Patrick Stewart Defends Trekkies April 2, 2008
by Charles Trotter , Filed under: TNG , trackback
Back in February we reported that Patrick Stewart (TNG’s Capt. Picard) had to ask fans not to come to his plays dressed in Starfleet uniforms. In a new interview with Newsweek, however, the actor gets a bit testy (much like Simon Pegg did recently) and shows his love for Trekkies, assuring that we are not, as Newsweek calls us, “weird.” He still doesn’t like those damn uniforms, though.
The line must be drawn HERE!
Newsweek asked Stewart if he was worried about “weird Trekkie fans” attending his plays, which Stewart found to be “just a silly thing to say.” At Newsweek’s insistence that Trekkies are, in fact, “weird,” Stewart refuted, stating:
How many do you know personally? You couldn’t be more wrong. Here’s the thing: if you say the fans are weird, that means there is something essentially weird about the show, and there is nothing weird about it. I’m very passionate when people like you snigger.
Take that, Newsweek!
About those jumpsuits…
One thing Stewart couldn’t bring himself to defend, however, were the uniforms he had to wear during TNG’s first season.
I came to loathe it. We actually got rid of it after the second season thanks to my chiropractor, who said if they don’t take you out of that costume we are going to slap a lawsuit on Paramount for the lasting damage done to your spine.
And how, exactly, does it damage your spine?
They were made from Lycra and one size too small. The producers wanted to have a smooth, unwrinkled look. It put a terrible amount of strain on the shoulders, neck and back.
Thanks, Patrick! Totally did not know that. :)
This thing is killing me
Stewart’s acclaimed Macbeth opens on Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre on April 8th. You can buy tickets at Telecharge.com.
Stewart honored
In other (a bit belated) Stewart news: On March 10th Stewart was honored with the 2008 Sir John Gielgud Award by the The Shakespeare Guild and The National Arts Club in New York City. Here are some pics of the event, including Patrick with some of his former Trek co-stars.
Stewart: I Won!
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan) and Stewart
F. Murray Abraham (INS: Ru’afu) and Stewart,
along with Catherine Moelering (CEO, Best & Co.)
Photos from WireImage
Loading ...
Comments»
FIRST!
Bring on the hate for TNG Season 1 Uniforms!
And don’t forget the skant! Oh god… the skant…. Imagine if he had to wear one of THOSE.
This guy was always a class act when it came to fandom and defending Star Trek in general. Of course, most actors will gladly pimp their show, movie, play, or whatever. It is in their best interest, as well as their contract sometimes. Yet, you can always spot the ones who are less than sincere. I was always impressed when Stewart would wax philosophic on science fiction in interviews, calling it the modern mythology. It’s all too easy to be flip when it comes to talking about SF if you aren’t necessarily a fan. As an actor, how do you not feel silly sometimes when dressed in a spandex figure skaters outfit, and spouting technobabble to a goofy rubber creature? I always thought he was a great spokesman for the Trek community.
However, people really shouldn’t wear the frigging costumes to his plays.
I will admit when I talk about Star Trek, a lot of other people tell me to my face that I’m weird, but no one understands why I personally love the show. I think I like it just because its cool, and gives me a little hope that our future won’t be horrible like a lot of people think it’s going to be.
As for the TNG uniforms… I’m indifferent. I didn’t hate any of the uniforms from any Star Trek series… except maybe TMP. ugh…
Patrick Stewart is a class act. I realize that in some respects he’s moved on from Trek, but classy is classy.
Not all first season TNG uniforms are bad, in the pilot Troi’s mini-skirt showed off her lamb chops–yummy!
TMP costumes looked like PJs.
As a stage actor, I would be horrified if someone showed up to a show and sat in the front row wearing Star Trek uniforms. If I was Stewart, I would be incredibly uncomfortable. It would make it so hard to concentrate.
It’s like someone following you around at work going, “You’re Patrick Stewart. You’re Patrick Stewart. You’re Patrick Stewart. You’re Patrick Stewart. You’re Patrick Stewart.” Concentration would be impossible. Not to mention that it’s just selfish to pull attention off the stage and onto yourself like that. If you want to celeb-watch, do it at the Stage Door after the show, not in the theater.
