Looking Back: November, 1996 When First Contact came out, I was in college. By luck, my own dormitory was hosting this big Star Trek party on the opening night. We watched "The Best of Both Worlds" and shared Star Trek stories, with Star Trek food and drink available. (I promise I didn't have too much Romulan Ale.) Then we all went out to a theater, where half the seats were sold to us. It was a great experience to see the film with so many Star Trek fans, as opposed to just the casual observers. It doesn't seem all that long ago. Star Trek First Contact (November 22, 1996) As 1996 came to a close, “The Macarena” craze was fading, and the world was at a point between “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” and “MMMBop”. The United States, after a busy year hosting the Summer Olympics and holding a Presidential Election, was enjoying good times. The economy was on fire and the internet was turning into a phenomenon. On the down side, there was global warming, a hole in the Ozone layer, and Boris Yeltsin. In the fashion world, the rise in women’s pants began to fall (at the same time thong underwear began to become popular) and smaller eyeglasses became the rule. Meanwhile, women all over America were asking their hair stylists for “the Rachel”, a haircut named after a character on the sitcom “Friends”. As for technology, there was a new way of communication for the hearing impaired called “text messaging”. However, it had yet to catch in popularity, partly because texts could only be exchanged between users of the same network. President: Bill Clinton U.S. Population: 265 million World Population: 5.8 billion National Debt: $5.2 trillion Average Movie Ticket Price: $4.42 Cost of a postage stamp: 32 cents Average cost of a gallon of gas: $1.29 Dow Jones: 6,522 Average Household Income: $35,492 Hit songs: “Wannabe” – Spice Girls “Don’t Speak” – No Doubt “Little Bitty” – Alan Jackson “Where Corn Don’t Grow” – Travis Tritt Hit movies: The English Patient, Space Jam, 101 Dalmatians, Jerry Maguire, Michael Hit TV shows: The Drew Carey Show, JAG, The Real World, Home Improvement, The Jerry Springer Show, Deep Space Nine November and December 1996 Saturday Night Live Hosts: Phil Hartman, Martin Short, and Rosie O’Donnell Births: January 19 – Michael Jackson Jr., son of the King of Pop February 25 – Isabelle Fuhrman, actress (played the title role in the 2009 film Orphan) Deaths: November 30 – Tiny Tim, musician December 6 – Pete Rozelle, NFL Commissioner (creator of the Super Bowl) December 25 – JonBenét Ramsey, murder victim Events: November 25 – An ice storm struck the U.S. and killed hundreds, some directly and some indirectly January 20 – Bill Clinton was inaugurated for his second term Would Have Been the Last Star Trek Film She Could Have Seen: Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a crash August 31 1997 Wouldn’t Have Meant Anything to Most People Had you Said it in November of 1996: Harry Potter What this time period meant to me: Watching Wisconsin go crazy over the Green Bay Packers, thinking the Macarena was silly, attending a Star Trek First Contact party, and waiting for the Star Wars films to be rereleased.
Looking Back: December, 1998 Yes, I'm really doing this for every Star Trek film. Many record labels advertise their music as "the soundtrack to our lives". Well, the Star Trek films are the soundtrack to my life! Star Trek Insurrection (December 11, 1998) By the end of 1998, the Titanic craze had played out (most radio stations mercifully stopped playing “My Heart Will Go On” a dozen times a day) and all eyes were on the upcoming Star Wars prequels. In America, business was booming, with inexpensive gas keeping shipping costs down and low healthcare costs making human resource costs manageable. (Low gas prices also caused a boom in SUVs, which was great for the auto industry.) Meanwhile, the internet grew even faster than expected (partly because computer prices were dropping like a rock), and suddenly every magazine ad, billboard, and commercial was plugging a website. Online sales took off, and stocks for internet sites like Yahoo! and Infoseek skyrocketed. Cell phones began to become ubiquitous, DVD players and digital photography began making inroads, downloading MP3s began to be a popular way to get music, and High Definition Television was publicly launched. At the same time, Cigarette smoking among teens began a rapid decline, and the tobacco industry began to be hammered with lawsuits. On the down side, the President was impeached, the dot-com bubble began to get out of hand, and lower back tattoos became increasingly popular. (Today's numbers are in parentheses) President: Bill Clinton U.S. Population: 270 million (310 million) World Population: 5.9 billion (6.8 billion) National Debt: $5.8 trillion ($13.2 trillion) Average Movie Ticket Price: $4.69 ($7.44) Cost of a postage stamp: 32 cents (44 cents) Average cost of a gallon of gas: $1.36 ($2.74) Dow Jones: 9,181 (10,466) Average Household Income: $38,885 ($52,029) Hit songs: “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)” – Jay-Z “One Week” – Barenaked Ladies “If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next” – Manic Street Preachers “Wide Open Spaces” – Dixie Chicks Hit movies: The Rugrats Movie, Enemy of the State, A Bug’s Life, Shakespeare in Love, You’ve Got Mail, Patch Adams Hit TV shows: Deep Space Nine, Dharma & Greg, Just Shoot Me, 3rd Rock from the Sun, 7th Heaven December 1998 Saturday Night Live Hosts: Vince Vaughn and Alec Baldwin Births: January 31 – Lily Mo Sheen (daughter of Kate Beckinsale and Michael Sheen) Deaths: February 7 – King Hussein, King of Jordan February 20 – Gene Siskel, film critic March 8 – Joe DiMaggio, baseball player Events: December 11 – Iraq announced that United Nations weapons inspections would no longer be permitted. December 19 – President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives. January 1 – The Euro was introduced to financial markets. Would Have Been the Last Star Trek Film He Could Have Seen: Actor DeForest Kelley, who died of cancer on June 11, 1999 Wouldn’t Have Meant Anything to Most People Had You Said it in December of 1998: Presidential strategery What this time period meant to me: Living in an apartment, having a real job, being excited about the upcoming LOTR films, and getting ready to party like it’s 1999.
