Our View - Boosting UI as a pop-culture research center

(Iowa City Press-Citizen "Our View," July 6, 2009)

J.J. Abrams' re-imagining of the "Star Trek" universe opened earlier this year to nearly universal acclaim -- receiving much more positive reviews than any of George Lucas' three Star Wars prequels. Variety called Abrams' film a "new and improved Star Trek" that will "transport fans to sci-fi nirvana." The New York Daily News wrote that Abrams, offering much more than "a coat of paint on a space-age wagon train," managed to blend successfully "the hip and the classic." Even Chicago Reader's negative review noted that Abrams failed primarily when he kept too much of the classic 1960s TV show's formula: "A relatively mindless thrill ride that would have made the old NBC execs grin from ear to ear."

But if long-time "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" fans are looking for a sure-fire way to revive their interest in how sci-fi has evolved over the past four decades, they should check out University Libraries' recent acquisition of the Mariellen (Ming) Wathne Fanzine Archive Collection. Not only does this collection of more than 3,000 science fiction fanzines represent an important accumulation of fan-created work, it also is a significant addition to the pop-cultural archive being amassed at University Libraries.

A UI news release said the Wathne Collection contains thousands of fanzines focused on popular television shows and films -- including some important early pieces related to "Star Trek." The 'zines related to "Star Wars" were originally collected by Lucasfilm Ltd., producer of the Star Wars series, and offered to fans in the 1990s. Wathne, a California fan, accepted it and began a lending library to distribute 'zines among fans.

In this light, Abrams' recent film can be seen as merely the big-budget version of how fans have been updating and personalizing sci-fi storylines for decades. Rather than remain passive consumers of the products produced by the film and television industries, fans have used their favorite characters, settings and storylines as the basic building blocks for their own creations. As technology has improved over the decades, so has the quality of these fan 'zines, Web sites and independent short films. To some, these products might seem the epitome of copyright infringement; to others, the copyright infringement is offered as the sincerest form of flattery.

"In many ways, fan culture pre-dates and anticipates our modern remix mash-up Internet culture," Greg Prickman, assistant head of Special Collections at University Libraries, said in a news release. "And there is a great deal of scholarly interest in this type of activity today."

The collection was acquired with the help of the Organization for Transformative Works, a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to preserving and protecting works created by science fiction fans. University Libraries is working with the organization to establish the Fan Culture Preservation Project, which will help identify important collections and bring them to UI.

The recent acquisition of the Wathne Collection is just one more example of how libraries need to adapt to the opportunities presented in the 21st century or risk losing the cultural authority they've enjoyed for centuries. This archive of participatory culture will provide scholars and fans alike with a treasure trove of what helped make these shows and films into such cultural phenomenons.

It also will help in University Libraries' efforts to become an important research center for the study of 20th-century popular culture.

Birthplace or boyhood home?

(published in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 13, 2009)

After watching J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek," I had to call Steve Miller, the former city councilor who originally proposed Riverside declare itself the fictional future birthplace of the U.S.S. Enterprise's most famous captain, James T. Kirk.

I've read many quotes from an exuberant Miller in much of the local coverage of the new movie and its special screening for Riverside residents. But he and other Eastern Iowans seem to be avoiding the fact that the new film -- which tells the story of when the Enterprise's iconic crew first came together -- has Kirk born in a shuttlecraft in the farthest reaches of space rather than at the spot where an engraved marker stands in Riverside.

"You have to remember that the new film has a time travel plot," Miller said, citing the clever way Abrams chose to honor the Star Trek mythos without being compelled to treat it like holy writ. "It's an alternative universe to the one we know."

"But," I said while explaining to Miller that I didn't want to get too geeky on him, "the point at which the timelines separate is supposed to happen after Kirk's mother goes into labor. That means, even in the section supposedly in sync with the established Star Trek universe, Kirk is born far, far away from Riverside."

"Hey, this is 'Star Trek,' we're talking about," Miller reassured me. "You can't get too geeky. ... I guess I'll just have to go back to the book I read in which Gene Roddenberry, the series' creator, said that Kirk was born in a small town in Iowa."

It was after reading that quote back in the 1980s that Miller first proposed Riverside declare itself the "Future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk." Roddenberry, who had never specified which town in Iowa he was referring to, gave Riverside his consent.

"I didn't see the name of the shuttlecraft," Miller joked, "maybe its name is 'The State of Iowa.'"

"Or maybe this is more like the difference between Dixon and Tampico in Illinois," I said. "One is 'The Birthplace of President Ronald Reagan' and the other is 'The Boyhood Home of President Ronald Reagan.' Maybe you'll have to change the Riverside's motto to 'The Future Boyhood Home of Captain James T. Kirk.'"

"Yeah, and I hear those two cities don't really get along," Miller said.

"But you won't have to worry about that," I said. "Your only competition will be a point in space millions of miles away."

"I'm just glad Riverside got mentioned at all in the film," Miller said.

And Miller's not the only one pleased with how the film mentions the "Riverside Shipyard" as it explains how a young, angry, rebellious, thoroughly Iowan Kirk eventually joins Starfleet and takes command of the Enterprise. Although the Iowa sections of the film were not filmed here, the Iowa Film Office is also very happy about how the state's cameo in the No. 1 blockbuster is helping to put the words "Iowa" and "feature film" together in countless news releases and reviews.

"I was surprised to see that the Grand Canyon somehow gets moved to Iowa," said Miller, referring to an early scene in which a pre-teen Kirk narrowly escapes from a car heading over a huge cliff.

"Maybe that's supposed to be the new Iowa River valley," I said.

"I guess erosion will do that after a few centuries," Miller replied.

Opinion editor Jeff Charis-Carlson can be contacted at jcharisc@press-citizen.com or 319-887-5435.