That said, he certainly and righteously defends fans of the series. It’s not as silly as some jacka*# journalists would like to believe. He should be proud of it…even if he missed playing Oberon in the 90’s.
Patrick Stewart is such a class act!
His “acting chops” certainly helped elevate the material performed on TNG!
YOU’VE GOTTA ADMIT…
…showing up at a Patrick Stewart performance of ANY Shakespeare dressed to the nines in ANY Starfleet uniform is simply asking for it. Sometimes “social graces” doesn’t have to be bad thing…
Those uniforms SUCKED!!!
Look, if you go see Stewart doing MacBeth, showing up in Trek costume indicates you’re there because Stewart once played Picard, not that you are interested in watching Macbeth.
Stewart is a fine actor. Show him some respect.
Argh, I really wish he wouldn’t sport that thin little mustache. It makes me cringe. :D
#12
I could not agree more. Showing support is one thing, trying to turn it into a convention is another.
Its is still great to hear him defend us trekkies. It annoys me that football fans can smash up a place if their team loose a game (for example), but if a group of people like a tv show they are weird.
I’m not a genius, but isn’t that a double standard?
The uniforms are canon…so I guess you’re stuck with them. CHA!
Those TNG uniforms looked silly and were very unflattering.
he’s a class act.
he should keep the ’stache and reboot TJ Hooker. yes!
I read that interview-lite in Newsweek. Those things are always snarky and provocative (as in, poking-with-a-sharp-stick provocative) like that. Sometimes the celebs take the bait and get mean; sometimes, they get the joke and go along. Stewart handled it well. He’s a good guy for sticking up for fans. Let’s face it, fans can be annoying sometimes.
But not as annoying as Newsweek’s young smarta–, er, smarty-pants celebrity interviewers can be.
Scott B. out.
Karla was awesome.
Patrick Stewart is the man. I strongly agree with #12 and #14, these people should not be showing up to his plays dressed in Trek uniforms, what is wrong with them? Yet he still defends them (us) to Newsweek. When people ask me what celebrity I’d most like to meet, Patrick Stewart is usually the first person that comes to mind. Him and Rachael McAdams.
Also, the early TNG uniforms were awful. If they hadn’t of changed the uniforms, Stewart never would’ve developed his signature “tuck.” Kudos to his chiropractor. Kudos to Stewart. Kudos to trekkies who know when to draw the line.
@ #4…
Sure, I always thought the ships looked cool. The characters were great (I think Riker was always my favourite) and the aliens looked so…well alien (with a few exceptions of course – Deltans, Betazoids, Bajorans, etc.)
But recently I realized what I liked so much about Star Trek, in all its incarnations, is its brave vision for the future – the social values that it engenders. Life being precious in all its forms, the elimination of greed as our primary motivation, the desire to explore and learn, to accept each other’s differences, that women can do any job a man can, the abolotion of the death penalty, and so many other things.
Wow. Thank you Patrick for those kind words about us fans. I (And most likely all of us) really appreciate that. I wish you and everyone involved in MacBeth the best of wishes!
4> As for the TNG uniforms… I’m indifferent. I didn’t hate any of the uniforms from any Star Trek series… except maybe TMP. ugh…
I think the best uniforms to look at were the DS9 S1-5+Voyager ones. They looked almost comfortable, especially if they’d added actual pockets.
[Still wouldn't wear one in public]
14: Rabid sport fans, especially the obsessive-compulsive ones, are worse than we are.
In Europe, football fans take it to extreme levels and get into fights at the matches.
In USA, Trekkers are “weird” but the guy who can quote the statistics of the 1969 NY Mets, player by player, is not.
Professional Sport is entertainment just like TV and Film, and, like us, its fans enjoy it and follow it within a wide spectrum of detail: Casual fan vs. crazed fan. Same as it ever was.
He’s my man! Honestly, he’s been my hero since I was a kid. Always a very classy guy. I’d follow him into the depths of hell to battle… or to set up diplomacy ;)
I’ve always felt a connection to British lifestyle, like I as born in the wrong country. I need to learn what snigger means… lol
I’m a Trek fan and a sports fan. So I have team jerseys and Star Trek uniforms. I have signed footballs and baseballs and autographed cast photos. I have baseball bats and phasers. When Trek is on, don’t bother me, I’m watching. When the game is on, still watching.
