Trimble: I read fantasy (fairy tales, adventures and Edgar Rice Burrough's "John Carter of Mars") as a child, but didn't really find true SF until I was a sub-teen, and the wife of a wrestler known as the Swedish Angel gave me a stack of Astounding Science Fiction magazines. I didn't know what the heck a robot was, but I was hooked!

Trimble: I discovered SF fandom in 1951 when I read a tiny filler in the Los Angeles Times that the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society was holding its anniversary meeting. I went to meet fellow fans, and never looked back. My first convention was the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in 1953. It was called ChiCon II.

Trimble: I met GR at Tricon, another worldcon in Cleveland, OH, in 1966. He'd brought 3 episodes of Star Trek to show the attendees just days before it aired on TV. The whole story is in my now out-of-print book, On The Good Ship Enterprise. I came to know him well enough to get into arguments with him. He once said he couldn't hire me to work with him at the studio, because he needed a "yes" person, not a "no" person.

Trimble: Well, prior to that, the Trimbles had organized, directed and run Worldcon Art Shows for 17 years. We already had a reputation for organizing things. I'd never tried to create fandom; it just happened. What happened was that when we mailed the how-to letter to get people to write NBC, I included all the addresses of people who lived nearby and suggested they get together. They did, and formed fan clubs. Had I thought it out, I'd have organized it so it was one huge club, paying us dues. Then we'd be rich by now! Please note that John Trimble was also one of the people who ran the Save Star Trek campaign. I'm just the noisy one, so I get all the publicity. Without John, I could not have done what was done.

Trimble: Gene wanted very badly to be completely involved, but we said it would only make NBC say it was a put-up job. Years later, in his book, Herb Solow made exactly that claim, in fact. He didn't even pay expenses, but by the time David's book came out it was too late to change that impression. I was misquoted on that. Gene did do things like send over platters of food and drink when we were doing a collating of a mailing. At the very last, he paid for postage when we'd run out of funds. But for the most part, fans paid for the Save Star Trek campaign, or it came out of our own pocket.

Trimble: Well, today everyone has so many Trek series to choose from, so they can become interested in only one small part of the whole. We didn't have that back then. Fandom clung together because we had no one else; today, fandom isn't all that exclusive. We're in the media, we're in mainstream magazines, we're active in community fund-raising. That didn't happen in 1966.

Trimble: Far more successful, I believe. While there are far more nay-sayers on the Internet, it's only because they now have a vehicle to vent their opinions. Back in 1966, we'd have heard from only a few of such people. But the other side of the Internet coin is that we can reach so many enthusiastic, interested, involved people, so swiftly! It's really quite wonderful.

Trimble: Dorothy was a very focused person in the 60s, with only 2 interests: Star Trek and her religion. She began making notes on 3x5 cards about everything Trek. I have always liked encyclopedias, and said that would make a book, and we began to work on one. Dorothy and I both watched episodes on TV and on a friend's early VCR (it was tape, wound through the machine much like an old audio tape recorder). We both make many notes. I did the actual writing, though I stupidly credited Dorothy as the total author in the fan edition and me as only the editor. Dorothy's cattiness about females shows up in the original edition. When time came for re-writes, Dorothy had lost interest and turned the project over to me. I took it from there.

Trimble: In those days, nobody at Paramount thought Star Trek would last 30 years! So they didn't care. They signed over all rights to Tribbles to David Gerrold, too. He produced them to sell, and paid for his house with them and the writing he could do because tribble sales gave him the time to write. Lincoln Enterprises got many rights that Par [Paramount Pictures] tried to get back from Majel. Nowadays, Par and Viacom realize they have a major cash cow here, and are far more careful of things. I suspect that our collective sales made Par realize they should be merchandising things better. They still aren't doing so, because they have never hired anyone (me, for instance) who understands fandom or the merchandising of Star Trek.

Trimble: Yes, he did. He thought the animateds gave Trek a new life, perhaps helping keep it alive long enough for that movie or new series. He always hoped for that. Later, other people "spoke with Gene's mouth" in saying he hated the animateds. Not in our conversations. The reason Paramount doesn't want the animateds considered canon is they had a huge falling out with Filmation, and had to buy back the rights (which Par hates to do!) and therefore they are "punishing" the animateds by not accepting them.

Trimble: I didn't help write them, if that's what you mean. I certainly was available for phone calls on questions of what happened, or where something was (in the hands of what collector), and so on. I send many of my own notes to Mike (a long-time and very dear friend). He always acknowledged me, which was much appreciated, since many other writers who used my information never did. Especially the fiction writers, all of whom certainly used the Concordance.

Trimble: Not very. I was raising children, and a new generation of fans were eager to show that they could do it as well as the Trimbles did.

