Trekkies (film)

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Trekkies
Paramount Classics[1]
Release date
October 18, 1997
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$375,000 (estimated)

Trekkies is a 1997

Paramount Classics, and is presented by Denise Crosby, best known for her portrayal of Security Chief Tasha Yar on the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation
.

Contents

The film contains interviews with Star Trek devotees, more commonly known as Trekkies. The fans range from people who dress as Klingons to members of Brent Spiner fan clubs and includes a club that status as a result of his role in the film.

Production

After she worked with director Roger Nygard in his

William Campbell.[b] Nygard felt that the footage from this first convention was good enough to warrant continuing with the project.[5]

Release

Trekkies received a national release in the United States on May 21, 1999. It was in direct competition with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.[6]

Reception

Colin Covert gave three and a half stars in his review for the

Boston Globe gave a similar opinion, saying that despite the expectation of the reviewer, none of the opinions put forward by Trekkies felt like a "put-down". She summed up the documentary by saying "The Trekkie phenomenon may fall short of common definitions of normalcy, but as a film, 'Trekkies' sure beats sleeping outside for days to see a mediocre movie about some galaxy far, far away."[8]

Bob Stauss, the film critic for the Los Angeles Daily News gave two and a half stars, saying that the documentary goes on too long and did not delve into the "real psychological issues raised by such obsessive interest". He added that the fans were "amusing for about 15 minutes, tops" and that the cumulative effect of watching the fans for that long was "numbing".[9] James Verniere for the Boston Herald gave three stars, suggesting that Nygard may have found his niche as the "Michael Moore of weirdness" with this and his following film, Six Days in Roswell. Verniere suggested that Trekkies wasn't as definitive as the film Free Enterprise (1999) but described it as an "interesting, often hilarious piece of sociological comedy".[6] Alicia Potter, also at the Boston Herald, described the film as "surreally funny".[10]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 86% from 42 reviews with the consensus: "To fan or not to fawn over: this lifelong and prosperous journey into a sometimes cringeworthy world makes Trekkies the lovable center of its universe."[11]

Sequels

In 2004, a sequel was released, titled Trekkies 2. This documentary travels throughout the world, mainly in Europe, to show fans of Star Trek from outside the United States. It also revisits memorable fans featured in the previous film.

Nygard sought to answer some of the criticism received from Trekkies in the sequel, in that he was accused of not showing "normal" fans. With this in mind, he attempted to include some degree of a description of what was normal fan behaviour and what was more unusual.[5]

In an interview with TrekNews.net at the Star Trek Mission: New York convention in September 2016, Crosby talked about the potential for another documentary about Star Trek:

We do want to make a Trekkies 3. In earnest, we’re hoping to get started in two more years. We have to time it with the rights and all the legal stuff. There’s a lot of politics involved. We approached CBS/Viacom/Paramount [who own various rights to Star Trek] already and there’s interest. So fingers crossed. When producing these documentaries, I’m always delighted by the surprise at something we didn’t expect, such as the stories people tell and interacting with the fans, hearing stories. I never get tired of it..."[12]

Notes

  1. season one main cast character Tasha Yar in The Next Generation.[2]
  2. Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles".[3][4] His final appearance in Star Trek was in the Deep Space Nine episode "Blood Oath", where he reprised the role of Koloth.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Gleiberman, Owen (May 28, 1999). "Trekkies". Entertainment Weekly.
  2. ^ Nemecek (2003): p. 18
  3. ^ Gerrold (1973): p. 276
  4. ^ a b Hoffman, Jordan (March 27, 2013). "One Trek Mind: Remembering "Blood Oath"". Star Trek.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  5. ^ a b Brew, Simon (June 2, 2009). "Interview: Roger Nygard on Trekkies, Trekkies 2 and The Nature Of Existence". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  6. ^ a b Verniere, James (May 21, 1999). "'Trekkies' Takes us to Space, the Final Frontier". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  7. ^ Covert, Colin (May 21, 1999). "'Trekkies a Portrait of Die-Hard Life". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on November 17, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  8. Boston Globe. Retrieved March 8, 2016.[dead link
    ]
  9. ^ Strauss, Bob (May 21, 1999). "'Trekkies' Too Much, Not Enough". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  10. ^ Potter, Alicia (May 23, 1999). "Phasers on Fun: 'Trekkies' Catalogs Fan Worship". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on July 1, 2018. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  11. ^ "Trekkies - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
  12. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Denise Crosby Talks Trekkies 3, TNG, Star Trek Online". TrekNews.net. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 2017-07-09.

Bibliography

  • Gerrold, David (1973). The Trouble with Tribbles: The Birth, Sale and Final Production of one Episode (2004 BenBalla ed.). Dallas, TX: BenBalla Books.
  • Nemecek, Larry (2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed.). New York: Pocket Books.
    ISBN 0-7434-5798-6
    .

External links
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