Being Star Trek fans for many years, I think it would be hard to find a fan who hasn’t experienced derogatory remarks now and again about the universe we love so much.  It’s always great to hear when someone well known declares their love for Star Trek.  Trek fans like Stephen Hawking, Richard Branson or Chris Hadfield help our cause.

It’s disappointing when the opposite happens.

Ryan Tubridy, presenter of the Late Late Show in Ireland (it is the world’s second longest-running chat show, after the American The Tonight Show)  doesn’t have much time for Star Trek fans it seems!

According to the Irish Independent Ryan Tubridy said he has no regrets about his decision to shut down his Twitter account in 2011, despite having more than 60,000 followers.

“I’d rather read a good book than what some guy in a bedsit watching Star Trek thinks about me.” 

I made a decision to go offline a couple of years ago and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened”.  

The 42-year-old admitted that he used to seek out “critique and criticism” in reviews but when the Internet became a breeding ground for trolls, he decided he’d had enough.

Ah now Ryan! I’ve met you at a Star Wars convention so you obviously have time for a bit of sci-fi.  Your remark probably won’t go down well with Star Trek fans.  It does imply that we’re all lonesome lads on social media.

Have you interviewed Patrick Stewart Ryan?  Please tell him your opinions about Star Trek fans.  He once objected when an interviewer described Trekkies as “weird”, calling it a “silly thing to say”. Stewart added, “How many do you know personally? You couldn’t be more wrong.”

Isaac Asimov described us: “Trekkies are intelligent, interested, involved people with whom it is a pleasure to be, in any numbers. Why else would they have been involved in Star Trek, an intelligent, interested, and involved show?”

Maybe in some crazy way you’re just angling for a role in the new Star Trek series out in 2017? 😉

Here at Star Trek Eire we’re sharing our love of Star Trek with whoever wants to join in. We love to see fans at our screenings wearing uniforms and fully embracing the Star Trek universe but we cater for all types of Star Trek fans.  If you just enjoy watching the series or movies, come along! You won’t feel under dressed!

Some Famous Star Trek fans

• Bill Nye – Scientist and television host of Bill Nye the Science Guy, praised Star Trek by stating that “In all the versions of Star Trek, the future for humankind is optimistic. They’ve solved all the problems of food, clothing and shelter. And you know how they solved them? Through science. Not only that, in the Star Trek future, everybody gets along…”
• Martin Cooper – invented the first Mobile phone, was inspired to do so after seeing Captain Kirk use his communicator.
• Michael Jones – Chief technologist of Google Earth, has cited the tricorder’s mapping capability as one inspiration in the development of Keyhole/Google Earth.
• Stephen Hawking – Scientist, who played himself (as a computer reconstruction) on the Next Generation episode “Descent“. While on the set he wanted to see the Enterprise’s warp engine room set. After seeing it he commented, “I am working on that.”
• Randy Pausch – the late Carnegie Mellon University professor who gave The Last Lecture. He had a cameo in the 2009 Star Trek film.
• Neil deGrasse Tyson – astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator. He mentioned in an episode of StarTalk Radio, while talking to Wil Wheaton, that he styles his sideburns in a point as an homage to Star Trek.
• Bill Gates – Founder of Microsoft. The world’s first personal computer, The Altair 8800, was named after a fictional galaxy mentioned on Star Trek by the computers inventor, a die hard fan. Bill Gates wrote his first software on this computer, bringing in the Computer Age.
• Sir Richard Branson – the founder of the Virgin brand. He named the first spacecraft of his Virgin Galactic venture VSS Enterprise and the second one VSS Voyager.
• Tracey Emin – a British artist, who created a hand-sewn blanket entitled Star Trek Voyager which was auctioned for £800,000 in 2007. (from wikipedia).

Ryan Tubridy’s quote came from a recent interview on www.independent.ie

Update: Mark Stephen Hughes just posted on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/startrekeire a link to an interview between Ryan and Mark. Ryan does like his science fiction, and knows some of the Star Trek characters (it sounds like more than just being well prepped by his assistants). His comment (that this article is based on) seems out of place… If he was on twitter he could clear all this up lol 😉