Trekdom

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The term Trekdom refers to Fandom in association to Star Trek. More specifically the fan associations, organizations and clubs, including those on the international, national and local levels, the use and participation of the Internet in Trekdom as well as (and most importantly) the politics involved in these types of organizations. This excludes the Official Star Trek Fan Club, which is run as an official part of the parent company, Paramount Pictures, although its creation was in large part due to Trekdom. The word 'Trekdom' is used interchangeably with 'Fandom' when referring to Star Trek Fandom or their fans and has been in use by fans of Star Trek fans for several decades.

Below are a few of the brief examples of some of the Fan Associations, Organizations or Fan Clubs within Trekdom.

Contents

1 Star Trek Welcommittee
2 STARFLEET
3 Starfleet Command
4 Trek International
5 Starfleet Marine Corps
6 Klingon Assault Group (KAG)
7 Maquis Forces International (MFI)
8 International Federation of Trekkers (IFT)
9 United Federation of Planets Internationale (UFPI)
10 International Fandom Council (IFC)
11 TrekUnited
12 Other Star Trek Fan Clubs
13 Trekdom & the Internet
14 The Politics of Trekdom
15 Special Notes
16 External links
17 See also

Star Trek Welcommittee

The Star Trek Welcommittee is the earliest representation of fans of Star Trek coming together. It was designed to answer questions about Star Trek, it would later include answers to inquiries about conventions & fan clubs.

STARFLEET

The first true international Star Trek Fan Association was created in 1974 as the USS Enterprise Fan Club, later to be known as STARFLEET International or just plain STARFLEET. Several other associations and clubs have split from STARFLEET or sprang into existence due to the influence of STARFLEET. STARFLEET is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest Fan Club in existence in the world. It currently has 242 chapters, ranging from shuttles, starship and stations, and 3779 members world wide as May 21, 2006 (According to its SFI Database, which is only accessible to its membership).

The official name of the association is STARFLEET: The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc., and is a 501(C)(7) Corporation of the State of North Carolina and is currently headquarted in South Carolina. STARFLEET is considered the most democratic of all of the Fan Associations due in large part to member dissatisfaction that occurred in 1996 and the adoption of a new constitution in 1997.

Starfleet Command

Claiming to be the real successor to the USS Enterprise Fan Club, STARFLEET Command (STARFLEET is capitalized to distinguish it from Starfleet Command of the Star Trek fictional universe) is a separate association. The quarrel over this happened when a failure of communication between the Chief of Staff of the time and other caused him to be relieved (some say overthrown) and the association took another direction under a new leader. Only after a year did the leadership try to revive STARFLEET Command, even though that at the time the leadership acknowledged that STARFLEET was a legitimate organization. Eventually STARFLEET Command split into quadrants, Quadrant One - the Americas, Quadrant Two - Europe and Quadrant Three - Asia (Singapore) with the central command currently in North America.

Trek International

Trek International was founded in 1983 by Anthony Wynn and others after breaking away from STARFLEET. The group consisted of groups of localized fans in a number of different cities throughout North America, Europe and Japan. At its height, the organization had nearly 1,000 members worldwide, in some 35 ships and starbases. The fleet was split into five regions, each with a coordinator who supervised the activities of the fan groups in his or her own area. The organization's newsletter was called The Fleet Herald and was published on a bimonthly basis, distributed to all Trek International members as a part of their yearly membership dues. Trek International was officially disbanded as a Star Trek fan organization in 1990, with many fleet ships and personnel re-joining STARFLEET International.

Starfleet Marine Corps

Another part of organized Trekdom is the concept of a 'ground forces' within the fictional Starfleet. Because the franchise never really defined the ground forces, some fans of the show created the Starfleet Marine Corps (SFMC) to be the fans way to depict the ground forces. The first SFMC fan groups appeared in the early 1980s and some were actulaly incorporated as part of larger fan associations. SFMC units are usually organized in either Marine Strike Groups (MSG) for those who are part of an association or Marine Expeditionary Groups (MEG) for those that are independent SFMC units not affilated with a larger association.

In the early 1990s, Starfleet Marine Corps International was formed to help in the creation of SFMC units and help in the organization of unit names and number so that no two unit had the same unit number.

Since the introduction of the Military Assault Command Organization (MACO) in Star Trek: Enterprise, there has been some fan groups based on this but very few SFMC have converted to this because of the concept it was a separate Earth group within the 22nd Century.

