Need Your Help

[Pluto Writer]

Hi everybody,

My name�s Joseph, and I am a writer for the University of Central Lancashire�s student newspaper, Pluto (http://www.yourunion.co.uk/main/media/pluto).

Every issue we have a section called �In Ideas�, which focuses on societal sub-cultures and trends. In this particular issue, we will be focusing on you, the devoted Star Trek fans.

I will leave 10 questions on this post, and the best set of answers will be printed.

The whole piece should be around 500 words, so try and answer accordingly to the best of your ability.

If you have any concerns over being portrayed negatively, then there is no need to worry. The only words that will appear on the page are my questions and your answers. It�s totally impartial.

For the person that has their answers printed, you can have a free copy of the newspaper if you so require.

Please remember to leave your real name somewhere in the post.

Thank you in advance to those who answer.

Regards,

Joseph.


1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for?

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show?

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially?

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media?

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy?

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)?

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek?

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek?

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth?

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life?

[Seven of Nine]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? 6 years.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? The science behind the technology. It's cool.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? Star Trek Voyager was on Sky 1, and it had some cool looking computers. I watched, and decided I liked everything else, too.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? Not anymore. It used to be worse.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and utopian/dystopian novels.

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Deep Space Nine

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? Seven of Nine's speech towards Janeway while in the brig- it really struck a chord. (You would deny us the choice as you deny us now. You have imprisoned us
in the name of humanity yet you will not grant us your most cherished
human right - to choose our own fate. You are hypocritical,
manipulative. We do not want to be what you are.)

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? There's a new film being made. I hope there's another series, but after Enterprise I'd be worried what the producers would do.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? I guess the TNG command shirt is probably worth about �20 or so.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? Yes.

[jonathan95]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? since 1997 really,

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? to me its the way in which it deals with moden day issues and the science behind it along with the adventure of new prospects.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? me and my friend wanted to make our own club up of it after watching some of the shows.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? not that I know of.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? most sci-fi shows, but to name a few stargate,farscape,star wars & older sci-fi such as battle star galactica the original ones

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Deep Space 9 was my favorate followed closly by Voyager.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? um to be honest non that really stick in my head above other's there are so many statements and monments I like from each show it would be too hard to pick one really above all others.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? not a lot the movie that is upcoming is already upsetting a lot of fans and after enterprise the future isnt looking good the writiers relly need to pull something out of there pads to pull the mass fans back to star trek.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth?

umm lets see:

two TNG com badges say maybe �10 for both
1 TNG Command top that has a combadge on it �10 maybe
nearly complete tos video collection maybe around �30-50
nearly complete TNG DVD set no idea same maybe around �30-50
nearly complete Voyager video set maybe �30,
All of the movies both on video and dvd (to presant date) �30,
a few of the star trek games maybe �15 for them,

1 Defiant model un made and un painted still in box and sealed well I see them go on ebay for �50+ sometimes.

1 star trek body deodrant/plastic combadge un used no idea how much its worth.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life?oh yes definatly, I am currently on re watching all of DS9 for the millionth time it feels, I love it.

[TrekkieMage]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? Pretty much my whole life. I watched it as an infant with my dad

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? The idealistic optimism. It isn't realistic, it's a place to loose yourself for an hour or so.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? My dad watching it with me when i was too young to argue.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? No. I think that they are sometimes mocked, but not cruelly. Maybe misrepresented sometimes. Not all fans go out and dress up like Klingons and go to cons. But it's all part of the lore and such.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? Firefly, Star Wars, Stargate. Those are the biggies.

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? A tie between VOY (out of loyalty) and TNG.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? Year of Hell when Janeway takes Voyager into the time ship. Don't know why, but it's impressive on many fronts. Either that or Message in a Bottle when the EMH is rolling his eyes at the EMH Mark 2. Or TNG's QPid...I'll stop now.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? Well, there's a difference between what I hope and what I see happening. I don't know what will happen. I hope that the producers take a nice long break, step back, breath, take a look at the whole picture, and come back with a totally fresh start. Maybe a series about the Academy (it could work!). But just as long as they don't do another prequel I'll be happy.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? Not really. Most expensive is probably my DVDs.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? Yeah. Perhaps I won't be as gung-ho about it in the future, but I am very loyal to it and it will always hold a special place for me because it's what got me hooked on sci-fi and science

