@Godbuster
"I recently found out that Roddenberry and Hubbard made a bet to see who could gain more followers.
I think Roddenberry won."
And in ways not even the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself could have imagined. The fact there's an episode of Star Trek being shown somewhere in the world at any time. A whole slew of films (and of course the shockingly good 'reboot'). Mountains of merchandise (rivalled only by that for Star Wars), hundreds of millions of fans around the world, and conventions galore. Hell - even it's own artificial language: Klingon. And it's fans believe in the unity and inherent goodness of the human race (and others elsewhere, should they exist on other planets). And above all - it doesn't cost anything to be a Star Trek fan: just enjoying it on TV is sufficient.
As opposed to... what? The inferior 'literature' of a 10th-rate hack who had ideas above his station (and was a pathological liar) by thinking up a so-called 'religion' (based on an even crappier Sci-Fi premise. Yes, I've read the 'OT-III* Incident' Document. Ye gods: Xenu, Teegeeack, spaceplanes looking like DC-10s, volcanoes, H-bombs, Thetans etc. Complete bollocks, or what?!). And just one film - "Battlefield Earth". Considered to be WORSE than "Plan Nine From Outer Space" (even that has credibility, in comparison!). And maybe a couple of million adherents at most, who have to sell their souls to David Miscavige, to advance along the 'Bridge To Total Freedom' (oh, the irony, it burnsss usss preciousss!).
..oh, and as a parting shot, $cientology, Two Words: Lisa McPherson.
*- I've read the OT-VIII document too, what it took Tom Cruise Control many years of auditing, 'patter drills' (talking to walls), making clay figures and upwards of $300,000 to do the same. And it cost me zip, zilch, nada, nichts, nowt, bugger all to read on the internet. Just Google 'OT-VIII'. It's just as much a load of bollocks as anything else spewed out by L. Ron Hubbard.
