Earlytrekfandom
| Tumblr | |
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| Name: | Earlytrekfandom |
| Date(s): | - 2018 |
| Submissions: | |
| Type: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek |
| Scope: | |
| URL: | Tumblr, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Earlytrekfandom was a side blog of Star Trek fan Dee. She maintained several Tumblr blog: spockslash, propremise and Earlytrekfandom. Dee passed in 2018.
Earlytrekfandom was used to record her many memories of being an original Star Trek fan in the 1960s and 1970s, her life in Los Angeles and connecting with fellow Star Trek fans and the cast and creator. Portions of the blog were deleted as part of the Tumblr Purge 2018. Below are excerpts along with fan responses.
Remembering Gene Roddenberry
hotpinkdarkness asked: YOU KNEW GENE RODDENBERRY?! THAT IS SO AMAZING!! What was he like??spockslash answered:
What was he like?
Complicated. Deeply flawed.
What was he like, speaking only from my personal interactions with him over the years 1966-1982?
Warm. Open-minded. Generous. Erratic. Fatherly. Inspirational.
I’m well aware I experienced only one or two sides of a multifaceted personality. Looking back with all I now know, I see him as neither hero nor villain, but as a very flawed person with an amazing vision, which I’m glad he passed on to the world. I’m glad I had a chance to know him.[1]
This is a personal story about Gene Roddenberryspockslash
In which he reads slash and gets upset about zippers.
The first time I ever spoke to Gene was in late September 1966, just weeks after Star Trek came on the air.
Remember your Star Trek history: he was not a Big Name or a Famous Person in the fall of 1966. At that point he was happy to talk with anyone who could string some intelligent sentences together and showed an interest in Star Trek. He really was accessible to pretty much anyone who asked for an interview, even for a science fiction club newsletter – which is what I was writing the first time I talked to him.
That first impression of a guy who was eager – eager – to chat at length on the phone about his show stayed with me, probably long after it should have. Star Trek caught on, then of course in the 70s the fandom grew and grew, but in my head Gene remained this friendly, easy-going guy you wouldn’t hesitate to approach and chat with.
Through the 70s he remained accessible to fans and interested in fan input. It’s said he was controlling in the work place, but was never that way with the fans (in my experience). He would ask, “What do YOU think?” then sit in that way he did, leaning forward and listening intently and grinning at your eagerness and strong opinions over his creation.
As for sending Gene a slash story… At some point he said to me – as he said to many, many, many people in the early days – “Send me your work when it comes out.” What can I say? I was a dork. I took him at his word and mailed my work to his office, regularly, whenever I produced something. I highly doubt he read it. Perhaps he scanned samples of what came in to him from god knows how many fans? Because obviously he saw that one story of mine. Which is one of the things I find funny about the “zipper” incident: I got acknowledgement/feedback all of one time from the creator of Star Trek, and that is what he noticed and remembered about my story. Zippers.
Zippers![2]
Reactions/Responses
[ nerd-in-space]
Do you have a link to….. the.. zipper??
[tptigger]
Found it! (And thanks for tagging me a second time so I knew to look!)And Holy frex, the studios/lawyers would pitch fits at someone who invited you to submit stuff like that today. That is the coolest thing. (Although I know the previous iterations in syndication used to let anyone submit scripts. )
I’m glad Gene was such a cool guy. I never had the pleasure of hearing him speak or anything, but the stories the casts of TNG and TOS tell are often very cool.
Tangent: I suspect with the different storytelling today that Disco will not be taking fan scripts ever, and it’s a crying shame.