Review of Trekkies (1997) by Aslum K — 06 Sep 2005

This movie ranks so well because it's edited beautifully. Roger Nygard's strength as a filmmaker is in his editing - subjects in this movie say ridiculous things and then Roger cuts away, letting us ponder the absurdity. Strangely enough, I don't think Roger is trying to ridicule these people at all, it just sort of works out that way.

Trekkies is a fascinating documentary about die-hard fans of the television series "Star Trek". If you're unfamiliar with "Star Trek" fandom, you wouldn't understand why this is worth making a film about, and if you are aware of the fandom, you still wouldn't believe some of the things you see in this movie. There are hundreds of people who wear [i]Star Trek[/i] clothing in everyday life. There is a dentist's office designed like the enterprise, to the point that the staff have to dress in [i]Star Trek[/i] uniforms or lose their jobs. People learn "klingon", the fictional language of a race of [i]Star Trek[/i] villains. People avoid suicide via their devotion to Star Trek. The most prominant subject serves on the jury for the Whitewater development scandal in Arkansas that involved President Clinton and his wife, and does so wearing her [i]Star Trek[/i] clothing, which she does all of the time. Co-workers call her "Captain." Best way to sum it up?

It's INSANE.

I know that if anybody reads this, I will probably get a decent amount of hate mail, like I imagine I will for my review of [u]Bad News Bears[/u] (Richard Linklaetter, 2005). But I do this because movies are a point of departure from which we can talk about life, and here's my take on fandom in general: it's a waste of human life. Seriously. Being too much into anything, from [i]Star Trek[/i] to your favorite band, to religion, IMO, is a healthy, and reveals a lack in character. There's something missing from your life, and you've filled it in with this other thing, instead of dealing with that lack head on and solving it. Trekkies, IMO, take this a step further: most of these people are supremely intelligent. Insanely talented. And instead of applying these abilities to their jobs, or to bettering society, or their families, or their relationships, they waste it on this television show [i]that isn't real[/i].

For my girlfriend, that was one of two things she couldn't get past: 1) nothing in Star Trek is real, and 2) not one person in this whole movie is physically attractive. Not [i]one[/i]. #1 is significant becuz their stupid arguments about how nobody is lambasted for wearing sports jerseys is, well, stupid because at least those teams are real, and #2 refers back to that lack I spoke of earlier. If they put as much energy into their physical appearance as they put into [i]Star Trek[/i], they would look amazing. Again, instead, their talents are completely wasted, IMO. That's why America is the greatest country on Earth, IMO. Whereas people in the third world use their energy on, oh, I don't know, /survival/, these people waste millions of dollars on this fictional television show that was originally cancelled after season two or three. (For the record, I thought the first series was good, as television shows go. But come on, it was just a show.).

So depressing. But fascinating as Hell.