Fan Gathering (E8) - SAVE STAR TREK WORLD WIDE CAMPAIGN (11th Mar 05)

Report contributed by Commander Kalkamel

 

Malaysian "Save Star Trek" Event was listed in www.SaveEnterprise.com

 

Malaysian "Save Star Trek" Event was also listed in www.TrekUnited.com

 

 

Acting Captain’s Log Stardate 20050315…..

 

It was the event I have been waiting for ever since I joined the StarTrek.com.my forums later last year: a big-scale gathering of Malaysian Trekkies in full uniform. When the event was announced weeks earlier, I was so excited I could hardly wait for the day to come. To be able to meet all those guys who I’ve chatted with in the forums in person was something I had been looking forward to. Not only that, the aim of the gathering was a noble one: to express the Malaysian Trekkies’ love for Star Trek and their objection to the cancellation of the fifth incarnation of Star Trek on the TV screen, Star Trek: Enterprise. 

Thanks to Coal Trekkies’ initiative, a proposed event had the attention of TrekUnited.com, one of the organizations whose aim was to petition against the cancellation. In the TrekUnited forum, a special section had been created for Malaysia, with discussion on the Malaysian outlook of Star Trek as a whole. One of the forum moderators was in awe at the effort coming from Malaysia fans and quipped that it shows how important Star Trek had become in the eyes of the world.

  

At long last, March 11th came. Rushing from the office (it was a Friday), my wife Hanim and I, had quickly gotten into our Starfleet uniforms… I was dressed in the The Original Series (TOS) movie era uniform and Hanim was in a The Next Generations (TNG) Insurrection/Nemesis era dress uniform. Battling the rush hour traffic, we managed to arrive at the Yippee Cup, One Utama at 8:00pm. By the time we got there, there was already quite a number of people in the small function room having their set dinners. I immediately recognized a few of them from our last meets; Jason and his son Pierre, both immaculately dressed in their 2373 uniforms, Richard – also in his 2373 uniforms sans the red undershirt, Matthew proudly displaying his starship collection (his Enterprise-D had a figure of Picard sitting alone on the bridge!), FTSVD and his friend Ida in the Enterprise uniform and Voyager uniform respectively, Douglas and Ezli – also in their 2373 uniform (Ezli displaying his Maquis allegience) and a few others.

 

Handshakes and smiles went around and we found a nice spot on a couch at the back of the room. The Futurama episode “Where No Fan Has Gone Before” played on the projector screen. A waitress took our orders and we were then interviewed by En. Nizam, a well known film reviewer from Kakiseni.com who was tasked with reporting on the event.

 

A few faces popped in after a while; Jayan looking dashing in his 2373 uniform in a pair of jeans; Robert and Emma are teens who came with their Trek-loving mom and our very own “Captain Picard”, Vin Sen from CinemaOnline.com.my arriving with his hair.

 

After everyone’s settled down and had their dinners, Jason gave a small speech about the purpose of the gathering: to promote our love for Star Trek, and to send as many postcards from Malaysian Trek fans to Mr. Les Moonves, the power-that-be at TV Studios urging him to save our beloved Star Trek from extinction. This is inline with the current campaign through SaveEnterprise.com  The postcard format had been made available at startrek.com.my a couple of weeks earlier, and each of us had collected as many signed postcards as we could to help. "These postcards would be collected at the end of the gathering" Jason added.

 

 
Jason & Vin Sen enjoying their meals while Saving Star Trek
Ezli finishing his food while James establishing Comm-Link
Jason showing the postcards during the introduction briefing 

Well Known Film Reviewer En. Nizam from Kakisini.com showing Jason's son, Pierre how to operate a camera like a pro

 

We then proceeded with a viewing of the TrekUnited trailer. Backed by the theme music from Star Trek: First Contact, it was truly a moving piece. Star Trek crews from its different incarnations were shown with emphasis given to the crew of the NX-01.  

Since the event hope to save Star Trek by urging TV Studios to continue with Season 5 on Enterprise, next on the viewing menu is appropiately Enterprise episodes. More and more Enterprise episodes are linking with the TOS and the rest of Trek's time continuity.  One of the issues recently cropped up in Enterprise tried to explain the question that fans have been asking since “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”.  "Why do Klingons from the TOS era look like Mongols with smooth foreheads whilst the Klingons of the movies and TNG eras (including the Enterprise era) have ridged foreheads?" Suffice to say, after those episodes, we are now aware of the reason.  (the one that Worf said is not shared by the Klingons with outsiders in the DS9 tribute episode “Trials and Tribble-ations”.)

The episodes ended at about 10pm. Richard then came up and gave a briefing about the postcards that we were sending to Les Moonves. After that, he handed out trivia questions to all of us.  Apparently there’s a prize to be won by the person with the most correct answers. A look at the trivia questions reveal that it is on Enterprise. I’m a fan of the show but not a big fan. So I tried answering the questions with my limited knowledge, thinking that the prize was definitely going to FTSVD, who is an Enterprise fan-atic and devotee. After five to ten minutes, each of us submitted our answers to Richard.

It was time to announce the winner of the trivia contest. Much to my surprise, I was the winner, with 9 out of 10 answers correct! As my reward, Richard presented me with a chromo-art of a Romulan warbird. That art now is displayed proudly with my fleet of Furuta starships.

All good things must come to an end. By 10:45pm, everyone said their goodbyes. A few more photos were taken. All those who were left posted messages on the TrekUnited.com forum praising the gathering and expressing our greatest hopes for Star Trek.

 

 

 

……… End Log, By Commander Kalkamel

 

Richard shouting his share for Saving Star Trek
Trekkies glued to their seats while watching an episode
Husband & wife violating temporal prime directive
Ezli, Kalkamel and Jason discussing the effects of transwarp Matthew and Richard discussing the effects of Romulan ale
From Left:  FTSVD, Kalkamel, Ida, Douglas and Hanim Jason & Pierre posting everyone comments on TrekUnited.com
From Left:  Ida, FTSVD, Jayan, Douglas, Ezli, Jason, KalKamel, Pierre, Hanim and Fluffy Klingon
One Big Happy Malaysian Trek Family SAVING STAR TREK.  Mr. Leslie Moonves, get ready for our Malaysian Postcards !!

Ladies in Uniform while Kalkamel showing off his collections.

 

To Join the next Star Trek Fan Gathering, please click here.

Call for Trek Volunteers!

If you are able to volunteer some spare time, please contact us at praetor@startrek.com.my with your name, contact number and preferred participation

 

 

 

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