Saturday Night's Alright For Trekkin'
Outside of Star Trek's fictional environment, there is even a bar where Trekkers and other science fiction buffs can hangout. If one wants to discover what true fans think of Star Trek, ''Page's Bar'' is the place to be. To such an extent, Cult TV visited the bar in order to interview Trekkers for the latest feature. Read on to discover what they had to say.
Trekkers' Forum
A bar is the perfect place to engage in a little light conversation, and maybe the odd debate about your favourite issues. So it was, one Saturday night, when Cult TV sought out some fans who had gathered to watch their favourite show and discuss what it was that drew them to the Star Trek dynasty.
There are four Star Trek series, which have presented us with hundreds of classic episodes, good and bad aliens, and a cast of regulars from diverse races and cultures. Everyone has their preferences, so here are a few things we found from our survey:
Next Generation shaded it as the favourite series. The stories were considered more original supported by good acting from a strong ensemble cast. Deep Space Nine was preferred by some as it was darker in tone while others still hankered after the original series as it set the whole Star Trek bandwaggon rolling.
Unfortunately Voyager got the most criticism for re-hashing old plots and evidence of weak acting. In saying that it was also praised for a new twist in sending a starship out of Federation space and introducing the fans to a more diverse set of aliens. It should also be said that many liked all four series, ''they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.''
When it comes to favourite episodes Next Generation's 'Best of Both Worlds' proved immensely popular. Perhaps this justifies the big-budget feel of this feature-length episode, although some still felt ''the single episodes stand out more.'' Examples of these included Generation's 'Cause & Effect' - ''because it's so confusing'' and ''Yesterday's Enterprise''. Another favourite was Deep Space Nine's 'Little Green Men' in which ''Hawk was an entertaining and funny character.'' As for the original series there were votes for 'City On The Edge Of Forever' which ''hasn't got the classic happy ending''.
When it comes to aliens opinion was decidedly less divided:
The Borg seemed to hold an almost universal appeal (you can peruse our Borg feature in the Cult TV archive).
Equally universal seems to be the idea that the Kazons failed badly. Typically people felt that they were ''just a rip-off of the Klingons and not as interesting'', though one found a more sinister reason for hating them, ''they're boring and they have rice krispies in their hair!''. Klingons still seemed popular, though some felt they should take Klingon story-lines a bit further.
In defence of Voyager species 8472 shows promise while many fans are looking forward to the new alien foes coming up in this series.
When it comes to Captains in Star Trek one of the biggest issues is who is the sexiest, Kirk or Picard. Some argued ''Picard is a fine Captain, the opposite of Kirk, far more sophisticated.'' On the whole people felt Picard was more cerebral, but that Kirk ''just got the job done''. Of course while Kirk was getting the job done he ''always manages to rip his top off and 'get off' with the beautiful alien women.''
People also liked Cisco - ''he tends to do what he thinks is right, even if the consequences are bad - a deep character.'' Janeway, as the first female Captain, also faired well. No-one thought that having a female lead was a bad idea in Voyager - ''Janeway gets better and better, and having a female Captain is very believable.''
As for the other characters, Kes and Wesley both came in for some stick as they are ''annoying, a bit wet and far too limp.'' The new Borg character 7 of 9 is very popular ''She's good looking and totally individual, totally against the structure of the last 30 years for Star Trek.'' But is Tom Paris really a ''smug git''? Is Data ''really funny, with a lovely personality''?
So what kind of people do Trekkers tend to be? Well, we had an Electronics Engineer, an actor, mature students, members of the Forces, Computer Programmers, a secretary, an actor and an unemployed pop artist. Quite a mixed bunch which shows the universal appeal of the shows. There clearly isn't a Trekkie 'type'. Perhaps the last words should go to the fans:
''Star Trek has survived so long because you can watch an episode and lose yourself in a dream. It's pure escapism and great fun.''
(Andy, Dylan and son)
''The whole theme idea of Star Trek inspired me to watch in the first place. The idea of what mankind can achieve.''
(Shawn - a machine operator)
''I like the whole thing, what Star Trek stands for, the plotting, the science-fiction context. Everything.''
(Mark - operations supervisor)
''The original series never died, and it all just snowballed from there.''
(mature student/teacher)
Time, please gentlemen!