Trimble: Not much. Only rumors. I knew Franz (a true European style gentleman) only slightly. I know Franz Joseph's daughter, Karen Dick. She's the one you should ask.

Trimble: I knew all of the original cast, most of the office personnel, and quite a few of the production people for the original series. I knew only a few of the actors for TNG: Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Brent Spiner, having met Stewart only twice. I knew most of the DS9 cast. I know nobody on Voyager. Last week, I met Robert Picardo at Fantasticon, and he thanked me for saving Star Trek so he could have such a nifty job!

Trimble: It was director Robert Wise's idea to get as much of the Enterprise crew on the rec deck as possible while Kirk explained the Giant Purple Magilla that was eating the universe. He said we never saw anything close to the 430 people supposed to be aboard the starship. Gene thought of asking the Screen Extra's Guild (they were separate from Screen Actor's Guild in the 60s) for permission to "go on the street" for half the people needed on that rec deck. So Trek fans were invited to a casting call. Some of us, for our work, were cast even if we didn't really fit the criteria (the costumes were already made up) of height and weight.

Trimble: I feel that Gene might have come to like DS9, had he lived to see it. There might have been some changes. Majel recently said that GR would have hated the war in DS9, but frankly I am amazed that she cannot see the same theme in much of what Gene did, including his recent "discovery" of Earth: Final Conflict. The only reason there were not full battles in early Trek is lack of funds to pull it off, and lack of technology to show it. Otherwise, GR would certainly have added it; he knew what audiences liked. I don't know about Voyager; I can't see where it's going, and I don't feel GR would have liked that. I don't think he would have liked the last couple of movies; they were very far removed from the Trek Gene came up with.

Trimble: John and I set up Star Trek (now Lincoln) Enterprises for Gene, only to find that he really wanted to turn it over to his new wife, Majel. We ran several small mail-order businesses prior to setting up ST Enterprises, but always failed due to lack of money to advertise widely (another thing the Internet might have changed). Majel had no business experience, so we left and she took over, the business never really took off as it should have.

Trimble: Exploring the human condition through religion would come up very short on this planet! Organized religion has probably done more damage to the human condition than almost anything else except outright war, in my opinion. Witness overpopulation because religious beliefs will not allow contraception; witness the Inquisition, and Talking Heads on TV... well, that could go on for hours! I don't see that it's imperative in exploring the human condition to include someone's belief in a tenuous (at best) being. But that's a personal opinion. Thousands of SF stories have managed to explore the human condition without mentioning relition. Gene was a humanist from the start, so far as I know. In the 60s it was just Not Done to explore religion on TV; everyone shied away from it. Having a comedy about a preacher with a family and human failings would have simply not flown in those days. It is always very difficult to deal with religion, because everyone has their own private viewpoints about it, and whatever you do or say will certainly cause someone to scream about it. But there was a chapel on the original Enterprise, which was used at least 2 or 3 times that I can recall. I think getting Sisko involved in Bajoran religion was a very brave thing for the writers to do.

Trimble: I've visited all the sets of all the series and movies. I live only miles from Paramount, and have many friends there who are willing to leave a drive-on for me at the gate. I love to visit sets; I like to watch the magic as it happens. Does seeing the lumber and stage lighting disillusion me? No. I've taken some people on a set, only to have them say it was very disappointing. What were they expecting, fairyland? I don't know... but I like seeing the reality, then seeing the way it turns out on screen.

Trimble: No, but I was prepared for that. My mom was a costumer for Warner Bros, and I snarked out around sets and prop rooms in my childhood. I am always impressed with the loving care that fans put into copying costumes and props, because there is never enough time to do it that well for a real production, or the money to do it well.

Trimble: A great deal. While there is still that sense of idealism, there is more of a hard edge to fandom now, a reality-check in many people that Paramount isn't a benevolent being that handed Trek to us. I think that's healthy. Fans still work for charity, and give thousands of dollars away every year, which made Gene very proud of them, and makes me very proud, too.

Trimble: Though it hasn't totally happened yet, it's easier to be part of the mainstream, because people aren't acting like you may do something weird right in front of their kids. There is a bit more understanding of the intensity of some fans, and that's perhaps a good thing. But in a way, we're losing our fan-individualty, and some of us are a little sad about that. Still, when fully-costumed Klingons show up in a children's hospital, it's worth it to see the faces on everyone, kids and adults. People ask questions, and talk to us, instead of veering off and looking at us out of the corners of their eyes. I've never worn a Klingon costume, but have many friends who do, and have traveled in their company.

Trimble: Thanks for those kind words! I enjoy teaching a writing class when I'm invited to conventions; it's not about how to write, but how to work up to writing. Sort of a Positive Mental Attitude on writing. Not that I'm invited to many cons, as I'm viewed as one of the Old Pharts nowadays, with nothing much to say about the newer Trek. Ah well.... 8-)