13I feel as though I’ve been absent from the fandom for a while, despite fic posting and a consistent Tumblr presence. The truth is summer is a busy time in my line of work. I traveled internationally just two weeks ago, and there is another trip planned for next month, then ANOTHER – this time for pleasure and not work – in August. I have plenty to do in the weeks between traveling, and the work schedule has tired me out a little more than usual because of a cold I can’t seem to shake.
That said, RL has always been something we fans adjust our fandom activities around so I cannot entirely use that as an excuse for my absence. Frankly, with Into Darkness one year behind us, the ST fandom is quieter than it has been in some years. I have to wonder why. Are some of us, having been disillusioned with bits and pieces of the second movie, taken a step back? Or are we simply biding our time with other fandoms?
I am certain there could be a multitude of explanations for the “lull”. And I’m just as certain that this fandom has survived worse in the nearly 50 years it has been active. Not that I’ve been a part of it that long! :)
I think I will take the time to point out what’s important – that is, what I hang my hat on as an eternal truth in Star Trek (the original and the alternate) and the reason you will continue to see me lingering about:
Leonard H. McCoy,
and S’chn T’gai Spock
THE TRIUMVIRATE LIVES ON!
Related Posts:
- The Fic Analysis – from September 17, 2014
- A Headcanon and Some News – from September 1, 2014
- Dear readers – from June 10, 2014
- Update for the Holidays – from December 28, 2013
- No, Brain! – from July 20, 2013
There’s no doubt that the fandom will survive STID but that movie didn’t provide much in the way of inspiration for those of us in the fandom. It wasn’t a very Star Trek Star Trek movie, imho. And sadly I don’t have high hopes for the upcoming one, either. :( And Marvel really does seem to listen to fans (not perfectly and they have a ways to go with diversity, too) and is giving us new canon all the time. It’s kind of hard to resist, really. If only they’d make a television show.
Do you mean if only Paramount would make a tv show of the Reboot? BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! But with Karl’s luck… it might also be quickly cancelled. :/ Not that I don’t love the kiwi. He just has horrible luck sometimes. I’ll be honest – I love that Marvel listens to fans and that their movies are popular. Especially the Coulson thing. But I kind of had problems with whole first half of AoS. The second half made up for it, mostly. When… AHEM SPOILERS…….. (not for you but for others, WN) Fury basically called Coulson an Avenger, I had to be scraped off the floor. BEST LINE EVER. And the Marvel franchise has a lot of them. :)
Totally meant ‘if only Paramount’ would make a television show, sorry that was not at all clear. And as far as the first half of AOS? Yep, it was slow and cheesy and needed some help, but I was more than willing to give it a chance for Coulson (and I kinda loved May from the first). And let’s face it, I’ve given Star Trek more time than that to get their act together. I’ll always be a Trekkie, I just wish the studio deserved me as a fan, but Marvel seems willing to work for us (or at least Clark Gregg does, I mean he uses the name mash up Philinda at a Houston con and tweets that Clint is the other cellist. What’s not to love?)
Not only that but Clark readily admitted that he reads Phil/Clint fanfiction and loves it!
I’m with you …..Triumvirate all the way and as the old song goes…”I (we) will survive”……reading the lyrics makes me think of INTD and that we will indeed survive… ” But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong And I grew strong And I learned how to get along and so you’re back from outer space…………….”
I love that song! It’s surely a classic. I think the question is can we survive the next ST movie? In order to do that, I’m trying NOT to have high hopes.
yuppers that is how I am looking at it…….no expectations so whatever we get ….is what we get………..
Hullo, KLMeri. I’ve been mostly lurking since last summer, but still reading Trekfic like a fiend, lol. I’ve been surprised too by the lull in Trek fandom. Into Darkness wasn’t as great as the first movie, and even if you reject the whole, I still thought there were lots and lots of nuggets, little fun bits and meaty character moments that would keep fans enthused and invested, especially fic writers. This golden age of Marvel movies we’re enjoying has likely had some effect on Trek fandom–let’s face it, Marvel has set a high bar that Abrahms and Paramount couldn’t or wouldn’t match. I went to a Comic Con in StL in April and was just staggered by the sheer amount of fandoms out there! Trek has so more competition now. Paramount didn’t step up their game. It certainly didn’t help that they waited so long to bring out STID, effectively smothering the momentum that the 2009 movie inspired. Not to mention, by starving us and then making the movies the only Trek out there, it made the established Trek fandom hyper-critical (in my view, mind you) of Into Darkness, prompting a backlash. I suppose Trek will survive but it’s so frustrating and sad seeing it wheezing for a breath that should be much stronger right now. :o/ I’m willing to stick around a while longer.
