Why no species fanbois in Star Trek?

[YellowSubmarine]

Why nowhere in Star Trek we saw people devoted to being fans of the Vulcan culture, the Klingon culture or the Ferengi culture? Humans studying Surak's teachings? Humans dressing like Vulcans for fun, or wearing this? People parodying Vulcans, Klingons in holonovels? We saw Vulcans and Klingons parodied by the show – the holodeck Klingons in Voyager were more or less a parody of themselves – but nothing intended as such by its fictional author.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Well, if you had people SERIOUSLY studying and adhering to philosophies of other races, I think that would have been more realistic. However, I think Trek really dropped the ball on that because on the rare occasions when we saw a Trek human follow another race's philosophy (Seven, DeSeve, etc.) they were traitors or victims, not people who made a legitimate choice. It's very much a "keep to your own" message--unintended, but I think it's a bad idea.

I would not see a problem with people adopting cultural symbols and the like, but there's VERY much a line that can be crossed. If you had people dressing as Klingons and Vulcans and actually making themselves up to look like those races, that would be bad. VERY bad. (Even in theater acting you'd have a really fine line to be careful of, in the 24th century.)

 

[The Wormhole]

Not sure if this really counts, but in the Voyager episode Real Life when the Doctor created a family for himself on the holodeck and Lt. Torres later reworked it, the Doctor's son was a pretended to be a Klingon. Yes, it was a holographic scenarion, but I'm sure there was a real precedent on which it was based.

For that matter there was also the "Sons of Mogh," a cult which lived in the settlement in DS9's Children of Time that devoted themselves to Klingon philosophy and lifestyle.

So, yes, we have seen a few Klingon fanboys within Star Trek anyway.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

The idea of Klingon weeaboos amuses me to no end.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Isn't Dax a "Klingon fanboy"?

 

[The Wormhole]

Isn't Dax a "Klingon fanboy"?

Depending on the host. Curzon I guess was a Klingon fanboy, Jadzia is more of a Klingon fangirl.

 

[Elias Vaughn]

Actually, now that I think of it, I always figured Worf for someone who was acting like how he thought a Klingon should, learning about them from books and such instead of living the culture.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I'm not sure Worf was COMPLETELY divorced from the Klingon culture--he was probably most like the monks on Boreth.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

It took place in novels, but there were two sisters who served on the StarGazer who were into Klingon culture.

Of course, you have Jadzia who was also into Klingon culture.

You might even say Dr. M'Benga was into Vulcan culture since he was a 'expert' in Vulcan physiology.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

It took place in novels, but there were two sisters who served on the StarGazer who were into Klingon culture.

Those would be Michael Jan Friedman's novels. I think they were raised by Klingons? It's been a long time, so I can't quite remember...

 

[Praxius]

Not sure if this really counts, but in the Voyager episode Real Life when the Doctor created a family for himself on the holodeck and Lt. Torres later reworked it, the Doctor's son was a pretended to be a Klingon. Yes, it was a holographic scenarion, but I'm sure there was a real precedent on which it was based.

For that matter there was also the "Sons of Mogh," a cult which lived in the settlement in DS9's Children of Time that devoted themselves to Klingon philosophy and lifestyle.

So, yes, we have seen a few Klingon fanboys within Star Trek anyway.

Yeah you beat me to those..... and considering the hard time Spock had being half human amongst other Vulcans, I doubt regular humans would be accepted all the much.

But at the same time, Kes, Torres and Kim all sought out help from Tuvok and practiced a number of Vulcan rituals and meditation.

And if this counts or not, there were the abandoned Cardassian children/half cardassians left on Bajor whom the Bajorans adopted and introduced into their own culture.

There was also the human defector in TNG who took off to Romulus and later followed Spock and his movement on Romulus.

Then there was Worf's foster brother who saved that village of people and not only decided to stay behind with them when they were re-located, but also had a relationship with Cassidy Yates and was having a baby with her.

There's a number of examples of humans or sorta humans who adopted other alien cultures.... but you don't see as many of them compared to the other way around, because in ST, it focuses primarily towards our own culture in the future.

 

[Pauln6]

Miranda Jones - she trained on Vulcan, although she didn't have the logic thing down very well, and she was obsessed with serving the Medusan Ambassador.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Good question and some great answers.

That's all I got to say.

 

[Shatnertage]

How about Dr. Pulaski exploring the Klingon Tea Ceremony?

 

[Solarbaby]

What about the crew member in Space Seed who was obsessed with superhumans. You could apply to that any other races that have superior abilities.

 

[The Wormhole]

It took place in novels, but there were two sisters who served on the StarGazer who were into Klingon culture.

Those would be Michael Jan Friedman's novels. I think they were raised by Klingons? It's been a long time, so I can't quite remember...

Indeed, after their parents were killed, they were rescued by Klingons who ended up raising them. Basically, they the exact opposite of Worf.

What about the crew member in Space Seed who was obsessed with superhumans. You could apply to that any other races that have superior abilities.

Assuming you're referring to Lt. McGivers, she wasn't obsessed specifically with superhumans, her obsession was with history. Her attraction to Khan was because he was from the past, not because he was genetically engineered.

 

[FordSVT]

Actually, now that I think of it, I always figured Worf for someone who was acting like how he thought a Klingon should, learning about them from books and such instead of living the culture.

I'm not sure Worf was COMPLETELY divorced from the Klingon culture--he was probably most like the monks on Boreth.

They writers agree with you, as this issue was addressed on the show more than once. Only in his later (DS9) years did Worf come to grips with "real" Klingon culture and life, with no small assistance from Jadzia. He was merely playing an idealized, "text book" version of what he thought a Klingon should be up to his time on the Enterprise.

 

[illeanacross]

I thought Riker's chin acting did a wonderful job at being a Tribble.

 

[Finn]

There was also the human defector in TNG who took off to Romulus and later followed Spock and his movement on Romulus.

Who? I don't recall a human defector who showed up with Spock in Unification Part II.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

There's been a bit of backstory on how various Trek species view other species. The existence of a Klingon restaurant on DS9's promenade shows that there's a market for Klingon cuisine, despite its apparent grossness (their music, not so much.) It's been implied that Vulcans often appear in 24th C pornography. Humans appear to be regarded as useful cannon-fodder given their predominance in Starfleet.