How many devoted Trek fans are there?

[Duane]

Has anyone seen an estimate as to how many devoted Trek fans actually exist? I'm talking about the kind of fan who would never dream of missing the upcoming movie.

I ask because I just realized that this web site has fewer than 9,000 registered members. That doesn't tell the whole story, since I personally viewed this site for a few years before posting. I just didn't have time then and I do now.

Is there an estimate out there somewhere on the number of devoted fans?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Paramount used to do an estimate of the numbers of fan clubs, their members, fanzines produced, and the number of licensed ST novels sold annually, in the press kits for the ST movies.

I recall Richard Arnold suggesting at a convention in the late 80s/early 90s that Paramount estimated that - in any typical cinema audience - 10% identified themselves as regular Star Trek watchers, and 1% were avid ST fans who never missed a new ST. Only 1% of that 1% of fans were completist collectors, who made a point of buying all licensed ST books/comics.

The numbers are tricky though, because what made TMP and ST II so successful was the numbers of avid ST fans who went back time and again. Remember, too, that TMP was still running in cinemas up to eight months after the premiere. And what made ST IV so successful was the extraordinary numbers of non ST fans who were tempted to see it in the cinema due to good word of mouth. VHS and DVD sales, plus the knowledge that a DVD release will follow a cinema run after only a few months, have no doubt eroded the repeat viewings in cinemas for new ST films.

 

[Smiley]

The schisms in the fanbase make the question hard to answer. Some fans won't consider watching anything with the original crew, and some TOS-only fans won't see anything without the original cast. Whatever the answer, you'll have to look at a lot more than just the number of registered users of one BBS to find it.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

This question always requires defining what "devoted fan" means, but you have:

I'm talking about the kind of fan who would never dream of missing the upcoming movie.

Just go to a mall with a clipboard and stop people and ask them: if you heard about a new Star Trek movie being made, would you A) definitely go see it; B) think about it; or C) definitely not go see it. Just count up the number of A answers and divide by the total number of respondents. There's your percentage. Extrapolate that to the total population.

For better results, people in various cities should do this and we could compile the totals. Get to work, Trekkies!

 

[Nebusj]

roger1999 said:
Has anyone seen an estimate as to how many devoted Trek fans actually exist?

Four, and they're not on speaking terms with one another.

 

[RoJoHen]

Menacing Horta said:
This question always requires defining what "devoted fan" means, but you have:

I'm talking about the kind of fan who would never dream of missing the upcoming movie.

Just go to a mall with a clipboard and stop people and ask them: if you heard about a new Star Trek movie being made, would you A) definitely go see it; B) think about it; or C) definitely not go see it. Just count up the number of A answers and divide by the total number of respondents. There's your percentage. Extrapolate that to the total population.

For better results, people in various cities should do this and we could compile the totals. Get to work, Trekkies!

That would require actually going to a mall, and that's just not something I can bring myself to do.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Nebusj said:
Four, and they're not on speaking terms with one another.

Actually, I do still talk to one of the other three.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Menacing Horta said:
This question always requires defining what "devoted fan" means, but you have:

I'm talking about the kind of fan who would never dream of missing the upcoming movie.

Just go to a mall with a clipboard and stop people and ask them: if you heard about a new Star Trek movie being made, would you A) definitely go see it; B) think about it; or C) definitely not go see it. Just count up the number of A answers and divide by the total number of respondents. There's your percentage. Extrapolate that to the total population.

For better results, people in various cities should do this and we could compile the totals. Get to work, Trekkies!

I always think that we should somehow revoke the Trekker membership card from people who may call themselves fans but say that they've never really seen any of TOS. On the other hand, I do agree that a 'good fan' should have at least seen more than a dozen episodes of Voyager before calling it crap.

 

[OmahaStar]

Nebusj said:

roger1999 said:
Has anyone seen an estimate as to how many devoted Trek fans actually exist?

Four, and they're not on speaking terms with one another.

I know, I heard about that .. incident .. with the "tribbles" ... That poor woman.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Nardpuncher said:

Menacing Horta said:
This question always requires defining what "devoted fan" means, but you have:

I'm talking about the kind of fan who would never dream of missing the upcoming movie.

<clip>

I always think that we should somehow revoke the Trekker membership card from people who may call themselves fans but say that they've never really seen any of TOS. On the other hand, I do agree that a 'good fan' should have at least seen more than a dozen episodes of Voyager before calling it crap.

Well, it's interesting, because already we have varying definitions of what we each consider to be 'devoted'.

For me, going to see that movie is not a requirement of being a Trek fan - especially since the last two (and ESPECIALLY the last ONE) were total rubbish.

Personally, I struggle with going to see that film. After the last one, which pretty much destroyed any remaining interest I had in TNG or any of it's characters....well....let's just say that I'm more interested in PROTECTING my already existing devotion than in increasing it.

I guess you could say that the bottom line is that I no longer have any faith in anyone involved in managing the Trek franchise. I don't trust them to care about the characters or the fans. They care about only one thing - making the most money possible with the least amount of effort. And that includes any sort of research into canon, reasonable treatment of already established characters, etc.

I don't believe they care about ANY of that anymore. And I'm sure that after this next film, there will be all sorts of people - devoted Trek fans - complaining about what the film did to this or that character or 'historical' event or whatever.

So....the OP might consider that for some of us 'devoted fans', we may opt out of the film precisely BECAUSE we are devoted fans...and can't stand to see the Trek legacy prostituted by the latest bunch of money grubbers.

As for TOS and VOY...well, I do think that every Trek fan should at least make an effort to see at least the critical episodes of TOS. It just seems fitting. And VOY? Well, I think you need to watch more than a dozen episodes. I don't think people should declare ANY show 'crap' unless they have seen at least half the episodes, and preferably more.

If you've not seen the vast majority of a show, it's pretty unfair to designate the entire thing as 'crap'.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Probably about 3 million in the US or about the number who stuck with ENT until the bitter end. And they probably all saw Nemesis or at least most of them did.

 

[Duane]

Three million sounds reasonable to me. Does that mean that all three million of us need to see the movie 10 times to guarantee that it's a hit? I can sorta imagine going five times, but not much more unless it totally rocks.

Fot those who did not enjoy Nemesis (and I did not) it helps to read/view comments and videos from those who say it is not such a bad movie. They have a point which is worth considering. Some guy posted his views on some of the TNG movies on youtube. They were funny and thoughtful. He gave me a new appreciation for Nemesis, but not enough to make me view it again.