I do not, however, attend the theater dressed as Worf. I do not pick up the kids dressed in my Kirk uni. But I do go to costume parties like that. If a convention were to ever come back to our area, damn straight I’d be representing the Federation. On gameday I wear my jerseys. When I go catch a ballgame, I am decked out in the appropriate team apparel. And when the new movie FINALLY premiers, I will be in my TOS uni with phaser and communicator in hand.
Anyone who wants to point and laugh, feel free to do so. I am happy with myself. Can they say the same?
The TNG Season 1 & 2 uniforms were terrible. But then so was the Type II “Dustbuster” Phaser, and several other things. TNG got infinitly better in Season 3. In fact, seasons 3-7 of TNG were among Star Trek’s best ever. He’s also right about the fans. Most fans have actual jobs and have actual lives. Typical of the press to make assumptions and allow those assumptions to affect their reporting. The biased press strikes again.
22, agreed on the TMP uniforms. Terrible!
#9 Harry I have admit that in the past I have misjudged this man, badly. i wish I could take back that Diner theater remark , it’s still probably one ot the most classless statement s ever made. Patrick Stewart is class all the way.
It would be nice if the media would give trekies a little more respect.
26, the press is made up of human beings with all their imperfections and prejudices. Sadly, all too often they seem to pick on the least offensive of people. (When was the last time you heard of a Trek fan causing trouble?)
Really, sometimes it seems to me that certain members of the press may have been bullied as children and now they want to emulate the “cool kids” by picking on people they consider their social inferiors. Little do they know that they’re showing not so much their contempt as their insecurity and obsequious deference to the cliquishness of junior high school kids.
I despise Newsweek…in my book, it’s barely one step up from a tabloid…and the celebrity interviews are one of the worst parts. The people who do the interviewing are total jerks, as this interview pretty conclusively shows…
Having said that though, Patrick Stewart is a great guy, and an incredible actor. I’d totally love to see his Macbeth some day…but I definitely won’t wear a Starfleet uniform if I do. Heck, I don’t even own one…
I like the first-season TNG uniforms better than what they replaced them with. It was just awkward to go from something that was meant to represent spray-on clothes (like from TMP) to jackets that fastened in the back. The DS9/VOY uniform was a great pattern that didn’t look so oddly constructed, but I didn’t care for that much black, and the FC uniform looked too heavy and padded.
Knowing Roddenberry was running the show in TMP and first-season TNG there’s obviously a consistency to the costumes he pushed for that was thematically related to the lack of control panels everywhere on the bridge — less is more, simplicity is more advanced. Those ideas got lost.
Ive never been to any of trek conventions, I know that some dress up as their favorite trek character, I don’t see a problem with that, they going there to have fun. Theres no harm there.
That’s my captain!
And the show got better when those uniforms went away, coincidence…..I think so actually.
@23
I was not generalizing, just using an example of extremes. If there are a group of Trekkie’s dressed up as Klingon’s or whatever, the general reaction is to look at them an assume they are a defect. Whereas sport supporters who wear jerseys are not.
It really bothers me, Sophie Lancaster was murdered for dressing in goth style. She was 20, and was stomped on and battered until she died.
This extreme is rare (thankfully), however verbal abuse is aimed at Trekkie’s on a constant basis.
By reinforcing a negative stereotype, Newsweek has done (like so many other ‘media’ sources have done) nothing but reinforce the attitude that it is ok to mock, tease and degrade Trekkie’s.
Gene Roddenberry I think would have been proud to hear Patrick Stewart standing up for the fans.
30, I kind of like the idea of “less is more” insofar as technology is concerned. Think about computers, for example. In the old days, we (or our forefathers) had to deal with weird complicated things like reel-to-reel drives or even paper punch tape. Threading these things alone was a damnable experience. And that’s before you even try to interface — or, “operate” — these old behemoths.
Today, everything is user-friendly from the consumer point of view. Computers powerful enough to qualify as supercomputers thirty years ago reside happily in our padded notebook cases. Opening them turns on the delightfully colorful and elegant GUI (whether Windows-based or Mac). In theory, for many uses you can navigate almost entirely by touchpad, reserving the use of keyboard for word processing or mathematical input.
Provided that everything works as intended, computers are simpler to use than ever before.
