Trekkies

As I sat reading the other reviews about this film it occurred to me how much it is a case study in human perception. Everyone who sees this film will view the same material, but they will all see it differently. Some viewers feel that the people who where shown in the film where exploited and I can see there point. Some of the people shown in the film do come off as weirdoes, oddballs, and nut cases, but I don't feel that is necessarily the film makers fault. Some of these people may really be weirdoes, oddballs, and nut cases. That is why I say the film is a study in perception. For every person who thinks the people shown in the film are crazy, there is another who feels that they are perfectly normal. The film presents these people as they are and lets you decide whether or not they are abnormal in their love of Star Trek. After having seen the film a few times myself I am still trying to figure it out myself. Although I do think some of these people cross the line from fandom to insanity, I can't tell you who does and who doesn't. That is what makes the film so interesting. It's capacity to make you think. As a Star Trek fan myself it made me look at my collection of Star Trek action figures and wonder "How far am I from the guy who wants Spock ears implanted in his skull?" So whether the people in this film make you laugh, think, or just give you the creeps you must admire there passion for Star Trek and there willingness to share that passion. In a world where there are so many violent things people can be passionate about, being passionate about Star Trek is a pretty benign thing. So as far as I am concerned this is a solid film, that gets 6 out of 10 stars from me. "Live Long and Prosper".

Trekkies IS a very funny movie, whether you are a Star Trek fan or not. It shows a wide variety of fans in a variety of situations, and there are no voice-overs to tell you how to feel about the characters presented.

I notice that one prominent review is as horrified by Trekkies as one might be if one found a dead prostitute in their father's closet. The filmmakers may have been laughing at the people on the screen, but they weren't making fun of them. They were merely filming them. If I get in front of a camera and walk blindly into traffic, is it the fault of the person behind the camera if I get run over? No, because I would have been fully aware of my actions. So are the fans presented in Star Trek.

Trekkies won't make a non-fan like ST, nor will it make a rabid fan feel as though they've wasted their lives. This is a slice-of-life documentary. If you feel, like some people who have "tsk-tsked" this movie, that the filmmakers should be ashamed of themselves, I would contend that you protest too much; could it be that you pity the fans on the screen, yet find yourself compelled to laugh at them? Such a conflict may well cause you to feel shame, and you would naturally project that outrage onto the film itself. But documentaries, by definition, can only "tell" you so much. It's up to the viewer to evaluate the material; blaming the filmmakers for a poor interpretation is ridiculous.

These people ARE laughable. But so am I, sometimes. It's okay, because I don't take myself too seriously. And these fans take their hobby very seriously, but many, like the dentists, are aware that ST is a very geeky hobby. And no matter how many times I see James Doohan describe his encounters with the woman who wrote him those fan letters, I break down completely. How is that bad? How have the filmmakers presented him in a bad light?

I can't say for sure, but I believe the filmmakers ARE fans of ST, and I believe that they're aware of the absurd lengths to which some ST fans will go (paying $1500 for a piece of latex, drinking a sick man's water). So what? It's entertainment. And if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

(But that smarmy 14-year-old with the mullet still needs to be slapped....)

Finally, something new and fresh. This documentary needed to be made. It's very funny, scary, weird, touching and always interesting. Although the pace drags at times, it's entertaining and *gasp!* educational.

I'm no trekkie, I do enjoy the movies though. Although I can't relate to the trekkies featured here, one can't help but admire their devotion. Oh sure, we laugh when we see some klingon's going to a fast food restaurant, get a tad freaked out by a transvesite in a Starfleet uniform, and shake our heads at "Spinerfems". But guess what, they aren't hurting anybody! In fact, from what I saw, local Trekkie chapters do a lot of good for their community. Klingons even visit children's hospitals!

Is it weird to see someone in public wearing a phaser and a star fleet uniform? Yes, to so-called 'normal' people. Yet it's considered perfectly acceptable for an armchair jock to wear major-league baseball caps and jerseys of their favorite players in public. Hey, if a trekkie married couple has a succesful dental practice, do they need to "get a life"? Maybe the guy who spends his Sundays at the bar watching football all day needs to get one.

Hey, I laughed at it most of the time. I admit it. The candid interviews of some of the ex-cast members are a riot! And near the end of the video, there was one interview with a Radio-Shack-Trekkie (the worst kind, I think) where I could not stop laughing. I mean it, he was such a GEEK. But then, this guy has invented something useful, I haven't. There you go.

A documentary for Trekkies, made by Trekkies, about Trekkies. Trekkies are Star Trek fans, usually very obsessed fans (there is a brief segment on the debate between what are 'Trekkies' and 'Trekkers', but no conclusions are reached). The film, hosted by Crosby (who played Tasha Yar on the Next Generation TV series), who's also a producer, focuses on the whole gamut of far-flung Trek fans, including, famously, the juror who showed up in Trek uniform, and the dentist who converted his office into a Trek starbase. Then there's the guy who recreated a motorized life-support chair (from an early classic Trek episode) and rides around in it on his town's streets, only his head visible poking up from the top. Most of the fans come across as harmless eccentrics who are actually fairly intelligent (the one exception is a guy who, for some reason, seems to be wearing a female wig and lipstick - kinda creepy - I think he thinks he's Troi of the TNG series). The central message conveyed is a hope for a better future, without prejudices or other social problems. It that sense, these fans are, indeed, more advanced than the average citizen, who is still stuck with the 20th-century's petty squabbling and short-sightedness. There are also short interviews with several of the classic and Next Generation cast members,including (poignantly) DeForest Kelley, who died in '99, and Leonard Nimoy(Spock), Jimmy Doohan(Scotty), Walter Koenig(Chekov), Nichelle Nichols(Uhura), Brent Spiner(Data), Michael Dorn(Worf), Jonathan Frakes(Riker) and Kate Mulgrew(Capt.Janeway). Some relate very touching stories about how the show literally changed someone's life for the better, including a suicide prevention by Doohan, who died recently. It also touches briefly on the fringe element of Trek worship, the pornographic fantasy trade. The end credits contain clips from some stand-up comics doing Trek jokes, which are pretty funny. All in all, pretty comprehensive; it just fails to wrap it all up smoothly and almost seems to end with an unspoken question. Hm, but there was a sequel last year.

I've known a number of sci-fi geeks over the years, and it is fascinating to see a whole movie about them. I've never been able to develop that sort of all-encompassing passion for anything, be in the New York Mets or The Grateful Dead, but it's fascinating to see what this obsessiveness produces.

I think Trekkies and sci-fi fans in general consist of people who have been pushed so far out of mainstream society - these are almost invariably the people (like me) who were tortured and marginalized growing up - that they have an almost insane attracting to alternate societies. So they go to sci-fi conventions, joining the Society for Creative Anachronisms (you'll also find that there is a major overlap between fans of Lord of the Rings and Star Trek with people who are into S&M or polyamourous relationships. I wish someone would make a documentary about the whole alternate geek lifestyle thing).

Anyway, this movie is very funny and covers a lot of ground in a pleasantly chaotic fashion, jumping from merchandising to fan fiction to people making it through hard times via their obsession with the show. It is very much worth watching.