Star Trek Fans Explained

Star Trek Fans Explained

 

I have been a fan of ‘Star Trek’ for almost my entire 40 years of being on this planet. I consider myself a Trekkie or Trekker, either label works for me but for some they get offended if you use one or the other. I’ve also had the pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) of meeting other ‘Star Trek’ fans. With all this knowledge of Trek fandom I have broken the fandom down to these categories, and these categories can be used for other fandoms.

·         The ‘Discriminating’ fan

If it’s good I’ll like it. If its hot garbage I’ll leave it where I found it and not bother. (I fall into this camp). If people ask my opinion I will be honest.

·         The ‘I love everything Star Trek no matter what!’ fan

As long as the words ‘Star Trek’ are there or logo’s/actors associated with ‘Star Trek’ there these fans will LOVE IT no matter what!  They will also defend it to their dying breath no matter how wrong they are to the rest of the world. CBS/Paramount could literally put dog crap in bags, put a ‘Star Trek’ logo on it with a letter of authenticity stating that this is ‘Authentic dog Poop from Captain Archer’s dog’ and these fans will buy it, love it and brag to all their friends and family about how much they love this franchise.

·         ‘This is shiny and new so it’s better ‘ fan

We all know that someone who loves something just because it is brand new. It looks good, sounds good so it must be good right?

 “Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘Khan’ in the 2013 film ‘Star Trek into Darkness’ is better than the original because he’s new! Forget that Ricardo guy, he was so 1967….”

·         The traditionalist   (“My Star Trek is better than yours” fan)

For this fan ‘Star Trek’ was and still is what came before. People whom got their start on TOS believe it is the best. People whom started with TNG believe it is the best and so on. Every other Trek that followed (or came before depending if it was TNG or later where they got their start) is inferior to their favourite Star Trek.

·         The ‘Fake’ fan

These fans annoy me the most.  The fake fan is someone who pretends to like ‘Star Trek’ but doesn’t actually or hasn’t actually watched or payed attention to it. One lady whom I met at a convention dressed in a Starfleet uniform as it turns out doesn’t watch the show. She informed me she simply enjoys hanging out with all “these people”. She’s there for the party and not because she actually cares for the franchise and she is not alone. I met another guy at the same convention at an after party and he laughed at me when I asked what show was his favourite.

“I don’t fuckin watch that shit!” was his response.

When I asked him “Then why are you here? This is a Star Trek convention after all?”

“I’m just here for the party” was his reply as he attempted to teach the poor young woman whom was with him how to 2-step (country music dancing).  He also wasn’t much of a dancer either….

·          “Pew Pew” Star Trek should be more like ‘Star Wars’ fan

Star Trek was supposed to be a positive vision of the future. The characters of Star Trek were always intended to find diplomatic and peaceful solutions to their issues and only use violence as a last resort. Star Wars on the other hand violence is expected; hence why “WARS” is in the title. During wars you will have fighting and violence and that is the expected normal. But there are some Trekkers out there that want fighting, phaser fights, hand to hand combat, etc. in their Star Trek. They don’t want to see a peaceful diplomatic solution: they want a fight!

-          In the first episode of season 2 of ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ we see Captain Pike, Michael Burnham and two other Enterprise officers piloting fighter crafts through an asteroid field shooting their phasers… it was then they jumped the shark to become more like ‘Star Wars’ than ‘Star Trek’…

 

In my opinion as a lifelong fan of Star Trek my advice to you is like what you like and leave the rest. If you don’t like what JJ Abrams is doing with the newest films or what Alex Kurtzman is doing with ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ or ‘Star Trek: Picard’ just don’t watch them. I know I’ve stopped watching ‘Discovery’ and I’m still watching ‘Picard’, there is no set rule stating that you have to love and watch EVERYTHING ‘Star Trek’. Along with dropping ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ half way through season 2 I also have only ever watched half of the episodes of ‘Voyager’ and I’ve only seen 2 episodes from the 3^rd season of ‘Enterprise’. Back in those days I also was not happy with the creative choices they were making at that time so I simply stopped watching. In fact I know I wasn’t the only one as evident in the fact ‘Enterprise’ was cancelled after season 4 due to low ratings…

Aside from being a Trekkie I am also a comic book fan. There are certain characters and titles I’m drawn to because they are my favourites. But from time to time a new creative team will take over a title or character that I like and change up the status quo to something I do not like or agree with. Rather than sticking with that character or title I’ll move on to another book. Why waste my time and money on something I’m not enjoying? The same applies to ‘Star Trek’. I may not be enjoying or agreeing with what they are doing on ‘Discovery’, but that doesn’t mean I’m never going to go back and watch another new ‘Star Trek’. Maybe this rumoured ‘Captain Pike’ series will be better! Or maybe not...

But I do know a Michelle Yeoh ‘Section 31’ series will not be good. We do not need ‘Star Trek’ to be dark; it is after all supposed to be a “positive vision of the future” according to original series creator Gene Roddenberry.

 

Confessions of a Trekkie

For as long as I remember I have been a ‘Star Trek’ fan. It all goes back to the original series and the first few movies they did in the 80’s. My Mom told me my love for space science fiction actually began when my parents took me to the drive in to watch ‘ET’ in 1982 when I was 2. Apparently I stayed up for the entire movie glued to the screen the entire time, shortly thereafter was when I probably discovered ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars’.

