Trekkers meet

THIRTEEN Star Trek fans finally got to meet one another during a Trekkers’ gathering in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Brought together by MySciFiFan, the country’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Community, they spent an afternoon watching popular Star Trek movies and episodes.

Long thought to be isolated individuals, the Star Trek fans found that there were others like them who identified with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his bold team.
The moderator of MySciFiFan’s mailing list Richard Chua said there were a significant number of Star Trek enthusiasts in the country.

“Though MySciFiFan represents a variety of sci-fi and fantasy genres from Star Wars to Lord of the Rings, Star Trek seemed to be a common interest among many mailing list subscribers,” said the 29-year-old.

Emilienne Ong is one such fan. The 17-year-old said most students her age were not interested in Star Trek.

The fans’ gathering was an exciting event for her.

“I’m able to meet others like me, at last.”

Another was Ezli Sheiful, a founding member of a 1990’s unofficial, local Star Trek fan club.

He said the club organised fan events and published a newsletter called Databank.

“Unfortunately, the club ceased to exist when the key members went overseas to further their studies,” he said.

Peter Lim, 44, sees himself as a first generation Trekker, having followed the original series through the 1960s.

His passion has even transcended the generation gap as his seven-year-old son came with him to the gathering, equally excited as dad.

The screenings were hosted by eFlix Sdn Bhd at its DVD/VCD rental store in Desa Sri Hartamas.

The Trekkers also had the chance to show their knowledge on Star Trek through a contest.

Matthew Ting, 20, knew it all and won a month’s DVD/VCD rental subscription.

For details on MySciFiFan, visit www.geocities.com/myscififan or e-mail myscififan@yahoo.co.uk

Pix: The Trekkers watching Star Trek movies together at the eFlix DVD/VCD rental store.

Click on the thumbnail to see a scan of the story. Note that the original story contained small errors in the contact info. So some of your e-mails may not have gotten through. The typos have been corrected in the text above.



Copyright (c) 2004, Star Publications (M) Bhd.
Publication Date: 14.05.2004
Publication: The Star
Edition: Final
Section: StarMetro Central
Page Title: Events
Page: 18

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