When Was Fandom At Its Peak?

[Therin of Andor]

About years 3 to 5 of TNG. TNG was the most mainstream success "Star Trek" ever had, expanding the popularity of the Franchise exponentially and internationally.

Most definitely. The groundswell started with ST IV and seemed to peak mid TNG. Also, "Doctor Who" went on hiatus about this time and many ST clubs saw a huge influx of young, aimless UK and international Whovians who suddenly took to TNG because it was the only fresh SF game in town.

"Doctor Who Bulletin" turned into just "DWB" and then "DreamWatch Bulletin" to soften the blow.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It was the first time I saw a naked woman, even if she was painted gold.

My brush with fame. I was once interviewed about Star Trek fandom by a woman who turned out to be Shirley Eaton's niece.

 

[Jptrekker]

The summer between the two parts of "The Best of Both Worlds" was most likely the peak, people were waiting with anticipation all summer to see if Picard would be killed or not.

 

[Jeri]

Bond as of 1965? What do you mean with that?
Did the early Bond movies have a huge following back then?

They spawned a number of secret-agent TV shows, too; even spoofs of secret-agent TV shows. Secret Agent, The Avengers, Man from Uncle, Wild Wild West, Get Smart -- they were all wildly popular. I watched them all.

 

[HIj'Qa]

The mid 90s were peak for production.
Fandom probably peaked slightly before that.

 

[JM1776]

My gut instinct says Trek fandom peaked when First Contact opened in the theaters.

I think for a "gut instinct" that's pretty damned accurate.

 

[USS Kongo]

I agree with Temis. When First Contact opened, that was the peak of fandom for Trek. That movie opened to big box office; plus you had two other Trek series currently running on TV. Good times.

Sean

 

[Krieg1981]

I'd say around the 25th anniversary. There was a great deal of attention being paid to Star Trek at that time! However, It peaked again with the release of STFC.

 

[Trekker4747]

My gut instinct says Trek fandom peaked when First Contact opened in the theaters.

I think for a "gut instinct" that's pretty damned accurate.

Pretty much my thinking. Though I was going to go with around TNG's 5th or 6th season.

Man FC was awesome. I remember seeing that and thinking TNG was going to have a GREAT series of films.

...

Sigh.

I wish I could go back in time and kick myself in the head for being so naive.

 

[Good Will Riker]

November 26th, 1986 - January 16th, 1995

 

[Aike]

^I´d add about two weeks since one of the biggest conventions ever staged was the Star Trek Generations convention at The Royal Albert Hall in London. It attracted about 10 000 UK fans.

 

[22 Stars]

The moment that Patrick Stewart was voted sexiest man on TV. Ya can't get more mainstream than that.

 

[roguephoenix]

most definitely tng era. tng forever!

 

[M'Sharak]

In terms of maximum commercial clout, mid-TNG. In terms of fandom organizing itself into something the studio people could recognize as a potential revenue source that they wanted a piece of, the '75-'76 timeframe trevanian cites here sounds about right.

Bond as of 1965? What do you mean with that?
Did the early Bond movies have a huge following back then?

They spawned a number of secret-agent TV shows, too; even spoofs of secret-agent TV shows. Secret Agent, The Avengers, Man from Uncle, Wild Wild West, Get Smart -- they were all wildly popular. I watched them all.

I never did see Secret Agent, but the rest were weekly viewing. I Spy probably got a push from the Bond movies, as well.

 

[pookha]

The summer between the two parts of "The Best of Both Worlds" was most likely the peak, people were waiting with anticipation all summer to see if Picard would be killed or not.

yep, it was getting main stream coverage.
and all kinds of people who previously not sci fi fans got caught up in the fate of picard.

 

[RAMA]

About years 3 to 5 of TNG. TNG was the most mainstream success "Star Trek" ever had, expanding the popularity of the Franchise exponentially and internationally.

Most definitely. The groundswell started with ST IV and seemed to peak mid TNG. Also, "Doctor Who" went on hiatus about this time and many ST clubs saw a huge influx of young, aimless UK and international Whovians who suddenly took to TNG because it was the only fresh SF game in town.

"Doctor Who Bulletin" turned into just "DWB" and then "DreamWatch Bulletin" to soften the blow.

I recall two distinct peaks....1986-1987 when STIV was a huge smash and STNG was announced and premiered. The years from 1992 till about 1999. When there were TV shows and movies aplenty and the numbers of fans and viewers were by far the highest.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

The summer between the two parts of "The Best of Both Worlds" was most likely the peak, people were waiting with anticipation all summer to see if Picard would be killed or not.

STNG's highest ratings though were in its last three years. BOBW was not even in the top 10 highest rated STNG episodes.

RAMA

 

[WillsBabe]

"Doctor Who Bulletin" turned into just "DWB" and then "DreamWatch Bulletin" to soften the blow.

I'd forgotten about that! I remember not being utterly amazed that something that had been a fanzine turned up as a professional publication one morning when I was buying my moring paper in the local corner shop. Trek and so forth were so popular that it just seemed natural to find fannish stuff everywhere.

 

[Steve Roby]

In what year do you think the popularity Star Trek peaked?

I don't think there can be much doubt that it was the early to mid-90s. People with no previous interest in ST or SF were watching and talking about TNG, and reinventing fandom. The online world had grown dramatically, and Star Trek hotspots like Compuserve and usenet were being joined by increasing numbers of websites. Magazines like Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide were doing special issues devoted to it. Industry magazines like Broadcasting & Cable looked at TNG as an important pioneer in first run syndicated drama.

And as for books... in 1996, there were nearly 80 Star Trek books, the most ever. Lawrence Krauss's 1995 book The Physics of Star Trek kicked off a whole new publishing niche that's still generating books today (all those The Science of... books). Major publishers were producing lots of nonfiction books about Star Trek. Pocket was publishing its main lines of novels and two series of YA books. St. Martin's Press published a seven book series of Star Wreck parodies. Small publishing companies were surviving almost exclusively on their unauthorized Star Trek nonfiction books.

Hell, the TNG finale was aired on the Jumbotron at Toronto's major league baseball stadium.

As much as I love DS9, I never had anyone offline to discuss it with until I met my wife. TNG? Pretty much everyone I knew watched it at least occasionally. And though TPTB tried to recapture some of TNG in Voyager and Enterprise, by that time the people I know who'd watched TNG regularly were barely aware that there was still any Star Trek on TV. They never got into DS9 (or Babylon 5, for that matter) or any other space opera-style SF series. TNG was a one-off.

 

[Jeri]

I never did see Secret Agent, but the rest were weekly viewing. I Spy probably got a push from the Bond movies, as well.

That's right; I Spy was a very good show (and a boon for Bill Cosby). There are probably others someone might remember, too.