One Of The Most Important, And Undersung, Figures In Star Trek History Has Passed Away
John Trimble, longtime Trekkie and fan advocate, passed away on April 19, 2024. He was 87 years old. The world of "Star Trek" owes the man a debt.
Bjo and John Trimble were Trekkies from the very start. Indeed, the married couple were early adopters of "Star Trek," becoming enamored of the series before the word "Trekkies" had even become a part of the fan lexicon. Trimble met Betty JoAnn Conway through the fan networks first set up by genre-movie ultra-booster Forrest J Ackerman, having first conversed while hiding underneath a grand piano at Ackerman's house during a party. They were married for 64 years.
Back in the 1960s, sci-fi and fantasy fan networks were achieved solely through the mail, and Trekkies would communicate almost exclusively through letters columns printed in the backs of sci-fi magazines (a model first invented by Hugo Guernsback back in 1926). More enterprising fans would author and print their own fanzines, which they would mail to other fans, or drive around town and distribute by hand.
The Trimbles were among those enterprising fans. They loved "Star Trek," and had made themselves familiar with the goings-on in NBC production offices, just so they could keep an eye on their favorite show. When the Trimbles learned that ratings were flagging at the end of the show's second season — in March 1968 — Bjo and John launched a letter-writing campaign to keep the series on the air. They wrote a letter explaining the situation, printed out 150 copies on an old mimeograph machine, and mailed them out to all the most influential fans in their circle. Each one of them was asked, chain-letter style, to send out ten copies of the letter to ten others, those ten would print out ten more, and so on.
'There ought to be something we could do about this'
Thanks to Trimble's efforts, "Star Trek" was renewed for a third season, and subsequently put into eternal syndication.
John's wife Bjo led the charge on the letter-writing campaign, but she credits John for first having the idea and helping to facilitate it. Talking to Sci-Fi Radio last year, Bjo said:
"The whole 'Save "Star Trek"' campaign was John's fault. We had visited the Trek set, about when word sifted down that the show would be canceled at the end of the second season. So we watched actors do their stuff beautifully in front of the camera, then slump off looking depressed. On our way home, John said, 'There ought to be something we could do about this!'"
Bjo and John instantly began formulating their plan, and called "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry as soon as they arrived home (naturally, they had Roddenberry's personal phone number). They asked Roddenberry if they should start a letter-writing campaign, and the Great Bird of the Galaxy gave a thumbs-up. The Trimbles had an uphill battle rescuing "Star Trek," as, to their recollection, only 12-year-olds and cretins watched "Star Trek." But the pair also knew that venerable authors like Isaac Asimov were fans.
When coverage of their campaign made it into newspapers, Bjo received most of the credit, she recalled, as 1960s news writers hooked into the "housewife makes good" angle, coloring it as a Women's Lib story. Bjo wanted to point out that John was just as instrumental in the campaign, and that he wasn't just "the husband."
There would be no Star Trek conventions without Bjo and John Trimble
"To my sorrow," Bjo continued, "John has seldom gotten even the fan credit he so well deserves for his part in making the 'Star Trek' we know now a reality for all of fandom."
John sat on the board of directors of the Society of Creative Anachronisms, an early fan group, and his involvement in the community led to the commercial enterprise of the types of fan conventions that continue to this day. Sci-fi conventions were nothing new, as the World Science Fiction Convention, or Worldcon, had been held annually since 1939. But Bjo joined the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society in the late 1950s, and became involved with organizing elements of Worldcon, and in 1958, Bjo and John were responsible for putting together the Worldcon Futuristic Fashion Show, which became a very profitable costume presentation in the fan community. In the mid-1960s, the Trimbles displayed early versions of the "Star Trek" uniforms before the series premiered.
It was through the strength and activism of Bjo and John Trimble that sci-fi conventions would continue to flourish. By 1972, other sci-fi fans took their lead and began organizing conventions for "Star Trek" specifically. The very first Trek convention was held in New York on January 21, 1972. Bjo and John launched the ship, and a new generation of captains sailed them into the stars.
John was also enlisted in the Air Force, and performed helicopter rescues during the Korean War. In a letter posted on Facebook, Trimble's daughter Lara said that "One of his best memories was when the squadron rescued visiting US Boy Scouts stranded on a mountain in Taiwan. It took multiple trips to get all hands safely home." He was a hero for sci-fi fans, but he was already a hero in real life.
Rest in peace, John Trimble.