When Was Fandom At Its Peak?

[Forbin]

For me, around 1976. There was a huge convention in Manhattan (my first!), fanzines were hot (still have a few from that con!), blueprints and the tech manual came out, Lincoln Enterprises had cool shit, I had a "Star Trek is..." 10th anniversary mylar bumper sticker on my Corvair. Being a Trekkie was still had a "private club" air to it instead of a "get away from me, nerd" air, and jokes like NCC-1701 license plates were still tongue-in-cheek rather than tired.

 

[Trekker4747]

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.

Pretty much. As "good" as DS9 is it never hit mainstream. Plenty of "ordinary" people were aware of the Star Trek that had the "bald captain", the "robot" and the "guy with the banana clip over his eyes."

Go up to anyone born in the last 20-30 years and put a banana clip over your eyes and reach out like you're blind and they'll most likely instantly know what you're talking about eben if they've only seen a couple of episodes of TNG.

You can't say that for any other MT Trek character. Trek's "peak" was definitely during TNG's run.

 

[Warp Coil]

1994-1996. I, personally, have never seen so much media attention on the Trek franchise like that. TNG was winding down its very successful 7-year run, and was making the big leap into feature films. I believe the show managed to snab a couple of major Emmy award nominations in its final season. There was a ton of publicity for GEN, particularly because of the historical teaming of Kirk and Picard. They were on the cover of magazines, including Time. DS9 had launched successfully and was doing well. There was buzz about the creation of VOY, and of the return of Trek to primetime network television (as the flagship of the new UPN network). Star Trek celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1996, and released FC, which brought the Borg to the big screen and became one of the most successful Trek films.

It was a great time to be a fan back then.

 

[Steve Roby]

It's not so bad right now. There's not as much stuff, but there are interesting things happening in the books, a really good official Star Trek magazine, some reasonably good comics, an MMO in the works, and a new movie in the works that people are actually talking about.

I can understand the 1970s being a special time (see the Stardate 7600 miniwebsite I did a few years ago; it's a Trek fan website done as if the web had existed back in 1976, when I was 13). But I really don't think it can be argued that that was the peak of Star Trek's popularity. Only if you discount all the movies and the post-TOS Trek series can you make that claim, and most fans don't discount that stuff.

 

[RandyS]

1994-1996. I, personally, have never seen so much media attention on the Trek franchise like that. TNG was winding down its very successful 7-year run, and was making the big leap into feature films. I believe the show managed to snab a couple of major Emmy award nominations in its final season. There was a ton of publicity for GEN, particularly because of the historical teaming of Kirk and Picard. They were on the cover of magazines, including Time. DS9 had launched successfully and was doing well. There was buzz about the creation of VOY, and of the return of Trek to primetime network television (as the flagship of the new UPN network). Star Trek celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1996, and released FC, which brought the Borg to the big screen and became one of the most successful Trek films.

It was a great time to be a fan back then.

Yes it was. Of course, now's not too bad either.

 

[Lord Garth]

Popularity was at its peak in the early-'90s, saturation was at its peak in the mid-'90s.

 

[Forbin]

Pretty much. As "good" as DS9 is it never hit mainstream. Plenty of "ordinary" people were aware of the Star Trek that had the "bald captain", the "robot" and the "guy with the banana clip over his eyes."

Go up to anyone born in the last 20-30 years and put a banana clip over your eyes and reach out like you're blind and they'll most likely instantly know what you're talking about eben if they've only seen a couple of episodes of TNG.

That's about the time I made myself Geordi "nose glasses." A banana clip with a rubber nose and mustache attached.

 

[RandyS]

Popularity was at its peak in the early-'90s, saturation was at its peak in the mid-'90s.

You mean "over-saturation"?

 

[Lord Garth]

Popularity was at its peak in the early-'90s, saturation was at its peak in the mid-'90s.

You mean "over-saturation"?

Semantics...

