Trekkies (1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
***1/2 out of four
Narrated by Denise Crosby. Rated PG
I wonder if the majority of Star Trek fans have an intense dislike for Star Wars. Those Star Wars fanatics have been labeled as the most daring and the most idolatrous of them all, mainly because of their standing in line for months to see The Phantom Menace when in reality they can't hold a figurine up to some Trek followers, often referred to as Trekkies. Trekkies, the new documentary from Paramount, which ironically is the studio responsible for Star Trek, brings us an account of this devoted group of Trek enthusiasts.
Trekkies narrated by Denise Crosby, an actress on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and what the film does is take a rather random approach in portraying and profiling die-hard Trekkers. There is a woman who showed up for jury duty in her Star Trek uniform, saying that she did it because she doesn't "want any of [her] officers to ever be ashamed of wearing their uniforms." I searched in vain for any hint of a smirk, some sign that she really is not serious about all this. There was none. Star Trek is her world, her whole existence.
Another major focus point of the film is a family of Trekkies, a father a mother and two children. The father is a dentist. Their office is all Trek. Everywhere you look you see Star Trek memorabilia, the secretaries, the nurses and the doctors all wear Trek uniforms (of course, if I walked into a dentist's office where the doctor was dressed up as a starship captain I'd run as fast as I could, but then that's just me).
Director Roger Nygard does not water down this movie one bit, and it features fans as outrageous as fans get. That is deceptively daring because nobody expected Paramount to come out with a movie that portrays trekkies in all their glory and wackiness. And, indeed, Trekkies is often times riotously funny, though it is unclear whether we are actually laughing with these people or at them.
The question is whether these hard-core trekkies are worthy of our derision and our mockery. Alas, they're not. I looked at them, and I did not see freaks. I saw families and societies coming together in harmony to participate in something that is of mutual interest. At the risk of sounding hackneyed, isn't it a hell of a lot better for kids to be going to Star Trek conventions and sewing Trek uniforms than building bombs? Those that tell these people to "get a life" are promoting a double standard, especially as far as the children are concerned. For years, I have heard society insist that if children got involved in inoffensive, social activites rather than making trouble the world would be a better place. Telling these "trekkie kids" to "get a life" is, then, a contradiction.
I am myself a passive Trek fan, although I don't consider myself a trekkie. Watching Trekkies, I did not feeling smug or conceited. If nothing else, I was felt left out. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
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