Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 16:18:30 -0300
To: info@trekkies2.com
From: moondog moondog@auracom.com
Subject: "Trekkies" fan review

Hi...

My name is John Clarke from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Here's my Trekkies review, recently posted on my website:

http://www.geocities.com/e_the_schematics/

I looked and looked for this film to rent for months, but none of my local video stores had it. Recently it came out as a sell-thru title so I bought it for the relativlely cheap sum of $11.99 at a major retail outlet - not much more than a couple of rentals would cost. A few daze after I watch it what happens? The video store at the bottom of my hill beams in two copies for rent. Ooo, that stung like a Vulcan nerve pinch.

If you're still reading this, thank you. I just had to get that little rant out of the way. Let me start by saying "Trekkies" was worth buying. I'll definitely be watching it more than once and probably lending it around to more than a few friends and family members. In a nutshell, this is the funniest Trek since "The Voyage Home".

"Trekkies" is a documentary on the whole crazy phenomenon that "Star Trek" has wrought. "TNG's" Tasha Yar, Denise Crosby, is the narrator/host who introduces us to the Trek-centrics populating the convention circuit and the plain ol' nuts who live their lives as card carrying members of the United Federation of Planets. The most infamous fan here is the Arkansas juror who came to the Whitewater trial wearing her Starfleet uniform. My favorite is the dentist who has his entire office decked out with Trek memorabilia; his assistants all in uniform. The sour faces his kids make, also outfitted in Starfleet costumes, speak volumes.

We're also treated to the sagging faces of the Classic Trek stars as they recount their more memorable experiences with Trekkies. Mr. Scott's is kind of off-putting. One fan wrote him threatening suicide. Doohan wrote back saying he wanted to see her at an upcoming convention. Touching, right? Yes, except this lonely soul kept writing to Scotty and he kept stringing her to convention after convention for years. She lived, but shouldn't he perhaps have recommended her to a doctor. The late, great DeForest Kelley comes across better, as a sly ol' dog whose biggest fan sent him a doobie, instructing him to get as high as she had been on him for years.

All in all, "Trekkies" is a fine summation of a movement that, of late, seems to have crested. But I'll admit, there were times I could relate to some of these (why mince words?) fanatics way more than I'd care to admit. Anyone whose seen my "Star Wars" collection knows what I'm talking about.

Live long and prosper,

John D.T. "Moondog" Clarke