Klingon Assault Group (KAG)

A group of fans of Trekdom who are fans of the Klingons of the Star Trek universe. There are also several other Klingon and psudo-Klingon Fan groups, such as the Klingon Armada International (KAI) and the Cha'ouw Empire.

Maquis Forces International (MFI)

Claiming status as the first completely Internet-based Star Trek fan organization in continuous operation and based on the renegade faction seen on various episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, Maquis Forces International (MFI) first adopted "International" as part of their name on 19 November 1995. Created as a result of politics and policy dissatisfaction within STARFLEET International, MFI's founders, along with Star Trek Fans from several established Fan Organizations "rebelled", becoming real-life Maquis like their Trek counterparts, and broke ties with their "Parent Clubs" to form their own loose alliance in the summer of 1994. Lead by an elected International Coordinator (IC) and appointed Coordinator Council (CC), MFI is notable in that they do not charge any dues to their members. Internet hosting costs are provided by voluntary contribution from the senior members. MFI also maintains minimal direct control over local chapters, adopting broad polices that emphasize independence, encourage fellowship in service, and promote the "Fun" aspect of Fandom.

As mentioned, ALL of MFI's member services are online, including an Automated "Academy", Member Database, Virtual Awards area, Departmental Email Lists and more. During Mid 2005, MFI began an ambitious project to convert their previous HTML web site to a new "MFIwiki" format. Other successful projects include creating and manufacturing a professional quality set of [Rank Pins] and ["Echelon Badges"].

International Federation of Trekkers (IFT)

An association of fans similar to STARFLEET, STARFLEET Command, who are proactive in their activities, the International Federation of Trekkers (IFT) has support of some of the members of the cast of Star Trek, paticularly George Takei. They also have members a part of the Internet Fan Films of .

United Federation of Planets Internationale (UFPI)

Also known as the Phoenix Fleet, the United Federation of Planets Internationale (UFPI) was created during the Summer of 1995, partially in repsonse to the perceived problems with the leadership in STARFLEET International. Many members of STARFLEET, especially from Region 4, left STARFLEET and made up the core of the UFPI. Initually the leadership was left in the care of the President and a 'Council', this was done away with for a more traditional Trekdom leadership with the head the Phoenix Fleet taking the presidency of the UFPI. After a shake up of the leadership of the UFPI, many members and chapters left, most rejoining STARFLEET after the resignation of the leader of that association and the election of a new Commander, STARFLEET, however the UFPI remains as an association at a much reduced membership.

International Fandom Council (IFC)

The International Fandom Council, also known as Star Trek: The International Fandom Council, was an attempt to give one voice to all Star Trek Fan Associations, Organizations and Fan Clubs that were considered 'unofficial' by the owners of the Star Trek franchise. This was partially in response when several fan sites being sent 'cease and desist' orders by Paramount which were looked on as being as unfair by those who were charged and their supporters. Part of this organiztion was the Matrix Task Force (MTF), which enable individual chapters to become a member of the first truly internet centered association, predating the Maquis Forces International by a few years, and ran the relatively successful Internet Starfleet Academy (ISFA). Communications were done over a Internet Mailing List set up by the IFC Communications Director, who also acted as the MTF Chief of Communications. Originally the IFC was a loose confederation of both associations and individual chapters from the different associations. Then the IFC adopted a constitution in which it was split into two groups, the IFC 'Security' Council, which included representitives (known as Ambassadors) of the various Associations, Organizations and Large Fan Clubs above a certain number of members headed by the Chair of the IFC; and the IFC General Assembly, consisting of 'Representitives' from the individual chapters and smaller fan clubs in the IFC, lead by the Vice-Chair. The General Assembly was always considered as the stonger voice due to its large membership although the General Assembly and the Security Council always worked toward the same goals. There were two elected members, the Chair and the Vice-Chair, which served for a calendar year, starting on January 1st of each year.

After the election of 1998 the constitution was changed to the IFC itself abolishing the Security Council & General Assembly, going to a more streamlined of seven members being elected from the IFC for period of one year, with the Chair and Vice-Chair selected from the seven. The IFC ceased to exist shortly after 1999 as many members felt that the IFC was no longer serving the purpose that it was created for.

The MTF split from the IFC in 1999 and changed its name to the CyberTrek Task Force.

