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 ant to know if you'll be interested in
"Trekkies 2"? Here's a question: Did you like the first "Trekkies"?
If so, then you'll be happy with the sequel, which is more of the same.
Besides letting the world know that Brazilians, Germans, and French people
are just as wacky as their American counterparts, Denise Crosby is also back
to host the whole shebang. And if you don't know who Denise Crosby is, I
don't know why you would watch this documentary in the first place.
Seven years after his documentary
made a splash in Trekdom, director Roger Nygard returns to shed more light
on the phenomenon, this time with a decidedly international flavor. The team
jaunts through Europe, attending Star Trek conventions, meeting individual
fans, and generally saying what we all already know to be true: Fans are the
same regardless of accent. Although to be honest, the European fans seemed a
tad more down to Earth than their American counterparts; or perhaps the
documentary just decided to show more of the "normal" fans in lieu
of the fanatics that runneth over in "Trekkies".
Besides introducing us to foreign geeks, the
documentary makes occasional return trips to the States to catch up with
some old favorites like Gabriel Koerner, who is now in his '20s and
married. Koerner has also made a "Star Trek" parody called
"Really Bad Star Trek", a 10-minute short that is included on
the "Trekkies 2" DVD disk. And of course there's the wacky
Arkansas woman who wore her Trek uniform to jury duty in the Whitewater
trial. She's still as warp as ever, although it's funny to see her
humoring an older Trek fan that claims to have the "first ever real
portrait" of an E.T.
"Trekkies 2" is very much more of the same,
although that in itself isn't such a bad thing, especially if you found
the first one to be entertaining, as I did. And perhaps realizing that the
original "Trekkies" made quite a splash in the world of fandom,
the sequel posits the question of rather "Trekkies" made fun of,
or with, its subjects. Unfortunately there's not enough straight talk on
this subject, and the interviewees seem to be holding back. After all, how
could you criticize Nygard and Crosby for making fun of Trekkies when you
just volunteered to be in the sequel?
Which leads me to the conclusion that "Trekkies
2" holds too much back. One could always feel the documentary going
out of its way to make Trekkies look as "normal" as possible,
and as a result there's a lot of rhetoric about what constitutes
"normal". But if you saw the original, the conversation here
really doesn't shed any new light on the subject, even though, as
mentioned, the documentary seems to have consciously made a concerted
effort to show Trekkies as no more extreme than the guy next door who
collects baseball cards. Where are the cross-dressing fans? The ones that
write erotic fan fiction about their favorite characters? "Trekkies
2" is disappointingly tame, lacking that gritty bite the original had
in spades.
Another gripe is that too much screentime is wasted
on the subject of Trek cover bands. Was there a loud clamoring to know
about these guys? I certainly had no idea they existed, and now that I've
been thoroughly educated on them, my interest in them remains less than
zero. All those precious minutes spent on these failed musicians could
have been better spent on getting to know more Trek fans from overseas.
Having seen some of the deleted footage on the DVD, one has to wonder why
Nygard and company decided to include such an irrelevant topic as cover
bands.
As for celebrity interviews, don't expect any faces
from the original series or "Next Generation" to show up (with
the exception of Crosby, obviously). As the sequel literally ventures into
new lands, it also provides interviews with series actors who are, shall
we say, not quite as well known as their predecessors. One of the
documentary's funnier moments involve production assistants on the Trek TV
shows reminiscing about all the oddballs who used to call or mail them on
a regular basis. Surprisingly enough, it's Brannon Braga, the much
despised/beloved (depending on your perspective of his talents)
"Trek" show runner who offers up some of the more intelligent
analysis of Trekdom.
There's little else to say about "Trekkies
2" except it's a continuation of "Trekkies", and if you
happened to enjoy the other movie, this one is for you. The DVD is full of
goodies, including almost an hour of deleted scenes, with even more
interviews from fans around the world. Also included are two fan films,
the funny short by Gabriel Koerner and another one that looks like
"Star Trek" crossed with "Reservoir Dogs". Of the two,
Koerner's short is definitely the one to watch. But while the documentary
introduces us to fans in other countries that are making their own fan
films, the only two included on the disk were from the American fans. Too
bad, because I would have liked to see what the Germans and Serbians came
up with.
Finally, it's curious to note that although the
documentary goes abroad, it never went to Asia. Surely there must be Asian
Trek fans out there. Or perhaps this is the subject of "Trekkies
3"? Hmm, I smell another sequel on the horizon...
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