Subject: Review: Trekkies (1998)

From: [email-masked] (Brian Takeshita)
Date: 27 May 1999 05:01:19 GMT

TREKKIES

A Film Review by Brian Takeshita

Rating:  ** out of ****

I used to be able to say, "I love Star Trek."  Back then, you could
say that and everyone would know what you were talking about.  These
days, with the old series, the movies with the old cast, The Next
Generation, the movies with the Next Generation cast, Deep Space Nine,
and Voyager, I have to really qualify my statement.  I love the old
series and the movies with the old cast.  I like the Next Generation
and their movies.  I have almost no feeling toward Deep Space Nine and
Voyager.  To see the premiere of the new Star Trek film used to be
something really special.  Today, there's so much Star Trek, a new
movie is practically taken with a grain of salt.  What, I have to PAY
to see this?

Still, there is currently a larger fan base for the entertainment
enterprise than ever before, and it's even more diverse due to all the
different forms of Star Trek available.  They come from all walks of
life.  They are doctors, students, psychologists, housewives, radio
personalities.  They are from the upper class and the lower class and
everywhere in between.  Many may not even speak the same language, but
they all have one thing in common:  They like the message that Star
Trek delivers.  If we try hard enough, we will all survive and get
along with each other in the future.  But just what makes a person
devote more than a passing interest to a television show?  What kind
of a person attends conventions, or dresses up like his or her
favorite character when it isn't even Halloween?  It's these types of
questions Roger Nygard tries to answer in his documentary, TREKKIES.

After the first five minutes or so, I thought I was going to be sick.
The film immediately begins documenting the extreme in Star Trek
fandom; the ones that take the show way too seriously.  The freaks.
Sounds of laughter erupt from different pockets of the theater, and it
seems this film is taking cheap shots and making people laugh at the
expense of others.  I felt embarrassed.  Unfortunately, this trend
lasts a while until we spend more time with each of a number of fans
and their lives get a little more personal to us.

The documentary shows us a pretty wide range of people who are
associated with Star Trek, but the most time is spent with those who
have seemingly gone off the deep end.  After all, the normal people
are boring, right?  A few people we meet are a dentist whose practice
is one big Star Trek fantasy (his office is adorned with all kinds of
memorabilia and he and his assistants are dressed daily in costume), a
man who wears his costume to the supermarket and would get his ears
cut to points like Mr. Spock's if he could afford it, and young man
who is making his own Star Trek movie.

TREKKIES is narrated by Denise Crosby, who played Lieutenant Tasha Yar
for the first year and a half of the series, Star Trek:  The Next
Generation.  Crosby also serves as the interviewer in many of the
film's sequences, and it's nice that she seems to be going on the same
journey we are.  It's as though she is facing these people with the
same unjaded incredulity, and head-shaking amazement as the audience,
even though we know she must have faced some of this before.  However,
if it's an act, it's a good one.

Whereas we'd like to end up feeling a connection with the fans in
TREKKIES, the film doesn't go into sufficient depth so that we
understand why they do the things they do.  Is it insecurity?  The
need to feel like they "belong" to something?  Or is Star Trek just
something they think is really, really cool?  By staying on the
surface, we unfortunately never get far past the feeling of amusement
or even pity.  Take, for example, a woman who belongs to a Star Trek
fan club in which they assign ranks to members.  She insists that her
co-workers at Sir Speedy print shop refer to her as "The Commander,"
and although she may not wear her uniform every day, the communicator,
phaser, and rank insignia are usually found as accessories to her
apparel.  We might admire the fact that she is so devoted to her
passion and her club, but she likens the wearing of the uniform to
being part of a military organization.  The thing is, it's not like
that at all.  Her uniform is part of a television show and isn't meant
to be worn in public, save for the novelty.  By the way, this woman
was actually on the O.J. Simpson trial jury, and yes, she wore the
uniform to court every day.

Another woman we meet is obsessed with Brent Spiner, who plays the
android Lieutenant Commander Data on The Next Generation.  She calls
herself a "Spinerfem" and keeps her album of Brent Spiner photos in a
fireproof safe in her closet.  Since she lives relatively close to his
home, she goes out on her balcony and gazes toward it to cheer her up
when she feels depressed.  One fan talks about the informal backyard
gatherings he annually attends in the unofficial birthplace of James
T. Kirk, Riverside, Iowa.  He informs us that the previous year was
great.  They had a few more people, and even "had a girl come."  This
is not a film with a lot of sympathy toward its subjects.

One of the better elements of TREKKIES is its interviews with the cast
members, who share some truly interesting and touching anecdotes
involving their experiences with fans.  For example, James Doohan, who
played Scotty in the original series, literally saved a fan's life by
keeping in contact with the suicidal girl and telling her he wanted to
see her at the next convention.  However, a movie that is essentially
about the fans cannot be built upon pieces such as this, and must
revolve around the fans themselves.  It's a pity that Nygard's
documentary only gives us unfeeling looks at the extremes, as the gems
involving the actors contrast greatly to the bleak picture painted for
us by the fans about which they are supposed to be talking.

If this film had delved deeper into the "normal" folks who enjoy Star
Trek without having it run their lives, it would have provided a much
needed balance.  Would this have been less interesting than seeing
fans who live and breathe Star Trek?  On the contrary, I believe it
would have helped answer the original questions of who these people
are and why they like Star Trek.  We would have found that they aren't
just the people you'd cross the street to avoid, but are also you and
me.  Instead, we only learn that there are some pretty strange people
in the world.

Review posted May 25, 1999