 

Although I am a ‘Trekkie’ I have from time to time stopped watching Star Trek shows due to issues I had with them. Back in 1997 I stopped watching ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ halfway through season 3. At that time I had issues with some of the logic associated with the premise of the series. How can Voyager sustain extreme damage from the Kazon in one episode then in the next episode it is clean and pristine? Voyager is literally 70+ years away from the nearest Federation space dock, cut off from the engineers and materials required to repair the ship… Then in season 4 it became the ‘Borg Babe and funny hologram Doctor Show’. I’ve gone back and watched some of the episodes I missed but I’ve never watched the entire series, yet I consider myself a Trekkie. Just because you are a fan of a franchise doesn’t mean you have to accept mediocre storytelling. I knew before ‘Voyager’ even launched that the premise of a Starfleet vessel being lost in space 75 years from the Federation was a doomed concept. To their credit they played out the premise for the entire 7 year run but I think it would have been better to see this show take place in Federation space. There are always plenty of stories to tell in the Alpha quadrant.

‘Enterprise’ (later wisely renamed ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’) was another example of me dropping off of a Trek series. In season 3 they started a ‘Xindi’ war story arc which I did not care for so I stopped watching. If Earth had been attacked by this unknown ‘Xindi’ race and they intended to use their version of the ‘Death Star’ on Earth why was this never refereed to or mentioned before in the original series, TNG, DS9 or Voyager? Enterprise is after all a prequel series and that is the root of what makes it a flawed series. If the NX-01 Enterprise really is the first Federation ship again why was this not ever mentioned in the previous Trek series or movies?

Prequels; when not executed with continuity in mind are doomed to suck. Enterprise at times ignored established Trek continuity and suffered as a result; likewise with ‘Star Trek: Discovery’. Say what you will about the ‘Star Wars’ prequels at least creator George Lucas had it (for the most part) planned out to work with the continuity he had already established with the original trilogy. Discovery, more so than Enterprise, completely ignores continuity and relies on special effects, lens flares, macguffins, and lazy writing to tell their stories while at the same time completely ignoring established continuity.  So far ‘Star Trek: Picard’ is doing a better job at working with established continuity and doing a better job weaving the story they are telling.

Bottom line I wish ‘Star Trek’ would simply return to their roots. And no I do not mean they should reboot Captain Kirk or Captain Pike yet again (sorry Anson Mount, love you as Captain Pike but I really don’t need a show with that character), but rather a new show with a new crew, new cast, new ship but same mission as the original series. A Starfleet ship in the 25^th century that goes on missions every week to “Seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before”.

 

Sorry Michelle Yeoh but I am not looking forward to the proposed ‘Section 31’ series. I want more “Star Trek” in my STAR TREK.  

 

 

 

Bring Back That TV Show!!

For an upcoming episode of ‘The Pop Culture Pub Podcast’ we are discussing TV shows we would like to see brought back. Here are a few I will be discussing on that episode:

Stark Raving Mad:

It was an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1999 to July 13, 2000. The series starred Tony Shalhoub and Neil Patrick Harris

Shalhoub stars as odd horror novelist Ian Stark, who is obsessed with practical jokes, and whose first book Below Ground was a best seller. Neil Patrick Harris is Stark's reluctant editor Henry McNeeley, who has a variety of phobias and possibly obsessive–compulsive disorder. On January 10, 2000, the sitcom won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy Series. The sitcom premiered on September 23, 1999 and was officially cancelled by NBC on April 15, 2000 despite having a 10.7 average household share and being ranked 15th among all programs.^[1]

Margaret 'Maddie' Keller was to be played by Jessica Cauffiel as she appears in several early cast photos.

 

 

 

The X-Files:

A soft reboot with a new cast playing a new set of agents working on The X-Files for the FBI. Mitch Pileggi as AD Skinner would act as the bridge. Mulder and Scully may guest star. I would love to see some new agents take on the paranormal and government conspiracies. Maybe this new show could create its own mythology too.

 

 

 

The Flintstones and The Jetsons:

Animated and done in the Hanna Barbara style done in the tradition of the original, with no crude humour. It should be a family friendly remake like the originals.

 

 

 

Star Trek Deep Space Voyager:

This series would be a joint continuation of both series taking place the exact amount of years since the Voyager series finale (in 2001). This would be a 4 season limited series with 10 episodes per season. Will feature some classic characters returning and introduce some new.

On DS9: focus on the return of Captain Sisko. What’s happening with the Dominion now? Cardassia? Jake Sisko is working on ways to get his father back (much like the episode ‘The Visitor)

Voyager: a new ‘Voyager’ is commissioned with some of the original crew members and some DS9/TNG people (Commander Wesley Crusher, Commander Nog, Captain Worf…all these actors have expressed interest in returning to Trek)

-          Worf’s brother returns

-          Thomas Riker is rescued from an old abandoned Cardassian prison camp

-          Garek becomes leader of Cardassia

 

 

Babylon 5 & Babylon Prime:

A reboot done by original series creator JMS. This “new” series would use some classic scripts and some new ones. With new special fx technology and no pressure to fill syndication commitments this would be an ideal show to do on a streaming service. Maybe follow the original plan to have 2- 5 season shows with about 10 episodes per season (no filler episodes required). JMS originally wanted Babylon 5 to have 5 seasons with the last season ending with the station being destroyed by the Minbari Warrior Caste, then the time displaced ‘Babylon 4’ would be brought to the present and renamed ‘Babylon Prime’, and would be used in the current war against The Shadows. If you have no idea what I am talking about you should look the original series up and go online and read JMS’s original outline for what he originally wanted to do.