Any Young Australians Here?

[crankit]

I was wondering if there were any young people on here from Australia. specifically Melbourne.

I seem to have the problem of finding young people like me (early 20s) with a common star trek interest here in Melbourne. Star Trek seems to have a stigma over it's head within western culture. A lot of people will curse it as something that shouldn't exist.

If only they new more about it and Gene Rodenberry's vision for the future.

 

[Green Shirt]

Does anyone like movies about gladiators?

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I'm not really that young anymore (35 now), but I'm living in Newcastle. There are a number of Australians on board, and a few are from Melbourne.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I was wondering if there were any young people on here from Australia. specifically Melbourne.

There is a large Melbourne-based club called AUSTREK, which has been running since the 70s. It has a web presence (also Facebook) and runs regular meetings, attends conventions, etc. There would definitely be some early 20s fans in Melbourne.

http://www.austrek.org/

 

[Yeoman Randi]

CRANKIT, you might be able to find some fellow Aussies if you go to the TEN FORWARD lounge. I seem to remember some Long Islanders trying to find each other and meet up through there as well.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Can't say I am, although I've certainly been drinking enough lately to move to another continent and not realize it for several weeks.

 

[Kurros]

I'm in Adelaide and know what you mean about the stigma. Probably part of the reason is that the series were always shown at outrageous times like 12 midnight. Most young people haven't had a chance to watch it.

I remember when Voyager started and it was on at 7ish in the evening. Here was this new show with spaceships, aliens (losing lungs) and I was hooked. Within a couple of weeks it was relegated to late night timeslot.

 

[Myasishchev]

Does anyone like movies about gladiators?

Has anyone here ever seen a grown man naked?

 

[Jono]

I'm in Adelaide and know what you mean about the stigma. Probably part of the reason is that the series were always shown at outrageous times like 12 midnight. Most young people haven't had a chance to watch it.

I remember when Voyager started and it was on at 7ish in the evening. Here was this new show with spaceships, aliens (losing lungs) and I was hooked. Within a couple of weeks it was relegated to late night timeslot.

I agree. For those who do not have access to pay TV Trek on free to air has been sporadic. DS9, Voyager and Enterprise have been relegated to the 11PM 12AM time slots on channel 9. Back in 1999-2000 I regularly watched DS9 at this time slot and it irriated me that DS9 would disappear from the schedule for no apparent reasons and than come back several weeks later...or in one instance to be replaced mid-season with Voyager, once again with episodes in the middle of one of their seasons.

As for Pay TV had it back in 1999-2000 and I remember Trek been on a Sunday night and I think it is still holding that time slot. Starting at like 8:30 with TNG and than an episode of DS9 followed by Voyager.

In my mid-20s but I'm up in Brisbane.

 

[I am not Spock]

I'm from Melbourne, and 27. Been a Trekkie my entire life. I know what you mean about the stigma. Down here in Oz, Trek seems to be taboo.

God, i had a hard time when Nine were (I guess you can call it) showing Voyager at anywhere between 12am and 1am, with those 1800 number commercials inserted in the adbreaks. They really treated Trek like garbage.

Even the new film doesn't seem to have generated nearly as much excitement here as it did elsewhere in the world.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm in Adelaide and know what you mean about the stigma. Probably part of the reason is that the series were always shown at outrageous times like 12 midnight. Most young people haven't had a chance to watch it.

You forget that the Australian TV networks refused to show TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT in prime time because Paramount USA had pre-sold each series to CIC-Taft Aust. (aka Paramount Home Video Aust.) for monthly sell-thru release, two episodes per tape, on VHS! Complete with a twelve-month video holdback. So it was doomed in prime time. The avid ST fans had already bought the shows on sell-thru, rented them from a video shop, or pirated them via the US.

I remember when Voyager started and it was on at 7ish in the evening.

You're lucky they tested it out in prime time in Adelaide! You wanted that they should keep it there, even though they were coming last in the ratings? The Nine Network hates not coming first.

Here was this new show with spaceships, aliens (losing lungs) and I was hooked. Within a couple of weeks it was relegated to late night timeslot.

Because... VOY wasn't as popular as TOS, TNG or DS9. The world over. It didn't rate in prime time in South Australia, so it went to a timeslot where the network could guarantee its advertisers they would win the timeslot.

I'm from Melbourne, and 27. Been a Trekkie my entire life. I know what you mean about the stigma. Down here in Oz, Trek seems to be taboo.

I'm 50, and have been a Star Trek fan since the age of 21. I ran a club of 1000 people and the "stigma" is in your own mind.

I'm fairly sure that the Melbourne club, Austrek, is still thriving and unconcerned about "stigma".

Star Trek fans are not treated any differently to other groups of passionate fans. And that includes footie freaks, who dress up in their team's colours and paint their faces, Manga and Anime fans who do cos play, people who groom dogs for "Best in Show" (seen that movie?), goths, emos, and any number of groups.

Even the new film doesn't seem to have generated nearly as much excitement here as it did elsewhere in the world.

Gosh, maybe that explains the recent Sydney Symphony Orchestra, this month, playing music from the movie to packed houses, at the Sydney Opera House, 2000 people at a time!

There was plenty of ST movie excitement around here in Sydney. And the world premiere, to boot! It's my understanding Melbourne had several gala openings for ST XI, and the movie got national exposure on many TV chat shows. What else did you expect to see? A float in the Moomba Parade? (Austrek have already done that one, IIRC.)

i had a hard time when Nine were (I guess you can call it) showing Voyager at anywhere between 12am and 1am, with those 1800 number commercials inserted in the adbreaks. They really treated Trek like garbage.

All of the episodes had already been out on VHS for twelve months before. What else could they have done with it? Why are 1880 ads any worse than ads for soap powder? From my understanding, late-night VOY got similar ratings to late-night TNG, so it probably got more viewers than it would have got failing dismally in prime time. Remember that VOY and ENT rated poorly in the US, too.

So, are you a member of Austrek? Do you support their fan-run events?