Klingons fight to save Enterprise

From the Hickory Daily Record:

'Star Trek' fans rally to put 'Enterprise' back in space.

By Josh Yoder
Record Staff Writer
Sunday, April 17, 2005

Hickory -- Leila McMichael will tell you: Klingons don’t give up easily.

The Lenoir woman leads the local chapter of the Klingon Assault Group, a fan club that celebrates the aggressive, ridge-headed aliens featured in the “Star Trek” TV shows, books and films. And her club has a new mission.

Members of McMichael’s group and two other local Star Trek clubs held a rally Saturday to protest the cancellation of the latest series in the Star Trek saga.

Earlier this year, UPN canceled “Star Trek: Enterprise.” The Enterprise, the latest version of the spaceship beloved by generations of fans, is scheduled to take its final flight May 13.

Die-hard fans like McMichael decided to fight back. Star Trek fans - known as Trekkies - are writing letters, making phone calls, sending e-mails, collecting signatures and raising money to get “Enterprise” back on course. Trek United, the worldwide campaign to get the show back on the air, has raised more than $3 million to fund an additional season, McMichael said.

McMichael organized Saturday’s “Save Enterprise” rally outside Media Play on U.S. 70, SE. Members of Star Trek Independent Fleet and Starfleet International joined the Klingons.

At the rally, McMichael and others talked to shoppers, collected signatures for a petition and passed out information on the show.

“We’re holding out hope,” said McMichael. In her full battle garb, she goes by the Klingon name Lt. Cmdr. Keela sutai-Septaric.

But McMichael’s group is about more than playing dress-up. The Klingons hold fund drives for local charities.

“Yes, we dress funny, but we do our part,” McMichael said.

McMichael, 52, has been a Star Trek fan for 36 years. She described the show as social commentary dressed up as good science fiction.

The series is important, McMichael said, because of its portrayal of tolerance and progress. In the series, set far in the future, humans have set aside their differences to explore the final frontier.

McMichael believes the original show, which debuted in 1966, helped shape modern society.

“It’s basically a message of hope that humanity can solve its problems peacefully,” McMichael said. “We still have a long way to go, and that’s why we still need Star Trek.”

Billy Carswell, an admiral in the Burke County-based Independent Fleet, agreed.

“In Star Trek, everyone’s working together to live in harmony,” said Carswell, who’s also a member of the Klingon group.

By 2 p.m., the fans had collected about 100 signatures on their petition to keep “Enterprise” alive.

“Qapla!” shouted McMichael.

The word means “success” in the Klingon language.