[Sam Kenobi]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? A few years, though I've known a lot about it my whole life since my older brother has always been a big Trek fan.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? The characters. The dialogue gets pretty shallow sometimes, and the plots get repetative, but the characters are incredibly dynamic for a fictional show.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? Some episode of Voyager about World War II. I liked how the times were linked... learning from the past and themes like that.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? Yes, but there's a few aspects to that. 1) Society and the media don't really care about Trek fans enough to make it a big issue and 2) we are nerds, so we kind of deserve it.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? Joss Whedon's Firefly and Serenity are brilliant. Mixing the future with the past, again, he makes a pretty compelling story.

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Voyager, just because that's the one that got me into it.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? Kirk screaming "Khaaaan!"

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? Hopefully not a movie with matt Damon or Ben Affleck, but that kind of looks to be the scene.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? I've got some autographed pictures, but they aren't valuable.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? Sure

[lionhead]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? A couple of years, about 3 or 4 i guess.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? 1. The Borg 2.The style in which the Science fiction is shown 3.the portrayal of the different species and 4.The resemblance between now and "then".

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? Star trek: Voyager got me hooked, before Voyager was there i watched TNG but not as much as i do now.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? No, i don't have any idea about that kind of portrayal.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? I watch Stargate andd Battlestar Galactica and i enjoyed Firefly series and Star Wars. But i have sen many more Science fiction movies.

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? That has to be Voyager although ENT comes in a close second.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? The Movie "First Contact". The part where the borg cube goes boom. Also the Ending episodes of Voyager, when that borg Sphere blows up and Voyager comes out of the debris.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? I see another movie and perhaps a new show that is totally different from any other show that has come befroe it which will make Star Trek Favorite once again.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? I have nothing.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? Yes, i will always be fan of VOY, TNG and ENT.

[harrykims#1fan]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? i grew up with it so about 19 years

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? the different humanoid species and their ability to speak fluent english

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? i cant really remember i grew up with it so it was one of those programs i watched every week

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? very much so, but all i have to say for that is "i'm proud of my geeky-ness"

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? Anime if that counts

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Voyager

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? "He's dead Jim" & the tribbles

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? harry kims promotion (?) and a few more movies maybe even another series

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? no but probably in the future

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? most definatly

[Lord Borg]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for?
Hmm... Not all my life, but I can remember wanting to watch TOS as a young child, before I got into TNG/Trek in general.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show?
The fact that humanity can look beyond petty differnces, and get along with each other, and of course, the space exploration.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially?
My parents had tapes of TOS, and eventually, TNG. When a new episode was on, they were always watching it. Eventually, I began to watch it.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media?
Sometimes, there are a few...strange fans out there. However, you will find strangeness in everything. Some trek fans tend to be a little hardcore though. (Beyond the Norm, I mean)

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy?
Pretty much any, it all depends on my mood. I've enjoyed what little BSG, and SG-1 I have seen,

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)?
I have no "Number 1" faveorite. It all depends on what I am watching the most of at the moment, it seems.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek?
Hmmm... When Picard tackled the people on the bridge, in that episode about the underground fighters.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek?
Eh, I don't know. Hopefully, it's a good one. Fan's need to not expect so much, and producers need to listen to the fans (IE, no Matt Daemon/Ben Afleck Trek, a DS9 movie )

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth?
Sure, I own many things. Everything I got before the recent years, however, were opened . I have enterprise figures unopened, three starship models, (One wouldn't have been opened if i knew I wasn't going to be able to get one unopened, but meh. I hope to hunt down the MU Ent Model) A signed DS9 tape (By morn)

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life?
Sure. I really don't care what people think of that, either.

[Puck]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? I guess about three years now.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? It is set in the future, in a time when the world is very near being a utopia and portrays a very postive light on humanity.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? I'm not going to lie, I was flipping through channels one night, saw Captain Janeway, and then stopped flipping. Started watching it then, and now I have almost every episode of VOY on DVD.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? I don't think so. More like just portrayed as a rather odd and joked about. But it's ok, because they already know this.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? Outside of Trek, I'm not into sci-fi.

