Trekkie expert and actress Denise Crosby attending Trek Expo 2009 in Tulsa

TULSA - Trekkies or Trekkers?

When it comes to the name for the devoted fans of the science-fiction megafranchise “Star Trek,” Denise Crosby calls herself a purist and sides with Trekkies.

At least that’s what the actress who originated the role of security chief Tasha Yar on the television show “Star Trek: The Next Generation” titled her two hilarious documentaries (”Trekkies,” 1997, and “Trekkies 2,” 2004) that explore the world of “Star Trek” fandom.

In a recent telephone interview ahead of a three-day appearance sponsored by the Boys Scouts of America at Tulsa’s Trek Expo this weekend, Crosby, 51, said at the time of the first documentary she polled friends who knew little to nothing about “Star Trek” and asked them what they call those fans. They universally said Trekkies and none had heard the term Trekkers, Crosby said.

“So, the film I wanted to stand on its own as a film that could play in the cinema and appeal to a broad audience, not just a fan film, and Trekkies is sort of the universal, global expression of ‘Star Trek’ fans,” she said.
Because she was someone from the “Star Trek” family, Crosby said, fans granted her access to their private and sometimes very public passion for all things Trek. It also allowed her to approach other actors and get them to talk candidly about fans. But Crosby said she didn’t want to offend fans because they had been burned before (William Shatner’s “Get a life” skit on “Saturday Night Live”) and was concerned about how “Trekkies” would be perceived.

“It’s a fine line because you don’t want to put on kid gloves and make a recruiting film here for ‘Star Trek.’ I really wanted to have a look into this world of fandom and this particular show, which is unlike anything else and has been sort of the granddaddy of them all. At the same time, I didn’t want to be cruel or judgmental … so I had to figure out how to really make that real for the film,” she said.

Crosby said she got the idea to make the documentaries after attending some fan conventions, and she became more interested in the fans than they were in her. She wanted to “flip the camera around.”

She teamed with friend and director Roger Nygard to make the films, which show the admittedly extremes of fandom, from a Florida dentist whose office has a “Star Trek” theme to 14-year-old Gabriel Koerner, who created special effects on his computer and has since become a movie and television digital effects artist.

Koerner’s work can be seen in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film “Shutter Island.” Crosby said she and Koerner have kept in touch over the years.
Then there’s the Minnesota man who re-creates “Star Trek” devices and technology, resulting in amusing footage of his driving a motorized Captain Pike box beside a busy street as cars whiz by.

“When Roger came back and he showed me, I fell on the floor laughing, I mean dying of laughter. I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. This is the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen,’” she said.

Crosby said following the popularity of the new “Star Trek” film, she’s hoping to make a “Trekkies 3″ that will touch on the new film and its actors and fans as well as visit places not covered by the previous films.

“Our intention was always to make a ‘3,’ to have a triple box set. And there are areas I still want to go to. ‘Trekkies 1′ was domestic and ‘Trekkies 2′ we went global, but we didn’t get everywhere,” she said. “And I’m curious still, to make it a full circle about Asia, Africa and India, like what’s going on there, sort of our ‘Lost in Translation’ version of ‘Trekkies.’ ”

Q. There are so many great candid moments in your documentary “Trekkies.” Were you ever surprised by the people you interviewed?

A. Oh, yeah, you are always looking for those moments of revelation or surprise. Sometimes people would be completely off the cuff, like when I went to interview the dentist in Orlando, Fla., and he and his wife talked about how they like to dress up, you know, and it’s like good for their sex life. … One dresses up like me, and it was like, “Oh, OK, that’s great. We don’t need to say anymore.” But the look on my face, that was completely by surprise. When one of the guys mentioned that if he had the money he would have his ears surgically altered, and his wife said, “You would?!” Oh, my God, those are just priceless moments.

Q. Did you have a concrete plan in place when you finally decided to start shooting “Trekkies”?

A. The only concrete plan was let’s go to a convention; we know we want to let the fans speak for themselves but stay open to where it might take us. We also knew that almost the entire original cast was going to appear at this particular convention because of it being a charity event. And let’s see if we can get Nichelle Nichols and George Takai and Jimmy Doohan to sit down and talk to us and get their perspective on it, as well. And, of course, because I was an actor on the show, I was able to approach them and get them to talk to us. But mainly the film began to take shape once we went to a couple of conventions, and we then found a couple of interesting people to kind of isolate and follow.

