A Matter of Shatner's Perspective

[Noname Given]

And it was a different world. Star Trek fandom wasn't a thing on the national radar (and I don't think I had ever heard the word "fandom" at the time).

Sorry - by 1986 Star Trek fandom was DEFINITLY on the 'national radar' - it had been since the mid to late 1970ies with TAS and in the run up to ST:TMP nearly every year there was a story on "Gene Rodenberry working on reviving Star Trek..." and newspapers were running articles of 'some fan outrage' when TNG was officially announced (it was around the time of the skit too) because it WASN'T going to feature Kirk, Spock, or McCoy.

 

[Maurice]

Star Trek's boffo syndication status was a big big deal in 1976. It was only eclipsed by Star Wars in 1977.

 

[Noname Given]

Star Trek's boffo syndication status was a big big deal in 1976. It was only eclipsed by Star Wars in 1977.

Star Trek was also mentioned practically anytime another science fiction series was premiering on one of the big three networks. Usually they were comparing budgets and still talking about how Star Trek was one of the most expensive science fiction series ever made for TV and how much they spent on the special effects.

 

[J.T.B.]

Sorry - by 1986 Star Trek fandom was DEFINITLY on the 'national radar' - it had been since the mid to late 1970ies with TAS and in the run up to ST:TMP nearly every year there was a story on "Gene Rodenberry working on reviving Star Trek..." and newspapers were running articles of 'some fan outrage' when TNG was officially announced (it was around the time of the skit too) because it WASN'T going to feature Kirk, Spock, or McCoy.

Yeah, I was talking about the specific world of organized fandom and conventions. I know it wasn't completely unknown, and there were surely feature articles in local newspapers and probably even wire stories and that kind of thing. But for a mass national audience it was still more of an underground thing. As I remember it, national coverage of organized Star Trek fandom took off more after the launch of STTNG. SNL in 1986 seemed more ahead of that curve than part of it.

 

[Noname Given]

Yeah, I was talking about the specific world of organized fandom and conventions. I know it wasn't completely unknown, and there were surely feature articles in local newspapers and probably even wire stories and that kind of thing. But for a mass national audience it was still more of an underground thing. As I remember it, national coverage of organized Star Trek fandom took off more after the launch of STTNG. SNL in 1986 seemed more ahead of that curve than part of it.

Again if you somehow think organized fan conventions didn't start until the TNG era or after the internet; you're sadly mistaken.

By 1986 Star Trek was well known nationwide and had an organized nationwide and worldwide fandom. That fandom is the entire reason we got movies beyond Star Trek the motion picture (which wasn't very well received critically and because of the films budget - It was the most expensive film ever made up to 1979 - really didn't do that well in its initial theatrical run.)

That fandom is the entire reason there were a total of four Star Trek films up to that point, and the reason Paramount decided to put TNG into pre-production.

 

[Ssosmcin]

If you watched TV on Thanksgiving in 1981 for the WOR Holiday Movie Special in New York for the triple feature of King Kong, Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young, you saw the commercials for the SF convention at the Statler Hilton.

The public was pretty well aware of the conventions and Star Trek specific conventions got press coverage when they took off in the 70's. Kids were wearing Donmoor tunics available in clothing stores. so fans dressing up was nothing new either. Not even just at cons, I was wearing those shirts to school and other events.

The only thing that really changed in the mid-80's was that the general audiences were watching Trek also. The Voyage Home and TNG made it "okay" for Joe Average to watch Star Trek.

 

[J.T.B.]

Again if you somehow think organized fan conventions didn't start until the TNG era or after the internet; you're sadly mistaken.

By 1986 Star Trek was well known nationwide and had an organized nationwide and worldwide fandom. That fandom is the entire reason we got movies beyond Star Trek the motion picture (which wasn't very well received critically and because of the films budget - It was the most expensive film ever made up to 1979 - really didn't do that well in its initial theatrical run.)

Which isn't relevant to what I said. If you read the post you'll see that I acknowledged that I was aware of Star Trek conventions in 1986. My comment was about the level of national mass media coverage that Star Trek conventions had received up to that point, and how I as a 17 year old viewer found the attention paid by SNL rather more validating than insulting.

 

[Noname Given]

Which isn't relevant to what I said. If you read the post you'll see that I acknowledged that I was aware of Star Trek conventions in 1986. My comment was about the level of national mass media coverage that Star Trek conventions had received up to that point, and how I as a 17 year old viewer found the attention paid by SNL rather more validating than insulting.

And if you read ,my replies I'm saying you're mistaken as there was A LOT of national and worldwide media coverage of Star Trek AND Star Trek fandom - including Star Trek conventions during the years you believe there wasn't; or that somehow said coverage wasn't "widespread" - and I should know as I was part of that fandom and more involved back in that era.

 

[J.T.B.]

And if you read ,my replies I'm saying you're mistaken as there was A LOT of national and worldwide media coverage of Star Trek AND Star Trek fandom - including Star Trek conventions during the years you believe there wasn't; or that somehow said coverage wasn't "widespread" - and I should know as I was part of that fandom and more involved back in that era.

