From Bjo Trimble's "On The Good Ship Enterprise":
WHEN FANS COLLIDE
Science fiction fandom, established since the early '40s, viewed the sudden invasion of Star Trek fans with alarm. Until the popularity of the show, most fans "discovered" SF and joined as individuals or in small groups. This made it easier to absorb all the "WOWEE! More people like me!” enthusiasm of the newcomers, and SF fandom seldom got rocked backward by this gentle intrusion. SF fans, no more and no less intelligent than anyone else, muddled along nicely until Star Trek burst on the scene. Then everyone got a rude awakening to modern times.
First, when most of us were learning to produce fanzines (amateur publications), we had to learn how to work ancient typewriters, repair even more elderly mimeograph or fluid repro machines, and turn out the best we could with what we had to work with. At that time, the instant offset printshop on the corner was nothing but a dream. Photolithography was horribly expensive and to be used only if one got such a fantastic piece of fan art that it would be a sin to reproduce it on stencil!
So by the time Star Trek fandom emerged as a force to reckon with, the quick-print shops were common, and offset prices were down so everyone could afford them. One of the first things science fiction fans noticed was that Star Trek fans began turning out beautifully reproduced fanzines all over the place. This, quite naturally, rubbed some of the science fiction "old timers" the wrong way. They could remember the frustration of trying to produce a letter-perfect fanzine, using very outdated methods of reproduction.
Star Trek fans also thought they should try to make a profit off their endeavors. As one of the all-hallowed and totally illogical early ideas of science fiction fandom, the unspoken "rule" that it was immoral to make a profit off fellow fans is probably one of the most stupid. This has prevented, through the years, many fans from collecting an honest salary for putting on a topnotch and very profitable convention. Instead, the committee often has to resort to "losing" the money in an involved bit of bookkeeping, or find a charity to donate it to, or some other device designed to make - if the truth ever became known - fandom look more dishonest than it is. Star Trek fans, without any of this "tradition" behind them, hit fandom broadside with very expensive fanzines and conventions that were openly designed to make money for someone.
Star Trek fans also hit traditional science fiction fandom in masses. This caused a definite "future shock" among the Old Guard, who felt that more subtle approaches to entering fandom should be the watchword. How hundreds of people at a time could even consider being subtle was never explained. Even today, there are often old-time SF fans who yearn for "the good old days" when everyone sat around discussing science fiction. The fact that not everyone, even in the "good old days" ever sat around discussing SF does not seem to be remembered. The fans running the halls, carrying on and having fun, are blamed now on "media" fans. I don't recall what they were blamed on in the "good old days," but those fans were there even then.
Not, of course, in the number we have today, but the march of progress, which has meant the growth of science fiction as a genre, does have to include adding many people at a time to its fan ranks.
Star Trek fans had one enthusiasm, of course, and they talked about it ad infinitum, driving the old-timers into dark corners of the convention bars. That we all had those enthusiasms, whether for a TV show or our favorite science fiction author - and probably bored contemporary old-timers silly - is mercifully not recalled by us "old-timers" today! Oh, for a small time machine!
Star Trek fans became such a force that rules against too many Spocks in a costume parade were devised, and discussion ran rife about keeping registration limited to "real" science fiction fans. Some of us demanded to know where the line could be drawn there. Far more attention was being paid to Star Trek fandom than the situation deserved, and it served only to make the situation worse in many cases. Overseas bids for convention sites were hailed as a means of "getting away from the Star Trek fans" when a little research would have shown that there are organized ST fans everywhere, in almost every country! After 15 years, one would suppose clearer thinking would prevail.
Star Trek fans are real people, just like science fiction fans, and have as much to offer. People who turn away from any area of life because of stupid prejudices are missing some wonderful relationships they might otherwise have enjoyed for the rest of their lives.
The attitude continues in some circles. A short time ago, a well-known science fiction fan was honored at a convention for being an "omni-fan," interested in every facet of fandom. At that same convention, I was castigated by SF fans for being interested in Star Trek and "turning traitor" to old-time SF fandom!
Though science fiction fandom has learned to be tolerant, every now and then some established old-timer speaks out against the proliferation of "fringe fandom": all those outside science-fiction interests which impinge on traditional fans. Usually, the targets are the Society for Creative Anachronism, the Count Dracula Society, and Star Trek. More recently they have included comics fans, "Star Wars," and other "media" meaning film and TV show fans. When this happens, it is obvious that the old-timer is not aware of the crossovers from one fandom to the next. There is actually no science fiction in Regency dancing, but we now have such activities at many large SF conventions because it's fun.
