Convention Fans

On Saturday, I went and saw the movie Fanboys with my boyfriend, and my friend Bart (who contributed to the Zombification 101 article). Bart actually drove three hours to Philadelphia from Virginia, because our theater in Philly was one of the closest ones showing the movie. I decided the movie was worth reviewing here on the blog, being as conventions are populated by fanboys and fangirls alike. As a side note: I asked my boyfriend to write a brief review of the movie (which is posted right below mine), because whereas I moderately enjoyed it, he outright hated it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a Trekkie, but I am also a Star Wars fan. I saw all the Star Wars movies in the theater. I own movies IV-VI on DVD. I even had a Star Wars toy or two as a kid. I wanted to see Fanboys because the previews had some funny scenes, and I have an appreciation for the fandom. Unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to be both a Star Trek fan, and a Star Wars fan, and truly enjoy Fanboys. I’m not going to bother rehashing the plot, and just jump right into my review:

Fanboys has no problems throwing stones in a glass house. Even though one of the characters lives in his mom’s garage (er, “carriage house”), and the other has an online girlfriend he’s never met, the characters are battling with Trekkies throughout the entire film, asserting Star Wars fan superiority. On top of that, the Star Trek fans are painted in the worst possible light, and are complete caricatures instead of being real people. Apparently it never occurred to the film’s writers that there might be some cross over fans who like both Trek and Star Wars. Way to alienate part of your movie’s potential viewers!

At first, I thought the introduction of the Trekkies subplot was meant to reveal that the band of Star Wars fans would eventually realize they were no different that the Trekkies, but alas, that was not the case at all. In the end, I actually found the scenes with the Trek fans insulting, especially considering the Trekkie hate was coming from Star Wars fans of all people. Star Wars fans teasing Star Trek fans for being dorks is the ultimate instance of the pot calling the kettle black, and it’s pathetic that some people can’t see that.

Trekkies insults aside, I did find the movie amusing, and some parts were even outright funny. Kristen Bell (Zoe) was the high point of the movie, and as a female geek myself, I especially appreciated her character. Zoe was sassy, funny, well-versed in geekdom, and she could totally hold her own with the guys. That, and Bell’s comedic timing is pretty fantastic. It doesn’t hurt that she’s adorable. The other actor who did a good job was Dan Fogler (Hutch). Even though he was the biggest anti-Trekkie character in the movie, Fogler had a wide range of hysterical facial expressions, and his timing was right on. He was funny and interesting to watch, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in future movies. I think he’s pretty damn talented. The other members of the cast were sufficient, but hardly worth writing home about.

The plot, overall, wasn’t terrible, but I agree with other reviewers who said the introduction of the “cancer subplot” was awkward and not needed. There were other scenes that were just as equally unnecessary, as their sole point was to include as many cameos as possible. I’m sure you all have seen the movie’s trailer with William Shatner (Star Trek’s Captain Kirk) already, but I won’t spoil the rest of them, just in case you want to be surprised. But needless to say, there’s a lot of cameos. Some funny. Some not-so-much.

In the end, the movie had a nice sentimental point about friendship and following your dreams. But, I think Fanboys would have been a better movie overall if the cancer subplot had been dropped, some of the unnecessary scenes removed, and the outright hate towards the Trekkies reduced. I think the movie suffered from sitting on the shelves for a while, and then being subjected to new edits once it had been finished already. Someone needed to look at this movie with an editing eye, and trim the excess from it.

Fanboys was a funny movie, but it certainly wasn’t worth my friend’s three hour drive, and I’m not sure it was worth the price of the movie ticket. If anything, it’s more of a pay-per-view movie for an afternoon when the World of Warcraft servers are down.

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The Boyfriend’s Take on the ‘Fanboys’ Movie:

When reviewing this movie my girlfriend alluded to throwing stones in a glass house; I feel like this movie was more like shooting a machine gun off in a maternity ward, with your own newborn child in the room. To say that I was displeased with the depiction of Star Trek fans is a gross understatement.

Predictable dialogue and sub par character development aside, I had an overwhelming sense like this movie had been written and directed by the brainless Star Wars fans of my youth. Allow me to explain:

Like my girlfriend, I love both Star Trek and Star Wars. I enjoy Star Trek for the intellectual stimulus it provides me. It’s (generally) a well written show that often tackles controversial modern-day social agendas. You need to accept a certain level of camp from time to time, but Star Trek represents a chance to look backwards at the topics that our society grapples with today from the perspective of a more “enlightened” time.

Star Wars is great too, but for a different reason. Who doesn’t like light saber duels or X-Wings? The movies just bleed cool. Han Solo as, Fanboys suggests, is one of the most bad ass characters of all time! AWESOME!

So why can’t we enjoy both, but for different reasons?

In my mind, most people who are Star Wars fans but deride Star Trek as “lame” and “pathetic” have the intellectual capacity that god gave a papaya. The South American fruit conglomerates may not be happy with their product being brought down to the level of a fanboy, but I stand by my statement.

Pay attention to my next claim, it’s the key to my argument:

There is nothing wrong with not liking Star Trek. It isn’t for everyone!

But to “geek out” to Star Wars while trashing Star Trek fans as a bunch of sycophantic nerds that couldn’t brush their teeth with a gun to their head is just utter nonsense. While it’s true that pretty much any fandom has an element of socially backwards, crazy-bus riding, stalker-behavior-exhibiting basement dwellers… the vast majority of fans are regular people. Star Wars and Star Trek fans alike.

This movie was created by people that enjoy dorky stuff like spaceships and aliens, but don’t have the attention span to understand the complicated, thought-provoking characters and plots of Star Trek. There’s nothing wrong with liking Star Wars or Star Trek…

… but take a good, long look in the mirror.

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