The Awful Offal

The Awful Offal is a 4-page essay by David Gerrold. 
sample page from "Trumpet" - "The Awful Offal" is accompanied by an illustration by Jerry Maynes that portrays Kirk and Spock.|thumb|left
sample page from "Trumpet" - Another illo, a horribly racist cartoon by Maynes accompanies the essay on the last page. This second illo does not appear to be directly related to the essay and is likely simply embedded random filler|thumb|left
The essay was printed in the science fiction zine "Trumpet" #9 in 1969. 
Gerrold's essay starts with the provocative statement that "with the exception of Lord of the Rings, Star Trek is undoubtedly the worst thing that has ever happened to Science Fiction (note the capitals).... [snipped] But lest, at some future con I be quoted out of context and get punched in the nose, or ostracized, or worse, I now reserve the right to elucidate upon the very definitely opening sentence of this essay."
Gerrold publicly apologized for this essay in 2019.
 
Ruth Berman quoted "The Awful Offal" in her 1974 essay Some Thoughts on Trekkies.
A similar 1968 essay, one by Harlan Ellison, is The Words in Spock's Mouth.
 
=="Trekkees"==
Gerrold employs the term "trekkees," a very early use of this label, though spelled differently. 
The replies to his essay in the next issue of "Trumpet" spell it "trekkies." It is unclear if the spelling Gerrold used was a consistent typo by the editor, or Gerrold's choice of words, and if it was the latter, was the double "ee" used because the term hadn't been standardized? In 1981, David Gerrold stated that the first time he'd heard the term: "The first time I heard the word Trekkie, it was back in 1968 or '69. There were a bunch of hard-core science-fiction Fans—these were True Fans, allowed to use the sacred H in words like fhan and ghod and bheer—and they were upset about all those Trekkies who were cluttering up the hallways of the conventions, acting like idiots and not taking science fiction seriously enough." -- Pride & Prejudice, David Gerrold, from Starlog #43, February 1981, page 22-23. ("Insertion of the letter H after the first consonant of a word implies 'pertaining to fandom'... It appears most often in 'ghod' (referring either to God or to one of the fannish deities) and 'bheer', but can be used anywhere that whimsey dictates." - Philip M. Cohen, "Language of Science Fiction Fandom." Also at Wordways, vol. 1, no. 8, 1975.)
==Some Topics Discussed==
* The essay's main thesis seems to be that uneducated, undisciplined fans of both The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek are ruining almost EVERYTHING.
* Star Trek fandom, science fiction fandom, Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom, Lord of the Rings fandom
* Gerrold makes much of the differences between "science fiction" and "Science Fiction," repeatedly referring to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as an attempt at science fiction, in language that suggests he knew nothing of the folkloric and mythic/fantasy literature tradition within which Tolkien worked. 
* Gerrold displays much misogyny, describing fans as stupid, panting little girls, bragging how he gets to "score" with aggressive females at cons, describes two female science fiction writers by their "Wow" looks, and much, much more 
* "Any girl who comes to a con not expecting to be deflowered - or at least ravished a little - is not only in need of a shrink, but is obviously a spoilsport and unamerican as well."
* The Lord of the Rings has had an "appalling effect" on Science Fiction, spawning terrible imitators, causing fans to dress in stupid clothes, and generally "looking backwards" rather than to the future and "medieval knights and their ladies (Usually, all badly done.)" This is possibly a reference either to the Renaissance Faires or the Society for Creative Anachronism, neither of which had much of anything to do with Tolkien and even less to do with science fiction. 
* gatekeeping and control, protecting one's turf
* fans and their ridiculousness, the stupidity of the masses
* fans' inability or refusal to recognize and be grateful to the actual writers of television shows (rather than the actors) This is the main point of Harlan Ellison's 1968 screed The Words in Spock's Mouth. who give them the shows they love; television writers get no respect for the creative, sensitive, hardworking geniuses they are
* the essay has an effusiveness of the phrases "shit" and "shit head" - "...The SHIT-HEADS!! What a perfect name for a group of fans!"
