Trekkies

Rating:
Summary: Trekkies, Live Long And Prosper!
Review: I'm not quite a Trekkie (for one thing I've not been to a Star Trek Convention---yet!), but I remember first watching some of the rerun episodes of the original series when I was about 9 or so. I remember being excited when STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) was announced, and I made sure to see it in the theater soon after it came out. I didn't see STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1981) till many years later, ditto for STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986), I don't think I've still ever seen III, I've seen part of V (eventually I'll get around to seeing the rest of this travesty), I've never seen VI, but I've seen all the rest (you know, with The Next Generation cast). As for the series(es), I've seen most of TOS, about half of TNG and DS9, and almost all of Voyager, which is my personal favorite.

So that's my Star Trek confession; I wanted to get that out of the way as soon as possible. You can tell that I am a casual fan (well, maybe a *little* more than that), but not an actual "Trekkie." However, I've always been interested in the Star Trek phenomenon and how it came to be, especially considering that the original series (otherwise known as TOS) only lasted 3 1/2 years! Well, I got all the answers (well, most of them, anyway) while watching TREKKIES on cable TV one night. This documentary was directed by Roger Nygard in the spirit of wonder, and love, for the die-hard fans who spend hours dressing themselves up as their favorite character, or alien race, to attend these conventions. As is also shown, there are those who dress "in uniform" in their daily lives, such as the lady who's a postal worker in Little Rock, Arkansas, who famously kept her Starfleet uniform on when serving as a juror in the Whitewater Case. Then there's the dentist whose office is truly amazing and a space-age wonder to behold (known affectionately as "The Starship Dentalprise"). There's also an Illinois man who is dressed as a Vulcan doctor of the Federation 24/7 (who comes across as the most "normal" one on here, and is quite likable). There are countless convention scenes featuring William Shatner (no, he doesn't tell anyone to "Get a life!" as he famously---or infamously---did on "Saturday Night Live" back in 1986), James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett Roddenberry (also known as "The Voice of The Computer" in every one of the series and the films, as well as being Gene Roddenberry's widow), DeForest Kelley, Denise Crosby from TNG, etc...it's all very entertaining, and it made me really want to attend a Convention badly!

I found it particularly touching when James "Scotty" Doohan related a story about a woman who had been going through a rough spell who had been contemplating suicide, until she started watching reruns of the show in the early 70's and became inspired by Scotty's example. His eyes began to well up with tears as he described the incredibly gracious letter she had sent him, a letter that, mind you, she wrote 30 years ago! It shows that sometimes fans have just as big an impact on the celebrities themselves as vice versa!

TREKKIES is an enjoyable 86-minute documentary that is especially recommended for Star Trek fans, and recommended still for all who have even the slightest interest in this strange and wonderful phenomenon. It captures the positive energy and the excitement of the Conventions without making the Trekkies themselves look stupid or foolish. It doesn't poke fun; rather, it celebrates the fun. Have some fun and watch this!

RECOMMENDED; AGES 8 & UP

Rating:
Summary: An interesting look at Star Trek fanatics
Review: I like watching Star Trek - The Original Series, so I knew I had to watch "Trekkies." It's an interesting movie to watch. Denise Crosby interviews a bunch of people who are major Star Trek fans and they're called Trekkies. It also features interviews with many of the most popular people from all the Star Trek series from the original series to Voyager. You'll recognize a lot of the people such as William Shatner, James Doohan, Leonard Nimoy, and many others.

Parts of the movie are real interesting such as taking a trip to a dentist's office and seeing the whole inside of the building decorated with memorabilia from Star Trek and all the employees wearing a Star Trek uniform. Another good part of the movie is when Leonard Nimoy (Spock from the original series) tells a story about someone tapping him on the shoulder and saying "Hey I know you, you got your ears changed." He turned around and saw that it was John Wayne. This movie features not only in depth interviews with fans and stars from Star Trek, but it also shows footage from conventions and towns that are dedicated to Star Trek.

My only complaint about "Trekkies" is that some of the interviews of hardcore Star Trek fans can get a little repetitive, but it is an interesting movie to watch and I recommend anybody who likes any of the Star Trek series to watch "Trekkies." If you're a Trekky yourself and you go around wearing a uniform or decorate your home with Star Trek stuff, etc. I'd recommend buying the movie. Myself, I'm just a casual Star Trek watcher and I wouldn't ever wear a uniform or anything like that, so I guess I'm not a Trekkie.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting film
Review: in a documentary sort of way, but the undercurrent borders on pathetic. Even if you're a major Star Trek fan, you really want to tell most of the people in this film (other than the series' stars, who have moved on) that they truly need to get a life.


Rating:
Summary: Wow!!
Review: This is a documentary film about the people that love Star Trek enough to make it a part of their everyday lives. I'm a Star Trek fan. I have all the DVDs including the original series when they were first released several years ago. Before that, I had all the laser discs, and before that I had all the VHS tapes, and before that, I had all the beta tapes of every episode of the original series. When the movies came out, my friend and I played hooky from work to go to the first show on the first day, standing in line for hours. I met an old high school friend standing in line at the fourth movie. He was wearing a copy of Spock's death robe that he made while pausing the third movie on his TV and tracing the Vulcan symbols and then replicating them on this long black robe. It was facinating. I go to the conventions too. I don't dress up, but I can quote numbers, titles, and lines from all of the original series.

Anyway, I love this movie. If you are a fan, you must have this DVD. If you know a fan and you don't understand, you have to watch this DVD. It is absolutely fascinating. There's a whole world of Trekkies and Trekkers out there and you can get as involved as you want to.


