trekker n.

From ‘Trenton Trekkers’: ‘Thanks for your interview with William Shatner. As avid fans of “Star Trek”, we hope you will write about our favorite, Leonard Nimoy, the magnificent Mr. Spock.’

I start acting like a bubble-headed trekkie (rather than a sober, dignified—albeit enthusiastic—trekker).

The largest and most recent body of fringe fandom rejoices in a membership of ‘Trekkies’ or ‘Trekkers’—adherents of the Star Trek television series.

I find that I can label fans only ‘good-mannered’ or ‘bad-mannered‘; the terms Trekker, Trekkie, etc. turn me off.

I promised to discuss earlier the difference between ‘Trekkers’ and ‘Trekkies’—I think it’s so much nonsense. I'll be a Trekkie and proud to have a title that shows my love for Star Trek! However, some do not see it that way; if they consider a ‘Trekker’ as a mature fan, and ‘Trekkie’ as an immature fan, then I respect that.

As a first-generation Trekker, I am one of the lucky ones who discovered Trek early on.

Fans prefer to describe themselves as ‘Trekkers’ rather than ‘Trekkies’ (a term which has increasingly come to refer only to the media constructed stereotype)—or better still, to describe themselves simply as fans (a term which signifies their membership within a larger subculture of other fans and denies a fixed reader-text relationship).

The Trekkers, however, see themselves as already participating in a larger social and cultural community.

Devoted Trekkers have probably already seen the few intriguing essays reprinted here.

And Galaxy Quest is nothing if not conscious of its responsibility as a contemporary bigscreen version of what two Generations of Trekkers have always longed for, and which even the Trek movies have only imperfectly delivered: participation in the cosmos for us, here, now.

SECRET WEAPON: As one Net journalist put it, ‘A guaranteed walk-in for Trekkers.’