But that's not what you said, which was "Again if you somehow think organized fan conventions didn't start until the TNG era or after the internet; you're sadly mistaken."

If you have examples of Star Trek conventions getting a lot of national media attention before 1986, I'm happy to be corrected. My point, to put it another way, was that I was surprised that the "Trekkie scene" had reached the level of topicality to be satirized in the first sketch (after the cold open) of an SNL episode.

 

[Noname Given]

But that's not what you said, which was "Again if you somehow think organized fan conventions didn't start until the TNG era or after the internet; you're sadly mistaken."

If you have examples of Star Trek conventions getting a lot of national media attention before 1986, I'm happy to be corrected. My point, to put it another way, was that I was surprised that the "Trekkie scene" had reached the level of topicality to be satirized in the first sketch (after the cold open) of an SNL episode.

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https://www.facebook.com/wpixarchives/videos/1980-star-trek-convention/2298823987028760/

https://blog.drewprops.com/2019/12/rare-1980s-sci-fi-con-footage/

(Yeah sorry, but given I don't have access to micrfiche; I don't think there's a lot of archives of national news/magazine articles, etc. That said, here's a number of TV clips from various Star Trek Cons that I could find with just a cursory search. Again, they were reported on and talked about on the local and national scene since Star trek became something of a cultural phenomenon in the 70s - and DEFINITELY after 'Star Wars' made ANY space sci fi story popular in the national media since 1977.)

You want to continue to try and die on a hill stating "Star Trek Conventions weren't that well known nationally before 1986.." be my guest; but you'd be incorrect. Star Trek conventions; and aspects of Star Trek fandom were WELL KNOWN prior to 1986.

[I had to insert a link via code because the TBBS software kept trying to do am media link - which didn't work for that facebook video]

 

[The Old Mixer]

Ads for conventions are one thing; but to what extent would one have expected Joe Sixpack to know what it was like at a Star Trek convention prior to the SNL sketch?

 

[Ssosmcin]

This site has an article from a 1976 teen magazine about a Trek con. There's ONE photo fans in Klingon costumes.

You wanna hear the real deal???? Shatner and a kid exchange some fun dialog in 1976

 

[mb22]

The episode was broadcast while the single episode VHS and double episode laserdiscs were in the middle of being released.

 

[Commishsleer]

Its funny they were happy with her in uniform on the jury but the moment she sad she believed in Star Trek because it promotes inclusion, tolerance, peace and faith in humankind they wanted her off it.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Star Trek's William Shatner Reacts to Videos of Himself | I Hate Watching Myself | Esquire - YouTube

 

[ichab]

On the making money from Star Trek part, yes he struggled after the show went off the air due to no residuals and a divorce. But he more than made up for it in the movies and the conventions (those guys don't do them for free.)

And who cares if Star Trek was just a paycheck for him? I doubt anyone could say he didn't give the job his all when action was called.

And do fans REALLY expect actors to watch everything they perform in? This guy has been in the business for more than 50 years. You do a job for 50 plus years and tell me how how excited you would be to talk about it or relive it.

 

[ichab]

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https://www.facebook.com/wpixarchives/videos/1980-star-trek-convention/2298823987028760/

https://blog.drewprops.com/2019/12/rare-1980s-sci-fi-con-footage/

(Yeah sorry, but given I don't have access to micrfiche; I don't think there's a lot of archives of national news/magazine articles, etc. That said, here's a number of TV clips from various Star Trek Cons that I could find with just a cursory search. Again, they were reported on and talked about on the local and national scene since Star trek became something of a cultural phenomenon in the 70s - and DEFINITELY after 'Star Wars' made ANY space sci fi story popular in the national media since 1977.)

You want to continue to try and die on a hill stating "Star Trek Conventions weren't that well known nationally before 1986.." be my guest; but you'd be incorrect. Star Trek conventions; and aspects of Star Trek fandom were WELL KNOWN prior to 1986.

[I had to insert a link via code because the TBBS software kept trying to do am media link - which didn't work for that facebook video]

I seem to recall the Trekkies documentary covering this. All I know is that those conventions in the 70s were jam packed and there's no way that would have happened pre-internet without marketing and promotion.

 

[Ssosmcin]

And do fans REALLY expect actors to watch everything they perform in? This guy has been in the business for more than 50 years. You do a job for 50 plus years and tell me how how excited you would be to talk about it or relive it.

Closer to 70. Star Trek itself ended 52 years ago.
Which just reinforces your point.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Indeed...the first of his 246 acting credits listed on IMDb is from 1951...70 exactly.

 

[ChallengerHK]

Ads for conventions are one thing; but to what extent would one have expected Joe Sixpack to know what it was like at a Star Trek convention prior to the SNL sketch?

In the late 70s/early 80s I'd got to probably 4 cons a year. On average, one or two of those would have a TV news crew recording bits to show the public how nerdy Trekkies were. After that, I guess it's a question of how many Joe Sixpacks watched the news?