Fearing nerd uprising, Scotland Yard kept tabs and dossiers on sci-fi fans

According to The Telegraph, Scotland Yard kept a secret dossier on ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files’ during the late 1990s… and were keeping tabs on Trekkies for fear that they might kill themselves, turn against society or even form a strange new cult.

“An undated confidential report to the Metropolitan Police, thought to have been filed around 1998-99, listed concerns about conspiracy theorists,” they reveal, “who believed the end of the world was nigh.”

And one of their greatest fears was the influence of American TV.

“Fuel is added to the fire by television dramas and feature films mostly produced in America,” the report explained. “These draw together the various strands of religion, UFOs, conspiracies, and mystic events and put them in an entertaining storyline. Obviously this is not sinister in itself, what is of concern is the devotion certain groups and individuals ascribe to the contents of these programmes.”

Of course, the late ‘90s was a prime era for the kind of conspiracies this report seems to be talking about. After all, ‘The X-Files’ was still at the height of its popularity, and wouldn’t come to an end until 2002.

But it’s not just ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files’ that came under fire – Special Branch were also concerned by several other high-profile sci-fi shows.

“The American TV shows Roswell and Dark Skies and the film The Lawnmower Man were also monitored to protect the country from rioting and cyber attacks.”

The Scotland Yard dossier – titled ‘UFO New Religious Movements and the Millennium’ – was created as a response to the notorious Heaven’s Gate mass suicide in 1997.

Ben_Reilly wrote:

According to The Telegraph, Scotland Yard kept a secret dossier on ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files’ during the late 1990s… and were keeping tabs on Trekkies for fear that they might kill themselves, turn against society or even form a strange new cult.

“An undated confidential report to the Metropolitan Police, thought to have been filed around 1998-99, listed concerns about conspiracy theorists,” they reveal, “who believed the end of the world was nigh.”

And one of their greatest fears was the influence of American TV.

“Fuel is added to the fire by television dramas and feature films mostly produced in America,” the report explained. “These draw together the various strands of religion, UFOs, conspiracies, and mystic events and put them in an entertaining storyline. Obviously this is not sinister in itself, what is of concern is the devotion certain groups and individuals ascribe to the contents of these programmes.”

Of course, the late ‘90s was a prime era for the kind of conspiracies this report seems to be talking about. After all, ‘The X-Files’ was still at the height of its popularity, and wouldn’t come to an end until 2002.

But it’s not just ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files’ that came under fire – Special Branch were also concerned by several other high-profile sci-fi shows.

“The American TV shows Roswell and Dark Skies and the film The Lawnmower Man were also monitored to protect the country from rioting and cyber attacks.”

The Scotland Yard dossier – titled ‘UFO New Religious Movements and the Millennium’ – was created as a response to the notorious Heaven’s Gate mass suicide in 1997.

https://uk.yahoo.com/movies/trekkies-a-danger-to-society-119281071664.html

Lone Wolf wrote:

OTHER shows to watch, could include :

Person of Interest
Madame Secretary
Nikita
CSI Cyber
Agents of SHIELD
Dr Who

UNFORTUNATELY, it was announced last week that The Following, Forever, Believers and a couple of others have been cancelled for next season, and so to join Lost in Space, Star Trek, Babylon 5, X-Files, Dark Angel, and other syndicated SF series in the late night repeats graveyard..    


ON A MORE serious note ~ if the mice at Scotland yard were worried, in a 1960's CIA/FBI kind of way, about a few SF-Fantasy fans a couple of decades back ~ than maybe that also has some bearing on some of those more whacky actions and activities of Scotland Yard in more recent times ?