* hippies and their wrong adoption of Robert Heinlein's book Stranger in a Strange Land
* Star Trek is worse than The Lord of the Rings because it pretends to be science fiction
* Gerrold invokes some name-dropping, at one point addressing Gene Roddenberry directly: "Believe me, Gene, I do [hold great warmth and affection for you] -- you never re-wrote any of my stories -- why should I hate you?"Gene Roddenberry was notorious for rewriting (and re-re-writing) stories and scripts for Star Trek, sometimes making last-second changes requiring the actors to memorize new dialogue on the fly.
* Star Trek can be good but it is not great; it is good enough, however, to not make it a waste of Gerrold's time to write about it
* "The NBC vice-presidents are afraid of three things: Star Trek, science fiction, and people who are smarter than they are."
* Violence sells on television: "For God's sake man -- I'd rather have my kids watch four hours of stag movies than one hour of Saturday morning programming."
* "Instead of all those wonderful things television might be doing, we look forward to things like another season of nuns that fly -- and boys who like to dress up as girls,An apparent reference to The Ugliest Girl in Town. etc. etc. (I can hardly wait...like, man, it's the millenium [sic].) So, is it any wonder that a show like Star Trek which has the potential to be the greatest Science Fiction show on TV—no, make that the greatest show on TV—ends up being just another Voyage to the Bottom of the Barrel."
* "Here is a show which could have examined every aspect of mans' inhumanity to man, made moral statements about every element of life -- and instead finds itself just one more pseudo-adventure series, where the adventures are being conceived by stale old men who think science fiction is just like western -- only you use phasers instead of Colt /45s...[Star Trek] is a show which promised to be very very good -- and then the networks broke that promise."
* Gerrold disses his own tribbles! ""These are the rabid little trekkees who got excited seeing a real tribble (damn it, it's only a powder puff!)"
* "...the networks have debased and prostituted the art of the drama until it is little more than a crowd-drawer for the traveling medicine show—and once the crowd has been sufficiently teased and tantalized, the patent medicine and nostrums go on sale.... How the hell can a creative artist survive when he's supposed to be a brassiere salesman first, and then an artist?!!"
* professional jealousy 
* Gerrold considers Ronald Reagan and George Murphy to be "fine actors"
==Some Excerpts==
thumb|This cartoon is imbedded in the last page of this essay. It is unclear if it is meant to accompany the essay, or if it was simply filler. The artist is likely Jerry Maynes. "SAY MAN! WHAT'S DAT STINKING?" "COULD BE COMIN FROM DE CONVENTION" "MAYBE THEM WHITES FERTILIZIN THEY YAHDS!" "DID YA CHECK YA TONGS MAN!" "@#*+! DATS STONGER 'N BLACK POWER!!" "WE'S GONNA REPORT DIS TO DA N.A.A.C.P.!!"
==Fan Reaction==
The comments below are from the letter of comment section in "Trumpet" #10 (1969). Some of the LoCs in that issue are by Arthur C. Clarke, George Barr, and Robert Bloch but they did not mention Gerrold's letter.):
 
 
==A 2019 Apology & Statement from David Gerrold==
In January 2019, Mr Gerrold encountered the page "The Awful Offal" on Fanlore and wrote on his Facebook page:
==Some Other Essays (and Interviews) by David Gerrold==
Essays:
* STAR TREK is yours. (1975)
* Pride & Prejudice (1981)
* David Gerrold's 1984 UFP Con Report (1984)
* Open Letter to K/S Fandom by David Gerrold (1984)
* Somebody asked me again what I thought about K/S fans (2013)
* Star Trek was about social justice from day one (2015)
* Just for the record, I always assumed Sulu was gay. That was a lot more fun than assuming Kirk and Spock were lovers. (2016)
Interviews:
* David Gerrold Answers Your Questions (1969)
* David Gerrold Indepth (1973)
* 2-5YM Interview with David Gerrold (1974)
* Third Annual Emory Science Fiction and Fantasy Symposium Interview with Robert Bloch and David Gerrold (1983)
* DraftTrek Interview with David Gerrold (1985)
* Trek Writer David Gerrold Looks Back (2011)
==Notes & References==
===Notes===
===References===
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Category:Tolkien Meta
Category:Star Trek TOS Meta
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Category:Science Fiction Meta