TrekUnited

Another aspect of Trekdom is TrekUnited. It started as an online focal point to help save for a 5th season, which was unsuccessful. It conuted, not unlike the IFC. to gain acceptance of Trekdom, especially with the internet fan films, such as Star Trek: New Voyages, Star Trek: Andromeda, Star Trek: Intrepid and others. As of 2006, TrekUnited announce that it has added an addition focal point of new episodes of either Star Trek: Enterprise or a new series to be produced in a direct-to-DVD campaign.

Other Star Trek Fan Clubs

Other fan based clubs and associations incude the Romulan Star Empire (RSE), The Federation, Star Trek SIM RPGers, Romulan Imperial Diplomatic Corps (RIDC), The Captain's Table, United Federation of Planets Galaxy (UFPG) and other local smaller clubs. One example of a local smaller group is the Ken Rock Star Trek Space Science Club, which was founded in 1975 as part of the Ken Rock Community Center in southeast Rockford, Illinois. The STARFLEET chapter USS Black Hawk, the Rock River Star Trek Space Science Association claims to be the successor group of this organization as members of the Ken Rock group's leadership serve as part of the Black Hawk. One of the longest serving chapters of STARFLEET is the USS Eagle, which was founded around 1976.

Trekdom & the Internet

Since the creation of the World Wide Web (WWW), Trekdom has had a presence in both Fan Clubs and individual run Websites. Some of these websites come close to the boarder in the legal realm that the owners of the Star Trek franchise will allow. As long as there is no personal gain or monies exchanged where the Star Trek franchise appears, Paramount is fine with them. The exception to this is usually in the form of club dies or when individuals give monies for public service of fund raising for causes seen as important to those clubs. However there have been some websites that have been deemed questionable which Paramount has sent Cease and Desist orders, requesting those to remove or shutdown with threat of legal action against the individuals or groups overseeing the website in question.

In most cases Trekdom on the Internet and the WWW have been fairly cooperative with the owners of Star Trek. Most look at this as Paramount not wishing to 'bite the hand (the fans) that feed it.' In fact Paramount had looked into the legalities of the use of Star Trek themes in Trekdom in the mid-1980s which lead in part to the creation of the Official Star Trek Fan Club by Paramount.

Most Star Trek fan clubs have internet webpages, either built by a member or members of that organization, or prefabricated for use by certain chapters.

Another group of Star Trek Fans, mostly members of STARFLEET International, started an internet radio station named Radio Starfleet. Station programming included uninterrupted play of various Science Fiction and Fantasy themed soundtracks as well as some popular and classical music.

The Politics of Trekdom

Some of the most wildest and unusual politics of fandom happen with the leadership and membership of the fan associations, sometimes due to personality conflicts or lack of communications or just plain indifference toward the membership and their rights. In some cases it is certain members who's influence may be beneficial or detrimental to that association. In most cases the problems stems from a perceived lack of communications from the leadership of that association.

Most associations (such as STARFLEET and STARFLEET Command) have leadership structures based on the perceived positions within Starfleet, giving honorary ranks and positions to those fulfilling those roles. Others (like the Star Trek Welcommittee and the IFC) have a chair person(s). Some have elected presidents and vice presidents without any honorary rank or position, or based upon the 'civilian' side of the United Federation of Planets. Others have leadership selcted by consensus of the membership. Some are run as 'dictatorships' quite successfully and others that take this route in most cases cease to exist due to the apathy of the membership.

The politics of each individual association depends on the people who run those groups as well as their goals and agendas. Usually when agendas clash there is extreme problems within any organization. However when a group comes together, it is for the fun and fellowship which adds a community effort to such organizations. Most also wish to be seen as more than just abunch of science fiction 'weirdos' (I.E. - such as the "Get a life" statements or the Star Trek versus Star Wars contingent) and make an effort to include public service as part of their efforts. Examples of this is raising monies for AIDS and Diabetes research, cleaning monuments at national parks, environmental issues or other causes such as participating in special walks ane runs as well as relief efforts such as for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Most, if not all, have some sort of visible support for astronomy and/or space exploration.

Special Notes

On March 26, 2005, FoxNews.com featured an online article in which the word 'Trekdom' is used by Gabriel Köerner, who was featured in the documentaries Trekkies and Trekkies 2. The article was entitled [Star Trek: The Lost Generation] and was based on a report that was featured on FOXNEWS.