Karen and Ken Speck give the Star Trek salute in front of the display of their collection, on display this week at the Seaview Theater. (How do they do that?)
When someone says “Live long and prosper” to you, what’s the only appropriate response?
Why, it’s “Peace and long life,” as any bona fide Trekkie will tell you. Just ask Ken and Karen Speck, who have proudly displayed some of their extensive Star Trek memorabilia, collected over the last four decades.
Among their other claims to fame, Ken and Karen Speck are stout-hearted Trekkies, having followed the Star Trek television series, first aired 1966 to 1969, and then followed by the series of 11 movies since 1979.
Karen Speck says that it wasn’t until the television series went into re-runs in the 1970s that its popularity exploded. She was an early fan, and even made arrangements with another middle school friend to tape record the audio portion of the segment if she was unable to view it on television. (Reminder: video recorders were not popularly available until the 1980s).
The Specks’ collection is wildly eclectic within the Star Trek genre – from original stationery to custom-made copies of costumes, Ken and Barbie dolls, political T-shirts, picnic hampers, silly putty and confetti; to highly-prized autographs and the original life mask made of Captain Kirk (Actor William Shatner) that was the model for “Jason” in the movie thriller, “Halloween.”
Along with the collection, the Specks have a lifetime of anecdotes related to the influence of the “Star Trek” series, conceived by Gene Roddenberry. To generate more publicity for the emergent Star Trek rerun craze, Roddenberry released the famous “Blooper reels” of the television series outtakes that were shown widely on college campuses in the 70s and 80s. This August, the largest-ever Star Trek convention will be held in Las Vegas, with over three dozen “stars” from past movies.
The popularity of the series may be due to its innovative vision: the multi-racial, multi-national crew, for one. Uhura, a black character from Africa, exchanged a famous kiss with Captain Kirk that broke racial barriers. The Russian character, Chekhov, was part of the American, Starship Enterprise crew, when the real world was still facing Cold War hostilities. “Star Trek” enunciated the IDIC (“Infinite diversity in infinite combinations”) principle throughout its television series and movies, personifying the appreciation of character above appearances.
As Orcas Island realtors, the Specks hosted Star Trek star William Shatner in the 1990s when he came to Orcas to look for a home. They found him to be a “genuine human being,” who particularly enjoyed that, beyond a double-take, islanders respected his privacy as just another island visitor.
Ken notes the changes of fortune over time vis-à-vis Shatner. When Speck was a popular radio host in Detroit in the early 70s, before the Star Trek mania set off, Shatner was driving an old pickup truck around the country, looking for work.
These days, Shatner can be seen on television as Danny Crane, one of the stars of “Boston Legal,” and as the Priceline.com proponent.
The Seaview Theater will show the newest Star Trek movie — a chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members — to Eastsound audiences for a solid week, from Friday, June 19 to Friday, June 26. The Sci/Fi movie stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy and is rated: PG-13.
The movie starts at 8 p.m. and the Specks will be there, in costume, on both opening night tonight and closing night, Thursday, June 25.
For further information, call the theater at 376-5724.
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