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Nerds Find a voice at Star Trek Lives! Agreement

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And so it was that the nerds effectively inherited the land, or at least the cult part of television, albeit in an unbalanced way in that their interests and motivations were still often misunderstood by the people funding them. the shows they liked. This victory, which offers a vision of a potentially positive future, was achieved with the help of one particular show that tried to do the same.

star trek was still going on when the very first fan convention was held in 1969. It was a low-key affair at the Newark Public Library in New Jersey, where less than 100 people gathered to share their passion for the series of science fiction on board ASU Enterprise in what was ultimately confirmed to be the 23rd century. Some would have considered the star trek con as a gathering rather than a convention in its own right, but it had proven there was a way forward for those sometimes unflatteringly called “Trekkies” (to match “groupies”) at general events of Science fiction.

When a group of zine-editing friends—most of whom had been involved in the letter-writing campaign to save the show from cancellation—decided to stage Star Trek Lives! in January 1972 it was to be a larger undertaking at their own expense, with the initial expectation that around 300–600 people would attend. Although writing the letter saved the show from being canceled at the end of the second season, there was no backup after a cut-price and irregularly scheduled ratings disaster. Since then, its 79-episode run has gone into syndication and been repeated frequently. That’s why about 3,000 fans showed up.

The experience included a life-size replica built by a fan of the Business bridge, a fan art exhibit, a small collection of actual space memorabilia on loan from NASA, multiple episode viewings, and a never-before-seen blooper reel. But the most important thing was the presence of star trek creator Gene Roddenberry, writer Dorothy DC Fontana, actress Majel Barrett (who voiced most of the computers and Nurse Chapel in the original series, and later returned) and science giant- Isaac Asimov fiction. It’s also the moment fans found out what the ‘T’ in the title character’s name stood for, with Captain Kirk – Tiberius – killing long-running rumors that it was ‘Tomcat’ like a wink. take a look at the number of love interests he had on the show.

Co-organizer Devra Langsam, a member of the team soon to be known as the Committee, later wrote of the experience: “I was reassured by the fact that full Lunacon registration is generally about double the early bird registration – and our advance was only 800. Just to be safe, however, we decided to prepare for 2,000.” The host venue, the Statler Hilton Hotel (renamed Hotel Pennsylvania) in New York, had mistakenly indicated the opening of the convention at 8 a.m. when it was supposed to start at 2 p.m.

“At 10:30 a.m. the vestibule was foaming with people, while the registration files were somewhere vague and indistinct, the person in charge of the art exhibition had not shown up, there was no way to open the curtains in the art showroom and the drapes that we were to use hadn’t been nailed together,” Langsam recalls. “Every time I walked out of the art showroom, I was accosted by dozens of people waving money at me, while my cousin Debbie swayed hopefully at the back of the crowd urging people to go for coffee, lunch, make a phone call, just leave and come back later.

As hordes of Trekkers slowed down the process of organizing the event, work was still underway to finalize the art exhibit and film screen when Roddenberry helped out with a “nice impromptu speech.” “Debbie introduced him simply as ‘The man who gave us star trek“, and the audience gave him a standing ovation,” Langsam said. “After his speech, there was a mass movement to follow Gene, which we hastily warned with calls of ‘Please don’t harass Mr. Roddenberry! and the assurance that he would be available for autographs later. Fortunately, people are seated again.

On the second day, they had run out of welcome packs, such was the level of attendance, and Langsam described the signing sessions with Roddenberry and his wife Barrett as “the last big land run to the frontier”. She went on to note that the costume contest was a great success: “We had 78 costumes, quite a good number, including a handsome and mean Klingon, two Rigellian bloodworms, a Tribble and some purple ambassadors. Someone asked me what my costume was (a black evening dress) and I said, “I’m a member of the Committee; I’m crazy,” then I went jumping down the aisle on one foot.

Among the attendees were two young men who would later become part of the Trek franchise: Howard Weinstein, author of several canon novels and comics, and Robert Greenberger, also author of Trek books and publisher of the official DC Comics publication. “I think the con was on the 18th floor of the hotel, and star trek fans filled every square inch up there,” Weinstein said. “I took a walk in the merchant’s hall, which was packed like a subway train at rush hour. As for the ballroom where guests spoke and films were screened, I’m sure I never had a seat during the hours of watching Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov, and watching the infamous blooper (which was hilarious and the first time I’ve seen anything like it).

“The hallways and programming room were packed with people of all ages, sizes and shapes,” Greenberger added. “We paid our $2.50 and managed to join the crowd and were able to get around. The NASA exhibit was pretty cool, but I was there to star trek and was far from disappointed. We somehow managed to get seats, and in my mind we were way back and to the right, but we could make out the speaker. He was talkative, stocky, and soft-spoken, but I recognized Gene Roddenberry. He talked, answered questions and made us laugh. Then we saw some of the episodes that Paramount had kindly sent.

“It amazed me, like everyone else, that there were so many people interested in the TV series. … People were friendly, regardless of age or gender, and we could recite favorite lines, do jokes and sharing our passion without any consideration of negative reaction.It was festive and the large number of people was a positive element that we all embraced.

The Committee was surprised by the attention given to the event before it opened, including a front-page story in Variety. By the time the three-day convention ended on January 23, they had gotten much more coverage, including TV reports. “Now that it’s over, it’s still a little hard to believe,” Langsam said. “Do we really have more than 3,000 people registered or coming? Were all these strangers really that helpful and understanding? Did they really thank us for letting them help? Did we really get TV coverage? Are we really planning another one (to a muted chorus of ‘You must be crazy’) next year? They did and continued to do so, with ratings growing every year until 1976. Most of the main cast took turns on the podium, and William Shatner – Captain Kirk – made his first appearance in 1975 ; it took him a while to get comfortable with the idea, noting in 2008, “The money they offered me to attend this convention was… Do I dare? Yes! Out of this world!”

The organizers may have ended up with just $93 each for their efforts, but the emotional effect was far greater than the money and continues to be felt to this day. In the late 80s and 90s, with the original cast series Trek well-established films and at least two new series airing on television at the same time (The next generation, Deep Space Nine, Traveler and then Business), the franchise lived its golden age. As the stakes rose, conventions became more corporate and expensive events, and the model grew to meet the needs of the hungry. Trek fans became ones that conventions for other shows adopted.

When QG reporting on the Star Trek Las Vegas 50th Anniversary Convention in 2016, the reporter noted that “with…just under 550 combined hours of television and film to factor in, star trek, like the curvature of the earth, is a phenomenon almost too large to notice, let alone consider in its entirety. The franchise created the blueprint for fandom, transformed sleepy sci-fi get-togethers into celebrity-focused media events, kickstarted licensed merchandising operations… and anticipated — even inspired — the creation of future technologies. star trek invented nerd culture as we know it today. Trek fandom was “dizzyingly diverse, good-willed, extraordinarily (if inadvertently) influential, equal parts goofy and soulful”, but the phenomenon begged the question: “To whom star trek really belong? How much, exactly, is it worth?

The answer lies there. It is far. Maybe even beyond the final frontier.

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