:: Captain's Personal Blog ::

Stardate: Monday, July 26, 2004

BREATHE........BREATHE.........Breathe...........breathe....... *phew*

OK, so why the hyperventilation?  Good question.  Here's the answer:

I was just looking through the product news at StarTrek.com, and I came across the DVD release information for TREKKIES 2.  What is TREKKIES 2?  Good question again (you're full of them today.)  TREKKIES, aside from being the plural form of the proper title for STAR TREK fans, was also a film made a few years ago by former STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION star DENISE CROSBY.  It was a film/documentary which looked into the STAR TREK fan culture, and among other things also made me VERY insecure about being a STAR TREK fan.

Being a STAR TREK fan is hard enough without having to showcase those of us who go overboard and can not tell fact from fiction.  Now, to be fair, I don't exactly believe that.  Unfortunately, it is not so much what I believe as it is what everyone else in the world seems to believe.  It is hard being taken seriously when someone realizes that I am a STAR TREK fan because they automatically assume that I run around in my spare time wearing weird costumes, putting on strange make-up, pretending I am from another planet, am hormonally challenged and have never kissed a girl.  That's a lot of baggage to come with a simple word, don't you think?

Now, not to get off on a bit of a rant here, but dressing up in the silly clothing has never, in my mind, been a particularly good reason to get on someone's case.  After all, have you looked at what passes itself off for high fashion nowadays?  It can sometimes be quite scary.  But, more to the point, I have found at a local Wal-Mart quite a few shirts which emulate STARFLEET uniform tunics.  Whether this is intentional or not is not known to me, but what I do know is that they sell.

If someone is walking down the streets wearing something that looks like an article of clothing worn by Sarah Jessica Parker on SEX & THE CITY or James Gandolfini on THE SOPRANOS, no one would say a word.  However, just because it happens to be what someone wore on STAR TREK, people make a fuss.  Again, I guess this kind of needs a qualifier.  Wearing Klingon battle armor in public is a bit different.  That can fall into the 'strangeness category' just as it would if someone wore a Knight's armor in public.  It's all in grades, I suppose.

The make-up/prosthetics is yet another thing that can be taken in grades.  Something as subtle as pointed eyebrows (ala Vulcans) is so acceptable that you see many women wearing them on television today (or something akin to it.)  Worn by men, however doesn't work quite as well.  Ears, ridges, etc... opens one up to criticism, but in my opinion these things are not too different from getting your hair dyed blue or violet, or wearing visible tattoos.

In a nutshell, I have no problem encountering people wearing the uniforms, etc.  It's the attitude.  Role playing is generally good when shared with others who wish to play.  When you bring in people who would rather live in the real world, that's when you get into trouble.  I.E., if a group of 'Klingons' is walking down the street speaking to eachother in Klingon, that's not a problem.  When they start scowling at 'outsiders' and acting very aggressive to them in order to stay in character, that's when you get a problem.

Mine, however, is not to judge.  To each his own I say.  Just out to give advice where I can.

Back to the original subject of TREKKIES 2.  Watching the first one in the theaters made me uncomfortable to be a STAR TREK fan.  Most of those PROFILED in the film, (not the people who only appeared for 6 seconds, but those who were actually PROFILED, also not those who appear on any of the actual series) were portrayed as social misfits.  Whether this was by design or by the simple fact that they may be seems inconsequential.  Take the example of the man who is a die-hard STAR TREK fan (there are a few, but unfortunately the specific one escapes me.  I want to say the dentist, but am not sure.)  His wife sits there during his interview.  She is next to him, and yet facing him.  I'm no expert in body language, but her very posture almost screams "I'm not like him!! I promise.  I'm normal!  And if he gets out of line, I have my lawyer on speed dial!"  Listen to her and watch her during the interview.  It gets to be pretty obvious, at least to me.

Then, take the kid (I believe he's in his late teens) who is a diehard fan.  He just had a costume made up and everything.  He has quite a vocabulary and seems to be quite intelligent.  However, his mannerisms bely a certain amount of social ineptitude.  It's nice that he knows the word plethora.  It would be better if he could pronounce it properly.