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Voyager.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? nah.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? Either more successful TV series, or one more failure of a TV series, and then it dies out.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? Nope, I'm not really into the whole collector thing.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? Probably, it's a guilty pleasure.

[Arellia]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? About 4-5 years.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? The characters live in a world different than ours, where certain aspects of humanity are more intense. Different cultural emphasis make violence, love and tradition more powerful than you see in many other shows, and I find it intriguing. That and the adventures rock.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? I started by watching Voyager, and I came to like the crew, especially B'Elanna. It was a dramatic show set in space. Either alone would've been interesting to me, but together I decided to explore more of Trek.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? Not necessarily. Odd, perhaps. Geekish. But I'm proud of being a freak.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? I liked Farscape when I saw it, Star Wars, some novels by Orson Scott Card... I don't have too much time for a ton of sci-fi, but usually if it's sci-fi, I can find a way to like it.

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Deep Space Nine.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? The wedding of Jadzia and Worf, the moment where Worf decided Jadzia's life was worth more than the mission, and the death of K'Ehleyr. K'Ehleyr's death is only listed because it was an awesome scene, really well done.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? Unless people start listening to the fans and ditch these idiotic prequels, Trek will fail for an extended period of time and maybe crop up again later. HOWEVER! If Trek goes back to the way things should be and make series that are post-DS9, we'll be doing great.

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? I own very little of high value in general.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? Oh, yes. I'm trapped.

[Ziona]

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? 5-6 years

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? It can help anyone escape from the reality of this world

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? A friend introducted me initially

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? Yes, I think they are. It's sad that Star Trek fans are mostly thought out to be geeks and people without lives, because honestly, that just isn't true.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? I'm a big science fiction fan, so if it's considered science fiction, I like it

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? I was raised on Voyager, so my favorite is Voyager still

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? Not that I can think of

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? Hopefully another series and maybe a few more movies. I can see my children's children still knowing and watching a Star Trek series

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? I don't own any collectables, unfortunately... at least not yet.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? I see Star Trek as one of those shows where once you watch it, you're sort of hooked for the rest of your life. So, yes, I see myself as a Star Trek fan for life.

[Sevenofninenz]

Whooo, a meme

1. How long have you been a fan of Star Trek for? As long as I can remember. My mum and dad always watched TNG, and I grew up loving it, and my love moved onto Voyager. It kinda helps that the first episode of TNG aired the day I was born.

2. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of the show? I like the "what if?" factor. What if this were really true, and really happening. How would we as a society react and deal? And now the direction that our every day technology is headed, we could be in a situation like we've seen on Star Trek.

3. What drew you to begin watching the show initially? Je ne sais pas. Would have to ask my parents that.

4. Do you think Star Trek fans are portrayed negatively socially and in the media? I guess, but then at the same time some Star Trek fans are like they're depicted in some of the media. But the majority of fans are just regular people. But then at the same time that's true of any fandom. Take LOTR, some fans are so aggressive towards others who aren't as fangirl-ish as they are, and that's just mean.

5. What other Science Fiction do you enjoy? Stargate, Atlantis, Farscape, I like Fantasy stuff too, Vampires and stuff, but that's not exactly sci-fi. I liked Roswell when it was on telly. Anything to do with aliens... The X-Files

6. What is your favourite series of Star Trek (Original, TNG etc)? Proly Voyager. But TNG is a close second.

7. Any particular favourite moment(s) from Star Trek? Not that I can think of. I love specific eps, but they have a lot going on in them so I wouldn't class them as moments.

8. What do you see for the future of Star Trek? I'm not sure. It could go on to do more, but, with the media as harsh as it is today, if after the next film they did another series right away it might just get hacked to pieces. I actually think, after this next film, if they took a step back from writing more TV, and in 10 years or so, maybe, wrote another film/tv series there might be more success. But I think books and merchendise and stuff should still be being produced, because people love it!

9. Do you own any collectables of a high value? If so, what item is it and what is its current worth? Not high value stuff. I have a Neelix/Kes mug which I love... But no real collectables.

10. Do you see yourself as a Star Trek fan for life? I may not be as fan-ie as I am now for the rest of my life, but I think I will always love Star Trek. But like with everyone, intrests change and develop. So while I may be a fangirl over something else (atm it's Stargate) Star Trek will always be there, and I will ALWAYS love it.

Hope this helps