JetC Around the World

       Ever wonder what your life would be like without Star Trek: Voyager? Without JetC? Without this world that opened out to you when you found yourself to be a J/Cer? I have, for several months.

       And then I got my answer. It was a big move – on many levels. I knew where I was going and that there will not be a chance for me to watch my favorite TV show. I was going to live in a society that knew DS9 and TNG, but not Voyager.

       Welcome to Israel.

       When I hung my STV calendar on the wall, and season five publicity shot on the closet, my friends who these people were. It took me several moments to understand that they meant the question, and wanted to know. (Also made you realize that people who you thought knew you, don’t.) At first I tried to take the time to explain.

       “They’re the cast of Star Trek Voyager, which is the next in the Star Trek series, after Deep Space Nine.”

       They looked at me, gaping. (I’m not quite sure if that was because they thought I’m a nerd for watching Star Trek, it has that reputation here, or because they were surprised to find that there was yet another Star Trek series.) When explaining it didn’t help, I turned to my ultimate solution to not having Voyager on TV. My computer.

       After watching an episode (Shattered, of course.), they began to understand. “I don’t watch because of the show,” I told them. “I watch because I like the characters, their interaction, the way they deal with the situation they are currently in.”

       My friends lifted an eyebrow and turned away, pulled out a picture album and began leafing through the pages. (Turned out they pulled out my scrap book, and as you can well imagine, it too, is full of Star Trek stuff.) This time they didn’t raise an eyebrow. They rolled their eyes and turned the pages.

       But to answer the question that I’ve left hanging, How *does* one deal with a situation like this one – big Voyager fan, but no Voyager on television, and no one around who knows the show. Well, it’s very simple. There is the computer, which keeps your episodes all nice and clean for you. You may not have all the episodes of all season, on your computer (what computer can hold all that?). There are the books which you snuck into your suitcases when you packed even though your mother told you not to. There are always the pictures, posters, cards, and stories that you have. There’s fan-ficition online. There’s Jim Wright’s website. And last, but definitely not least, there’s JetC.

       JetC – the ultimate answer for your No-Voyager world. The people of JetC who are your friends, and fellow-hopeless romantics, keep you informed and want more of your stories, even though you have no idea what is going on around you. And they keep your supply of virtual coffee intact.

       And of course, four months later you find out that satellite TV broadcasts Voyager, and that last Friday night Caretaker was on. But then, who has the money to pay for satellite (which you are thankful, because if you did have satellite, you really would not have a social life….)

       And that’s the news from your Israeli correspondent in Israel.

       -Yaelie-