The cancellation of Enterprise and box office failure of Nemesis may have been as big a blow to Star Trek fans as William Shatner's "Get A Life!" skit on Saturday Night Live, according to a recent news story.

In a report on how fans have come to dominate the franchise, Fox News quoted several of the people involved with the Trekkies films and fan videos as saying that Star Trek has returned to the roots that kept it alive after the original series was cancelled.

"My guess is if history is an example, this will be a very fertile time for the fans," said Roger Nygard, who directed Trekkies. "The period of time after the first series was cancelled until 'The Next Generation' was probably the most creative and fertile time for the fans themselves. Because they didn’t have a TV show and movies to quench their appetites, they had to create their own fan fiction."

"Trekdom has scaled back to its very core," agreed Gabriel C. Koerner, who appeared in Trekkies and went on to become an Emmy-nominated visual-effects artist. "There has been a perceptible drop-off in Star Trek interest."

Denise Crosby, who hosted the two Trekkies documentaries, said she felt that fans became dissatisfied with the "sausage factory" at Paramount churning out less impressive installments. Some have turned to Battlestar Galactica and other shows while others have gone to work on their own productions, like Starship Exeter.

"Despite the lack of new episodes, there was a creative burst among the fans. What you may see is a resurgence among the fans as they seek other avenues of expression," said Nygard. "Some of those fan films are better than the show."

The original article is here.

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