Your definition of a real 'Trekkie'?

[explodingmuffin]

Hey guys, I don't post here too much, but something has been under my skin lately and I wanted your opinions on it.

How would you define a real Trekkie?

I know that that could be a very broad category of people, but I ask this because many people who have seen the new movie are now calling themselves Trekkies. People who didn't care about Star Trek before but are saying that they really like it now.

I'm fine with people liking the movie, it's just that...there is a difference between a Star Trek fan and a Trekkie. And I think that you need to like more than one fan's movie of a TV show to say that you are now a part of that fandom. I just feel that there is so much more to the Trekkie label than they seem to think there is.

I don't know. Do you think they have a right to call themselves Trekkies when they probably haven't seen more than five episodes? What do you think is the least that you would have to be/have done/know/etc. to really be considered a Trekkie by other Trekkies?

(Also, I'm pretty sure this is the right forum? It's not a discussion about the movie itself...)

 

[USS Triumphant]

There are casual fans - people who just kinda like the show, like you would any good show. And then there are Trekkies. Trekkies come in three categories, in my opinion: 1. People who believe in the ideals and values of some aspect of the show on a religious or almost religious level, 2. People who are obsessed with the minutae of the show, and usually, canon, and 3. People who find the stuff of the show - phasers, uniforms, Klingon foreheads - to be their playground of choice.

There's some overlap between the categories, obviously, but I think most of us fall mainly in one of those three. I'm pretty strongly the first type, with a touch of the third (I own a uniform and a couple of pins), and a tiny bit of the second.

And yes, this is the right forum.

 

[Sci]

Hey guys, I don't post here too much, but something has been under my skin lately and I wanted your opinions on it.

How would you define a real Trekkie?

Someone who likes Star Trek.

 

[jamestyler]

Hey guys, I don't post here too much, but something has been under my skin lately and I wanted your opinions on it.

How would you define a real Trekkie?

Someone who likes Star Trek.

What he says. You get extremists/purists in any walk of life. It doesn't make them any more or, me any less of a fan.

 

[miraclefan]

ME.

 

[USS Triumphant]

What he says. You get extremists/purists in any walk of life. It doesn't make them any more or, me any less of a fan.

Don't get me wrong with my post above - I'm not trying to say "unless you're this big a fan, you can't call yourself a Trekkie". I don't care, really. But people like labels that help them identify levels of interest. There's a difference between a casual coin collector and someone who would be referred to as a numismatist. The casual collector certainly has the right to call themselves that, but the word kind of implies something more in most people's minds (if, in that particular case, they know what it means at all. )

 

[explodingmuffin]

Hey guys, I don't post here too much, but something has been under my skin lately and I wanted your opinions on it.

How would you define a real Trekkie?

Someone who likes Star Trek.

What he says. You get extremists/purists in any walk of life. It doesn't make them any more or, me any less of a fan.

I feel like there is a difference between a fan and a Trekkie. Anyone can be a fan of anything, but to me a Trekkie is a bit more...into it. Just like if you wear black, that doesn't make you a goth, you know? You're a bit more into it than that.

 

[SpaceProg]

To me there's not a "No true Scotsman" air about if you are or not. To me, 'Trekkie' just means a Star Trek fan. No more, no less. Same with 'Trekker'.

 

[Crewman47]

I like the three categories of Trekkies and I guess I probably fall into maybe the 1st and 3rd category, with a little bit of the 2nd.

For new fans who are starting to like Star Trek after watching the movie, we could call them NuTrekkies to throw in another category of fans.

 

[SFRabid]

To me there are 4 levels.

4 - Fans who like the show well enough to show up at the occasional convention and maybe buy a prop if the price is right.

3. - Fans without inhibitions who show up at lots of conventions in uniform. They might be able to look at a prop and tell you which show it is from.

2 - Fans that spend hours discussing canon, hate anything new, and are obsessed in figuring out what happens during gaps of the overall Trek universe story line.

1. Fans that spend $20,000 turning the basement into a Enterprise bridge or show up in court wearing a ST uniform.

I'm a 4. I enjoy being around 3's. I frequently find 2's to be irritating. I'm afraid of being labeled a 1.

 

[Count Zero]

I don't fall into any of your categories, SFRabid. Never been to a convention and don't plan to, either. And yet, I've been a Trek fan all my life.

To answer the OP: When you think of yourself as a Trekkie, you're a Trekkie. To me, it's as simple as that. I don't need to see any credentials...

 

[KimMH]

anyone who visits or posts on an online Trek forum more often than three times in their life . . .

If you are bothered by those you consider newbies - embrace them and mentor them until they are as rabid about all things Trek as you.

 

[barnaclelapse]

To me there are 4 levels.