When one disgruntled fan watched for some minutes as an undulating belly-dancer displayed her multitudinous talents in the general registration area of the hotel, he was moved to ask, "What's she got to do with science fiction?"
To which a dozen young males replied, "Who cares?”
Fans are very interested in a number of things, which means a strong overlap with such groups as Gilbert and Sullivan societies, Sherlock Holmes groups, amateur publishing associations, and historical costuming. It would be a shame to have any one group be able to kill or make this wide set of interests go " underground" instead of being out where everyone can enjoy them. It is, after all, very easy to simply ignore the non-pure science fictional intrusions, too.
Not many of the old-timers realize that the Star Trek fans, when they came into organized fandom, didn't know about its traditions. Of course, the ST fans tried to carry their "message" about Spock and Star Trek into a fandom which was older and dedicated to acting far more blasé. The term "Trekkies" seems to have been coined about then.
There were some problems about being accepted into organized SF fandom if you were a Trekkie. Most of the Old Guard did not notice any differences in the Star Trek fandoms and judged them all by the worst of them. Those would have to be the "Spockies," the one who ran around with damp, crumpled, kiss-smeared photos of Mr. Spock; the ones who wore the badly-applied Spock ears all day; the ones who wore green lipstick and matching eyeshadow. When even a small group of people start screaming "Spock! Spock! Spock!" like a bunch of mating flamingos, they are difficult to put up with for any length of time. These people are not science fiction fans. If it doesn't have Mr. Spock in it, they wouldn't bother to read it. They are basically hung up on the strong sexual image of an attractive but unavailable alien. This does not include the many people who enjoy Mr. Spock and even love him far more than the other Star Trek characters. "Spockies" are easily recognized by their totally irrational attitude toward anyone else's opinions, and they are wont to throw IDIC in your face should you say something sensible.
"Spockies" live by IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations: a Vulcan philosophy) but not by its precepts. They use it as a bludgeon to batter down any argument concerning Spock. Mention that Mr. Spock is truly not the center of the Universe and stand by to get dozens of letters and a couple of nasty phone calls, inquiring if IDIC is familiar, and if so, why don't you try living it? "Spockies" have no tolerance for anyone else's opinions unless they include Mr. Spock as the perfect entity.
Then there are "Trekkies" - actually a rather cute name but one which the news media have successfully made into a derogatory term. Many of them are still in the early stages of finding science fiction: "Oh, I love to read it, but I never remember the author's name…" They tend to want to be called "Trekkers," which is fine, too. This term indicates trekking or traveling; a method of maturing as well as discovering.
"Trekkies" are some of my favorite people. They are usually generous to a fault, creative in their stories and inventions, willing to volunteer for anything, and do their best to reach an understanding with others. Who could ask more?
"Trekkies" are followed closely by "Star Trek Tipplers," the people in science fiction fandom who would die a slow death being kicked to death by little red spiders, before they would admit to enjoying anything on TV, much less Star Trek. But they are Star Trek fans, and they do watch the show. It took only a short time before Dr. Isaac Asimov and Hal Clement fell into the ranks of "Star Trek Fans" if not "Trekkies," and even Harlan Ellison watched the show often enough to castigate it thoroughly. He had to be a tippler to know what was going on each week. Some tipplers never knew about science fiction or Star Trek fandom until introduction via a SF newsletter, a club, or a convention. Then they gravitated to the science fiction fans without a pause in Star Trek fandom. Yet, these people qualify as "Star Trek Fans" even if they never became "Trekkies" with all the Star Trek activity and interest that implies. Sometimes, a tippler will make the mistake of admitting their ST interest, only to have some old-timer say, "Uh ... a Spockie, huh?" and the intolerance sets in.
There is no easy solution for this. One thing all Trekkies can do is act as mature as possible without missing any of the crazy fun of being a fan. Still, humility can be carried too far, to where the poor Trekkie or Trekker mouses around in corners, wondering how to best placate these "real" science fiction fans!
