BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
The following story is Part 1 of my journey through fandom to the command of my own Starship (chapter in Starfleet International – ‘the Fleet’). A little history of Star Trek is necessary to help the understanding of the birth of Starfleet and other Star Trek based fan organizations. It’s been a rough road, but one that has been more beneficial to me than detrimental. I have made a lot of friendships which have lasted for almost 30 years.
2026 will see the 60th anniversary of the premiere episode of Star Trek The original Series (TOS) called Man Trap which aired on September 8, 1966.
There are a number of things that people who are not “Trekkies” or “Trekkers” depending on the person using the term, do not know is that this episode almost never made it to airing. After the first pilot episode “The Cage” the censors panned it calling it to cerebral and decided not to go with it. But they did something that was unheard of back then and even into today. They authorized a second pilot episode. That episode was called, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.
Creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry came to Desilu with an idea for a pilot that would grow into Star Trek. Ball bought the series, even if she didn’t quite understand it; allegedly, she thought the title referred to a group of traveling USO performers during WWII. Author Marc Cushman wrote of the actress in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story that, “She may have initially misunderstood the Star Trek concept, but TV’s ‘wacky redhead,’ known for playing a character that had always had a harebrained scheme up her sleeve, had learned well from Desi Arnaz. He had been called crazy many times by Industry insiders but always proved his critics wrong.”
Still, she supported his space western vision, even as some board members were resistant to the idea. It was thanks to her that “The Cage” was produced in the first place. Ball stood by the show through two pilots being shot and a massive budget, and the rest is history. A studio accountant named Edwin “Ed” Holly is on the record as saying, “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today.”
Unfortunately, Ball couldn’t prevent the final cancellation of the series after season 3 final episode on June 3, 1969. Star Trek would end up with a bigger audience in the 1970’s in syndication than it had in original runs.
In the wake of that cancellation, 51 years ago, the organization called Starfleet International was born. It has since become the largest and longest running Star Trek fan club in the world. There are 20 regions and over 200 ships (chapters) and over 5000 members in the fleet.
I first got involved in what is called fandom in 1997. The first organization I was in was called the Federation on a ship called the USS Renstar. I transferred to the USS Relentless (A Sovereign Class Starship) because there were people on the Renstar who I did not get along with and my ability to advance in that club was minimal. On the Relentless I worked my way up to Commander and First Officer. Around 2007 the Federation fell apart and we went independent. In August of 2008 my Captain died unexpectedly and that put me in Command of the ship. Our membership was slipping and we had to decide if we were going to continue to operate.
I stayed in Fandom going to conventions like Slanted Fedora (now defunct) Farpoint, ICON (also defunct) and others as well other events. My first Shore Leave was Shore Leave 25 in July 2001.
While I was involved in the Federation, I got involved in Starfleet in 2001. It was not unheard of to be a part of multiple fan organizations at the same time. The first ship I was on was the USS Justice. Life interfered with my participation, so I had to let my membership lapse.
In 2007 on the way home from Shore Leave, my friend Steve Rodriguez and I were talking about the possibility of starting our own ship. By the time the 3-hour ride was done, we had decided to do it. Now it was a matter of filling out he paperwork to get the ship going. We got all of the paperwork filled out and got ready to file it and get started. The original name of the ship was to be the USS Hudson Valley, since we were going to have 6 counties in the lower Hudson Valley as our territory.
I renewed my Starfleet membership and joined the USS Britannic. My plan was to tell my Captain on the Relentless that I was leaving to run a ship in Starfleet. His unexpected death, which I mentioned earlier, would now put me in charge of two ships. I delayed submitting the paperwork to Starfleet until we could get things taken care of with the Relentless. As another friend said, you can’t serve two masters. After consulting with the crew, we decided to put the Relentless into drydock. November 2008, at our annual pre-thanksgiving event we officially decommissioned the Relentless.
A friend in Fleet said I should not regionalize it. So, I decided to name it the USS Abraham Lincoln. There was one requirement I had for the ship registry number, 1809 had to be in it. I really liked the Nebula Class starships, if had been able to get one of those, my registry number would have been NCC – 61809. But unfortunately, that was not available. I decided on a Galaxy Class Type 2 giving us the registry number NCC – 71809.
In January 2009, I had a meeting with the 10 people who had signed up to be a part of the ship to go over what was going to be required to do this venture. It was basically an, are we all in on this? I laid down some ground rules, and the major one was that this is NOT going to be a top-down chapter. My knowledge of trek is not the governing factor here. This will be a totally cooperative ship. I will need everyone’s opinions and advice on things. Another was that real life takes priority. Don’t worry about not being able to make it to a meeting or event then that’s ok. Some people were worried that they didn’t know a lot about Star Trek. I reassured them that prior knowledge of trek was not a pre requisite for being a part of this. They al agreed and I filed the final paperwork.
One thing I asked Fleet for was that our launch date be 2/12/2009. The 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. Our ship should be born on the same day as it’s ancestor.
Now the hard work began….
STORY TO BE CONTINUED…..