Star Trek offers 'optimistic view of the future'

A man from East Kent with an enduring love for all things Star Trek said the television series offered an "optimistic view of the future" in an increasingly "dystopian world".

As Star Trek celebrates 60 years since first gracing our screens, it has huge numbers of devoted disciples. Arguably, fewer are more dedicated than James Dillon.

Dillon, who is a regular at fan conventions for which he builds Star Trek sets, believes this hobby offers his life balance.

"I have a very grounding day job dealing with very serious issues. It's important to have an escape," he said.

Dillon, who first remembers watching the original series with his grandfather back in the 80s, attended a Star Trek night in the early 90s when he was a student in London.

He said: "It sort of petered out after that, until there was a convention in London in 2012 where they had the captains of all five of the existing TV series.

"That is when I started building some forms of sets that could be enjoyed by others at these events."

Fast forward into the 2020s and Dillon continues to enjoy these fan conventions with his best friend Richard Ashbee.

The pair consider themselves the "Ant and Dec of the Star Trek world".

"Without Richard's help, and that of our friend Gary Payne, we could not deliver the amount I do to events as there is a lot of heavy lifting. We are a solid team."

Tuesday marks Star Trek Day, and as the series celebrates its 60th anniversary, Dillon believes the message is as pertinent as ever.

He said: "A world in which people work together for the sake of it and set all of their differences aside in the interest of being overall a better civilization is surely something which we should all aspire to."

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