Surely, if within a mere few decades, mankind has gone from computers the size of a room that required a degree to operate, to devices you could practically wear on a necklace that anyone can use, then by the 24th Century we will have gone well beyond the need for complicated dials and screens and proceeded more along the visual lines seen in TMP-style technology.
There is something to be said, therefore, for the “simpler is better” approach.
#33
No worries. I didn’t think you were stirring the pot. I just wanted to make a point that most normal fans of both things (Trek and sports) can live harmoniously side by side and in fact have many things in common. I have encountered anti-sports bias from geeks just as much as I have come across anti-science fiction bias from the sports crowd. Ignorance has many forms.
I am, too, weird, Patrick. So there.
I’m glad other people are comparing sports fans to Trekkies/Trekkers. I find it VERY annoying that it’s acceptible to hold viewing parties, attend games in the freezing cold with your bare, fat beer-enhanced gut painted so that when you and your buddies line up, you spell the team’s name, and to vandalize things when your team loses (OR wins…what sense does that make?). Doing all of that stuff is acceptable and doesn’t make you be considered a “geek…” but god forbid you watch a television show that requries intellegence and brain power to comprehend, and suddenly you’re “weird” or a “geek.” What the hell, society…
I want JJ to Get Patrick Stewart in another Trek Movie… I would love to see Chris Pine face off against Patrick Stewart in a movie.. I don’t even care if it is in canon. Just put it after the credits. I want to see it.
Patrick Stewart is one of my favorite actors, and I think he is one of the finest actors in the business today. It was a great score to have an actor of this caliber take part in Trek history.
you could say that about any show people love,to single out trekkies,is just stupid.
the fact is people who dislike trek just don’t get it or have never watched it.
its always easy to put down a show when you don’t understand it.
there dishonest people to themselves and others.
Patrick Stewart ROCKED on Trek, but after all the years Watching him wear the uniform, hearing the stuff he does on American Dad makes me laugh so hard I poop myself
…make is so.
#37
That’s the attitude I’m talking about. How many actual people do you know that do that? And no, the criminal behavior you are talking about shouldn’t label anyone as a geek. It’s just that: criminal.
I have been to lot’s of football and baseball games. I have two colleges in this area that went to the NCAA basketball tournament. I know what real, rabid fans are like. I have also been to Sci-Fi conventions where the majority of people were dressed up and partying in the hotel. Their actions and demeanor could be considered rabid and crazy. But in both cases, nobody get’s hurt. Have you actually witnessed a sports riot in person? You make it sound like it happens every time a game is played. We have all seen things on TV. Don’t let that be the measuring stick by which you judge a group of people.
Eliminate the hate and learn to appreciate.
ok, since we’re on the topic of wtf.. I clicked on the CBS.com sports page for Major League Baseball today, and fully HALF of it was dedicated to “Fantasy League Baseball”.
I’m sorry… what the h377??? The way I see it, all these “Fantasy Leagues” are nothing more than Dungeons & Dragons for jocks. And they have the gall to make fun of Trek fans?
Nah, they’re just nerd and geek wannabes. Whenever I hear about Fantasy Football, I envision the players all in some kind of BDSM photoshoot on the field, with lacy jerseys and the like.
Ah, the danger of an educated imagination when it comes to making fun of that which I care not for… :-)
Bring Picard back!
I need to start hanging around Patrick Stewart. Check out the lovely lady in the last picture (Catherine Moelering (CEO, Best & Co.). Wowsers
While the sports fanatic/Trek fanatic thing is an age-old comparison (and a true one), and one i know well (I used to live in Washington Redskin country, where it was considered entirely reasonable to wear a plastic pig-nose), I’ve seen worse levels of hypocrisy at science fiction conventions. I once saw a guy in Starfleet uniform, standing next to his buddy (decked out as a Vulcan), rudely teasing a stranger for wearing “ridiculous elf-ears.”
His buddy was decked out as a Vulcan; did I mention that?
When the fannish get clannish, it puts mundania to shame :(
“He still doesn’t like those damn uniforms, though.”
Damn right, Patrick! Sorry, William Ware Thiess, but everything you design looks frickin’ silly.
They only really got it right in “First Contact” – the grey-and black looked professional, while the undershirt thing still kept it colour-coded but in a tasteful way. Plus, no purple!
