Trekkie

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Trekkie

noun (pl. Trekkies) ^informal A fan of the US science fiction television program Star Trek

– From the Oxford English Dictionary

Trekkies are forward looking people.

Robert Justman, interview on the TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning".

There is an old debate about the term Trekker which in a sense means the same as trekkie, although the differences in terms are also debated among trekkies/trekkers.

Notes

• The term "Trekkie" seems to be the one most used in English-speaking countries.
• The term "Trekker" is preferred by some Star Trek fans as the term "Trekkie" is considered to be a derogatory term. One joke is that Trekkers "know it's just a TV show" versus Trekkies, in reference to William Shatner's famous rant on Saturday Night Live.
• One could argue that Trekkies could be so-called space-travelers: those interested (trivially) in space travel, but there is also a good chance trekkies are simply enjoying the show, just for fun.
• According to the movie Trekkies 2, Gene Roddenberry once stated at a convention that, "It's Trekkies. I should know. I invented it."
• A category of fans more related to DS9 and called "Niners", also exists.
• The political weight of the Star Trek fans made it possible to impose the name Enterprise for the first American space shuttle built for the NASA (OV-101), whereas this one was to be called Constitution in the beginning, after a massive campaign of letters organized by Bjo Trimble produced more than 200,000 requests to President Gerald Ford.
• Many production staffers on the Star Trek franchise were self professed "Trekkies" and in the 1970s, early 1980's that was considered an asset as Star Trek: The Motion Picture Art Director Richard Taylor recalled, "First and foremost was Andy Probert. Andy was a true Star Trek expert and knew all the mythology of the series. I on the other hand was not a Star Trek fan." (Star Trek: Creating the Enterprise, p. 104) However, as time progressed, being a fan was increasingly frowned upon by studio executives and the shows producers alike, afraid of being bogged down creatively by vocal, highly knowledgeable "Trekkies", as well as being afraid of property being stolen by fans, which actually did happen on occasion. Scenic Artist Geoffrey Mandel noted in this regard, "The absolute WORST way to get a job at Star Trek is to tell them that you’re a Star Trek fan! When they started Enterprise, they made a conscious decision to bring in some new blood, and not just round up the usual suspects; but in practice, it meant that fans like Rick Sternbach, Tim Earls and myself weren’t asked back. However, a number of fans who had worked on DS9 and had been taking an extended leave of absence came back when Enterprise started, so the total number of Star Trek fans stayed about the same." [1] As to underscore Mandel's statement, Scenic Artist Doug Drexler, who started out in Star Trek fandom, has elaborated in the Trek Radio interview of 22 January 2011, "If you were a rabid fan, you know, you kept it low key. The thing was, that when I came on The Next Generation, I wasn't just, I'm not saying I was anything special or anything, I had just come from Dick Tracy. So I wasn't really concerned about if I was just a day player or makeup artist, if you acted like a geeky fan they wouldn't ask you back. But because I had just got done working with Warren Beatty, and stuff like that and all these actors, that they turned a blind eye to me being that way. And I actually would gush to the actors the next day after a show, you know, and act like a gushy fan. And Mike warned me, I think, a couple of times, but I was "I don't care."" [2]

Parodies

• William "Get a Life!" Shatner trashes Trekkies is a parody played by Captain Kirk's actor on Saturday Night Live in 1986.
• How to Blend With Trekkies Socially is a sort of recipe showing how to connect socially with this category of die-hard fans called "Trekkies".

See also

• Trekkies (movie)
• Trekkies 2 (movie)

External link

• Trekkie at Wikipedia