Footage from a 1976 Star Trek Convention

Shot just seven years after the original “Star Trek” series went off the air, this amateur footage captures one of the first in what would become a long tradition of fan gatherings. You’ll see early cosplay, unaffected devotion, and even appearances from Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan (you have to wonder what was going through those actors’ heads at the time). Seen through the quaint filter of grainy, scratchy Super 8 footage, the whole event glows with earnestness and charming naïveté; it seems only distantly related to the overwrought nature of today’s super sized fan conventions.

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