A life long geek fan. My progression can be charted as thus:
1) my childhood love of dinosaurs. Brontosaurus, my all time favorite, was like a prehistoric version of a dog!
2) original Jonny Quest cartoon show – robot spider and invisible paint monster gave me nightmares
3) Garry Anderson marionette puppet shows – especially FireBall XL-5
4) Lost In Space
5) Star Trek
All of these instilled a sense of wonder and joy of exploration that lead to reading and eventually to the ambition to create my own as cool as worlds.