Trekkies: 25th Anniversary Edition
Shout Factory has brought the famous, Denise Crosby narrated, documentary on Star Trek fandom to Blu-ray for the fist time. 25 years after it was first released, ‘Trekkies’ is now something of a fascinating time capsule. The Star Trek convention culture that is featured heavily was already at the start of a slow decline after it’s truly gargantuan peak in the late 80’s/early 90’s TNG days. Innocent, fun and reflective, there’s no foreshadowing that Trek conventions would be overtaken by events like the massive Comic-cons, or that so much fandom would move online in the next ten years. This documentary’s focus is a pure love letter to the people whose lives were impacted so greatly by a TV show. At the time, this was a chronicle of all the kooky and wonderful people who were ‘Trekkies’, but in modern eyes, it is pure nostalgia and memories. Seeing the footage of the old Grand Slam convention at the Pasadena Convention Center is like watching a nerdy Woodstock and knowing you were there in that awesome moment in history.
One aspect that makes Trekkies so invaluable is the interviews. There are interviews with almost all of the original cast; about half of whom have since passed away including Deforest Kelley, who died shortly before the film’s wide release. There are wonderful stories from James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, and a pre-coming out George Takei. There is an inevitable tongue-in-cheek element in the doc when it comes to covering the fans and it’s wonderful to see the actor’s great affection and support of their obsession.
Once you watch the documentary be sure to check out the special feature ‘A Trek Back’. This is a newly produced featurette interviewing Denise Crosby and Director Roger Nygard. They reminisce on how they came to the idea of making ‘Trekkies’ and their memories and reflections on Star Trek fandom.
Adam Ruhl is a writer and life long Cinephile. He is the Executive
Cinema Editor of Pop Culture Beast’s Austin branch; covering festivals,
conventions, and new releases. When not filing reports, Adam can be
found stalking Alamo Drafthouse Programmers for leads on upcoming
DrafthouseFilms titles. Adam once blocked Harry Knowles entrance to a
theater until he was given extra tickets to a Roman Polanski movie.