I've been a fan of Star Trek since I was five years old; I've seen the Original Series first run, the series since then, the movies, etc. In fact, Trek is why I love Sci Fi in general, whether it's Doctor Who, tho two StarGate series (and movies), and, yes, even Lost In Space.

Why Trekkie, and not Trekker? Well, it's like this...

In the 1970's when Trek was starting to have its resurgence, the fans were divided into three groups:

TREKKERS, who considered themselves the Cream of the Crop of fans; by their own admission (or, bragging), claimed that it was THEY who did the Letter Writing Campaign to keep Trek on the air; that it was THEY who put on the Cons, that it was THEY who, in general, "Kept it ALIVE for EVERYONE!!"

TREKKISTS (which was the group I pretty much fit into) who watched the show (this was BF: Before the Films), bought the merchandise, attended the Cons...in other words, helped to keep it going, without "Doing all of the legwork".

And then...
TREKKIES: The Annoying, obnoxious ANIMALS who "Scurried about, bothering the people who worked on the show, who had NO RESPECT AT ALL for "all of the work that goes into keeping it going"...Yada, yada yada. In other words, the Bottom Feeders.

(As if you couldn't tell, the list was made by the so-called Trekker faction...)

For me, this issue was resolved during an appearance by Gene Roddenberry HIMSELF at a speaking engagement, which I was lucky enough to attend in the late '70s.
When asked which term he preferred---asked by someone who introduced himself as a TREKKER, by the way---Gene said that he preferred TREKKIE. The reason? Because it was originated By HIM, that's why.

And that's good enough for me.





STAR TREK, copyright CBS-VIACOM-PARAMOUNT