May 7th, 2009
inkdick: may 07 2009 nerd culture
I’ve been noticing this a lot with “nerd” movies in the last year (it was REALLY noticeable with Watchmen). Is this widespread or just in Savannah? I mean, I’m glad these things are getting mainstream attention, but the high school-era fanboy in me takes issue with that.
And yes, Star Trek WAS as good as I wanted it to be, and I wanted it to be pretty damn good.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:57 am
The new Star Trek was made with the ‘non-fan’ in mind, and thusly, it’s fun to see the absolute seething nerd rage that’s taken over the Trekkies of late, because the new movie wasn’t specifically made for them, instead they choice the route of making the movie accessible to everyone, instead of keeping to a business model for aging dinosaurs.
June 5th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Yeah, when I saw Watchmen in Ohio, there weren’t a lot of “fanboys.”
June 5th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Well, here is the thing on that. I feel that this movie was made for fans AND non-fans alike. Now, I’m no Trekkie, I’m nowhere near hardcore enough for that, but I am a fan of the original series and The Next Generation. Andy who came with us had never seen anything dealing with Star Trek EVER. Yet we BOTH loved the movie. Yeah, on the internet some Trekkies are bitching and moaning about it, but it seems like most Star Trek fans I talked to really enjoyed it, even if it broke away from the model they know and love. I really feel that there was enough in this movie for both camps: the fans and non-fans.
Yeah, you are going to get some angry Trekkies who wouldn’t be happy unless they cast William Shatner himself as young Kirk and had the set look like it was made of cardboard, but I think they are in the minority of the fandom. But what do I know? Star Trek was never my bag growing up, I was always a Star Wars kid. In the end lightsabers beat phasers any day of the week ending in a y.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:18 am
Dude, this comic comes off a little alienating to the ladies. It feels like you’re scolding women for damaging nerd culture with their presence.
Now if her title was “Cheerleader” or “Regina George,” not just “Girl,” THAT I could get behind :P
June 5th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Nerd is becoming more and more mainsteam everywhere nowadays.Now anyone can do it. :D
June 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am
There was a time when I would have completely agreed with you on the Star Wars vs Star Trek thing, but after seeing Episode 1, 2, 3 and J.J. Abram’s Star Trek, I have to admit that my faith in the force has dwindled severely.
But hey - both series still have their awesome moments.
June 5th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Haha, I was a Star Wars and Star Trek kind of kid. I was pretty pleased with it myself, actually. I stuck with TOS and TNG when I was younger, mainly because that’s what they showed most. Data was always my favorite. I’m definitely not a crazy Trekkie, but I have my moments.
In regards to the first three ‘new’ episodes of Star Wars, I was definitely not pleased, they weren’t terrible but boy we they far from what I would have liked to see. I think this new Star Trek was definitely well beyond anything I could have expected, and I went in expecting the very worst.
I saw it with my sister who was never a fan of Star Trek, but she saw it multiple times, ( I blame Chris Pine), and she was always the one ratting on me for being a “trekkie nerd”. So her becoming all “I love Star Trek” is quite the strange thing for me to see.
Apparently, it’s cool to be a nerd now? They ruined everything for me!!!
June 5th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
I didn’t mean any disrespect to the ladies, T. I was just making a little joke on what people think a “typical nerd” is. I know there are lots of female nerds (my lady is one of them). I was just trying to poke fun at what the stereotype of a typical nerd is in our culture and poking fun of the notion that the nerd culture is a “boys only” club, even though it isn’t in reality. Trust me, I know there are lots and lots of women nerds out there (at SCAD the sequential art department, which let’s face it is a pretty nerd-oriented major, is almost 50% female now). Again, just poking fun at the stereotypes. Maybe it didn’t come off as clear as I had hoped.
That…and I ran out of space to write “cheerleader” when I was inking the damn thing.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
A little Pranas Trivia for all you guys, the guy on the right in the third panel? That was Pranas at the X3 Opening, way back in 2006. Sans the claws and maybe the hair.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Nerd culture is growing because the quality of nerd-productions has improved. The original Star Trek productions (movies, tv shows etc) were less appealing to people outside of the loop. Now that people realize that Star Trek isn’t just a group of people in pajamas shifting side to side when they’re hit by a photon torpedo in a giant odd looking ship, they are more interested in seeing it.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Here’s a little Brett trivia for you guys: SHUT THE HELL UP, BRETT! They will know my secret shame…
June 6th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Probably for two reasons. The movie was actually really good so it appealed to more than just the core fans. And two, nerds are becoming more in large part socially accepted. This makes enjoying geeky things like video games and sci fi movies acceptable to enjoy, regardless of who you are or how you live your life.
June 7th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
You make an excellent point. I thought much the same thing when I saw the crowd fill the theatre. However, it’s not really a nerd movie now, is it? :)