Did the Reboot Movies Bring in New Fans?

[jamestyler]

Without a doubt. Most of the fans I meet at conventions these days are newcomers attracted by the new generation of films. There's also far more people in the 2009/ID style costume than others, which isn't an indicator (they're easier to get) - but interesting.

Closer to home, my wife (who was already a fan - but not of the films) has become far more interested and the upswing of younger members of long term fan communities (of which I'm involved with) has also been a good indicator of incoming fans.

A good chunk of friends have also gained an interest including one who FAR from a fan and only really liked Voyager because, in his words "It had a point. The others just ponced about for no reason." He's since caught up on several shows since then.

It's partly why I'm disappointed at the lack of merchandising. I've seen kids ask for Trek stuff in shops and there's nothing to buy, and for the adult market the only thing I can find without going online is a cuddly Bird of Prey (and thats from a major geek chain).

 

[Kor]

A friend of mine had never seen any Star Trek in her life. The first Trek she ever saw was ST:ID. She loved it, and her reaction was "Oh, now I understand why people like Star Trek!"

Imagine the uproar that would cause around here.

Kor

 

[Cyke101]

One of my friends from church began watching Star Trek after Star Trek: XI (2009).

Do you know anyone, preferably real life, who started watching Star Trek because of them?

I watched the 2009 movie with two non-Trekkies. After the movie, we had dinner at a nearby restaurant and they had all these questions about the mythology -- where did Spock Prime come from, what's the main differences here, who are the Romulans, etc. It was neat.

A couple years after that, but before Into Darkness, I met the person who would become my partner. He liked Trek because of the 2009 movie, but didn't know much about it. I had procrastinated on watching Harry Potter movies. He was inspired to watch TNG because of the 2009 movie, and we met when he was in the middle of Season 3. So I would show him Trek movies, and he would show me Harry Potter movies, so it was a fair trade.

For Beyond, my cousins asked me to watch it with them. They had no prior knowledge of Star Trek but they thought it looked interesting enough to watch shortly after the first weekend. So after the movie, they asked questions about the size of the franchise -- when was the first TV show, how many movies total are there, and more. They liked it.

So to the OP's question: in my experience, they definitely made some converts.

 

[Galileo7]

Yes, I know new fans because of J.J. Abrams Star Trek 2009. Yes, they have seen STID, Beyond and want to see the next film. These are fans that never were interested in the prior Star Trek films or multiple series.

 

[Relayer1]

I've seen several comments here and on Facebook from Trekkies who became fans thanks to ST'09

My son became a fan because of DS9.

That doesn't count, does it ?



Yes, there must be fans attracted to the shows by the new films. I wouldn't expect it to be that many though.

 

[seigezunt]

Yes.

But the option "No, I wasn't intrigued by the movies or I don't know anyone who watched them anew" is kind of odd. I'm not sure really how to interpret the results, as this option covers possibly two unrelated phenomena.

 

[M'Sharak]

The conception of the thread as a whole seems a bit disjointed.

Thread title:

Did the Reboot Movies Bring in New Fans?

Poll title:

Were New Fans Brought in Because of the Reboot Movies?

Poll options:

[*]Yes, I am or know someone
[*]No, I wasn't intrigued by the movies or I don't know anyone who watched them anew

It seems to be vaguely aimed at getting a particular answer, but is undecided on a) which question it wants to ask and b) how many ways it wants to sort the responses. Might be worth sorting that out until the purpose is clear, and then trying the poll again (maybe next time without the "You can't see the results until you've voted for one of these confused options" setting.)

 

[Terok Nor]

I don't know anyone who became a fan of the series after the reboot movies. I also don't know anyone who became a huge fan of the reboot movies. They seem to be enjoyed as popcorn movies and then forgotten and never spoken of again in my experience. However, it goes without saying that someone, somewhere became a fan of Trek as a whole because of the reboot movies. It's common sense.

 

[Pauln6]

Viewers, most definitely. Fans, most probably. The degree to which that increases the number of fans of the earlier shows may be debatable. They did a reasonable job of raising Star Trek's profile at least.

 

[retroenzo]

Well I can name one person. My girlfriend. She had watched the odd episode of Star Trek before but due to her circumstances at the time she couldn't ever commit to sitting down and watching it all. I knew she was a geek though as she loves the Marvel movies, as well as TV shows like Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, etc, so I took a punt...

I showed her Star Trek '09, quickly followed by Star Trek: Into Darkness, then tested the water with Star Trek Generations and Trials and Tribble-ations, all of which she has enjoyed. We skipped the original series for now but dived straight into Encounter at Farpoint and as of last night we're up to Unnatural Selection. We both went to see Star Trek Beyond along with my girlfriend's daughter who also enjoyed it. To be honest, I know she really only came with us as we did it as a cinema double-bill with Ghostbusters. I'm also in the process of converting her two boys into Doctor Who fans (much to their father's disgust )

We'll be headed to Destination Star Trek in October with her having bought a Deanna Troi dress, and both a blue and red Star Trek reboot dress. She plans to cosplay as Gaila one day too. Get out the green face paint.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

My brother and sister-in-law saw 2009 and loved it, but I don't think they saw ID or Beyond because their priorities are different than what they were in 2009. They have two young daughters, one of whom was born in 2009.

 

[publiusr]

We need more young folks--to keep the space optimism going.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I'm trying to bring my nieces into the fold... it will happen...

 

[Zonker]

I'm surprised at how often I see this question. Are there not a lot of fans here who got into Trek from the movies? I saw Trek 09 in theaters and loved it. When I saw ST:ID it made me want more. Eventually I just went back and watched it all (mostly) in order.

 

[Mudd]

I imagine it worked better than all those Trekkies standing on street corners handing out paper tracts have.

 

[BillJ]

I imagine it worked better than all those Trekkies standing on street corners handing out paper tracts have.

"Have you let Gene into your heart?"

 

[CorporalClegg]

Open one of those Magic Eye kiosks at the mall where the secret image is bags of cash and blow. Call it "Gene's Vision."

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

Were New Fans Brought in Because of the Reboot Movies?

I think they did.

 

[stardream]

For whatever it's worth there is a growing amount of Star Trek fanfiction dedicated solely to the Kelvin Timeline cast. I haven't been able to bring myself to read any of it and I like the new crew.

 

[indycar]

I first saw Into Darkness on Netflix and I then immediately watched TMP and then the rest of the film. During that time, I started TOS and I'm about to finish TNG.