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February 12, 2003

Other People Have Birthdays…

“In the Nexus, before he met up with Picard, James Kirk had encountered Soran. He conveniently neglected to inform Picard of this, and for good reason. A moment’s weakness was not something Kirk was proud of. This was what he thought of as he sat on his horse and considered Picard’s proposal. ‘Sounds like fun,’ he finally announced. Later, he would get his moment of contemplation returned, as he neared death and finally faced all the loose ends of his life. ‘Oh my,’ he would say.”

…Star Trek fan fiction. It is, in some ways, very much the lifeblood of the franchise, of fandom, just as it had been during those interminable years in the 1970’s, when nothing new appeared onscreen, large or small, to satiate the consuming passion for this idealized future. There have been ten feature films and four television series since fans needed to keep Star Trek alive through their own imagination, yet there is vigor to spare in the writings and creations still pouring forth. The truly ambitious have devised entirely new series of their own making or envisioned later seasons for dearly departed favorite shows. Others make it their duty to fill the pages of Strange New Worlds contest submissions, a division of the professional branch of this phenomenon, Pocket Books’ extensive line of Star Trek novels. There are those on the edge, producing bold new adventures removed from the daily grind, and every one of these works is seen by their creators as legitimate an offspring to Gene Roddennberry’s creation as the latest episode of Enterprise.

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Bones remarks to Kirk that they’re treating his birthday like a funeral, when they really shouldn’t. This isn’t the Kirk Bones has grown to know over the last fifteen years or so. He’s lost his passion for life, and its because he’s not where he wants to be. Other television series have come and gone, become cult favorites and won devoted audiences, but Star Trek is a unique case. It has not only survived but thrived, and it could be said that the active participation of its audience not just in keeping the memory of it alive but by inserting themselves into its legacy by writing their own words into its lore.

The keenest example of how the fans have managed to do this is in the endless speculating as to how Klingons went from Genghis Kahn-look-alikes to the first of the bumpy heads in their evolution of appearance. Theories range from two separate species of Klingons to some kind of genetic manipulation, and neither of which they are willing to talk about. It’s the mark of a true diehard that you are able to produce your own version. While not always specifically presented in the form of a story, this is the way fans actively engage in the fleshing out of the Star Trek universe.

Babylon Five is a recent example of a challenger to Star Trek’s current appeal, its current incarnations. But try as the fans of this show might, they still cannot rival Star Trek fans in their level of involvement. Perhaps because B5 is seen as complete unto itself, a sort of untouchable thing. Yet for all the reverence of the original Star Trek adventures, with Kirk and his seekers of the unknown, this same idea has never prevented fans from adding their own say to those hallowed years.

What is it exactly that results in such a large-scale and hard to avoid trend, which shows no signs of slowing down? I don’t know, and I’m not here to try and explain it. But there’s something to Star Trek that has enveloped its fans into the ongoing process of creation. You hear constantly that the fans dictate what happens in the onscreen adventures, and perhaps that’s so, but there’s a wider experience out there with an even greater feel of participation. Is this Star Trek’s ‘first, best destiny?’ There is that feeling at times.

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