Trekkies

Starring Denise Crosby
Directed and Edited by Roger Nygard
website: www.trekdoc.com

IN SHORT: 'cuz everybody needs a hobby.... [Rated PG, 87 minutes ]

Cranky can't believe that there haven't been documentaries on the Star Trek fandom world before. I haven't seen any and Trekkies, apparently finished about two years ago, is finally making it to the big screen. That makes it the second flick about a phenomenon with "Star" in the title, and tickets for this one are going to be a helluva lot easier to get a hold of than The Phantom Menace.

Though, honestly, Cranky can't see paying full ticket price for a fanflick. If you have no interest in Trek, you'll never consider it. If you're deeply in to it, I'll guess you'll be seeing Trekkies at a local convention. If you're just a simple fan, as am I, you'll find Trekkies to be a very funny portrait of folks who take the Trek philosophy seriously. The flick isn't a put down, though it tries to let the fans explain the difference between Trekkie and Trekker, and all of 'em get it wrong. (Trekker came about when the original fans hit their twenties and got sick of being dissed as Trekkies, which they considered to be sarcastically demeaning. Which it was. Therefore, the dolts were Trekkies. Us incredibly intellectual and mature fans were Trekkers. <sigh>.)

Narrated by Executive Producer Tasha Yar, sorry, Denise Crosby, the film features many cast members from TOS (all the majors), ST: The Next Generation (Spiner, Burton, Frakes, Dorn, deLancie, Wheaton) and Voyager (Mulgrew, Phillips) speaking of their fan experiences. Patrick Stewart is not in the film, but he spoke about his first encounter with fandom in his CrankyCritic StarTalk.

Among the surprises in this glimpse of fandom: uniformed cats and dogs; humans who have had their ears surgically pointed to resemble Vulcan anatomy; an auction of a prosthetic Klingon forehead; the Whitewater juror who made headlines by insisting that she wear her Federation uniform and be addressed by rank ("Lt. Commander") and a singing transvestite. You also get scenic visits to Vulcan, Alberta (Canada) and Riverside, Iowa ("The future birthplace of Captain James Tiberius Kirk. Pop. 826"). For Kirk's birthday, a barbecue is thrown every year and one of the participants looks dead on into the camera to report "This year we had a girl come."

He was serious. You'll find just as many femme Trekkers on screen as you will males. Trekkies gets weirder and weirder. Those of us who have some semblance of real lives were laughing hysterically by the end credits. Not laughing at the fans, it is important to note, laughing because we knew enough about Trek to share the fun.

The world of Trek is a world unto itself. The Prime Directive must apply...

On average, a first run movie ticket will run you Eight Bucks. Were Cranky able to set his own price to Trekkies, he would have paid...

$3.00

Rental level, 'cuz that's what it is. But it is big fun. If you do the convention circuit, wait to see it there. In a crowded room of Trekkers, you'll be laughing 'til you cry.

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