Q. What is the actors’ take on fans?

A. You know, it’s an interesting one because it’s unique. … It’s such a fan-driven show, “Star Trek,” so if you’re disliked by fans, they’ll really let you know it. But at the same time, if you’re embraced by them, they are just the most loyal, devoted people. I did a play last year off-Broadway — I had “Star Trek” fans show up for it. I didn’t promote it as such, but they found out. And they will support anything you do. They are really, truly loyal to you and the show and because they have these unique kind of gatherings - some of these conventions have been going on for 30 years - and they’ve spawned all kinds of things: marriages, children, friendships, die-hard relationships. And I think the actors in the beginning have a little bit of an adjustment to make from it because it’s overwhelming. It can feel oppressive in some ways or controlling in some ways, almost too involved, too obsessive. But then you realize they are going to be there; they are there for you, take it or leave it. You can get involved, you can stay uninvolved, you can do as much as you need to to get into it.

Q. Do you have a favorite fan story of your own?

A. There’s always the one where the guy comes up like if I’m doing a signing and he’s now 30-something, and he comes up and says, “You were my first crush,” something like that. I always blush and am overwhelmed by it. But I think the wildest thing was, years and years ago, I think it was when I was still doing the show (”Star Trek: The Next Generation”). … The host of the convention came to me and said, “I’ve got to introduce you to … our friend Danny. You’re not going to believe it. I’m not even going to say anything; you’ve just have to meet Danny. He’s such a big fan; there’s no bigger fan than Danny of yours.” I said, “Oh, well, yeah, sure. Let’s go.” So they took me through this hotel, down into the bowels around this kitchen and inner workings, and then out comes this young guy named Danny. And they said, “OK, Danny, take off your shirt, and I’m thinking, “Oh, my God, what are they doing?” The guy strips off his shirt, and he has my entire face of Tasha Yar tattooed on his back from his neck to his waist, covering his entire back. It was like my head shot on his back. I was actually speechless; all I could say was, “Do you have a girlfriend that I hope she doesn’t mind.” I didn’t know if I should run or shake the guy’s hand. And I still think of this guy. This guy is walking around with me on his back. How about that?

Q.You just have to hope he hasn’t gained a 100 pounds. …

A. Yeah, exactly, and I look like Jabba the Hutt … on his back now, big jowls.

Q. What is it about “Star Trek” do you think that generates that kind of fandom?

A. Boy, if you could bottle that one, every TV executive in the world would be on your side. It’s certainly a unique take on science fiction that there is a future that will actually be better than the present. You know most science fiction is pretty bleak, and that we’ll eventually annihilate ourselves or have to leave the planet altogether. It’s not a very pretty picture, the future, in most science fiction. So here along came a really optimistic, peaceful experience of mankind, that they will actually get better and figure out some of their mistakes and learn from them. And also, of course, Gene Roddenberry was able to address these really moral, social issues in a way that especially for television, you couldn’t in the day. You couldn’t talk about mixed races, different cultures mingling and heavy arms races and medical issues, the God question, is there a god and religion - all these topics that were extremely taboo in the ’60s when television was on, and he was able to do it in this very clever way with science fiction. So I think people got it, and they were touched by it, and it wasn’t lost on them. They appreciated the intelligence of it, and “Star Trek” also inherently embraces the difference in people. The message is that you don’t need to look like Britney Spears to have everything going for you. You can be whoever you are and whatever you do and build on that strength. And there’s a lot of people that don’t quite fit in to how society dictates. That you’ve got to have this kind of car, this kind of outfit, this kind of body and this kind of thing, and we are just so driven by that. And it’s just shoved in our faces constantly. So where do people fit in? And “Star Trek” gives this support and this message. And then, of course, the fan world is a tangent that’s come from that show and that message that has been gleaned from that show, and it’s created its own support system and world and place where people can feel part of something when they don’t sometimes feel part of their own culture.

Q. It sounds like you have a deep appreciation of that. … Were you a fan of the original show?

A. Oh, yeah. I had seen all of them, not when they first aired in the early 1960s. I was a little too young for it to grab me. But when it first went into syndication and they played it every night at 5 o’clock here in L.A. on one of the local stations, I had a little ritual with my neighbor. … I was all of about 19 years old, and he was this 83-year-old Italian immigrant. And he and I would every day would watch together “Star Trek,” which was just this odd little gathering of these generations come together, but we loved watching “Star Trek.” And I would come in and check on him and visit him and make sure he had his oxygen tank nearby and his heart pills, and we would watch “Star Trek.”

Q. Do you have any regrets now about leaving “Star Trek: The Next Generation”? (Crosby left the show during its first season.)