Mainstream society will always identify an interest group by pointing out the most bizarre, lunatic fringe elements of said group and generalizing from there. Therefore Trek fans are chubby, costumed weirdos with cheesy rubber on their heads while sports fans are chubby, naked, painted weirdos with rubber cheese on their heads.
I think the reason for sports fanatic’s lunacy being more acceptable in modern society is simple. Their fanaticism is based on something that exists in the real world. We, on the other hand, are fanatics of a fantasy universe. Identifying with characters from a (gasp) sci-fi TV show is looked upon as childish. Never mind that the stories told are thought provoking, adult commentaries on the world around us. To most folks, it’s monsters, ray guns, and spaceships a.k.a. kid’s stuff. This is why we always need to drag out the high profile fans to defend the community.
Sports, because it is a multi-trillion dollar international business, is “mainstream” and therefore, adult, despite the preponderance of cheese headed yahoos. I would even say that it is in the interest of making said trillions that the extreme behavior is encouraged. If Star Trek brought in the kind of money generated by football, basketball, and baseball, you better believe CBS/Paramount would be loudly and proudly encouraging everyone to wear Vulcan ears.
See? You CAN stand up to the media.
I’m very pleased that he cared enough to stick up for us. It was a very kind gesture indeed. (Actually, EXTREMELY KIND if the stories about people showing up to his plays come in Trek geer. That really creeps me out.)
kg
#47
Man, that is soooo true! I am amazed how the geek community will split hairs as to what is acceptable. It seems to be universal amongst the Trek, Star Wars, Blade Runner, etc, fans that I have polled. You can like any of the above, but if you are a Doctor Who fan..you SUCK.
Really? That’s just weird to me.
The clan mentality applies to the geek label in general. Basically, it’s that no one is ever the geek themselves. It’s always that other guy over there. Hmmmm. Again, really? I mean, you are both standing here at the same convention and all..
I say wear your elf ears proudly..just not to the theater.
Not all sports fans are complete loonies, but the lunatic fringe is considered more mainstream.
I was in NY when the Giants won the Superbowl. I have never heard so much analysis of one touchdown in my life. Radio, TV, newspapers. Defeating the Undefeated. Ticker-tape parades. Tens of thousands took the day off to be downtown for the Giants’ parade, then drove to NJ to rally at the stadium. It was mass hysteria for an entertainment product called the NY Giants.
Okay, so wearing a TNG uniform is uncool, but what if I showed up wearing a Shakespeare outfit?
Patrick Stewart is a gentleman and a scholar , and I enjoyed his work in the role of Ahab from the film Moby Dick , I would attend one of his plays dressed as Ahab but i don’t want to strap my shin to the back of my thigh for four hours straight , LOL Just joking guys . Respect the man and his passion for the arts, save the uniforms for the conventions please.
What I’d like to ask the people who do stuff like that is:
Why the heck would you wear a Star Trek uniform to a Shakespeare play? Do you think it’ll impress anybody?
I mean seriously. Doing it at a convention where such is expected and even encouraged is one thing, but going to a play that has nothing to do with Star Trek and wearing a uniform that one of the actors wore in a role they played a decade ago?
There are appropriate times for everything.
Apparently, some folks have no understanding of that. I don’t blame Steward for finding it inappropriate . It’s disrespectful to say the least. He’s not on the stage playing Picard. He’s doing Shakespeare. Respect his ability as an actor to play more than one role and leave the dang Star Trek stuff for conventions and roleplaying in your basement.
Incidentally, I always thought those 1st and 2nd season uniforms looked uncomfortable. The two piece style was far better looking than those lyra pajamas.
Picard was never fit to hold a candle to Kirk, but I always liked Stewart.
#52
As there are a lot of Shakespeare references in ST even to the point where those two form a magnificent new whole (The Conscience of the King), but no ST references in Shakespeare plays, I suppose showing up in a Shakespeare outfit would be cool as well for Shakespeare plays as for Trek conventions.
Mr. Stewart, simply put, you rock! Love you in Trek, X-Men, and really wanna see you get into Doctor Who!
If I remember correctly, the uniforms were meant to be Gene Roddenberry putting his foot down and reacting to the ‘overly militaristic’ look of the WoK uniforms. There had been a backlash to the original TMP uniforms, but it was fitting into the whole “let’s go to space in our jimjams” thing.
