Trekkie
Trekkie (or Trekker) is a term used to describe a fan of the Star Trek science fiction franchise. Thirty some odd years ago, science-fiction editor Art Saha coined the term "trekkies" when he saw a few fans of Star Trek's first season wearing pointy ears at a science fiction convention. He used the term in an interview with Pete Hamill that Hamill was conducting for TV Guide concerning the phenomenon of science fiction. Today, the word is found in the Oxford dictionary, and aficionados of the long-run series have seen their subculture achieve stratospheric status. Not all "Trekkies" are created equal, however, with some having distinct preferences for The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, or the movies. Some are also fans of the Pocket Books tie-in novel franchise and the comic books.
Some Trekkies regularly attend Star Trek Conventions (called "cons"), and are sometimes bitter rivals of hard core Star Wars fans. By analogy, Star Wars fans sometimes refer to themselves as "Warsies," and Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans frequently refer to themselves as "MSTies".
The term Trekkie is sometimes considered derogatory, perhaps because of a perceived parallel to the term groupie. Some Star Trek enthusiasts prefer the term Trekker, while some others hold the latter term to be stupid or pretentious, and, for that reason, self-identify as Trekkies. Some Trekkies even say that Trekker is a Trekkie who is embarrassed for being Trekkie. On the other hand, Trekker is sometimes used as a term for the kind of Star Trek fan who is obsessed with the fine details. They probably own, or perhaps have helped create, the blueprints for various Federation starships, have explanations for all apparent contradictions, like why in ST:TNG episode 524, "The Next Phase" where members were incorporeal, they could still breathe and were effected by artificial gravity and floors, et cetera.
There are many Star Trek fan clubs, the largest currently being STARFLEET International which has about 4,000 members.
A 1997 documentary film, called Trekkies, chronicled some of these devoted fans; a sequel followed in 2003. The argument that Trekkie is the correct term is settled once and for all by the director of Trekkies Roger Nygard by this post on the official web-site for the documentary. When a fan posed the question of why the film was called Trekkies and not Trekker, Nygard had this to say:
Gene Roddenberry's former assistant and Star Trek researcher, told us the following story, and that clinched it for us.
"Trekker" actually has it's origins in the early days. When the media picked up on the word "Trekkies," some of the fans thought that sounded too much like "Crazies."
Gene (Roddenberry) didn't recognize the term "Trekker" however. Somebody once corrected him when he used "Trekkie" on stage. He responded, "Excuse me, did you say 'TrekkER?' The word is 'TrekkIE.' I should know, I created them." http://www.trekdoc.com/database/fanfeed/1.htm
There is a persistent stereotype that amongst Trekkies can be found speakers of the artificial Klingon language. The reality is less clear-cut, as some of its most fluent speakers are more language aficionados than people obsessed with Star Trek. Most Trekkies have no more than a basic vocabulary of Klingon, like a few common words heard over the series innumerable times, but not Klingon's syntax or precise phonetics.
Trekkies have been parodied in several films including Galaxy Quest. William Shatner did a famous sketch on Saturday Night Live that also parodied Trekkies in which he played himself at a Star Trek convention at which he told the Trekkies to "get a life". There was once a pitch for a reality TV show featuring a group of "die hard" Trekkies and one normal person, though it remains to be seen if such an episode will be aired.
In recent years, infighting has erupted between different factions of Trekkies over the merits of recent incarnations of Star Trek, particularly the series Voyager and Enterprise which, for various reasons, have enraged almost as many Trekkies as they have entertained. Many Trekkies put the blame on the current producers of the program, while some of the most diehard Trekkies believe that Star Trek died when creator Gene Roddenberry passed away in 1991.
Many people believe that one of the major criteria for being a "nerd" is to be a Trekkie, and it is widely believed that Trekkies experience a high incidence of Asperger's Syndrome.
The first people to call themselves Trekkies are believed to be writers of Slash fiction involving James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock.