Movie Review: Trekkies (1998)
Directed by Roger Nygard.
I can't remember ever having laughed so hard at any movie... let alone a documentary. Not that the film mocks Trekkies. That would be cruel, as well as quite unnecessary Plus it would be counterproductive to the filmmaker's intent. What was done was simply send Denise Crosby and a film crew to conventions and such, and let the Trekkies speak for themselves. Denise Crosby played the long-limbed Lt. Tasha Yar on `Star Trek: The Next Generation'; her character was a kind of low-wattage Seven of Nine. She's almost absurdly tall and blonde. The obsessive fans turn positively garrulous in the presence of this minor deity of the Trek pantheon, although a couple of them become confused to the point of forgetting their names.
It's almost unfair. As they ramble on, what stands out most is their extraordinary earnestness. In Trek they find a vision of the future, a code to live one's life by. One caller to a radio show tells how a Trek episode helped him deal with a death in his family. Well and good, except that I couldn't help thinking that maybe a moment in life as profound as the death of a parent should be one's own, personal, and not influenced by the plot of any TV show.
Realizing that theirs is an obsession, they feel compelled to defend it. And invariably sink themselves. Certainly, it's okay to like, even to be passionate about a TV show. It's okay to get together with other like minded fans, to talk and swap memorabilia. The next step is dressing up and getting in character at these events, and that's okay too. Since it's nothing to be ashamed of, the logical next step is getting on a city bus and going to work that way. By small steps of Vulcan-like logic, they end up acting like crazy people.
Invariably, they know there is a line that shouldn't be crossed. Invariably, that line is always somewhere just around the bend. Like the 50-ish man who says he'd stop short of getting his ears surgically altered to Spock points. He has remodeled his home to resemble a Trek set, he goes to the supermarket in his Starfleet uniform, his wife wears a uniform too and they've even put one on their poodle. But getting his ears done... no, THAT would be crazy!
It's almost inspiring that people can be so impervious to embarrassment. Or so unencumbered by social niceties. There is a dentist in Florida whose office is a Trek microcosm. He wears the uniform, as does his staff; the decor is all Trek. He and his wife show Ms. Crosby around the place. The tour concluded, the wife explains that sometimes at home they `do' different characters. Since she's too short to play Denise Crosby's character, she explains, her husband puts on a blonde wig.... Okay, I don't know what was said next because at that point I lost it. As did Crosby. (I've never seen someone actually jump in astonishment before.)
Which brings up-- to mix my sci-fi metaphors-- the dark side of the whole business. There is the woman who keeps hundreds of pictures of Brent Spiner, aka the android Data, in a steel floor safe. Lest they be lost to fire or earthquake, she explains (see, it's all completely rational...) Then there is the stuff that fans send to the stars. Crosby opens her garage: she's got boxes full of it. People have sent her artwork, including some technically proficient and rather torrid nudes of her and the aforementioned Data, embracing as lovers. `At first,' she explains, `I was offended.'
AT FIRST?!! I suspect she's being a bit disingenuous. Denise Crosby proves much more skillful as an interviewer than she has ever been as an actress. By not establishing any boundaries, by not setting any limits with the Trekkies she interviews, she lets them take plenty of rope. They promptly hang themselves. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
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