Still Trekkin' after 40 years: Fans reflect on the popularity of 'Star Trek' on its 40th anniversary

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange, new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before."



On Sept. 8, 1966, this opening monologue introduced television audiences to the world of "Star Trek," a science-fiction series that would run on NBC for three seasons until 1969, when the network canceled it due to low ratings.

However, unlike many other TV shows that fade into obscurity after their cancellation, "Star Trek" took on a life of its own in syndicated re-runs in the 1970s, creating an ever-growing legion of fans who were inspired by the vision of humanity's future portrayed in producer Gene Roddenberry's program about a starship and its crew.

"It seemed optimistic," said Howie Nave, the host of The Improv comedy club inside Harveys Resort Casino, and a "Star Trek" fan since the '60s. "I think that's why I really liked it. It seemed really optimistic."

El Dorado County Supervisor Norma Santiago is also a longtime fan of "Star Trek," and even attended some early Bay Area fan conventions in the 1970s after the show's cancellation.

"'Star Trek' takes social issues and puts them in a futuristic setting," said Santiago. "And I think that tells us a lot. First of all, it tells us that there is a future, which gives us hope.

"It kind of separates us a little bit, so we can look at a problem from a different perspective, and whether that is a racial issue, an identity issue, about who we are, why are we here, or about relationships ... a respect for various cultures," Santiago said, "and you're putting it into a perspective, and you're incorporating these issues into a story that has you think things out ... and also understanding that some of the challenges that we face are universal. That's why I think it's popular."

With the program's growing popularity in the 1970s, and after the huge success of the original "Star Wars" film, Paramount Pictures decided to adapt its "Star Trek" franchise to the big screen, releasing "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979, the first of 10 "Star Trek" movies to hit theaters over the next two decades.

"Star Trek" also inspired a cartoon series in the early '70s, featuring the voices of many of the original cast members. In 1987, the first spin-off series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" debuted in syndication, depicting the adventures of a new crew on a new starship Enterprise, set 100 years farther into the future than the original series. "The Next Generation" ran for seven seasons, and inspired three additional spin-off series: "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Enterprise" - the last one set in the century before the original "Star Trek," depicting humanity's first voyages into deep space.

The final episode of "Enterprise" aired in the spring of 2005, leaving "Star Trek" fans with no new episodes for the first time in nearly two decades, but Paramount recently announced that an 11th "Star Trek" film is now in the planning stages, for release in 2008.

Last spring, Daryl Frazetti, a part-time adjunct faculty instructor at Lake Tahoe Community College, taught a course on the Anthropology of Star Trek. Registration is now open to anyone who wants to take the online version of the class this fall, through the college's Web site, www.LTCC.edu, with four transferable credits available to the California State University system.

Stateline resident Janice Bryant was one student in Frazetti's spring class who had not seen many "Star Trek" episodes before.

"I was the least 'Trekkie' of the students," Bryant said. "I would guess that I saw more episodes for and during the class than in the previous 40 years. The class was mentioned in the Tribune, and my neighbor and I thought it would be fun to attend the class.

"I thought the class was a ball and had the best time," Bryant said. "It was enjoyable to study the relationship to real life and see the issues of the day portrayed in outer space. It was good fun and was educational at the same time - made you think. There are good messages in the stories, and any way that makes people think about right and wrong - good and evil - is just excellent."

"What I would do initially is go over the anthropological concepts," Frazetti said of a typical class. "And then we would just add the 'Star Trek' mix to it, and I would start using examples from 'Star Trek' ... and how that would also mirror things that were happening in our own society. We would show films or episodes that pertain to each topic, and then people would have an opportunity at the end of the viewing to sit there and make comments. We would just discuss whatever episode we were viewing and how it related to the concepts."

Frazetti was featured, along with his costumed cats, in director Roger Nygard's "Trekkies" documentary films about the culture of "Star Trek" fandom. Frazetti also works as a volunteer at "Star Trek" conventions produced by Creation Entertainment, which is celebrating the show's 40th anniversary with conventions in Sacramento and Chicago this weekend.

Another student in the Anthropology of Star Trek class at Lake Tahoe Community College was Kingsbury Grade resident Todd Chaponot, who works in South Lake Tahoe for the U.S. Forest Service.

"Because he based that on the cultural anthropology, it was probably more accessible than it would be in a traditional anthropology class," Chaponot said of Frazetti's "Star Trek" class. "When we're studying Vulcans and Romulans and that sort of thing, it makes the race issue not as taboo, and you don't have to be as politically correct about certain issues."

Chaponot had only recently become a "Star Trek" fan due to his association with members of a Sacramento-based "Star Trek" band called Warp 11, and his friend Gary Eberly, a Sacramento resident who has manifested his love of "Star Trek" by building a shuttlecraft - inspired by those on the original series - on the chassis of an old recreational vehicle. Eberly and Chaponot brought the shuttlecraft to last week's Burning Man festival in Northern Nevada, which had the theme of "Hope and Fear of the Future."

Karl V. Miller, founder of the "Star Trek" band Warp 11, has also been a life-long fan of the series. After a several albums and live performances of songs inspired by themes depicted in "Star Trek," Warp 11 has been steadily building a fan base, and received national attention when one of the band's songs, "Everything I Do (I Do With William Shatner)" was featured in Comedy Central's recent televised roast of the "Star Trek" actor.

"It's paying us ... more than I thought they were going to pay us to do it," Miller said of the Comedy Central program. "Certainly enough to fund the next album easily, and spend a lot more time than we spent on our other albums. A lot of the money we make, we just cycle back into the band, just to keep growing and growing."

Miller and the other members of Warp 11 are also working on a television pilot, about - what else? - the adventures of a band that sings songs about "Star Trek," and Miller hopes that the show will get picked up by a cable network.

"It's all about just getting yourself out there," said Miller, "and the best way to get a band successful is a television show."



On the Web:

To hear in-depth audio interviews with Improv host Howie Nave, El Dorado County Supervisor Norma Santiago, Lake Tahoe Community College instructor Daryl Frazetti and other "Star Trek" fans, plus music from Sacramento-based "Star Trek" band Warp 11, listen to the podcast on www.TahoeDailyTribune.com.



For more information on Karl Miller and his band, Warp 11, visit www.Warp11.com.

For more information about Creation Entertainment and upcoming "Star Trek" conventions, visit www.CreationEnt.com



For official news and information about "Star Trek," visit www.StarTrek.com.



To sign up for ANT 131S: "Anthropology of Star Trek" at Lake Tahoe Community College, visit www.LTCC.edu and click on "Online Services." For more information, e-mail Daryl Frazetti at frazetti@ltcc.edu