Bonnie Adkisson's collection of "Star Trek" memorabilia includes action figures, costumes, posters and many other trinkets from the various television shows and movies, but her display of nearly 60 personally autographed promo photographs are her favorite pieces from "space, the final frontier."
Adkisson recently returned from the annual Las Vegas Star Trek convention (where she participated in a new Guiness record for the most people in a Star Trek uniform in one room) with her sister, who shares the same fervor for the series. While there, she was able to accumulate a few more autographs from the aging performers who appeared in the original "Star Trek" television series in the '60s.
"My sister and I wish we had t-shirts that said, 'I watched Star Trek in prime time,' because we're all going to get fewer and fewer who did that," Adkisson said.
Trekkies from day one, Adkisson and her sister's affinity for Captain Kirk and Spock and Klingons came from their father, who was so taken with the television show, he once even wrote and submitted an episode. He never heard back, but he did receive an autographed 5x7 photo of Captain Kirk ("That was a gentle rejection," Adkisson said.)
"Our dad was just glued to the television when "Star Trek" was on, so we were in there watching it with him," Adkisson said. "It's been a bonding thing for us with our dad."
Stereotypically, "Star Trek" (and its many incarnations) is a male-centric phenomenon. Aside from the science fiction components, Adkisson appreciates the underlying inspirational messages behind the series.
"The part I like most about the collection is just the stories of "Star Trek," and the meaning of (creator) Gene Roddenberry's vision of "Star Trek" -
the hope of the future and everything will not always turn out right, but there's always some kind of hope in that humanity will be better as we go along."