Rating:
Summary: Star Trekkin', across the universe...
Review: This is not a typical film documentary. It is an attempt to go where no one has gone before - into the mindset of the Trekkie, the kind of fan of Star Trek (in one or more of its various incarnations), those people who populate the world of the Sci-Fi convention, stand in line to be the first to see new feature films while wearing Vulcan ears or Klingon uniforms, and can always tell you the points of discontinuity in the shows.

I remember once upon a time when William Shatner was a guest on `Saturday Night Live', one of the `alternative' comedy shows in America, when he played himself at one such Sci-Fi convention, poking fun at people who live in their parents' basements at the age of 40, spending their time trying to decipher codes and learning the Klingon language.

One of the feature stars of this documentary is Denise Crosby, who ironically played one of the few Star Trek major characters to be killed - as the documentary points out, you could almost invariably tell who was going to be killed (un-named red-shirt guard beaming down to a hostile planet), and were reasonably sure that the major characters, though they might die, will be resurrected again before the episode is done. In some ways, Crosby's character of Tasha Yar was resurrected, although not as a regular character.

Here we enter into the world of people like Barbara Adams, `the Commander', a woman who was highlighted on the national news in the United States for being picked for the jury for various Clinton offenses, and insisted upon wearing her Star Trek uniform to court. Silly as it sounds, she had her own sense of integrity, and one of the things that has consistently been praised about Star Trek is its hope in humanity and integrity of the key players in the science fiction drama.

Also highlighted were the dentists who turned their office into a Star Trek exhibit, and dressed also in uniforms to tend to their patients - such surroundings tended to make those nervous about dentistry more at ease.

In 1997, the internet was still very much in its infancy - the ideas of everyone having websites of their own was quite a way off, but Star Trek with its focus on technology for the future was already part of the growing world-wide computer system. Bulletin Boards, chat rooms and listservs galore were dedicated to the theme of Star Trek, and that is highlighted here.

Various of the original series cast members were interviewed and talked about their surprise at the after-the-fact success of this three-year series that was cancelled so long ago. The first convention, to which they were invited, was thought to be a small affair, but it ended up being packed, standing room only, lines around the block. The phenomenon of Star Trek was established, and it was this fan base dedication that prompted Paramount to release the first feature film, and continue the franchise with the television series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which did its best to incorporate as many of the original cast members along the way. DeForest Kelly, as McCoy, was on the first episode; later episodes would include Leonard Nimoy as Spock and James Doohan as Scotty; the bridge-film Star Trek:Generations provided a link with Chekov (Walter Koenig), Uhuru (Nichelle Nichols) and Kirk (William Shatner).

Cast and crew from the original series, the films and the Next Generation series were included in this documentary, as well as some members of the spin-offs Deep Space Nine and Voyager (this was prior to the current, beleaguered series Enterprise). Majel Barrett gave touching and humourous stories about Gene Roddenberry, her husband, the creator of the series and power that kept the vision alive and consistent, including confirming that Roddenberry's ashes were taken aboard the space shuttle. `Outside notables' such as astronaut Buzz Aldrin and author/newsanchor Robert MacNeill provided glimpses of how the Star Trek phenomenon affected the world beyond it, including the first NASA space shuttle being christened `Enterprise'.

Often hilarious, sometimes hysterical, particularly with the almost cultic devotion bestowed upon the object of adoration that some seem to have, this film looks at life as a Trekkie with a loving eye - those who take Klingon language classes and join their own `starships' as crew members are not ridiculed or mocked. This is a fun film, and is not intended to be serious documentary; issues such as timelines of series and showcases of particular production issues is left out in favour of the more incidental, and often more human, aspects.

One of the common themes of the actors is their surprise not only of the success of the series and film after its cancellation, but the dramatic impact it made on all of their lives. James Doohan was forever Scotty after the series, so much so it became a running theme - the line in Star Trek IV of McCoy to Scotty, when Scotty was `playing' a visiting professor - `Don't lose yourself in the part!' was but one of many inside jokes. Nichelle Nichols being told by Martin Luther King, Jr. that she could not quit the role as she had become a symbol to African Americans is another interesting part of Trek lore.

This is a film that inspires a lot of emotion in Trek fans (not the least being the continuing definitional battle between `Trekkie' and `Trekker'). Love it or hate it, it is now part of the greater corpus of Star Trek media.

The film ends on a bizarre note, with a host of stand-up comedians running through a series of jokes about Star Trek and Star Trek fans. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; to become the object of comedy shows that one's establishment is fairly secure.

Rating:
Summary: Trekkies
Review: This is probably a must see for Trekkies, or Trekkers, or whatever. Or simply for anyone who remembers the series and wonders what all the fuss is about. As I write this (May 2004) a sequel, TREKKIES 2, is being released.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest documenteries out there!!!
Review: Many years ago I saw this for the first time and LOVED it. Eventually I bought it and it gets better with every watch. I'm not a huge fan of the Star Trek world (although I do like the shows/movies), but this DVD gives you a major look at the Trekkie community. At first it'll make you laugh but when you think about it, it's no different then the community of sports fanatic (Go Flyers!).

Rating:
Summary: A must see!!!
Review: I'm a huge fan of Michael Moore's work,but this is hands down the most entertaining documentary I've ever seen,words can't adequately describe it.From the just plain funny (Klingons at Carl's Jr.),somewhat disturbing (the woman who seems to be a bit obssesed with Brent Spiner),and there's just something very surreal about a woman in full klingon getup talking seriously to Shatner about his charity work.Just see it,Star Trek fan or not...No,ESPECIALLY if,like me,you're not a fan.The best news is,Trekkies 2 comes out this year,if it's half as good as the first I'll be first in line...