Church of the Final Frontier

Why has Star Trek become such a deeply involved fan universe? Is it safe to compare it to religion? There are some dedicated fandoms out there but Star Trek takes the cake in my book.

Although the series is not as widely popular as Star Wars, the fandom is much larger. Star Trek started out as a show, and has grown into an international subculture. I have watched a few seasons of TNG, but I'm nowhere near well versed enough in the universe to call myself a true Trekkie. One could spend weeks binge watching every episode and movie of every Star Trek series, but I couldn't think of one other fandom that has such an endless stream of fan created content.

So Why Star Trek? Other series have a wide universe of possibilities for fans to explore when they run out of official content to consume, but no other fandom does it like Star Trek. Perhaps it is the morality of the Star Trek universe that gives this incentive. Star Trek presents a Utopian society made up of multiple planets. Combining moral ethics with the passion of scientific progress is a very attractive future to strive for. It gives people hope in the future.

This open sort of world provides room for fans to become a part of the mythology. Star Trek conventions allow fans to roleplay as characters, and feel a part of that utopian universe. It's easy to see why someone would want to do this, when we live in a world full of war, plague and opposition to scientific progress. The fact that Klingon is the second most complete and widely spoken constructed language(after Esperanto) speaks volumes to the depth of this fandom.