Now for the time of... Star Trek Nemesis (December 13, 2002) The attacks of September 11, 2001 cast a shadow over 2002, with some of its effects still being sorted out as the year came to a close. Meanwhile, the nation prepared to invade Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction. A decade of economic growth in America had come to an end, thanks in part to the fallout from the collapse of the speculative dot-com bubble, as well as other business problems. For fans of sci-fi and fantasy film films, however, it was a golden age; 2002 gave us installments of Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings. At the same time the popularity of reality tv exploded. President: George W. Bush U.S. Population: 288 million World Population: 6.2 billion National Debt: $6.2 trillion Average Movie Ticket Price: $5.80 Cost of a postage stamp: 37 cents Average cost of a gallon of gas: $1.45 Dow Jones: 8,342 Average Household Income: $43,564 Hit songs: “Lose Yourself” – Eminem “Bump, Bump, Bump” – B2K, featuring P. Diddy “Somebody Like You” – Keith Urban “Who’s Your Daddy” – Toby Keith Hit movies: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gangs of New York, Chicago, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Hit TV shows: Survivor, The Sopranos, Will & Grace, The Amazing Race, Big Brother December 2002 Saturday Night Live Hosts: Robert De Niro and Al Gore Births: January 14 – Ella Mae Clapton (daughter of Eric Clapton) Deaths: - January 12, 2003 – Maurice Gibb, singer/songwriter (Bee Gees) - January 23, 2003 – Nell Carter, singer/actress (“Gimme a Break!”) - February 1, 2003 – Seven U.S. Astronauts (Columbia shuttle crew) - February 19, 2003 – Johnny Paycheck, singer (“Take This Job and Shove It”) Events: - January 26, 2003 – The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl by routing the favored Oakland Raiders - February 1, 2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the earth’s atmosphere - February 20, 2003 – When a rock band (Great White) in Rhode Island attempted to use pyrotechnics indoors, they set the building on fire and 100 people died Would Have Been the Last Star Trek Film He Could Have Seen: Actor James Doohan, who died July 20, 2005 Wouldn’t Have Meant Anything to People Had You Said it in December 2002: Facebook What this time period meant to me: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition! The Two Towers! Harry Potter books and movies! Finally finishing my night shift work and being able to sleep at night and work during the day, and wondering when reality tv would go away.
Looking Back: May 2009 Star Trek (May 8, 2009) What would someone in 2002 have thought had you mentioned myspace, facebook, youtube, apps, Obama, and sexting? That you were from an alien planet? Certainly the world of pop culture had never changed so much between two consecutive Star Trek films as it did the six and a half years between Nemesis and the 2009 Star Trek film. (Reflecting the changing times, the Wisconsin Tourism Federation, or “WTF”, changed its name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin, or “TFW”.) By May of 2009, magazines and newspapers began to look like dinosaurs, with competition from the internet forcing them to adapt or go extinct. (TV guide’s circulation, once 20 million, fell to 2.7 million. Meanwhile, over one hundred newspapers closed in 2009 alone.) Other businesses struggled as well, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping from 14,164 in October of 2007 to 6547 in March of 2009. Like December of 1979, when the first Star Trek film was released, 2009 was a time of change. The question was, change to what? (In parentheses are the corresponding values from December of 1979, when the first Star Trek film was released.) President: Barack Obama (Jimmy Carter) U.S. Population: 305 million (225 million) World Population: 6.7 billion (4.4 billion) National Debt: $12.3 trillion ($0.83 trillion) Average Movie Ticket Price: $7.29 ($2.47) Cost of a postage stamp: 42 cents (15 cents) Average cost of a gallon of gas: $2.24 ($1.03) Dow Jones: 8,574 (839) Average Household Income: $50,105 ($16,461) Hit songs: “I Do Not Hook Up” – Kelly Clarkson “Boom Boom Pow” – Black Eyed Peas “She’s Country” – Jason Aldean “Out Last Night” – Kenny Chesney Hit movies: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Night at the Museum; Battle of the Smithsonian, Up, The Hangover, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Hit TV shows: American Idol, Lost, Hannah Montana May 2009 Saturday Night Live Hosts: Justin Timberlake and Will Ferrell Births: June 22 – Marion and Tabitha Broderick (daughters of Sarah Jessica Parker and Mathew Broderick) Deaths: June 3 – David Carradine, actor June 23 – Ed McMahon, comedian/announcer June 25 – Farrah Fawcett, actress (“Charlie’s Angels”) June 25 – Michael Jackson, singer Events: June 11 – The outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain was deemed a global pandemic. June 25 – Michael Jackson died and nearly took the internet with him, as google, yahoo, Wikipedia, and many other sites struggled with record breaking traffic in the wake of the event. Would Have Been the Last Star Trek Film He Could Have Seen: Fantasy and sci-fi artist Frank Frazetta, who died May 10, 2010 Wouldn’t Have Meant Anything to Most People in May of 2009: Author J.W. Braun (Lord of the Films) Granted, this doesn’t mean anything to most people today. What this time period meant to me: Being happy to have a job, a house, and a wife, waiting for The Lord of the Films to come out in bookstores, hoping the bill to create smoke free workplaces in Wisconsin would pass, and seeing a Star Trek film in the theater for the first time since 1998. -jwb- jwbraun.com