It’s so good to hear that someone has still been “reading Trekfic like a fiend”! Do you read a lot of other fandoms too, or mostly focus on ST? You had so many salient points here: Marvel set the bar, Paramount didn’t step up, and we had a lot of expectations from the long wait which STID didn’t meet but on the other had it still delivered plenty of fodder for fics and still had good character moments. Perhaps my favorite was the development of Scotty. For me, he had the biggest role in the movie. I already knew Kirk was on the road to hero-dom (and learning responsibility and maturity along the way) but it was great to see that the team is really who saves the day, not just the captain. …Although the argument could be made Jim still did more than his part. :P (Another one of those fodder-for-fic moments.) I suppose we’ll have to keep waiting for more (and better) to come along. Sometimes that just seems difficult to do when we know that ST AOS has so much potential. I mean, how else did we survive a four-year wait, if not on hopes and dreams and enormous amounts of fanfiction?
*Loved* Scotty in the last movie! I was mentally clapping in the scene where Scotty was grousing and refusing to sign for the torpedoes. In regards to Kirk, the next movie needs to show that, not only does he surround himself with intelligent people, but that he himself is intuitive and has a genius for tactics and command. STID didn’t do that for Kirk, I thought. To his credit, I suppose, Kirk did show the self-awareness to hand command over to Spock. Now I wanna see grown-up Kirk kicking ass and demonstrating his unique genius as a captain. I think it would go a long way toward silencing the fan backlash. Like you, I want to see the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate restored. One of the problems with having Uhura taking on McCoy’s role is that she’s just a lieutenant, she’s not Kirk or Spock’s equal while McCoy as Chief Medical officer has the power to hand anyone on the ship their ass if needed. (Did you notice she kept turning up in the oddest places in STID? Why was she in Medbay when they dragged Carol Marcus in there?) While I’ve enjoyed the Spock/Uhura romance and hope they keep it, her character is simply ill-suited to providing Kirk with the well-timed humanitarian commentary. I’ve read some Sherlock fic occasionally and enjoyed it but haven’t tried any of the Marvel fics. I have to have a craving to want to spend more time with the characters to really be motivated enough to seek fic. A while back I tried reading some Harry Potter fic–with its popularity there must be loads of amazing stories out there– but I found that I just didn’t have an itch that needed scratching.
I understand you, I really do. There are other amazing fandoms out there, and amazing pairings… but none of them really drive me into a craze, at least not for an extended period of time. I will watch a movie or a show and go, yeah, I’m interested in that. Then I will read a handful of fics about it and I’m satisfied for a good while. That’s not to say I don’t consider myself a shipper of some of the major pairings out there – let’s be practical here, I ship everybody! – but none of the pairings have managed to drag me back time and time again the way that Kirk/Spock/Spock does. And it doesn’t even have to be a romantic story. If it’s a friendship-based, it’s just as pleasing. What is it about these guys? I just don’t know. Yes, yes, yes about Uhura. Originally I was almost offended that they wanted to Uhura to take McCoy’s spot, which seemed like a dick move to me just to bring in more money to the box office. But now I’ve altered my prospect on it somewhat: that Uhura isn’t meant to replace McCoy (really, like you said, that wouldn’t suit her character at all), only to add another dynamic, namely more on Spock’s side. I do like that she’s upfront and kicking butt with the guys and saving them too. I just hope it doesn’t come at the price of reducing Leonard’s role. That is the real injustice. He is the heart of the ship. Srsly. Here’s to hoping the third movie delivers the Enterprise crew in their glory!
*waves* I’ll admit I’ve drifted off from Trek fandom. I just feel like so many of the good stories have been told, and that a lot of the new stuff just rehashes the old. And there’s been an influx of new writers who *cough*can’t*cough* write very well, and, well… I got bored. The new movie wasn’t inspiring, though I did enjoy it well enough; just not a fic-writer’s kind of film. And the fandom had been slowing even before it came out. I’m another one guilty of getting sucked in by Marvel. I’ve been reading Avengers fic for a while now, and Cap 2 has me not just fiddling but actually writing again. *shrugs* I still peek at Trek fic occasionally, and read a bit if I see a writer I recognize, but I’m essentially on to a new phase, and I just don’t have enough free time to float multiple fandom interests these days.
To be honest, the only “new” stuff I saw (discounting the fics addressing the aftermath of the deaths in the movie) was an influx of stories with Khan/John Harrison in them. Since this doesn’t interest me at all, the new stories I read have been far and few in between. IDK… Maybe if I shipped other pairings like Spock/Uhura, etc, I would have found more inspiration from the movie. I really was betting on more Kirk/McCoy and more Kirk/Spock/McCoy. :/ That bet didn’t pan out, unfortunately. So, yeah, it wasn’t a fic writer’s kind of film. Again, barring the “death” scenes, which admittedly did wreck me pretty bad for a while, especially Pike’s. I’m glad to hear that you are writing again, even if not in this fandom. Your stories are awesome!