Growing Up Trekkie
In 1996, Gabriel Koerner's geekdom was caught on tape. Now he tells his side of the story.
      by Gabriel C. Koerner

Trekkies came about when I was just starting to shed my total social ineptitude and trade it for just mild social ineptitude. It took place at a point in my life where I had plenty of friends, and enough healthy interest in the diversity of the world that my interest in Star Trek was no longer completely obsessive, though I have still learned how to more properly integrate my interest in Star Trek with my daily life. So now that my back-story is out of the way, let us tell the tale of Trekkies...

The film's genesis began in 1991, when former Star Trek cast member Denise Crosby was working on a film directed by Roger Nygard called High Strung. It was on the set of this film that they first bandied about the idea of teaming to create a documentary exploring the world of Star Trek fandom. The idea lay dormant for some time.

A fanboy's respite: Star Trek: The Next Generation

The concept resurfaced in 1996. Denise Crosby and Roger Nygard formed an official partnership to make the film happen, and with the addition of producer Keith Border, the project began to take shape. With fresh-faced PA's and cinematographers on board, they looked and acted like a group of young college film makers starving themselves to buy enough film stock to make their movie. Roger Nygard will joke that this wasn't too far from the truth. They planned their first shoot.

Meanwhile, in my life in early 1996, I had been involved with the Star Trek fan club in Bakersfield, California for about a year. The idea surfaced to create a fan-made Star Trek film starring the members of the club. I began drafting the script.

At this point, Robert H. Justman and Herb Solow had just released their terrific book about the genesis of the original Star Trek. They came to Bakersfield for a book signing, and I conversed extensively with them. We hit it off very well.

In August of that year, I attended Fantasticon, a Los Angeles annual science fiction convention, where in the auditorium, I was spotted by Mr. Justman and Mr. Solow, who shared their recollections of our first meeting at the book signing in front of the large crowd. It was at this moment that Denise Crosby and company were in the midst of their very first shoot. Intrigued by their fond comments, Ms. Crosby approached me and asked if I was willing to be interviewed in the lobby. I very excitedly agreed. The bit near the beginning of the film where I mention how many conventions I attended is the only surviving bit of that initial interview.

Having shot a bit for the film that I was pretty certain would get cut for time, I was at least happy with having met Denise Crosby. My father and I signed the release, and I went home, happy, thinking that was all.

Then a message on the phone from director Roger Nygard comes. He was intrigued by the initial interview and would like to do more. Very excitedly, I agree, and we pick the weekend of a large convention in Pasadena in November of 1996.

Roger Nygard and crew, sans Denise Crosby who was busy with an acting engagement, came to my father's apartment in Bakersfield to generally follow me around for a day. It was a unique experience. The malign I usually received for the facets of my life that dealt with Star Trek were now an object of curiosity, even admiration, for a film crew no less. The scenes of me at home, the club meeting footage, and the shopping mall footage all come from this day.

The next day, we took the shoot to Pasadena for the convention. The bulk of my footage in the film takes place there.

Then, in March of 1997, during one of the last points I can recall my father and I getting along, my father had completed, as a gift for me, the modifications to his 1980 Volkswagen truck to turn it into a mock shuttlecraft. We took it down to Pasadena and it was shot as some of the last footage filmed for Trekkies. Ironically, it appears very early in the film.

The film hit the film festival circuit for a couple years, and I was honored to have attended many of those early pre-screenings.

My life changed forever in December of 1997 at the age of fifteen. I met Allison Colleen Embry, a shy, modest, socially sheltered young freckled girl my age who always seemed to be the one everyone picked on because she was so drastically different than everyone else. Our first date was a fascinating display of what happens when magic brings two nerds together. Two things happen during this sort of phenomena... a kiss that about blows the roof off and brings two people a step closer to enlightenment and self discovery, and a lot of knocking things over in the mall when we discover that we are both incredible klutzes.

Everything has changed since I've been with Allison. A lot has happened. Half of a person became a whole person when the two of us came together. Indeed, in the latter part of next year, after nearly four years of being together, we plan to be married.

May the geek inherit the Earth: Shatner and friends in the original Trek.

Presently, I'm eighteen years of age and quite happy. After finishing high school at home, I got fed up with my ever diminishing relationship with my parents. I got a job as an artist at a game developing company in Los Angeles, where I currently live with my fanboy roommate and my beautiful cat Spiffy.

The attention from Trekkies still pours in, as it can now be found on Showtime and in video stores everywhere. It was truly one of the highlights of my life. The criticisms of my portrayal in the film I've seen amuse me, because at 14, isn't everyone just a little annoying? A lot of growing up and maturing can take place in four years, and anyone who meets me now who has seen Trekkies remarks about how much I've changed, despite my height which has not changed since 1996 (thanks to my father's side of the family for the shortness genes...). The Star Station Nemesis movie never got made because it became too ambitious of a project, and I never inherited the Star Trek truck because while my father still has it, the engine is useless (although what I drive is close... a '97 Toyota Tacoma just screaming for a Star Trek pendant... nah...). Presently, I produce a Star Trek spoof series, information about which can be found at http://www.geocities.com/gckoerner.

The "message" (hey, this is Star Trek related, its always gotta have a heavy handed message) is that next time you see a Star Trek fan at a convention in costume, enjoying his hobby in a proper place and time for it, don't be so quick to knock. For a lot of people, myself included, Star Trek is so much more than a television show. It is a vision we praise populated by characters who practically raised us in our youth. That can represent a lot of things for a lot of people. For me, it is, was, and ever shall be Star Trek. Long live, Trek, and live long and prosper...

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