Basically, those uniforms say that no one in the 23rd century either has too many pies, or cares to hide the fact…
The thing is, I beleive Roddenberry wrote the novel for TMP (maybe ghost written perhaps) but in it, Kirk clearly thinks at one point that the one benefit of being an admiral is that he got to wear a two piece outfit, so even then GR knew the one piece sucked.
Talk about a career motivator though… in my office, you just get a better chair…
It was fun to watch Picard evolve from the Mr. Crabapple of Farpoint into the more empathetic person he became later in the series. Maybe the uniform change helped.
Stewart is the reason I still watch Trek.
I could never understand why Stewart “baldly went” instead of donning a “piece”, that’s why he’ll never be my favourite Captain…………
As for ST TNG uniforms, shame about the skant but I think the ensueing Troi cameltoe made up for it :-)
I would agree it’s bad form to wear a Star Trek costume to a play that has nothing to do with Star Trek.
This makes me wonder, though, whether wearing a Star Trek costume would be disrespectful in other non-Trek contexts. Assume, for example, that your friend is a huge Star Trek fan. Would it be out of place to wear a Star Fleet admiral’s uniform to, say, his bar mitzvah? His college graduation? His wedding?
Hmm….
Macbeth was awesome! I saw it at BAM last month. Mr. Stewart is an excellent actor and a really classy guy. The whole cast did a superb job. Three seconds after the “turn your cell phones off” announcement, my fiancee was squeezing the life out of my hand, it was so terryfying. And yet, the whole cast managed to inject a very dark sort of humor to the whole thing. (Macbeth casually shoots a very melodramatic english soldier, then walks off lauging “you were born of woman!”)
Mr. Stewart, if you are reading this, please come back to New York and do A Christmas Carol again. Every Christmas Eve, we listen to your recording of it.
#47 ‘When the fannish get clannish, it puts mundania to shame,
LOL, you sir, are a fine wordsmith.
arrrrr…
He may be thinkin ta back a few years when me Gorn costumed fused ta me skin (it was a microwave accident that seared it ta me)
Well, unable to wear appropriate attire for awhile, I did tha lowdown at tha local zoo… but snuck out to tha theatre a few times, trying ta hide me rubbery shame wit’ cannisters o’ black paint.
No worries, tubs of turpentine later and a bonny lot o’ skin grafts and I looked fine fur years. Until I put on that Worf season one costume…
tha petro station blew when me cigar drop’ed from me ridged mouth piece while i be fillin’ tha Prefect. Oh, that lycras sticks fast when seared.
arrrrr….
God hath given you one face and you make yourself another with bumpy prosthetics.
Saw Macbeth at the Lyceum on Saturday, and not one person in a starfleet uniform! The show is still in previews until the 8th of April. If you get the chance, you must see this show. #63 is not kidding, right after the cell phone announcement, BANG! they are off and running. It took all of 5 minutes to forget about Capt Picard, his performance is that strong. The Lyceum is a tiny theater, the oldest and smallest on Broadway, so any seat will be good. See this play now!
#14—The biggest difference is that football games are actual events that take place within the realm of reality. It is difficult for many to understand how some fans can get overly worked up about a completely fictional universe. To me, that is understandable. Some Trek fans can be “over the top”—such as those who dress in Trek garb while attending a play involving Mr. Stewart. It is not only “weird”, but disrespectful to a serious actor.
I am a sports fan and a Trekkie. I yell and scream at the television when my favorite NFL team is not performing well. However, if a Star Trek episode turned out to be a “stinker”, I would just make a sour face and wait until next week. That is the difference.
#67
I’m not saying thats its not dirsrespectful to wear the Trek outfit to his plays, what I am saying is that the double standard that negatively affects a group of people, i/e Trekkies, is tolerated. Why?
I am a sports fan, and I do all the yelling at the TV, and I am also a Trekkie. The difference is that I would not wear as much as a Star Trek T-shirt because of the crap people (even strangers) throw at you.
As for the wearing of Uniforms to his plays, he definatly has a right to be peeved, it is “not cool” (not ok) to do that. Simply because it is a show of disrespect to the work he dose now.
Save the uniforms for the conventions.
That said, people who do go to the theatre in TNG uniforms ***are*** a bit weird, in my opinion!
