Posted on: August 31st, 2010 EDITORIAL: Geek Strata
Since its inception, geekdom has had many camps of the faithful spring up in support of their favorite series. One need only look around at a convention for a few minutes to see members of the 501st squadron sporting their PVC stormtrooper costumes, fans of ‘the Fett’ sporting their best battle-damaged Mandalorian armor and roving packs of red/blue/gold shirts from Star Trek showing their love for Roddenberry. The reception of each other when their paths cross in the vendor halls can be described as frosty at best. Why is that? Why isn’t there a nerd version of Rodney King saying ‘can’t we all get along?’? Well, to bastardize William Shakespeare to a degree, read on MacDuff.
Star Wars, the multi-billion dollar brain-child of George ‘King Beard’ Lucas has, since its humble beginnings in 1977, grown from mere fandom and collection of swag to borderline religion. I believe that people in England have put down their religion as ‘Jedi’ when asked to fill out their census forms. Even at the most recent Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida there were Star Wars themed wedding ceremonies. Fans of ‘the Wars’ let their geek flags fly the highest, but even within the Star Wars camps there is fractures (Jedi vs. Sith, fans of the original trilogy vs. the prequel series etc.) but they are all united in one aspect “Star Wars rules and Star Trek sucks!”. If I can make a suggestion though O Star Wars fan, put the lightsaber down and give Trek a view. You might even be surprised to find that there are similarities between the two: big ships with lasers, cyborgs and multi-faction conflict. You may also be shocked to find out that there are more black people in the galaxy aside from Lando Calrissian.
Now onto Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry’s ‘Gunsmoke in Space’, debuting on television in 1966 the series ran for three seasons and was cancelled on June 3 1969. By then, in spite of low Nielsen ratings, the series had developed a strong following that culminated in one of the first fan conventions. Four series (5 if you include the short-lived animated series), 12 movies and a metric ton of merchandise later the travels of the USS Enterprise have stretched far and wide. Even with a series that has an idealized society with humans and aliens living in near-harmony (the allegory on racism of the original series with Frank Gorshin in black and white face paint not withstanding) and the need for material possessions has been all but removed all is not right within the Star Trek camp. Now, O Star Trek fan; put logic aside for now and give Star Wars a look. It has blasters, scoundrels that captain their own ships and even philosophy with a sci-fi edge.
You’re probably wondering why I haven’t cast my critical ‘eye of Sauron’ onto other series like Firefly, Battlestar Gallactica or Dr. Who. That’s because if I tried to give detailed attention to all of those popular genre shows with huge followings I would never be finished. Although I may revisit this topic in later critiques, so stay tuned true believer!
If I may postulate, there is another camp out there that needs to get some much needed recognition, this camp is compiled of those fans that span multiple genres, series and mediums. They are the fans of sci-fi, horror, anime, fantasy, comic books, video games and tabletop RPGs. They love it all and like a parent of a large family they simply can’t pick a favorite. This is a camp that I can say proudly that I am a card-carrying member of, editorial bias be damned! This camp has been regarded as lazy and unmotivated by the more fervent and fanatical fan camps out there with the main argument being that we don’t pick a side.
I say that picking a side of fandom removes any chance of truly enjoying it all. Look at it this way, by enjoying everything nerdy on an even level I can enjoy it when reboots of a long standing series works like J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and I’m not nearly as disappointed when it doesn’t work like Star Wars Episodes 1-3. Also, this camp has no limitations when it comes to expressing one’s fandom. While I might be a little wigged out by the Star Trek conventions and Star Wars celebrations, I feel perfectly at home where every aspect of fandom is represented, such as The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo and San Diego Comic Con.
My final thought on this comes from bastardizing another celebrity, in this case Bruce Lee. Fandom is like a finger pointing to the moon, do not strictly focus on the finger or you will lose out on all that heavenly glory.
Until next week, stay epic my friends!