Again, this is not to be a major criticsm, just the observation that I walk away with.  And let's not forget, I'm a FAN!  I'm on their side!  What do you think a non-fan is going to walk away with?

Now, after all this humiliation, there's a sequel!  I just watched the trailer, and I think we're in for a little more of the same.  It's a shame really.  Back in the seventies, while it was never quite cool to be a Trekkie, it was at least somewhat understandable since the subject material was pretty good, considering.

Now, all these years later, STAR TREK is in the midst of its death throes.  EVERYONE knows it.  And as much as it pains me to say it, it may be time for STAR TREK to be put down like the rabid dog it has slowly become.  A shame really.  I once believed that there may have been salvation for this once prospering franchise.  Now, my hopes have been dashed.  Don't even get me started on my reactions to the news that BRENT SPINER and WILLIAM SHATNER have been considered for guest spots in the next season of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE (they finally added the "STAR TREK."  Too little, too late.)

And, in a lot of ways, I think the fans are the problems.  I still read, with decreasing interest, STAR TREK: The Official Fan Club magazine.  The letters column has become an increasing source of frustration with me.  It used to be that television was about telling stories.  Now, it appears to me over the most inane of subjects that it can't even be quantified by sanest of individuals!!!

One person writes in asking why there are zippers on Starfleet uniforms.  Specifically, zippers in the back of the NEXT GENERATION uniforms.  The author of this letter rightly points out that no military organization that he knows of has zippers on the back of their uniforms.  So, to his mind, this does not make sense.  WHO CARES?!?!?!?  The real source of that zipper was not a quartermaster at STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS, but a wardrobe person on the PARAMOUNT PICTURES STUDIO LOT!!!  Fact vs. Fiction.

There was also the running debate over whether or not STARFLEET is a military organization.  To wit, the most recent author of this letter writes chapter and verse from the STARFLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL, written by Franz Joseph in the 1970s.  He quotes passages which refer to STARFLEET as a military organization.  The editor of the column rebuffs this argument by pointing out that GENE RODDENBERRY, the man who created STAR TREK said that STARFLEET is not a military organization, and that his word, as creator, should be the end of it.

There are numerous ways to tackle this debate, but I won't get into them.  Why?  BECAUSE I DON'T CARE!  What does it matter if STARFLEET is a military organization.  Think of it however you wish.  The simple fact of the matter is that with a ranking system, court martials, orders, and so forth, you create the illusion of a military organization.  But whether it is or is not a military organization should not be the founding stone of ones gripes about a three-year long television show that aired over 35 years ago.  What happened to the simple importance of telling a good story within the maleable confines of a fictional universe?

It is fans like these who make films like TREKKIES so hard to watch. 

Some would call me a self-hating Trekkie.  Am I?  Perhaps.  Or perhaps I am one of those people who simply regrets being a social misfit by association.

STAR TREK, in its purest form, is about hope for the future.  Not so much that we will live in some idyllic society -- STAR TREK was never about that.  It was simply hope that we will live through whatever happens today.  That with all the war and strife, we will come out the other side alive and, hopefullly, a little better as a society.  Despite what some people believe, there was conflict in STAR TREK.  People fought, had differences of opinion, and sometimes did not get along.   The status quo had to be resolved at the end because it was episodic television.  That's it.  The show did not have such a following at the time that you could have conceivably changed things that radically.  Simple as that.  So let all the nay-sayers quite their griping, and just try to enjoy the show for simple escapism, and well thought out stories (ok, they weren't ALL that great, but there were some great ones.)

At the end of the day, STAR TREK was a television show that aired from 1966-1969.  That's it.  STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION aired from 1987-1994, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, etc....  That's it.  If you can take away life lessons from these shows and live you life by them, good for you.  Part of good storytelling is educating where possible.  If you want to live your life like these people, that can be good to.  A catharsis from your life and a way to relax.  Just try not to forget that life down here can be just as compelling as life......out there..........thataway!

:: J 2:10 PM [+] ::
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