 

[T'Cal]

At its peak for popularity? ST:TVH through ST:FC. That 10 year period from 1986 through 1996, of course, includes TNG, most DS9, and some of VOY. To pin it down a bit more, I'd say TNG late in season 3 through FC, 1991-1996. After FC, interest wained. Not with me, mind you. Indeed, I continued to watch the series and go see the movies, but viewership and ticket sales went down and the mainstream media pulled back on its coverage. There was still an audience later, which is shown clearly by the number of viewers that saw ENT's first episode. But the producers failed to hang onto them. TV Guide has always pushed TV Trek, though. God bless them!

 

[CaptainStoner]

It's pretty clear where the currently highest peak was.

I started losing interest by DS9, which is cool, because now I get to watch it for the first time.

ENT, I never got past that god-awful theme song, it made me want to throw bricks at kittens. WHY!? Acoustic guitar!? WTF!?
But, that makes for another show I've yet to discover.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Personally, I think it peaked around 1991, myself. IMO, the 25th-anniversary year was the point when Trek was really the most mainstream as there was a bit of nostalgia for TOS and an appreciation for TNG going on simultaneously.

After that point, I think mainstream audiences began to gradually leave and pursue other things while the more invested Trek fans continued to carry the torch alone...

 

[Nerys Myk]

May 8th 2009

 

[RAMA]

Personally, I think it peaked around 1991, myself. IMO, the 25th-anniversary year was the point when Trek was really the most mainstream as there was a bit of nostalgia for TOS and an appreciation for TNG going on simultaneously.

After that point, I think mainstream audiences began to gradually leave and pursue other things while the more invested Trek fans continued to carry the torch alone...

The numbers don't really show that though.

I remember a few years after the 25th anniversary when the first convention ever in this area was held and 6,000 people showed up, I was pretty shocked. If I had to narrow down the peak, it might have been 1996, 3 ST incarnations were in visual fiction at the same time. The internet was abuzz in greater numbers for the first time. That ratings on TV had leveled off but had not quite dropped too much yet. In terms of TV viewers, 1992-1994 were the best:http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=54333. 1994 was also the year the official fan club had the most members ever!

RAMA

 

[Mr Awe]

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.

I think it peaked well before that. In fact, I'd say the peak is what caused TPTB to feel comfortable producing TNG movies to begin with, along with the sequel series. The bean counters saw the peak and saw money to be made off of it.

Mr Awe

 

[C.E. Evans]

Personally, I think it peaked around 1991, myself. IMO, the 25th-anniversary year was the point when Trek was really the most mainstream as there was a bit of nostalgia for TOS and an appreciation for TNG going on simultaneously.

After that point, I think mainstream audiences began to gradually leave and pursue other things while the more invested Trek fans continued to carry the torch alone...

The numbers don't really show that though.

I remember a few years after the 25th anniversary when the first convention ever in this area was held and 6,000 people showed up, I was pretty shocked. If I had to narrow down the peak, it might have been 1996, 3 ST incarnations were in visual fiction at the same time. The internet was abuzz in greater numbers for the first time. That ratings on TV had leveled off but had not quite dropped too much yet. In terms of TV viewers, 1992-1994 were the best:http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=54333. 1994 was also the year the official fan club had the most members ever!

The OP asked us when did we think Trek fandom was at its highest. I still think Trek was at its most mainstream point in 1991, then it coasted on a wave of popularity for awhile, and then the decline started a few years afterwards.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^^ I'd agree with that myself. I put the range at 1990-1992.

Mr Awe

 

[Forbin]

Interesting range of perspectives, possibley relating to age. When I think of Trek fandom, I really only think of the 70s, I don't even think of TNG and after!

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I think Steve Roby pretty much nails it, and provides the analysis.

Age is an interesting factor - my enthusiasm for Trek may in some ways have been highest in the mid-1970s but I consider that a separate question from "fandom at its peak" in the same way I draw distinctions between "my all-time favorite movie" and "the best film ever made." Both of which, of course, are nothing but fodder for bar room arguments anyway.

 

[I am not Spock]

Early to mid nineties, I think. TNG was on a roll, DS9 was starting up. Voyager got a lot of media attention when Seven joined in season 4. FC was a crossover mainstream hit. After that, Trek faded into the realm of 'cult' again.

Another question is: When did the decline of Trek begin? I'd argue for the case that it waned after DS9 ended. VOY couldn't hold its own without DS9 there to support it. And Insurrection, Nemesis, and ENT all failed.