I mean, do you go to the Hamlet dressed as Fozzie Bear or Big Bird?
Cos going in a Trek uniform is just as weird!!!
#37–Most of what you describe is far from acceptable. My wife and I are season ticket holders and lifelong football fans. The most I have seen in person is a few idiots painting their faces and bodies and bellowing about like drunken fools. Most sports fans consider such people to be far from “mainstream”. Furthermore, some of the behavior you describe is just plain anti-social and even criminal.
Just as most of us Trekkies do not dress up like Klingons at a wedding, most of us sports fans do not break things and commit acts of violence or criminal vandalism.
I’m weird, but it has nothing to do with Star Trek or sci-fi in general. :P
I wear my Trek T-Shirts out in public. The only time someone EVER said anything to me was to compliment me on the shirt. I enjoy dressing up like Kirk for Halloween. I’ve never been made fun of. The only comments I’ve ever gotten about either my Trek or sports fanaticism that could be termed even slightly negatively were meant in jest. Nobody has EVER verbally or physically acosted me or tried to make me feel bad for my devotion to a TV show or team. Well, other than the normal “Your team sucks, my team’s great” stuff.
Be honest. Have you been actually abused, or were you just teased a bit? If you were abused, did you stand up for yourself? I don’t mean get into a fight or anything, but defend your position in a rational manner? Like I said, all the teasing I ever got from my friends or family was good-natured. They are the same people who buy me a Trek calender or team logo thing for my birthday. I am into dragons, also. I actually have some pretty cool dragon print T-shirts that I know look a bit D & D’ish, but still, I have only been complimented on them from strangers. Maybe it’s how one carries oneself. I cannot possibly imagine someone coming up to me and calling me names. It is outside my realm of possibility.
Maybe sci-fi fans are TOO sensitive. Or maybe I live in a world that is just more accepting than other people’s.
I don’t choose to wear Star Trek gear. For one thing, in my business it is not acceptable, and I am usually at work. Now, I may occasionally come into the office in jeans, but for the most part, I cannot ask my employees to look professional if I do not. As for my off-time, I do have some sports apparel, and I usually wear it to games on Sunday during football season or to the ballpark during baseball season. I’ve never been to a convention, so I guess I’ve never had a reason to buy a Trek shirt. I did have a Star Trek T-shirt I wore as a child, but that’s it.
hola trekkies
esto esta bien, los raros es star war, no los trekkies ok
sin ofendes los luquues los obis kuan dart vander de que_
#64 sez: LOL, you sir, are a fine wordsmith.
Thankee. It’s a living :)
#70: Yeah, that’s really what I was getting at with my #47 post … that in every community, there exist these extreme personalities, and in every community, there exist these judgmental personalities … and the whole thing just feeds itself. In fact, most folks are just folks, no matter what they enjoy, but the strangeness and rudeness sticks in our memory, and people start labeling groups as this or that, and that includes just everyday people who aren’t SF fans … and who, for the most part, don’t think ill of people who are. It’s always worth remembering that it’s the vocal nutjobs in _any_ group that come to define them to those outside that group, and that’s a very destructive (though, perhaps, inevitable) mechanism that keeps people apart.
awwwwkkk..
Regarding the fashionable topic today:
If’n I be out in me Manchester futball jersey and tha’ opposing wankers get real verbose wit’ me, I conjure up me lead pipe and give them the heave-ho upon thar noggin! Then drink what’s lefta their lager!
It’s called being a “soccor” hooligan…
So I have no qualms in being disrespectful and inappropriate ta show up in Stewart’s play wit’ me Manchester jersey on… even if he be a Yorkshire fan… Oh- he can cry out: “Is this a dumbass I see before me?”
And he be right on.
arrrrr…
Years ago at a con, there was this rather overweight guy in one of those first season uniforms. Hard to get that image out of one’s head.
WHAT was Bill Theiss thinking??
Patrick Steward is a legend!!!
I didn’t like the look of those 1st season uniforms either…
Coolest uniforms:- Wrath of Khan to Undiscovered country
DS9 + last three TNG movies
For heaven’s sake, people. Anything that gets folks through the day is a-ok. Real football, fake baseball, Star Trek, whatever. If no one gets hurt, who cares?
