If you’re interested in participating in the Geek Out Challenge, read this post here! Each day I will be posting a question for that day for the next 30 days. Follow along each day with your own post or feel free to wait until the entire challenge has been released and take it on when you like! Be sure to link back to the master post at the end or link back to each post for each day.
Day Thirty: Most obsessed-over fandom?
Well, we come to the end of the 30 day blogging challenge and what an experience it’s been. I went into this with a slight, dread, I wouldn’t be able to sustain or commit to writing a months worth of articles but the framing mechanic and questions have been strong and diverse enough to consider a broad range of fandoms and tastes. That said, without doubt the most talked about fandom I have covered from different angles and for different perspectives is of course my love for Star Trek. Intentionally or not, when the Next Generation era came to a conclusion with the end of Enterprise, I did believe as a series it would be consigned to history. To witness its resurgence in popularity beginning with the movie franchise from JJ, followed by Discovery and now the upcoming Picard series, it is a great time to be a Star Trek fan and with the ease of access being able to watch any episode from the series on Netflix, in the UK at least, once more I have faith in the optimism this series can bring. In the last 30 days at least, whether it’s my favourite real life geek, the crossover I would like to see or my favourite fandom quote, I feel it’s fair to see and say it’s evident Star Trek is the genre and series I am most obsessed with.
This year, I embraced my inner convention hero and decided to attend MCM in London, it was enjoyable, but a very broad smorgasbord of tastes and interests. On the horizon was the Star Trek convention in Birmingham (England) and I will admit, I was readily tempted to attend my first long weekend convention. Something held me back, perhaps it was the notion of going outside my comfort zone and being on my own for three days surrounded by this community of people. I’ll happily concede, it’s far less anxious experience when you can attend and escape from an event like this on the same day when it’s held in London, quite literally on the opposite side of the city from where I live. To my surprise and appreciation, I then picked up William Shatner and Robert Picardo would be attending London Film and Comic Con in 2019, a chance to meet the legendary first (second (third?)) captain of the Enterprise himself in person, a humbling experience, one of my heroes and then the EMH from Voyager, or for real fans of his craft, ‘The Cowboy’, Star Trek legends in my home city of London. Of course I said yes.
I’ve talked extensively about this day before when I reviewed the London Film event earlier this year, I would definitely recommend it for the chance to meet stars of the small and silver screen and for me personally, an opportunity to meet even for a brief moment someone who I’ve idolised since I was a child, two of my favourite actors from their respective series. The static shell these people live in inside our memories, eternalised forever in our minds is challenged to some degree when you meet them in person, not glad in their space suits but just regular people who have brought something special to our lives. How the show is organised is super fun as you can be in the queue for an autograph from your favourite actor and glance to the side to see someone else. On the day I visited, Robert Picardo was sitting next to two of the Stargate alumni which is fitting given his appearance and connection to this series, it was just strange to have my Star Trek mindset on whilst Daniel Jackson himself from Stargate SG1 was sitting next to him signing autographs from his own series. To use a Ghostbusters adage, definitely crossing the streams here! I did like the fact when I opted for my Innerspace picture it was signed with his name and ‘cowboy jack’ such a great memorable character, and in person, a thoroughly humble and welcoming guest.
So there we have it, 30 days of talking about my interests, fandoms, perspectives and tastes. I hope you have all enjoyed it, as an exercise it has been illuminating and allowed me to talk more freely and openly about my interests in contrast to my more review based writing. Along the way you’ve been witness to some dubious wardrobe choices on my part when I visited various locations over the last few months and years being a bit of a nerd on tour. In addition to random musings and ramblings from a middle class Englishman on his foray into geek culture. I have enjoyed the experience though, I imagine I will try this again in the near future but for now, a big thank you to Megan and her Geek Gal blog who was the inspiration behind undertaking this blogging challenge. You can find the original post here for her blogging challenge, check it out. And if you want a concise, neat place to access all the pieces I wrote in November the launch post has been updated with all the articles I have written so a handy place to delve deeper into the challenge. Join in if you feel inspired, just make sure you tag in Megan when you do. For now, peace out!
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