Star trekkies materialize at convention

News Media Commentary
Title:	Star trekkies materialize at convention
Commentator:	Ed Zdrojewski
Date(s):	February 21, 1975
Venue:
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Star trekkies materialize at convention is a article by Ed Zdrojewski.

first page of the article; it is unknown if this is the original format or if it was clipped and pasted by the editor of Warped Space in this way; also unknown if the cartoon (unsigned, perhaps by Gordon Carleton, was original to the article

The article was not particularly flattering and was written in the wide-eyed, "look at the freaks" style that mainstream journalists took/take when describing fan events.

The topic of the article was the recent Schuster Star Trek Con, Star Trek fandom in general, Star Trek as "one of the strangest television shows ever aired," desperate fans, and greedy dealers. The article includes a quote from a professor who compares Star Trek to ancient myth and that fans "gathering around the TV set for Star Trek reruns as sort of a religious gathering." Also quoted was Lori Chapek. The article also includes a short plug for Ourcon though it does not mention it by name.

The article was printed in "State News," the student newspaper for "Michigan State University." This is the university that sponsored the Michigan State University Star Trek Club and published the first twenty-one issues of the long-running zine Warped Space.

The articles tone and descriptions must have stung and were probably seen as a betrayal, as the writer was a fan himself. Ed Zdrojewski is the author of The Sixth Year, the story that was entwined with the Star Trek: TOS series of stories that became Leslie Fish's The Weight.

Lori Chapek (club president) and publisher of Warped Space and Ed's story printed a copy of this article in Warped Space #4 and commented in the editorial: "Your article in the State News tho... well, leave us face it, we can get the "Trekkies Examine Space in Heads" stuff from the straight press? Or were you heavily edited?"

Excepts from the Original Article

When Shatner walked onto the stage of the Commodore Ballroom, the audience reaction was similar to reactions to the Beatles in the early 1960s with screams, shouts of "Take it off, Captain Kirk" and general hysteria.

Outside the ballroom, a dealer's room featured dozens of enterprising individuals capitalizing on fan mania. Anything imaginable having to do with Star Trek and quite a few things that didn't could be found at prices ranging from bargain to exorbitant. There were posters, fanzines, slides, electric jewelry, models of the Enterprise, Klingon warships, phaser guns, old comic books and stationery. The merchandise all disappeared like items in a bargain basement sale at Hudson's, and the dealers took in vast amounts of money.

[...]

For the more esthetically-minded there was an art show which, if anything, brought even larger sums of money to gifted and not-so-gifted artists. Art work and other Trekkie bait was auctioned off.

The strangest part of the convention was the masquerade ball that took place the final evening. Over 100 fans paraded across the stage of a jammed ballroom, showing off Star Trek " and science fiction-inspired costumes and competing for prizes. There were, several Mr. Spocks, at least a dozen tribbles and half-a-dosen hortas (rock-monsters) complete with tennis shoes. Among the freakier costumes were the planet Vulcan, a stick of Promise margarine and a question mark. The prize for the most beautiful costume went to a young woman whose costume was so brief as to be practically nonexistant.

Fan Comments

Not to deprecate Ed Zdrojewski's article (Feb 21) on the Trekkie convention, [but] there are a few facts I think should be emphasized. Star Trek ran from 1966 to 1969. Bill Shatner's appearances were not marked by "general hysteria" -- the shouts of "take it off" were elicited when he removed his suit coat. In response to the comment "We love your bustling," Issac Asimov unbuttoned his shirt, an action in context with a portion of his speech which dealt with sexism.

Speaking from experience, most dealers did not take in "vast" amounts of money. The fanzine people were there mainly to renew old friendships, strike up new acquaintances and compare fanzines. And at most booths, prices were negotiable.

[...]

Ed seemed to find the word "strange" as applied to the convention. Pshaw! He also seemed to get the impression that the convention was attended by groupies. Pshaw again. But let me quote Isaac Asimov: "... I have never witnessed any group of people as responsible, orderly, and as good-humored... When there was an autograph session, there was a long line formed and people waited patiently for half an hour and more to get to me. These were the Trekkies, these were the supposedly screaming, jumping up and down 12-year olds. Not so at all. There were enthusiastic people of all ages who had taken part in the "Star Trek" experience, who had been and were participants in the most sophisticated example of science fiction on the television screen, and a little of whose lives had been permanently marked as a result. The Trekkies are intelligent, interested, involved people with whom it is a pleasure to be, in any numbers. Why else should they have been involved in "Star Trek," an intelligent, interested, and involved show?"

[Chapek added] Most Trekkies are literate people who enjoy other speculative fiction. We are not groupies from the Space Age.