As for Newsweek’s pissy questions, I thought we were past all those Star Trek-fans-are-pathetic-weirdos assumptions. Last time I checked, sci-fi had entered the mainstream. Please.
Gracias to Mr. Stewart for coming so chivalrously to our defense!
Patrick looks happy being with that babe, Catherine Moelering. Here’s another from the same event in which Ms. Moelering looks to be probing Capt. Picard’s shields.
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5333/80194945qx5.jpg
I would still launch action over season 1 & 2’s costumes, why? UGLY! Yikes!
The uni’s weren’t all that was horrible about the first two seasons… the show was pretty bad as well.
I gotta agree that showing up anywhere in a starfleet uniform is a bit odd and creepy… unless it’s a costume party.
god we have to thank all the star trek actors , sticking up for us , sure you can say their just doing cause they need the fans , but its not like Patrick Stewart does ? hes star trek days are over , and pegg too seems like a fine actor who will always be getting work . it just seems to be that actors who work on star trek (and will work on star trek i.e. new movie) , see the fans for what they are , smart passionate fans ,
now if only the media where where not just a**holes lol like i said before it just seems to be it would not happen to other fans, like they dont talk about harry potter fans like that ( why is it because the general idea of harry potter fans is either kids or women ) where star trek fans are all loner social backwords weirdos . please please let the new movie , make millions , just to annoy the media (actually what am i say all they will do then is come up with stupid headlines like ” star trek no longer for weirdos “) , meh i guess up ,anywho i am alway proud to be a trekkie/trekker/trekite….etc lol
#80
Patrick looks like he’s about to use the Picard Maneuver!
(AP) STAR TREK NO LONGER FOR WEIRDOS
After earning 1.2 billion dollars at the international box office, US President Barack Obama said:
“Star Trek, finally, is no longer for weirdos. I would like the fans of Star Trek to emerge from their parents’ basements, Irish Pubs, back alleys, and caves, and give themselves up to local law enforcement. Finally , this great franchise has gone mainstream, and its great ideas can inspire a generation. But the weirdos have got to go.”
Didn’t those uniformes do something to their backs!
#86
But Mongo like cave. Where Mongo sleep? And did maybe President man call Mongo “weirdo”? That not very nice.
#88 Mongo may talk like Bizzaro , but Mongo also makes some pretty good points on things, keep up the good work and keep everyone else off balance,
Garovorkin understand.
Doggone it, Mongo! Quit drooling on my keyboard!
399 days to go !
goooooo goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
#92 still 525,600 plus minutes to go
Goodness, I can see that there is quite a lot of unreolved bitterness in here, and quite a lot of judgemental attitudes.
Everyone has their passion for something. For some it’s sports, for others it’s Star Trek, and still others, it’s NASCAR. You can see that in here, there is as much disdain for sports folks and there appears to be disdain in the world for Star Trek fans. Poor NASCAR fans… NOBODY likes them, (lol j/k).
But hey, look at this thread: much like the folks in here have claimed to have been “attacked” by a non-Star Trek fan for being either physically or socially inferior, ther are numerous people who make quips and proclaim their intellectual superiority.
But there is also fighting amongst each camp themselves: Red Sox fan hates Yankee fan, Redskins fan hate Cowboys fan, Ohio State fan/grad hates Michigan fan/grad, Dale Earnhart Jr. fan hates Jeff Gordon fan. But amongst Trekkies its no better: Captain Kirk Is Better fan hates Captain Picard Is Better fan, Voyager Sucks fan hates Voyager Is Awesome fan.
As for the extreme behavior: For professional sports anyway, it is seen as weird to go with a painted chest… (but Denver Bronco barrel guy is ok) and it is not seen as acceptable to vandalize things. In college, chest painting is alright though…
And yes, there are sports nerds: folks who memorize off the wall stats, those who spend hours upon hours on their Fantasy Teams. However, at the same time, much like you can watch a Star Trek episode repeatedly, one can look up any sort of a stat on the internet.
And for everyone that says people don’t give Star Trek a chance: how many of you ave ever given watching sports a chance?
As for the uniform at Macbeth: There is a certain amount of propriety of dress for going to the theatre… espeically a Shakespeare show. If you are one who does NOT understand why you shouldn’t wear a Star Trek uniform to see Stewart in Macbeth, in reality, you probably could stand to be versed in some porper manners.