Just as the audience begins reeling at what bizarre behavior they’re viewing and wondering how on Earth these human beings could be THAT wrapped up in a TV show, Trekkies makes a brilliant move by dramatically changing the tone. Suddenly the audience is presented with stories of the show’s impact that are truly touching. John de Lancie recalls a visit to a woman in a hospital who was “almost totally paralyzed.” She told him, via an interpreter and using all the strength she could muster up, that, “for the hour you [in Star Trek] are on, I forget the body I am imprisoned in.” James “Scotty” Doohan gets teary-eyed recalling a time when his correspondence saved from suicide a fan who later went on to earn a Masters Degree in Electronic Engineering. Others mention fans of the series who were inspired because of it to pursue careers in acting, science, etc. George Takei shares an anecdote about a time when he went to visit Cape Canaveral to obtain the astronauts’ autographs and found they were just as eager--if not more so--to obtain his.
During the closing credits, a comedian Star Trek fan remarks how odd it was as a kid to get beat up for wearing his Star Trek uniform by other kids wearing sports jerseys. These other kids were dressing in the clothes of the figures they idolized from the entertainment venues that they watched religiously, and yet the violence happened solely because theirs was the more culturally accepted obsession. Trekkies’ affectionate--yet far from wartless--portrayal of Star Trek fans made me seriously question why indeed an obsession with sports is so much more readily acceptable in our culture than an obsession with a science fiction TV show.
Whether you watch it to laugh at or with the titicular tribe of fanatic fans, Trekkies delivers. In essence, it’s a documentary about people having an inordinate amount of fun with a piece of culture they collectively and individually love in a staggering number of divergent and communal ways. I think it’s best summed up by a fan named David Greenstein who, whilst doing some grocery shopping in his Star Trek uniform, asserts, “it doesn’t hurt anybody, makes a lot of people feel good, and I think that’s sort of the point of things.”
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