A few of the key pop cultural experiences that most Gen-Xers share are Star Trek, Logan's Run, and Star Wars. In fact, when I was an undergrad fraternity member, the question I used to ask "young women" when they were at fraternity parties to see if they were old enough to hit on was, "So...how old were you when you saw Star Wars on the big screen?" It was a quick and easy way to see if they were 18, and one that didn't seem unnatural for most of the people I met.
Free Enterprise is the story of Generation X turning 30. I would say growing up, but that isn't what actually happens; at least not in the way that term is typically used. Generation X has a long way to go before they "put aside childish things" as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 13:11. Generation X is almost entirely defined by those childish things. To tell its story, Free Enterprise centers its narrative on the lives of two men approaching "Last Day," a Logan's Run (movie) reference to their 30th birthdays.
Robert (Rafer Weigel) and Mark (Eric McCormack of Will & Grace) are two friends struggling through life in Southern California, attempting to make a living with activities associated with their obsessions. Mark is the editor of Geek magazine, who has hopes of becoming a screenwriter/director and has been pitching his latest idea, Bradykiller, in the hopes of achieving that goal. Bradykiller is a kind of The Brady Bunch meets Silence of the Lambs film. Robert is a struggling editor at a direct to video production company. But Mark and Robert have a deeper connection than their interests in popular culture; they both have had William Shatner as an imaginary friend. Shatner (the imaginary friend) has "helped" both of these young men at one time or another in their pasts, and Captain Kirk is the major hero of these men's lives.
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