Trekkies

• Director: Roger Nygard
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Culture & Society
• Movie Type: Biography, Film & Television History
• Themes: Obsessive Quests
• Release Year: 1997
• Country: US
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG

Plot

Thirty years ago, science-fiction editor Art Saha coined the term "trekkies" when he saw a few fans of Star Trek's first season wearing pointy ears. Today, the word is found in the Oxford dictionary, and aficionados of the long-run series have seen their subculture achieve stratospheric status. In this documentary on the fan mania surrounding Star Trek, Denise Crosby (Star Trek: the Next Generation) serves as tour guide, stopping off at a radio talkshow, visiting fans in their homes, interviewing actors of both the original and later series, and visiting fan clubs and conventions. Starbase Dental, a Trek-themed drilling station operated by dentist Dr. Denis Bourguignon, is only one of the unusual fan homages revealed here. World premiere at the 1997 Hamptons and AFI Los Angeles film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Review

Rarely has there been a phenomenon more tailor-made for documentary filmmaking than the far-reaching culture of Star Trek fanatics. All director Roger Nygard needs to do is show up at the right places and roll camera, and he's got more stranger-than-fiction footage than he'd need for three films. Trekkies captures all the inner workings anyone could want, and then some, of the most sophisticated corresponding lifestyle to crop up around any construct of popular entertainment. For example, who knew that Hamlet and a dozen other Shakespeare texts had been translated into Klingon? That an original member of the Whitewater jury had insisted on wearing her Starfleet uniform to court? That surgically altered Vulcan ears are a sought-after commodity? Along with its fiction companion piece two years later, Dean Parisot's Galaxy Quest, this film pays glorious homage to the geek love of Star Trek, while also ridiculing it with mere juxtapositions of footage and the simple fact of releasing it on the world in all its inherent goofiness. Accustomed to mockery, Trekkies themselves (or Trekkers, as many prefer) should find this a thorough and fulfilling compilation of their experiences, perhaps even some validation of their years of paychecks expended toward arcane memorabilia. But the freak show quotient, however sympathetically presented, is so fascinating that it should engross anyone even slightly familiar with the show. Because Trekkies has little structure beyond listing instances of devoted behavior engendered by Star Trek, the film eventually seems to have said all it can say and become repetitive. For at least its first hour, though, it's a hoot. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

Cast

Majel Barrett; LeVar Burton; Denise Crosby; James Doohan; Michael Dorn; Nichelle Nichols; Leonard Nimoy; William Shatner; Buzz Aldrin; Frank D'Amico

Credit

Scott Nimerfro - Associate Producer, Roger Nygard - Director, Roger Nygard - Editor, Denise Crosby - Executive Producer, Joel Soisson - Executive Producer, Michael Leahy - Executive Producer, Walter Werzowa - Composer (Music Score), Harris Done - Cinematographer, W.K. Border - Producer, Larry Scharf - Sound/Sound Designer

Similar Movies

Tie-Died; CosPlay Encyclopedia; R2-D2: Beneath the Dome; Star Wars vs. Star Trek; A Galaxy Far, Far Away; Horror Business; Starwoids; Star Wait; Mondo Elvis; Otaku Unite!

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)