From: Mark Hart (mark@mmhart.com)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 11:12:09 -0500
Re: My Star Trek Story


Hi!

My name is Mark and this is my Star Trek story:

I live in Fort Wayne, IN and though the local stations carry Star Trek, they have always put it on at strange times or delay showing it for a few days or a week. So people on the Internet will talk about it an episode or issue in an episode before we even get to see it.

Well, when Star Trek Voyage was premiering for the first time with the two hour episode however, the stations in Fort Wayne were not going to carry it for another week and at a strange time (like 1am on a Sunday or something like that). So one of my friends and I were trying to think how we could actually watch the episode even though nobody we knew had a satellite dish.

In a stroke of genius, my friend came up with a plan to go to one of the sport's bar that was not far from his house and ask them to tune one of their dish's to a UPN station that had the premier. The sport's bar was a great choice because they had about 30 televisions and a number of dishs to support all those sets. I have to admit I was pretty reluctant about doing this because Star Trek fans and hard-core sports fans that have been drinking just seem like a good mix. However, I kept my thoughts to myself and went.

When we arrived at the bar it was fairly empty to my surprise. Of course it was during the week and there wasn't much in the way of sports going on which played to our favor. We approached the bartender and told him our plan. He stared at us during my friend's passionate speech on why he should change on of the channels to Star Trek because no station in Fort Wayne was carrying it that night. I knew the whole time my friend was talking that this bartender thought this was some kind of joke. However, he quickly realized that we were not kidding and this was a real request.

Without blinking he told us that nobody has ever asked to watch anything but a sporting event on any of the sets at the bar before. My friend continued his passionate speech and pointed out that the bar wasn't that busy. The bartender thought about it and then reluctantly said he could put us in the back on a small set with the volume low since most people who go to a sport's bar want to watch sports. Fair enough, I thought.

To be honest, I was actually amazed that the bartender agreed to let us watch Star Trek at all but thrilled that he agreed to do it. I was still wary of the other patrons in the bar and their reaction to a couple of Star Trek fans trying to rock the boat sort-of speak. I figured with us stuck in a back corner and out of the way everyone would be happy. I was quite ready to find a seat, have a beer, and enjoy my night.

However, the next words out of the bartender's mouth made me feel like Homer Simpson. What satellite and channel was Star Trek: Voyager on? I had no idea. Neither did my friend. We forgot to buy a dish guide and look it up. With a smile I asked if he had a guide that we could use to look it up. The bartender rolled his eyes at us and then yelled to somebody in the back to bring the satellite guide to him. When they yelled back to ask him why, he very loudly told him that two guys up at the bar want to watch Star Trek. I cringed with every word that he said and felt like the whole bar was looking at us.

He handed me the guide and asked if I had ever used one before? I thought to myself that I had used a TV Guide before so how hard could this be? Yet as I looked at the pages it did seem somewhat different than the TV Guide and I mumbled something resembling not really. Again, the bartender rolled his eyes and took the book out of my hands and began flipping pages.

After a number of tries we finally found a channel that had Star Trek: Voyager. I could feel the eyes of the other patrons still on us as they watched this frustrated bartender trying to work with two Star Trek fans that didn't know what channel their show was on. However, I thought they would grow bored with watching us now that our show was on and go back to watching their sporting events. I was ready to have a beer, eat some fries, and enjoy the show.

As the night grew on I witnessed something that amazed me. Slowly, patron by patron, people started to come over to where we were and watch the premier with us. Even the staff got into the show and started to watch it with us. The cook came out to watch between orders. The waitresses also stopped by to watch. The bus boys, the other bartenders, even the DJ came over to watch. The main bartender finally had to put the show on the big screen with the volume up because there were so many people that were watching. Patrons were even calling their friends to tell them that this bar was showing the premier of the new Star Trek show and that they should come down and watch.

I had always heard how popular Star Trek is and how all walks of life enjoy the show but I never expected to see this happen at a bar. I will never forget how astounded I was to see all these different people together watching a recorded television show while live sporting events are going on. I was amazed at how Star Trek could bring different people together and capture their attention.


So that is my Star Trek Story,
Mark Hart


PS- I loved the film Trekkies and I hope you do a sequel. You might even be surprised to know that this 'Trek' story is from a fellow film maker, I produced the film "In the Company of Men".