Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek 34 years ago as a small, rather radical television series that sought to provide intelligent, adult science-fiction entertainment, and promote a few ideals along the way. And something about it sparked the imagination of and inspired devotion in an incredible number of people.
After 34 years, there have been one short-lived animated series, one sequel, two spin-offs, and nine feature films. Already, there are plans for another series and film. Countless conventions are held all over the world all the time; there are Star Trek exhibitions and amusement parks, and a huge variety of merchandise, ranging from beautiful, gold-plated Starship models to Trek Band-Aids!
Trek has become an extraordinary phenomenon, not just in America, but world-wide.
It is shown in over 100 countries, and has been translated into dozens of languages.
Serious magazines such as “Scientific American” and “The Economist” regularly allude to it in articles on space, future and technology. The show gets mentions in literature, films and songs, such as “3001” (sequel to the famous “2001 A Space Odyssey”), “Crimson Tide”, “Space Jam”, and the German song “Neunundneunzig Luftballone”, to name but a few.
“Trekkies” are the only fans listed in the Oxford dictionary.
Star Trek has become a part of American culture in a way that no other series has, and could be considered a sociological phenomenon.
According to the cover blurb of J.M.Dillard's book "Star Trek: Where No One has gone before", "nearly fifty percent of the American public proudly proclaim themselves to be Star Trek fans"- whatever their definition of fan may be.
A study in American universities revealed that there was practically no one who wasn’t familiar with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock - and I personally have met very few who haven’t heard of Star Trek, even here in Switzerland.
Yet despite this, Trek fans (and indeed all Science-Fiction fans) have the reputation of being out of touch with the world, socially inept, and living more in the fictitious world of Star Trek and fandom than in the real world.
As I have enjoyed the series for many years, I picked this topic as I thought it would be interesting to find out what fans world - wide do and think. I didn't want to write about the series; there are enough books on that. There are also books and documentaries on the fans; however, these usually portray them as the rather strange people I described above, especially if the book or documentary is written by a Star Trek actor. I wanted to see for myself what the fans are really like. This will be the main point of my project, and I will also go into the fan clubs in some detail.
I also wanted to find out what it is about Trek that inspires such devotion in so many fans, and has made Star Trek one of the most famous and probably the most long-lived TV show in history. Other topics I will touch on are merchandising, which is a controversial topic among fans, and also the symbiosis between fans and series.
Star Trek fandom has many aspects: there are clubs, conventions, websites, parodies, magazines and much more.
I cannot claim to have written a complete overview of the phenomenon of Star Trek and its fans, as there are undoubtedly aspects of this topic that I haven’t touched on.
Nor can I say that what I have written is true for everyone. I could only question the fans who were willing to be questioned, and they do not necessarily represent a complete cross-section of fandom.
But thanks to the generosity of many people from several continents, I was allowed a fascinating glimpse into the world of the Star Trek fans.
