Loonies in Fandom?
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| Title: | Loonies in Fandom? |
| Creator: | M.J. Fisher |
| Date(s): | April 1977 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
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Loonies in Fandom? is a essay by M.J. Fisher.
It was printed in Spectrum #31.
The topic was enthusiastic fans.
The Essay
Y'know...there are actually some people, out there, in the real world that actually consider Star Trek fans a little...wel1 - crazy. Unfortunately for most fans, these people tend to be folk that we can't just ignore - like parents, friends, teachers, even spouses. Actually, you can ignore them, but chances are, you'd end up a hermit if you ignored everyone who had pegged you as a "Trekkie."Sometimes I don't think it would be as bad, if it just stopped there, but people in fandom have it particularly bad. Watching the show is bad enough to some people, but the things we do in fandom, well - those are certainly proof that we are unbalanced in some way, right?
Look at it their way...not only do we ourselves admit to watching this...don't you shudder to think of it...science fiction!- not only us, but we find others who watch the show and correspond with them. How could we? We even go so far as to spend hard earned cash for home-made publications put out by other fans...for a television show! Who ever heard of such a thing? Would anyone in his right mind by a fanzine based on the ABC Evening News? Not that Barbara Walters or Harry Reasoner are slouches, but you wouldn't buy a fanzine based around their show- would you? Of course not? But Star Trek fans do.
Do you know...that some people actually spend their time and effort doing artwork for these fanzines and writing stories for these fanzines, when they could be doing artwork for pay and writing to more respectable journals like Reader's Digest. Some of these poor, deluded souls follow that old television show so closely that they actually publish their own fan magazines, and spend hundreds...yes! even thousands of dollars to do so. If that isn't sheer insanity, I just don't know what is.
Some of these crazy people actually spend their vacation time going to Star Trek conventions, when they could be lounging on the beaches of sunny Hawaii or visiting Europe for the same price. Some people who are beyond hope of redemption, actually hold their own Star Trek conventions...sometimes losing up to $10,000+. Can you imagine?
Of course, such people don't listen to the arguments from the fans that for some people Star Trek gave us a beautiful idealism to aspire to, and fandom gave us a family to take part in. They don't listen to the fact that fandom is a forum for novice writers and a great hobby as hobbies go. They just want to know if we're a bit off our rockers. Well, to be honest, yes- damned right we're a little off center, and proud of it. It sets us apart from the rest of the unimaginative mundane world, and I hope it stays that way!