rjnoe (08/06/82)
Two months ago, the motion picture "Star Trek II: The Wrath
of Khan" was released. As a result of this, the net.movies newsgroup
was deluged with articles on "Star Trek", many (though not all) primarily
concerned with this particular movie. This condition persisted for
about one month. Quite a few complaints were registered on net.movies
(and elsewhere) regarding the fact that this one movie could so
rapidly overwhelm that newsgroup by the sheer volume of articles
submitted. It occurred to me that it was not really the movie itself
but the familiar "'Star Trek' phenomenon" which was responsible for
this effect. Since the early 1970s, "Star Trek" has had a large and
loyal following, of which a significant portion is by nature interested
in mathematics, the sciences, engineering, computer science, space
exploration, and science fiction. The exact number of people who
would describe themselves as "Star Trek" fans (trekkies, trekkers, or
otherwise) is of course unknown, but the number of ACTIVE members of
"Star Trek" fan clubs nationwide is measured in the tens of thousands
and probably exceeds one hundred thousand. This is only the tip of
the iceberg.
Taking these facts into consideration, I postulated that there
should be a relatively large audience among netnews readers for
"Star Trek". I have spent recent weeks communicating with others
across the country in an effort to determine whether or not this
audience would be sufficient to justify establishing a new newsgroup
exclusively concerned with "Star Trek". By all indications this
would seem to be the case. Because my samplings have been so
encouraging I am now taking the step of soliciting opinions from
the entire body of netnews readers on the existence of a "Star Trek"
newsgroup. In replying, please consider the following:
1) Paramount Pictures has planned a minimum of eight more
"Star Trek" motion pictures to be released at intervals
of one year or so.
2) While fan activity is certainly highest around the time a
film is released, it does not disappear between pictures.
The years 1980 and 1981 witnessed some of the largest "Star
Trek" fan club enrollments in history.
3) The "Star Trek" following appears to be virtually per-
petual. In the decade between the production of the last
"Star Trek" television episode and "Star Trek: The Motion
Picture" this following GREW by leaps and bounds even though
no original "Star Trek" stories were being filmed with
permission of the copyright owner. This following sus-
tained and strengthened itself through discussion of
existing "Star Trek" episodes ONLY!
4) Negotiations for an eventual return of "Star Trek" to a
television format of some sort are again underway.
5) "Star Trek" fans, like their questions and comments, will
not disappear. Unless another outlet is supplied, net.movies
will experience similar congestion with the release of each
"Star Trek" movie.
I can be contacted by net mail, telephone, or Bell Labs paper mail,
whichever is most convenient for you. I invite your opinions on the
existence of a "Star Trek" newsgroup as well as what it should be
called (I myself am divided between net.trek and net.startrek),
topics you would like to see discussed on the newsgroup, and any
other comments you feel are relevant. I will of course summarize
to the net (net.news.group, where I think further discussion should
be confined). Those on the net whom I have already contacted
personally need not resubmit comments to me (except to amend them).
Roger Noe
...!{ihps3,harpo,ihnss,ucbvax,duke,houxi,eagle}!ihuxl!rjnoe
(312) 979-6537
BTL - IH 5B-413