One of the great things about scifi fandom is getting to meet and talk to all kinds of interesting people, and I don't just mean the actors, actresses, and folks who work behind the scenes of the shows. I'm talking also about our fellow fans.  Recently, I was given the opportunity to interview each of the Roddenberry members of the Month from January up to this point, and will be interviewing each new member of the month as they are named.  

In January, Kimberly Sanford became the first member of the month for 2008.  Kimberly is 24, a full time pre-med student, who also works as a medical research assistant and also does some acting as a student.  In her spare time, she's an avid inline rollerskater.  She comments that she does ramps and the like, but does try grinding down stairway rails like some do.  She laughs when she says that she's had to stop some of it as she's gotten older.

She became a fan of Trek when she was around 9 or 10 as, according to her, her parents watched it and so did she.  When I asked her which incarnation of Trek she remembered first, it was the original series and as we all can guess from her photo on Roddenberry.com, her favorite character was Mr. Spock.  She is a member of the official Star Trek fan club and is also a member of Leonard Nimoy's official fan club.  

One of the things that impressed her about Star Trek the most was the way it paints the future and gives hope for today.  “Star Trek is everything that we're not, but everything we can be.” she said during our interview.  “It gives us a better outlook of what we can do if we just put our minds to and and work towards everything for mankind.”  She also commented that the stories were great stories which conveyed that message so well.  

When I asked her what about the Roddenberry philosophy draws her the most, she related that it was that there is no problems with interaction with people, and no stigmas such as racism or sexism.  People just get along and work together to make things great.  Currently she is working on a video assignment for her environmental studies class.  Her assignment is to take Star Trek IV:  The Voyage Home and “relate it in the environmental message”.  She hopes to post it on YouTube when it is done.  I'll let everyone know if she does as she's promised to let me know.

Our member of the month for February is Scott Nelson, a former police officer from Bedford, Texas.  Currently he works with his brother in a production company that produces musical and theatrical productions, the most recent one being a Frank Sinatra tribute show.  They have released three albums of his brother's singing which are available on Borders.com.  

Scott is a avid collector of scifi comics and other items and was recently featured last year in an article in the Star-Telegram newspaper.  He laughed when he told me that it drives his family crazy, wondering what he is going to do with all of it that he is constantly buying and putting away.  His collection includes comic books and toys, most of it being Star Trek related.  He also has Lost in Space items, superhero items, and other forms of scifi, but his favorites are Star Trek and Stargate.

Currently, he is not a part of any organized fan group.  It's not because he doesn't believe in them or anything like that, but he never really considered himself “a fan”.  He refers to his interest as one who really enjoys the shows and collecting the memorabilia.  He's gone to a few conventions, but not many.  He stated that he was not our typical hardcore fan you see sometimes, who wears the costumes and lives and breathes the show.  He is concerned that some fans get so caught up in it that they forget that it's just a show.  However, he stresses that he does not say that to discredit them as they are as passionate about what they do as he is with his activities.  He just goes a different direction.

His favorite incarnation of Trek is, like Kimberly's, the original series.  He really enjoyed how the core characters interacted in it.  As his name is Scott and many of his friends call him Scotty, it's really no surprise when he says that his favorite character is Scotty.  He is kind of disappointed that Rick Berman was not involved in the new Star Trek film project and admits that he is not that familiar with J.J. Abrams's work.  He, like many others, is concerned about what the movie will contain in light of the reports that the backstory of the original series is being changed.  He plans to see the movie next year, if only to support the franchise as if the movie doesn't succeed, there will probably not be another series.  

I asked him if he has got to meet any of the stars.  He told me that he has met Walter Koenig, George Takei, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, Chase Masterson, and John DeLancie at the conventions he's attended.  He hopes to get to meeting more of the stars at future conventions.  

What got Scott's attention and made him so interested in Star Trek was the whole aspect of space exploration and that one day in the future, everyone would have a better life.  The original series showed everyone that all of the strife and problems of the 1960's could be solved.  That was the message that Gene Roddenberry showed in the series, in Scott's opinion.  Scott went on to say that one of the problems in television today is that instead of television presenting things like Star Trek did with object lessons incorporated into a good story, modern television is too much “in your face” with issues.   I discovered that Scott shares my view that the absolute example of this is the TOS episode, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” which presented the issue of racism so brilliantly, yet in such a way that it didn't run people off or turn them off to its message.  Scott shared with me his thought that you would come away from it, thinking it was a great story, and sometimes afterward, it would hit you what the episode was talking about.

I had a wonderful time interviewing Kimberly and Scott for this column.  I only wish I had the time to share more they had to say.  Maybe I'll be able to in a future edition.  After talking with them, I could see why they became the first two members of the month for this year.  

A reminder:  if you come across something, be it scifi, fandom, or whatever item that you think folks would like to read in our new “Ain't That Weird” section, please send them to me.  drayburn@roddenberry.com is my email address.

AIN'T THAT WEIRD:  Many reporters go out hunting for news, but it's rarely you hear of the news coming to them.  According to wire service reports, WOIO TV newswoman Shannon O'Brien was out doing a sidewalk report on bank problems when a car stopped beside them and asked for directions.  The passenger was able to signal to them that he was being held at gunpoint.  The news crew followed the car until the police was able to catch up, stop the carjacking in progress and make the arrest.  

That's what I call getting the news as it happens!

Think about it.