Fans, as one longtime Trekker explained, “treat the program like silly putty,” stretching its boundaries to incorporate their concerns, remolding its characters to better suit their desires.

new culture of visibility,

five distinct (though often interconnected) dimensions of this culture: its relationship to a particular mode of reception; its role in encouraging viewer activism; its function as an interpretive community; its particular traditions of cultural production; its status as an alternative social community.