This week on Beyond the Final Frontier: Toby takes the chair and puts Rich and Ian on the spot about Star Trek fandom, fresh off the 60th anniversary convention in Las Vegas.

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Expect three men who have all professionalised their fandom trying to work out whether they can still just be fans. Does a "true fan" have to love every show, or is one enough?

Rich draws the parallel between fandom and religion from his PhD research and admits he's never much liked a congregation, Toby explains the "journalist first, Star Trek fan second" line that got him the editor's job, and Ian goes back to a black and white TV, a salmon shirt, and DeForest Kelley picking him out of a crowd.

Along the way: Gates McFadden dancing with a fan who'd paid a thousand dollars for the moment, the Walmart checkout that turned into the best thing that happened to Rich at a con, and a closing question with no comfortable answer: with Academy cancelled and Strange New Worlds winding down, does the franchise boldly go, or bank the nostalgia?

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Beyond the Final Frontier is a Star Trek podcast with Rich Matthews, Ian Spelling and Toby Weidman. Join us on Patreon at BFF: Beyond The Final Frontier. Original music by Alex Weidmann, opening monologue by Sissy Jones, artwork by Russell Seal.