Twenty-Five years ago a documentary about Star Trek fans was produced and released in theaters called Trekkies. It was narrated by Denise Crosby and focused on various Star Trek fans while interviewing various actors from the (then) franchises that were airing. Recently Shout Factory released a 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray to the wild that included not only the movie but a special interview with producer Denise Crosby and directory Roger Nygard called “A Trek Back”. I picked up this disk and invited my college aged kid to sit down and watch it with me since she had never seen it before.

Back when this movie was released in the theaters, I was invited with other members of my Star Trek fan club to attend a sneak-peak screening prior to the opening night. Because they knew we were die-hard fans, the organizer had set up some hard trivia questions. I recall that one of them was “What Star Trek character was referenced in the 1980’s song 99 Red Balloons by Nena?” It had been a while since I had seen the movie so it was an excellent re-visit. I could re-call some of the stories about some of the various fans that were interviewed and what happened to them after Trekkies had been released. Gabriel Koerner was able to move into a career in movies and television working on special effects. I had to explain to my kid why the Star Trek juror, Barbara Adams, was a big thing in the 90’s during the Whitewater Trial. Specifically how the media was trying to latch onto anything during a boring trial (which was nothing like Law and Order) It also reminded me of when I entered a costume contest at CONduit (a Salt Lake fan-run convention) in a Star Trek uniform with a sign on my back stating “Avoiding jury duty”. Yes that got a lot of laughs. My daughter looked up the Star Trek dentist in Orlando and discovered that something like that was still going on. The name may have changed (which is how she had heard about it). Another reminder that was kind of sad for me was seeing the various dealers room tables during the 90’s. Back then, that is where you got your latest blueprints or resource books. (yelling at cloud moment) Most dealers rooms have been very dull. Comic Conventions seem to be the “State Fair” setup and smaller fan-run conventions are falling by the wayside. The dealers room use to be a huge draw for me at conventions, now I hope to find something. But seeing the Trek clubs in action and talking about how Star Trek fans help with charity brought a smile to my face. This is something that is continuing to this day as we try to move our world into the 24th Century.

When the movie was over I had a great time remembering this movie. I asked my college aged art student what she thought. She loved it except for some of the semi-erotic art put out by various fans. Seeing what fandom was like before she was born was an interesting experience.

After watching the movie I played the original trailer (I’m very happy when companies include this in their media) and “A Trek Back”. The special was recently filmed with Crosby and Nygard and had some very interesting tidbits including a response from JJ Abrams. I was hoping there would have been another special or two (this is blu-ray after all) but that was it. Hopefully we will get more specials if Shout Factory releases a blu-ray of Trekkies 2.

For the price on Amazon, Trekkies was a good pick up for the money. It was good to add this to my collection (my previous ownership was the VHS tape I had recently found in the garage). And yes, I want Trekkies 2 on blu-ray to complete my collection.