Well, remember that many of us paid our dues! We were long-time science fiction fans before Star Trek was a reality, and we are still SF fans. But we have other, wider, interests, and that includes Star Trek as well as many of the "fringe" fandoms mentioned earlier. Nobody has to apologize for being a Trekkie or Trekker. You helped keep the show on the air, proving that the American public could be roused to buck the system! Your letters named the Enterprise, and you sent over half a million letters to President Reagan to save the space budget! While traditional fandom talked a lot about Something Ought To Be Done, it was the Trekkies who did it!
But the slow infiltration continues. Smart Star Trek fans curb their enthusiasms and talk sensibly about other things as well as their most abiding interest. The Spocks have disappeared from costume parades, except an occasional, usually humorous, one. Star Trek fans have discovered science fiction literature, and most of them are well-versed on the subject; indeed, far more so than many old-guard SF fans. There have even been some crossbreed romances, with Star Trek fans marrying science fiction fans!
What has caused this devotion to one subject, the news media ask us in every interview. One of the reasons has been noted over and over again, and we saw it in the letters to Star Trek when we were answering the show's mail: The stories postulated a future, 200 years from now, in which everyone was trying to get along among themselves and with aliens of other worlds. In the 1960s, with the hippie movement, the fun-today-because-we-have-no-tomorrow drug culture, and the hands hovering over red panic buttons, we needed a promise of a future!
Another reason for Star Trek's popularity was the characters. All of them were readily identifiable as role models in one manner or other. For the first time ever, a spaceship was shown with a wide variety of ethnic group representatives, as well as a hero who really worried about his people. In a day when the non-hero seemed to be all too ready to blow people away on the screen, it was very refreshing to have a genuine, old-fashioned hero with human feelings!
The reason for the continuing popularity of Star Trek is, I feel, that the stories hold up. They were by no means "Great SF," but they were certainly very good "Space Opera" and they could be told over and over again. The appeal of twice-told stories is as old as our first tale-spinners around predawn campfires. The current appeal of Star Trek surely has a basis in this fact.
There was a far more subtle reason for the popularity of Star Trek that emerged only in fandom: It was a bridge between generations. Parents found they could sit and watch Star Trek with their children and afterward could discuss the story, its meaning, and its potential as a future happening. Mothers found they could share Star Trek's basic theme of loving one's fellow man with their nearly-estranged daughters, and fathers found they could take young sons to the local museum of natural history or space flight to discuss future education. This bringing together of the family unit is something I discovered through the many letters and personal exchanges at conventions. It has never, to my knowledge, been brought up as something unique to Star Trek.
News reporters like to act as if Star Trek is the only show that has ever had such fanatical followers, but this is not true in the slightest. At the time Star Trek was on, there were several shows getting as much, if not more, mail. There was an avid "Monkees" fandom, which was not really organized but big enough to keep the letters coming in. Later, a letter-writing campaign from angered "Hee Haw" fandom was to get that show returned to the air. Even today, there seems to be a definite correlation between the suicides on soap operas, and real-life suicides. Fanatics are everywhere. They attach themselves to whatever appeals to some part of their nature that needs feeding. Star Trek is not alone in having adherents who get a little more than carried away!
Indeed, reporters could search long enough to locate the fanatic who wants to have a plastic surgeon actually create "real Spock ears" for him, or the fanatic who wants to collect blood samples from all the stars. There are fun-loving fans who have their vans or cars painted to look like the Galileo shuttlecraft, which is hardly any sillier than many of the painted vans we see everywhere. There are fans who have their entire rooms, and indeed, their whole houses filled with posters, paraphernalia, and Star Trek souvenirs; but not more so than many fans of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, or James Dean.
Fans come in all types. When reporters want to know the "definitive" Star Trek fan, I have to say, "Well, he/she is about seven years old and a great-grandmother; he/she is mentally retarded with two PhDs; and he/she is black, white, brown, yellow, red, and plaid!" Everything but the plaid is true. There are many handicapped Star Trek fans who soar unhindered by Earthly bodies through the vast outer reaches of space to "go where no man has gone before." They are joined by people in the aerospace industry who are working toward that reality, while wearing "CLOSET TREKKIE" buttons under the lapel of their Sincere Suit. There are people of various ethnicities who have seen in Star Trek that they can go to space; people who can see that regardless of sex, they have a chance on the U.S.S. Enterprise.
If Star Trek never did anything else for us, it gave us that.
