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http://tinyurl.com/d9m9ec wrote:
Barack Obama, Angelina Jolie, Tom Hanks and more famous Trekkies
By Joe Neumaier Monday, May 4th 2009, 4:47 PM

<<It's inevitable that a franchise like "Star Trek," which has had 11 movies — including this Friday's eagerly anticipated reboot — five television series, and a Saturday morning TV show since hitting warp speed 43 years ago, would have a few stellar fans.

You just might not expect one to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Of course, to those who know a logical-yet-compassionate future-thinking leader when they see one, it's no surprise that President Barack Obama revealed himself to be a fan of "Trek" when he was on the campaign trail last fall. At a stop in Casper, Wyoming, the then-candidate answered a question about NASA by first announcing, "I grew up on 'Star Trek' — I believe in the 'final frontier.'"

And during an NPR interview in September, actor Leonard Nimoy - once, now and always Mr. Spock - told an anecdote about how he "ran into one of the presidential candidates" and that the candidate had given him the Vulcan salute. While Nimoy didn't say it was Obama, "it was not John McCain," he revealed.

President Obama isn't the only big name who loves to boldly go where no one had gone before. King of Hollywood and space aficionado Tom Hanks reportedly only wanted to talk "Trek" when he met Patrick Stewart (aka "Star Trek: The Next Generations's" Capt. Jean-Luc Picard). "Tom doesn't just watch every show, he reads the credits," Stewart said. "He knows the name of every 'Trek' character, past, present, and I think, future."

Women, too, beam aboard the franchise's fan base: Angelina Jolie once told Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" that when she was young, she had a crush on Nimoy. "I was focused on Spock... he was so repressed, and I just wanted to make him scream." (Stewart meanwhile admitted he "had a thing" for communications officer Lt. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols.)

Rosario Dawson ("I love 'Star Trek,' it's one of my favorite things in the world") even goes so far as loving Trekkies; she once gave a one-word, Klingon-language salute at a comics convention. She told "Trek" director J.J. Abrams that she'd love to be in the new film, but Abrams didn't take her up on it.

Had Dawson nabbed a cameo, she'd have joined the celebrity fans who've appeared onscreen in one "Trek" incarnation or another. And it's not just actors like Kelsey Grammer, Christian Slater, and Whoopi Goldberg: Physicist Stephen Hawking appeared as a computer simulation of himself, and King Abdullah II of Jordan was an extra on a "Star Trek: Voyager" episode.

Government-types, apparently, really click with Starfleet. Former secretary of state Gen. Colin Powell visited the set of "Next Generation" when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And former Vice President Al Gore watched the original 1966 -'69 show in college more than he studied — according to his Yale roommate, Tommy Lee Jones.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie wrote:
<<Some Star Trek enthusiasts prefer the term "Trekkie", while some others self-identify as "Trekker". Self-identification as a "Trekkie" became even less popular after a famous national television parody in 1986 (see In Popular Culture below); several self-described "Trekkers" were quoted as saying they "had a life" (contrasting themselves from "Trekkies"). In the 1991 TV show Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Special, Leonard Nimoy attempted to settle the issue by stating that the term 'Trekker' is the correct one.

In the documentary Trekkies, Kate Mulgrew stated that Trekkers are the ones "walking with us" while the Trekkies are the ones content to simply sit and watch Star Trek. The issue is also shown in the film Trekkies 2, in which a Star Trek fan recounts a supposed incident during a Star Trek convention where Gene Roddenberry used the term "trekkies" to describe fans of the show, only to be corrected by a fan that stood up and yelled "Trekkers!" Gene Roddenberry allegedly responded with "No, it's 'Trekkies.' I should know — I invented the thing." Roddenberry has also allegedly used the term "Trekker" in interviews and personal appearances, arguably proving that he did in actual fact not consider either term to be the correct one. Generally, fans of film and television franchises make up their own nicknames, as with the "Browncoats" who are fans of the Firefly television series.

During the 1996 Whitewater controversy, a bookbindery employee named Barbara Adams served as an alternate juror. During the trial Adams wore a Star Trek: The Next Generation-style Starfleet Command division uniform, including a commbadge, a phaser, and a tricorder. Adams was dismissed from the trial for conducting a sidewalk interview with the television program American Journal. The major news media[who?] reported (wrongfully) that she was dropped for wearing her Star Trek uniform to the trial. Adams noted she was dropped because she talked to a reporter of America Journal about her Trek uniform and not anything about the trial. Although nothing was deemed as a trial enclosure violation, the rule was clearly stated: no juror was to communicate with the press in any manner. Adams stated the judge at the trial was supportive of her. She said she believed in the principles expressed in Star Trek and found it an alternative to "mindless television" because it promotes tolerance, peace, and faith in mankind.

