. And so I kinda buckled down in the last year of high school and then college and really pursued interests, and found the importance of getting an education.

HC: Where’d you go to high school and college?

RR: I went to Harvard-Westlake in Studio City, and I went to Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Now, I’m reluctant to say I never actually finished college. Toward my final semester, my mother called me and asked me, “Would you like to work on a TV show?” which became “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict.” I wasn’t aspiring to be in the industry, but I thought this would be one hell of an opportunity to really pay attention and learn something, because when I was a kid my father gave me jobs as a PA [personal assistant], and I didn’t appreciate them. I was 13. It was summer. My friends were playing. I wanted to go play. I didn’t give a rat’s you-know-what about working on “Star Trek.” Again, having him pass away and gaining an appreciation for really exploring -- I wouldn’t say following in his footsteps, but exploring who he was -- I thought it would be a great opportunity to work on the show. So I left college, worked on the show for four years, and quite frankly, never went back. (source L.A. Times)

Read the full article here.

Image credit Trekcore.com