A. You know, at the time it was so very frustrating for me. It was just wearing thin that we were a big ensemble cast and so many days and weeks were spent where I’m just going “Aye, aye, captain” and just sort of standing around and not having a story line. I think I was 29 or 28, and you are really hungry then to have some meat to chew on. So for me it was “What is going to happen? Where are we going to go with this?” and I just couldn’t see spending six more years doing that. Now at that time, you’re young; I don’t have children to put through school or house payments to make or all that stuff that gets you to a different place financially. So if you’re going to take a shot and roll the dice, that’s when you do it. But little did I know how much more involved I would continue to become in this show. I would come back, I would play another character, I would make two documentaries about it. And of course I didn’t realize then how this character of Tasha Yar really impacted people. You don’t know those things when you’re doing it. A lot is revealed through time.

Q. What did bring you back for those guest appearances?

A. I got a call from one of the producers that a script had been written where Tasha is alive on this ship and would I be willing to come in and play. And I said, “Well, yeah. It sounds really intriguing.” And they sent me the script, which was “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and it was incredible. It was absolutely one of the best-written “Next Generation” scripts, and I was thrilled to do it. And then that coming back opened up the idea that what if, because you don’t really know, she volunteers to go back on this ship to fight this battle where everyone dies. But what if she was captured? I came up with this whole idea if maybe she had this baby, and I pitched this story to the producer. And he kind of looked at me, and I thought … well that’ll be it. A couple of months later they wrote the character of her daughter, so I just kept going. I’m always thinking of new scams. What else can you do here? Again, because the genre lends itself to all these possibilities.
And it’s intriguing with the new film being so popular and igniting a whole new generation of fans, and all the little kids are discovering “Next Generation” just like we did the original. It’s really funny. I have a, well he’s soon to be 11 actually, my son. So his friends, sometimes I’ll pick them up for the carpool, and they go, “Were you really on the ‘Next Generation’?” I went over to visit his school the other day … and this boy said, “Were you really on ‘Star Trek’? I said, “Yeah, actually.” And he said, “What did you play?” And I said, “Well, I was Lt. Tasha Yar on ‘The Next Generation.’” He said, “Wow! Your mom really is cool!” He said that to my son. It was so funny, I mean priceless, priceless.

Q. The best thing is that he thinks it’s cool.

A. Yeah, exactly. It could have gone the other way - just awful. I could have been a principal on “iCarly” or something and he would run away from me.

Q. Do you think it’s cool to be a “Star Trek” fan?

A. Well, I think it’s finally OK to be a geeky, sci-fi nerd, with all of the - and it’s taken a lot of stuff to happen for this to be OK - and that’s all of the technogadgets and all of the incredible computer stuff that we’ve experienced, quickly, in the last 25 years and all of the supergeeks who are like the bazillionaires of the universe and all of this stuff to have happened.

Q. Have you seen the new movie?

A. No, I have not. I tried to; we were invited. I was invited by the Roddenberry family; they had a screening at Paramount, and my son had a lacrosse tournament that day. So I said after lacrosse, “Why don’t we go see ‘Star Trek.’ He said, “I don’t want to see that. That’s not the real ‘Star Trek’ - you’re not in it. And I said, “Oh God, no, no, no, no, no.” So it was so sweet; it was the sweetest thing. “That’s not real ‘Star Trek’! That’s like fake ‘Star Trek.’ You guys are the real ‘Star Trek.’” I had to explain, “Well there’s been a few of us.”

Q. What else are you working on?

A. I’m doing a recurring role on a new show called “Southland” on NBC, and we’re on hiatus right now. And we just got picked up for the fall, so start back in July, and I’m playing one of the main detective’s wife. And where it’s going, I’m not sure. We’ll see.

Q. How many conventions to you attend each year?

A. Maybe four. This one (Trek Expo in Tulsa) is pretty great because it’s really as a guest of the Boy Scouts.

Q. How does that work?

A. Well Trek Expo, the convention itself, has been going on for a number of years, and one of the regional directors of the Boys Scouts is a huge “Star Trek” fan. So he, I guess, last year tried to create a tie-in, have a booth set up at the convention, and have a breakfast - they are supporting a boys home (Tulsa Boys Home). And then the boys can come and visit the convention with the Boys Scouts and proceeds from a breakfast go to the Boys Scouts of America. So it’s trying to combine the two, sort of a charity fundraiser for the Boys Scouts kind of tied in with the convention. I’m more a guest of the Boys Scouts this time, but I can happen to be at the convention, as well.
Hope everyone comes out to support the Boy Scouts.

- Renee

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