My theme for the Star Trek blogs continues “Why is Star Trek so cult like ?” The topic today is: It Builds Identity & Belonging. Star Trek doesn’t just have fans—it has members. People don’t just “like” it. They:

• Wear uniforms

The 2nd day was a sea day and was all about getting immersed into Star Trek.  Who would have known that my first real TV show that I watched growing up would come to this.  Star Trek helped to shape my life, move me towards engineering and a love to be creative and to think outside the box.  

It became part of my family, first with my wife and then gradually our children got immersed into the shows and  now our grandchildren.  One of my grandsons was so excited that he face timed me last night to get an update on the cruise.

Our day started out with William Shatner.  He is now 95 years old and still getting around.  He was up on stage talking about life and what motivates him and all of the projects that he is currently involved in.  He finished writing a book last year and is releasing a new book this year.  He has music albums coming out.  He has podcasts going on all the while he is still riding horses several times a week.  His personality was very similar to Captain Kirk on the TV shows and movies.  

We then headed to Scotty’s bar on the Promenade and watched the Star Trek Discovery Panel.  They had 7 actors from the show and they talked about the show, what is was like being an actor and how they get to be on the show. We then changed into our Star Trek uniforms. Yes, we are members of the Star Trek world. 

We then went over to Quark’s bar and camped out there as Quark was coming to bar tend later.  We got some prime seats and then sampled a lot of the different cocktails they had.  Each bar had different types of drinks, like Warp Core Breach, Klingon Blood Wine, Dilithium Matrix and many others.  Quark showed up as he is in real life and we got some drinks from him, got to talk with him, and Nicky even got a hug from him.  It was well worth the wait.  It was crazy how many people turned out to see him. 

Many people were dressed up with crazy makeup and outfits. We even watched some fans getting made up. 

Then over to the theatre for the nightly show.   Tonight was an all about music.  Q (John de Lancie) moderated the orchestra which played a variety of Star Trek music as well as some unique scores that were created just for this cruise.  William Shatner finished up the show with a rendition of Rocket Man with slightly different lyrics more attuned to his life.  

I was very tired from the day but the girls went to Chekov, from Star Trek Original. He is 90 years old and still going strong.  Chekov told them about how Star Trek became a cult and blossomed. 

Star Trek became popular because:

It started with a powerful idea

Fans rescued it through reruns

Conventions created a following 

Movies legitimized it

The Next Generation renewed it

Streaming preserved it

Values kept it relevant

Chekov talked about the 1st 3 years and then nothing for a lot of the actors, then came conventions, which helped build support and give the actors purpose. This built support for a movie production, reruns also built support. 

All of this built identity & belonging.