My girlfriend hasn’t seen Star Wars.
She hasn’t seen Star Trek: anything. No 2001, no Matrix, and pretty much nothing else that’s considered required viewing in the world of science fiction. The list goes on even outside the world of science fiction: Forrest Gump, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Amadeus, Casablanca and The Great Escape. She’s seen none of these. If aliens abducted her and asked her what kinds of movies people on her planet liked, those aliens would attack us knowing they would easily destroy us. If you’re enemy like Legally Blonde, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Little Mermaid and Sleepless in Seattle, you wouldn’t be scared of him either.
And, yes, he deserves to die.
But…back to science fiction.
I’m not stupid enough to sit her down and force her to like science fiction because I know that won’t work. I believe that the best way to educate someone is to make him want to learn about it. Luckily, I sit around and draw comics all day. And, as most of you know, with that comes an impermeable fortress of science fiction knowledge.
But first, let me say this: there’s a lot of bad sci fi out there. These days, sci fi has become synonymous with action and not with science. Millions of dollars are blown on one CGI shot, while only thousands are spent on making the script…THE THING THE MOVIE IS BASED ON! It burns me up when I see how misdirected Hollywood can be.
Star Trek is my favorite. What got me hooked was Picard and TNG. The other day I bought the entire series of Voyager, which, although it was hard to admit at first, I like way better than TNG. I know the original series and I’ve seen the first seven movies, but I think the heart of what Star Trek is about is best captured in episodic format of TNG and Voyager. Sisko’s voice drives me up the wall so don’t ask.
My first attempt was a year ago. I mentioned how I was into TNG and she rolled her eyes. But I didn’t let up.
I came at her like ten well executed Battles for Endor with a hundred, million Ewoks. I told her about how it’s not about the science as much as it is about us. I told her about how hopeless the human condition is and how important it is to look to the future and not just the present. I told her about how, in Star Trek, everyone works to better themselves and how all the shit that make modern life unbearable (hunger, greed, selfishness, etc) is gone. I told her about the possibility that everything we experience could very well be a computer program while our bodies are powering machinery. I told her about the T2 paradox, the brilliance of 2001 and how awesomely bad Queen’s music was in Flash Gordon. Light sabers were flying around, Chewie was doing back flips, and Han Solo was dodging asteroids behind me as I jabbed my finger into her shoulder while driving my point home.
It didn’t work. Overkill. So I backed off and went back to my material. I realized that I needed to find something in sci fi that a girl would be into. Not a Leia. Not an Aeon. Something more respectable and independent. Like a Captain Janeway. It was perfect.
Months passed and I didn’t mention a thing. When she brought up something sci fi, I let it go. I pretended like I didn’t care because I wanted to reel her in a little. If she asked me about what my IDW Star Trek comic was about, I wouldn’t tell her and I knew that she’d wonder why. And that was compelling to her. Even though she won’t admit it today.
Then I endured some of her shows, thus building up points in my favor. I figured that by watching Gilmore Girls and Sex and the City she would owe me a few shows of my own. So I started her off on Futurama, the episode where Lela discovered that her parents were with her during her whole life and that she wasn’t alone. And that concept was enough to get me a second episode! So I showed her the one where Fry leaves his dog in the past, and my girlfriend was crying at the end! Soon she was watching it on her own, unknowingly getting a dose of sci fi in with her cartoon! It was perfect.
And then yesterday it all came together in one, glorious moment. I threw in Star Trek Voyager, the episode where the doctor tries to teach 7 of 9 to date. Once she got past how large 7’s boobs were (something many of us still haven’t gotten over), she was into it! She even laughed out loud! I think she even nodded her head from side to side when the characters sang “You are my Sunshine”! But the moment I felt sure victory was when she asked about the holodeck.
“Where are they now?” she asked wondering why there was a dimly lit bar on the ship.
“The holodeck. It’s too hard for you to understand, though, so forgot about it.” (me pulling away to create more intrigue.
“What’s the holodeck?” she asked.
“I’m trying to watch. Go away.”
“What’s the holodeck?!” she jammed her fingers into my armpit and started tickling me. I finally surrendered.
“It’s genius! It’s pure magic! It’s a room where you can create anything you want and it’ll seem real!”
“Anything?” she asked.
“Anything! It’s a way for the crew to relax, train, or travel during their off-time without having to leave the ship!” I couldn’t believe she was asking. I’ve been ready to tell her about the holodeck from the moment we’d met.
She looked back at the television and then back at me. And then it happened.
“I wish we had a holodeck.”
“Me too! Yes! I love you so much! And I can’t believe you just said that!” I sang. She caught her mistake and realized that she had just nerd-ed out.
“No. No! That’s not fair!” she said trying to back-peddle. I couldn’t start laughing. Finally I calmed down and put my hand on her shoulder.
“Welcome,” I said. “Welcome to the rest of your life. What you just said…about the holodeck…about wishing you had a holodeck of your own…that is the essence of sci fi right there.”
“But it’s such a cool idea!” she argued.
“I know it is, baby. I know.”