Notable individual trekkies/trekkers/Trek fans

* King Abdullah II of Jordan is a Star Trek fan, and appeared in an episode of Star Trek Voyager.

* Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones in Doctor Who) watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and at least once attended a convention.

* Jason Alexander (George Costanza on Seinfeld) is a 'Trekkie'. He is knowledgeable about The Original Series and played the part of Kurros in the Voyager episode "Think Tank". Also, the actor appeared in the Brad Paisley 2007 music video "On-Line" with William Shatner where he is seen in Vulcan Ears wearing a "Beam Me Up" T-shirt.

* Isaac Asimov, a close personal friend of Gene Roddenberry. He attended the first public screening of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and attended numerous conventions during the 1970s.

* Bill Bailey, comedian, named his child after the Deep Space Nine character Dax. "I may just have given him too much baggage," Bailey has joked. "I'll tell him he’s named after the German stock exchange."

* John Barrowman, Torchwood and Doctor Who star is a fan of Deep Space Nine.

* Tom Bergeron, host of Hollywood Squares and America's Funniest Home Videos, guest starred on Enterprise.

* Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin brand. He named the first spacecraft of his Virgin Galactic venture VSS Enterprise.

* Daniel Craig, actor, the sixth actor to play James Bond. Stated in a 2007 interview that he would like to appear in Star Trek.

* Jim Davidson actor/comedian

* Rosario Dawson actress, claimed that Star Trek is "one of [her] favorite things in the world."

* Mick Fleetwood, member of rock group Fleetwood Mac, made a cameo appearance in the Next Generation episode "Manhunt"

* Megan Fox, actress

* Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is reported by Nichelle Nichols to have been a fan of the Original Series, for the message (controversial at the time) that it sent about white people and black people working together as equals.

* Whoopi Goldberg, specifically requested a role in Star Trek: The Next Generation because the character of Uhura inspired her early acting career. She played the recurring role of an alien named Guinan on the TV show and in the film Star Trek: Generations. She also had an uncredited appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis during the wedding scene towards the beginning of the movie.

* Family Guy executive producer, David A. Goodman, is a major Star Trek fan. He has written an episode of Futurama entirely devoted to Star Trek, and later four episodes of Enterprise. He even paid tribute to the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation by spoofing the cliffhanger ending of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" and using it as the cliffhanger ending of the 100th episode of Family Guy, "Stewie Kills Lois".

* Al Gore, forty-fifth Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He watched the show more than he studied, according to his Harvard University roommate Tommy Lee Jones.

* Kelsey Grammer is a Star Trek fan. He guest starred on the Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect" and had Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner each guest star in two episodes of his show Frasier. Furthermore, he speaks Klingon in the Frasier episode "Star Mitzvah".

* Tom Hanks, a fan since childhood. He is purported to know the name of every Next Generation episode.[18] He was considered for the role of Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact, but had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict.

* Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.

* Stephen Hawking, who played himself (as a computer reconstruction) on the Next Generation episode "Descent".

* Chris Jericho, professional wrestler.

* Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a.: The Rock), professional wrestler, made a guest appearance on the Star Trek: Voyager episode, "Tsunkatse" as a Pendari wrestler.

* Angelina Jolie, actress, confesses to having a childhood crush on Mr. Spock.

* American conservative Alan Keyes (known best for his career runs for president) has stated his favorite television program is Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He once said about Star Trek, "There's something basically clean and decent and all-American about the respect for human dignity that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry showed."

* Gabriel Köerner, a profilee in Trekkies who went on to guest star on The Drew Carey Show and as the "Star Trek Geek" on the game show Beat the Geeks.

* Welsh rock group Lostprophets are fans of the show. Mike Lewis is said to own a Star Trek uniform.

* Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, a professor of cognitive neuroscience, popular author and musician, has been known to use clips from TNG in his university lectures, and his book The World in Six Songs features transliterated Klingon dialect.

* Lewis "Scooter" Libby: Yale classmate Donald Hindle said Libby had the "decidedly nonpolitical talent" of remembering all 79 Star Trek episodes and "knew all the titles, too."

* George Lucas considers himself a Trekkie and has cited Star Trek as his inspiration for creating the Star Wars franchise. He also finds hypothetical "war" scenarios between the two franchises distasteful.

* Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show, is an avid fan. He has embedded dozens of Star Trek references onto his shows, and twice guest starred on Enterprise. He says his favorite Star Trek series is The Next Generation and he reunited the cast of that show for the Family Guy episode, "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven".

* Congressman Dan Maffei (D-NY-25) participated in Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District" segment on The Colbert Report. In the interview, Maffei and Colbert donned goatees in reference to Spock in the Original Series episode Mirror, Mirror. At the end of the interview, Maffei and Colbert exchanged the Vulcan Salute.

* Timothy McVeigh, bomber, became fascinated with The Next Generation, admiring Jean-Luc Picard for his knowledge and diplomacy; Worf for being the consummate warrior; Data for his logic; and Geordi La Forge for his proficiency.

* Vic Mignogna, a well-known anime voice actor.

* Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist. He appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Good Shepherd".

* Eddie Murphy, who nearly starred in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. When his million-dollar contract with Paramount Pictures arrived to be signed by Murphy, he delayed signing it for nearly an hour because he was so engrossed with an episode of the original series.

* Barack Obama, Leonard Nimoy hinted that Obama greeted him with the Vulcan salute. Obama further requested a screening of the new Star Trek film at the White House

* Mike Oldfield, musician.

* Brad Paisley, country singer. When a fan won a contest to spend the day with him in Las Vegas, one location Paisley took the fan was the Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience. As seen in a TV show documenting this contest, Brad proudly sat in the exhibit's captain's chair on the bridge of Enterprise-D. William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, has appeared in several of Paisley's music videos, including 2007's "On-Line"; this song includes the line "I'm a Sci-Fi fanatic" and, in the video, Jason Alexander (playing the title character) is seen wearing Vulcan Ears and a "Beam Me Up" T-shirt while chatting on-line. Paisley also wrote and performed vocals for "Real", the closing song from Shatner's 2004 album Has Been.

* Randy Pausch, late Carnegie Mellon professor who gave the Last Lecture has a cameo in the 2009 Star Trek film.

* Colin Powell, United States Secretary of State from 2001-2005, visited The Next Generation set.

* Ronald Reagan visited the set of The Next Generation in 1991 during filming of "Redemption". He remarked "I like them [the Klingons]. They remind me of Congress."

* Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California and actor.

* Ayrton Senna, Formula One racing driver, stated in an interview with Autosport that he enjoyed the Original Series.

* Frank Sinatra "never missed" The Next Generation.[18] Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data on the series, returned the favor by recording a tribute album called Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back.

* Bryan Singer, director of The Usual Suspects, the first two X-Men films and Superman Returns. Singer had a brief cameo as a bridge officer in Star Trek Nemesis.

* Christian Slater, who had a cameo as an officer on the USS Excelsior in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

* Mira Sorvino, Academy award-winning actress, stated on the Conan O'Brien show that she was a big fan of The Original Series.

* Ben Stiller has been a huge Trek fan since he was a kid. Stiller's production company, "Red Hour Films", is named after an alien riot featured in the Original Series episode "The Return of the Archons". A clip of "Arena" was shown in his film, Tropic Thunder. In the movie Zoolander, Stiller named the villain "Mugatu", after a similarly named creature in the original series episode "A Private Little War".

* Matt Stone and Trey Parker are Star Trek fans and have put many references to the franchise in South Park.

* Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino cites Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as one of his favorite films, and references Star Trek in several of his films.

* Bjo Trimble, who helped spearhead the letter writing campaign that convinced NBC to continue Star Trek for a third season.

* Karl Urban has been a fan of the show since he was seven years old and was cast in the role of Leonard McCoy in the 2009 film. He actively pursued the role after rediscovering the series on DVD with his son.

* D'arcy Wretzky, former bassist of The Smashing Pumpkins, said she was "a big 'Star Trek' fan, but I'm not into the conventions or the ears or anything like that."

* Oregon Congressional Representative David Wu delivered a heavily Trek-infused speech to the House of Representatives on January 10, 2007.

* Pharrell Williams, music producer, song-writer, hip-hop artist, and frontman for the rock band N.E.R.D is a life long fan, as seen in his consistent use of the Vulcan Salute. Pharrell's also named his music label, Star Trak Entertainment, in homage to the series.

* Finally, some of the principal actors in second-generation Star Trek productions were fans of the franchise at the time of their selection, including Jolene Blalock, Wil Wheaton and (according to Wheaton), LeVar Burton.