Why Star Trek and it’s Fans will be different in 2017. And how we will adapt.

There’s an internet meme doing the circuits that beautifully demonstrates the impact that 2016 has had on the many of us. 2016 has been one for the history books in both regards to current affairs and Star Trek.

2016

Let us focus on Trek. The TL;DR is a mixed bag, mostly epic. The year began with the best announcement ever. A new Star Trek series announced, Star Trek Beyond was released, the tragic passing of Anton Yelchin and a global celebration of Star Trek’s 50th anniversary.

For us, our love of Star Trek has taken us to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Birmingham, met more friends, old and new and sparked that feeling of ‘newness’ regarding Star Trek that is reminiscent of the 1990’s.

But Star Trek is all about looking forward.

Here’s what we think will make Star Trek and it’s fandom feel different from it’s previous incarnations;

Social Media

Star Trek Enterprise ended before Facebook and Twitter went mainstream. Sci-fi fans are all about live streaming, interacting with fans and filling the void between episodes. In recent years the SM team at Star Trek have upp’ed their game, nonetheless we look forward to banter and memes galore!

The crew and cast have an important role to play in this too. For other incarnations we have relied on books and post-production interviews to learn about the goings-on, the gossip and internal insights. Eager fans hang on to every tweet Rick Burman posts to get a further glimpse of what life was like on the set of TNG.

We’ll have this live. Already a twitter storm has blown up with the changes effecting Bryan Fuller’s stewardship. Whilst well managed internally, it’s the friends-in-the-know, associated to the inner circle who often provide the really juicy stuff. A bit like how William Shatner always announces himself as headlining a convention before the official announcement. He doesn’t have to tow the corporate line so much!

Events

Star Trek has a good grip on its merchandising and licensing but looking back over the past few years an area they have locked their targets on is Conventions/Events. This was once the realm of the fans and it was geek privilege to organise them. I can’t find the source but some time ago I read a news article that young actors today are hoping to get a genre role just to get in on the convention circuit. Many actors can make more money in one weekend than they can filming for a week. And large scale convention organisers don’t have it bad either.

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Rightly so Star Trek have been charging organisers a license fee to host these events to protect the brand (and the latinum!) It has made sense to contract out the organisation of events to companies with the expertise to do so, but given how immensely popular comic con style events are becoming, we wonder whether networks will begin to look to run these ‘in house’ and cut out the middle man? They already have the PR machine, the studios and most importantly, access to the talent.

Fans finding their niche

There are record high numbers of Star Trek fan blogs and podcasts and this is surely set to boom once Discovery hits our screens. Not everyone is going to listen to 30 different episode reviews each week.

It won’t be long until each outlet finds it’s speciality, whether it be twitter presence, interviews, book reviews, insights, rumour etc.

Which bring us on to the Trekkie Girls!…!!

We have an interesting year ahead and there will be some changes. I (Sam) and my family have decided to go travelling for a year! My husband had enough of corporate life so quit his job and we are taking our 2 year old Jean-Luc on an epic away mission! (We aren’t like 7 of 9’s parents – honest!)

I’ll still be blogging from wherever we are and I’ll be video linking with Carole and Sarah for our vBlogs.

I’ve even got some ‘must go’ locations for Trekkies on my list! So we believe it’s an improved service from us from a more international arena!

Happy New Year!

One thought on “Why Star Trek and it’s Fans will be different in 2017. And how we will adapt.”

  1. WHY STAR TREK AND IT’S FANS WILL BE DIFFERENT IN 2017. AND HOW WE WILL ADAPT.
    Hi Sam,
    Read your post and left you a little reply on Twitter. Stepped away from my laptop and just started thinking about my time as a Trekkie, times gone and now.
    I first became interested in star trek when i was about 3 or 4 watching it on a Friday evening sitting on the settee eating chip shop watching it throw the slats in a chair which my dinner was sitting on. This is probable my oldest memory from where i used to live.
    Time went on and then TNG started never realising i was a trekkie at heart just a person who loved sci fi in all its forms. Still to this day some of my favourites are the old B and W ones (Day the earth stood still and The day the cough fire). I started renting from the video shop TNG but was the only one doing this and they only got the first four episodes so had to wait till came on tv to see were it was going to go.
    After 2 seasons the realisation set in i was a trekkie. In the area i lived and the schools i went saying this sort of thing was a big NO NO like painting a massive target on your back saying KICK ME! So a closet trekkie i stayed for years.
    Then one day i found out that there was a trekkie club meeting near where i lived once a month and decided to go and see what it was like to meet others with the same interest. It can only be described as liberating, being able to discus my love of star trek without the chance of ridicule. Building on new friendships the discussion moved to conventions. I started going to a convention once a year for about 5 years and loved it but as all good things do, the club i was in faded way and contact was lost.
    Life went on as it always does. With the hope of meeting my old friends again i am going to SFB 23 but two days ago found out they will not be attending. Yes i am sad at the thought of missing my old friends but the thought of being at a convention again is overwhelming.

    This is where what you have writen hit me most…
    Trekkies at the start of my journey where social outcasts a joke on society (weirdos). But time moves forward and changes everything. With the increase in media and more conventions every year, on all different aspects of sci fi. Yes we may not be fully accepted in society but it is slowly becoming more of the norm.
    If society was as open minded as trekkies how many problems would never have happened? Trekkies remember what they did and try to learn from it for the future. Moving forwards but always remembering the steps on the ladder that got them there.
    I feel in me that this has made me who i am and looking forward to where the future will take me.
    I hope your journey is as in-lightning and for-filling. As they say time away only makes the heart grow fonder. So have fun with your young family, Star Trek will always be there to give you a helping hand when you need it.

    Thanks for reading and sorry it got a bit long.

    Best regards,
    Leon Foster .

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