Nurturing A Trek Newbie

By Teresa Jusino

As of this weekend, Star Trek remains in the top 5 films at the box office in its fourth week of release.  It opened at number one, blowing Wolverine out of the water, moved down to #2 a week later, spent 2 weeks at #3 before settling at 5. People are going to see this movie, sometimes multiple times (my count stands at 4 at the moment, and will increase before it leaves theaters, I’m sure.).  That means that two things are happening:  1) There are a lot of Trekkies.  But that shouldn’t be surprising to you, especially if you’ve read What’s Wrong With Being a Trekkie? and 2) Non-Trekkies are seeing this movie, either because an actor they like is in it, or because JJ Abrams directed it and it “looks cool”, and are loving it!

Trekkies should rejoice! Because not only do we now have a worthy addition to the Star Trek franchise, but we have a golden opportunity for vindication!  We now have the chance to convert people into Star Trek fans!  If we’re lucky, those mere fans will evolve into Trekkies and spread the Gospel of the Federation far and wide!

But first things first.

My Trekkie friends and I have been thinking about how best to convert Trekkies for a while now.  With so much canon, it’s difficult to know where to start!  However, the new film provides a framework around which one can create the perfect Intro to The Original Series curriculum.  My friend Adam, author of the What’s Wrong With Being a Trekkie? article, hand-selected Original Series episodes that would both represent a good cross-section of series episodes as well as provide a newbie with all the information they’d need to get the most out of the new film, and we had two screening parties, each on a Sunday, when people are more likely to be available in the early evening and more willing to hunker down in front of a TV.  Here are the episodes that seem to work best:

PARTY #1:

1)  “Journey to Babel”: As The Entrerprise delivers ambassadors to a secret Federation meeting, a murder occurs, and Spock’s sick father, Sarek, becomes the lone suspect.  Drama!  Mystery!  Intrigue!  Piggy-looking Tellarites!  And, of course, Daddy Issues.

Good for setting up: the relationship between Spock and his parents, as well as the relationship between the members of the Star Trek triumvirate: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.  All of this figures heavily in the new film.

2)  “The City on the Edge of Forever”: Dr. McCoy becomes temporarily insane after an accident with a hypo of cordrazine, jumps through a gate called The Guardian of Forever, and travels back in time, accidentally changing history and forcing Kirk and Spock to go after him and repair the damage.  Time travel!  Action!  Adventure!  And featuring arguably the most important of Kirk’s women (played by a young Joan Collins!).

Good for setting up: how time travel works in the ST universe and how Kirk macks it to the ladies!  It’s also universally recognized as one of the best Trek episodes.

3) Mirror, Mirror: After a teleporter accident, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty are back on the Enterprise…only it’s not an Enterprise they recognize.  Here, Spock has a BEARD!  And everyone is EVIL!  Well, except Spock who’s really pretty much the same.  Except for the BEARD!  ACK!  We get to watch with delight as Kirk is “forced” to make out with a hot crew mate, and Uhura is forced to bare her ridiculously amazing abs and flirt with Evil Sulu.

Good for setting up: Uhura and Scotty, as well as several of the ideas and themes that make Star Trek Star Trek.

PARTY #2 (which should happen the following weekend, allowing enough time for the Trek to be digested, but not so much time that people forget what happened):

1)  Amok Time: This is Star Trek’s Very Special Sex Episode, in which we learn how Vulcans mate.  We also learn that Spock’s betrothed is a heinous, selfish biznatch – but only after a fight to the death between Spock and Kirk.  Brawling!  Blood fever!  Relationship drama!  Extreme logic!  It’s all here in this fan favorite episode.  Also, is that emotion on Spock’s face??

Good for setting up: Vulcan culture, and the solid friendship of the Star Trek triumvirate.

2)  Balance of Terror: Someone is destroying Federation outposts, and it’s up to The Enterprise to figure it out and put a stop to it.  Problem: the outposts are being attacked by the Romulans, with whom the Federation has a tenuous truce involving never venturing into a Neutral Zone.  Guess where The Enterprise has to go to put a stop to the Romulan attacks?  Kirk is at his captain-y best here, and even the Commander of the Romulan ship has to give him props.  Don’t let your newbies get confused, though.  The same actor who plays Spock’s father, Sarek, plays the Romulan Commander, a role he played before playing Sarek.  They are not the same guy.

Good for setting up: the Romulans, who are the villains in the new Trek movie, the Federation’s attitude toward intolerance as Kirk deals with a racist crew member, and Kirk as a captain.

3) The Trouble With Tribbles: One of Star Trek’s funniest episodes finds the Enterprise crew on shore leave as Kirk deals with a request to protect a supply of a really important grain.  While on shore leave, Uhura is introduced to these really adorable aliens called Tribbles.  They’re warm, they’re furry, they purr.  They’re also born pregnant and asexually breed faster than rabbits or cockroaches.  Wackiness ensues as Scotty starts a fight with some vacationing Klingons, Kirk goes head to head with a douchebag, and we are introduced to the awesomeness that is Tribble salesman, Cyrano Jones.

Good for setting up: how funny Star Trek can be, as well as delving further into the characters of Uhura, Scotty, and Chekov.

If you’re feeling rambunctious, and your carefully-guided newbies are chomping at the bit for more Trek even before going to see the new movie, you might show them “The Cage”, the original, pre-Kirk pilot that was made with Majel Barrett as Number One and Captain Christopher Pike as the original captain.  We see Pike as Kirk’s mentor in the new film, so it might be worth a watch to be introduced to this character.  Also, there’s the Orion slave girl strip tease…

Those six episodes should prepare anyone for the latest Star Trek movie.  Even if there are things they don’t get, they certainly won’t be as intimidated by the franchise as they might have been otherwise.  Having seen the film with about 7 Trek newbies, I feel confident that now is the best time to bring all those friends of yours who don’t understand why you love Star Trek so much into the Trekkie fold! All of my newbie friends were grateful for the preparation, and said that they might not have enjoyed the film as much as they did without it, though I’m sure they would have enjoyed it somewhat anyway, because it’s just a damn good movie.  However, the important thing is that after the movie, THEY ALL EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN WATCHING MORE STAR TREK!  Not only the Original Series either, but Next Gen and Deep Space Nine!  And that’s really what it’s all about; creating a love of Star Trek where it didn’t exist before.

Your friends will thank you.

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TERESA JUSINO was born on the same day that Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn’t think so. As a writer, her work has appeared in Elmont Life newspaper, and on the sadly defunct website, CentralBooking.com. She is a founding member and editor of The Revolving Door Commune Blog, is currently at work on a collection of short stories, and is writing a web series for Talentless Hack Entertainment called The Pack, which is set to debut in August! As a geek, Teresa loves all Star Trek, Lost, Fringe, comics, and anything Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Neil Gaiman ever touched. She is also an aspiring fangbanger. Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her in The Red Room.

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