Some people are certain that there will be another TV series one day, but for right now, Trek is a movie franchise.
Will Trekkies die out?
- Thread starter blockmaster2001
- Start date
The original 79 episodes influenced my life far more than any of the spinoff series could. So much of my life would have been different if I'd never seen them.
I wouldn't be into science fiction at all. My reading habits would be completely different, as even the interest in historical fiction came about indirectly as a result of Star Trek.
I'd never have gone to work in the theatre (after reading Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek, I was fascinated by the technical part of TV shows - the backstage stuff, if you will - and since I don't live anywhere near where I could get involved in that, I ended up working backstage in musical theatre).
I would never have heard of the Society for Creative Anachronism (and therefore never joined it and learned so many new and interesting skills). I wouldn't even have gotten interested in computers or computer gaming, since it was people in my SCA group who helped me with my first tentative steps with that, back in the late '80s/early '90s.
No computer would have meant no knowledge of the Freecycle organization, and therefore I wouldn't have the two wonderful cats who presently share my life. Our group allows pet adoptions, and these cats came along at exactly the time when it was right for me to adopt them, thus saving them from a miserable, short existence in the animal shelter where they could have been killed if not adopted fast enough.
All the above and more happened as part of a chain of events that stemmed from my watching "By Any Other Name" (TOS episode) back in November 1975.
Now, what profound effect has nuTrek had on my life? None, other than arguing with people on an internet forum. I watched the two movies, didn't like them, haven't bought any of the merchandise, have read about 2 fanfic stories (in contrast to many hundreds from TOS and Voyager).
TOS also influenced my choices in college - what courses I took, and what approach I took with them. For decades, TOS has been part of high school, college, and university courses in a variety of ways. It would surprise me if anyone bothered to study nuTrek for anything other than its technical aspects. There's not much else that would still have people discussing and debating 50 years later.
Fandom kept going, inbetween TOS and TNG. In fact, due to conventions, TV reruns, fanfiction, and so on, fandom - and therefore Star Trek - was anything but dead.
I don't watch the TV shows these days, as I don't own the DVDs and have no access to them either on TV or online. But I own hundreds of books, fanzines, access to millions of stories online, and made contact with people with whom I used to correspond via snailmail back in the '80s. Star Trek isn't dead for me. There's far too much of it for me to ever be able to catch up with, even if I did nothing but Star Trek-related things 24/7/365.
In the meantime, why not try out some of the fan films? Some of them are excellent at recreating the look and feel of the actual TV series, and they have good, entertaining stories.
Then you must have been living under a rock.
Well, to this fan, they are exactly like the old series! The Kirk/Spock dynamic, the Spock/McCoy dynamic, the unexpected Uhura/Spock development (with its roots in the earliest TOS episodes)... just to name a few.
I well recall about six months after "Return of the Jedi" and all "Star Wars" toys and comics suddenly disappeared, and there were no SW novels for nearly ten years, and only two spin-off Ewok movies and a "Droids" cartoon for fans to watch. Everyone declared "Star Wars" fandom was almost dead. Then along came "Star Wars" hardcover novels (George Lucas pushed for them, based on the huge success of first-release, bestselling "Star Trek" hardcovers like "Spock's World" and "The Lost Years"). And then came "The Phantom Menace".
TV and movie franchises are cyclic, like all fashions.
"Star Trek" and "Star Wars" (and "Batman" and "Superman") are modern mythology. Do fairy tales, fables and nursery rhymes ever truly vanish?
Paramount makes movies. CBS inherited the right to put "Star Trek" on TV when Viacom was split up.
Hey, he's 13, give the kid a break. He can't help it if that's almost like living under a rock.
Thanks melakon my thoughts exactly and it wasn't a rock it was my laptop XD. Also I've even tried to show my friends Star Trek becasue when I go to there house I say should I bring Star Trek and they say no , I think it's becasue they are Warsers? I'm guessing that's not the real name for a Star Wars fanboys but personally I like both
So do a lot of us. You like what you like.
No problem. I was a science fiction fan at 8, about 7 years before Star Trek was even on television.
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
Just be glad that the hit film of the 70s wasn't Logan's Run, and that Roscoe Lee Browne in a robot costume didn't become the biggest evilest bad guy in science fiction.
Oh, in my heart, he still is.
The internet makes it easier than it has ever been to bring fans of something together, even if it's a small, niche thing, which Star Trek is NOT.
Star Trek has made a huge pop culture impact, the big-name actors of TOS and TNG are STILL well-known, and the new movies are fun and very popular. Star Trek fandom will go on for a long time.
Star Trek has made a huge pop culture impact, the big-name actors of TOS and TNG are STILL well-known, and the new movies are fun and very popular. Star Trek fandom will go on for a long time.
I was quite put out that I never got to see that movie when it was first out. But I was only 13, and it was showing at a drive-in. There was no way I'd have been able to convince my family to take me. So even though I had read the novel it was based on, it was quite awhile before I got to see it on TV (and thank goodness my grandparents weren't in the room; they'd have flipped out at even that much nudity...).
But if the movie had become very popular, there would have been a lot of silver ankhs available as tie-in merchandise.
No.
Adults don't like Star Trek?
Some weeks back I had some people coming in to help organize the several dozen boxes of my stuff I got out of storage. One of them went nuts over my counted cross-stitch kits. Her friend insisted on organizing my books by some weird method that I've had to undo.
Every other person immediately gravitated to my Star Wars stuff, with a reverential goshwow attitude because it's either from the '70s or '80s. These are adults. I have to assume they saw and liked the movies, or they wouldn't be so drawn to my stuff.
If adults can get obsessed with collecting Lego or Barbies, why not Star Wars?
I have a ton of 70's SW figures on display in a leadlight cabinet inset into the wall that was originally made to display spoons. They are awesome but their weapons have become separated from their bodies and this causes me distress because there's a lot of research in reuniting them.
I've been reading SW books lately and I think I am preparing to explode with SW obsession when the new movie comes out. It's building up inside me.
I've been reading SW books lately and I think I am preparing to explode with SW obsession when the new movie comes out. It's building up inside me.
THIS is why I turn my back on fandom.