4 - Fans who like the show well enough to show up at the occasional convention and maybe buy a prop if the price is right.

3. - Fans without inhibitions who show up at lots of conventions in uniform. They might be able to look at a prop and tell you which show it is from.

2 - Fans that spend hours discussing canon, hate anything new, and are obsessed in figuring out what happens during gaps of the overall Trek universe story line.

1. Fans that spend $20,000 turning the basement into a Enterprise bridge or show up in court wearing a ST uniform.

I'm a 4. I enjoy being around 3's. I frequently find 2's to be irritating. I'm afraid of being labeled a 1.

That seems about right. I'd make some slight alterations to those levels, but I'd say you more or less got it.

I'm somewhere between three and four, I suppose, though I've occasionally stopped by to visit level two.

 

[Admiral Lithium]

I don't fall into any of your categories, SFRabid. Never been to a convention and don't plan to, either. And yet, I've been a Trek fan all my life.

To answer the OP: When you think of yourself as a Trekkie, you're a Trekkie. To me, it's as simple as that. I don't need to see any credentials...

Well said.

I have been a Trek fan since I was about 6 years old, I know the story, consider the characters as friends and frequently go on long marathon Binges of whatever flavor Trek I am in the mood for at the time. I have never been to a convention, and though I may go to one eventually it is not something I need to complete my life. I do not own a uniform, though I do own many books and scripts.

People need their titles though. Can't have self anointed royalty without them.

 

[SFRabid]

I think Trekkie is more than just being a fan. I'm a fan of NCIS, Good Eats, and American Idol. But, I don't buy their books, go to their forums, or think about the universe defined by those shows. OK, I do on one book on kitchen gadgets by Alton Brown. Maybe I should add...

0 - Visit Start Trek forums frequently, buy books, and have the DVD's.

 

[explodingmuffin]

Thanks for all your input. I wish I could be as chill about this as you guys are, and I know that this is such a trivial thing to get so worked up over, but it bothers me regardless.

I'll try listing some reasons why these people bother me so much, maybe you can tell me where I'm wrong?

- They don't know what it's like to be called a nerd or geek and teased for liking Star Trek because it's more popular now.
- Star Trek fans are usually more free-thinkers (at least as far as the ones I've encountered go) and these people...are mostly the follow-the-trends-of-society kind of people.
- There are a lot of slobbery teenage fangirls (usually for anime) at my school. Many of these people are the ones I'm so annoyed with.
- This new movie doesn't even actually follow the timeline and is more like Star Wars than Star Trek, in my opinion. I like it a lot, but it's really very different from the rest of the Trek universe.
- I seem to attract these kinds of people for some reason. They didn't bother me at first, it just that I keep encountering them.
- I kind of had a problem with other teenage Trek fans before the movie, and now the population has exploded.

Hm. I'll bet most of these people lose interest when they either start trying to watch the series and realize it's not as exciting as the movie, or when the next big summer movie comes out. I think that is part of the reason too though - they're claiming to be Trekkies when they probably won't even care about it in a few months. I know I need to just ride this out, but I'm easily annoyed by other people in general, and other people are hard to ignore when there's 6 billion of them on the planet.

 

[Misfit Toy]

OK, I do on one book on kitchen gadgets by Alton Brown.

Does that make you a Brownie?

 

[explodingmuffin]

I think Trekkie is more than just being a fan. I'm a fan of NCIS, Good Eats, and American Idol. But, I don't buy their books, go to their forums, or think about the universe defined by those shows. OK, I do on one book on kitchen gadgets by Alton Brown. Maybe I should add...

0 - Visit Start Trek forums frequently, buy books, and have the DVD's.

Yeah, see, this is what I was thinking - being a fan means you like Star Trek, but being a Trekkie requires more interest than that. It's a certain way of thinking, I guess you could say. I think that when you want to involve yourself in more than just watching the show, that's when you could be considered a Trekkie. I think you have to love the SHOW first and foremost though, the movie is more of a fan interpretation of the show in my opinion.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I get it, and that is probably the best summary of what the difference between a casual Trek fan and a Trekkie is: LOVE.

And these people you're talking about aren't in love, they're in lust, and they'll get over it soon enough.

Don't be too mad at 'em. After all, that's how Kirk treats his women, too.

 

[Myasishchev]

What he says. You get extremists/purists in any walk of life. It doesn't make them any more or, me any less of a fan.

Don't get me wrong with my post above - I'm not trying to say "unless you're this big a fan, you can't call yourself a Trekkie". I don't care, really. But people like labels that help them identify levels of interest. There's a difference between a casual coin collector and someone who would be referred to as a numismatist. The casual collector certainly has the right to call themselves that, but the word kind of implies something more in most people's minds (if, in that particular case, they know what it means at all. )

Steam-driven, right?