Want to make your geeky friends happy? Have them over for a double feature: Trekkies and Galaxy Quest. Both movies are joyous celebrations of fandom, particularly Star Trek fandom.
Trekkies
When I first watched Trekkies in 1997, I had not yet been to any sort of fan convention. I didn’t know what filking was and had never read fanfiction. I’d never met a person who would now be called a “maker” (the term wasn’t being used at the time). But I was a fan of Star Trek. Trekkies fascinated, thrilled, and amused me with its stories of people who took their love of Star Trek to great lengths.
Trekkies is a (mostly) loving tribute to Star Trek fandom. Denise Crosby (Lieutenant Tasha Yar, Star Trek: The Next Generation) acts as the host in a series of interviews and conversations. The movie features several actors from the different series. They tell great stories, sometimes funny, sometimes moving. But the heart and soul of the film are the fans who are allowed to tell their own stories. Viewers meet a dentist whose office has a Star Trek theme, a maker who recreated Captain Pike’s chair from “The Menagerie” in the original series, and a woman who wore her commander’s uniform while she served as an alternate juror during the first Whitewater trial. There are times when most viewers will think, “That’s weird,” but the response of more than one fan is, “I’m not hurting anybody.” And, as one person points out, there’s little difference between an enthusiastic Star Trek fan and an enthusiastic sports fan, other than the object of enthusiasm.
Galaxy Quest
In 1999, Star Trek fans were in for another treat: Galaxy Quest. Galaxy Quest revolves around a fictitious, Star Trek-like TV show, cancelled years before the action takes place. Fandom plays a key element in the movie. The story begins with the show’s former actors at a convention, interacting with fans. When the actors find themselves aboard a real spaceship that was based on their ship in the TV series, a teenage fan — who reminds me a bit of a teenager in Trekkies — saves the day with his detailed knowledge of the show.
Aside from the film’s amusing and loving take on sci-fi and fandom, it has great actors. Alan Rickman’s performance is especially wonderful.
People who don’t care for Star Trek and don’t understand fandom may watch Trekkies and Galaxy Quest and come away believing that Star Trek fans are just weird people. But anyone who loves Star Trek or participates in a fandom will “get” these movies. Any fan who has gone out to eat in cosplay (or gone out to eat with people in cosplay) will relate to the Trekkies scene featuring Klingons ordering hamburgers. And fans of Star Trek will appreciate the tropes that appear in Galaxy Quest.
Whether or not you’ve seen one or both of these tributes to Star Trek and fandom, I recommend watching them back-to-back as the ultimate fannish double feature.
Note
I’m giving myself a break from the blog for the rest of the month. I will be back on Labor Day.
Also, if you are into Star Trek or similar fandoms, check out my book, Geek Culture. The book focuses on what may be the largest volunteer-run sci-fi convention in the United States. You’ll read about a bat’leth tournament, party rooms hosted by a Star Trek fan group and a group of Klingons, and plenty of things related to other fandoms, such as Doctor Who and Ghostbusters.