Taiwan’s sci-fi community: small but strong

 ​​​​​​TAIPEI (The China Post/ANN) - Hollywood megastar Hugh Jackman had already had some experience with the passion of Taiwanese fans when he visited the country 11 years ago, having received enthusiastic Taiwanese-style support.

Hollywood megastar Hugh Jackman had already had some experience with the passion of Taiwanese fans when he visited the country 11 years ago, having received enthusiastic Taiwanese-style support.

But the actor, most famous for the role of Wolverine in the X-Men movie series, was still overwhelmed when he attended a fan meeting held in Taipei on Monday to promote his new movie “Logan.”

Thousands of fans braved the cold front, packing a plaza besides Taipei 101. It was so crowded that many fans climbed the walls of a nearby three-story parking lot, forcing the event host to remind everyone to be careful.

It was so busy that it took Jackman 30 minutes just to walk down the less than 100-meter red carpet, during which he happily interacted with fans, signing autographs and taking selfies while many attendees held up homemade posters.

Commenting on the outpouring of affection, Jackman said Taiwanese fans had once again exceeded his expectations.

“(Taiwan) is a unique country in the atmosphere that you give to the people who visit. Last night it went to another level like I had never experienced before,” he said at Tuesday’s press conference.

The overwhelming greeting tells us something about the Taiwanese people’s support not just for Jackman and X-Men but also for the wider genre of science fiction.

It seems sci-fi movies are not just for “nerds” anymore. They are bringing in big money at the box office as the genre dominates globally, regularly ranking as the top-grossing movies if we include the sub-genres of fantasy and superhero movies. Taiwan, of course, is no different.

Traditionally, local moviegoers were most likely to buy movie tickets for films featuring local celebrities around the Lunar New Year break, but that has changed with the growth of big-budget sci-fi and superhero movies in the new millennium.

“Deadpool” had the highest takings ever at the Taiwan box office and set a single-day box office record during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2016 with NT$5.8 million. During this year’s Lunar New Year vacation, tickets to “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” were the hottest thing in Taiwan, with the movie raking in NT$100 million over just five days.

This surge in box office takings may have something to do with the fact that both the leading stars of these two films, Ryan Reynolds and Milla Jovovich, respectively, visited Taiwan for the premieres. But the fact that such huge Hollywood stars would travel to this small island-country with its comparatively insignificant market in order to promote their films could tell us something about Taiwan’s rabid and growing fan base.
Burgeoning Cosplay Community 

“Small in number but strong in faith” perfectly sums up local sci-fi fans.

Among those most keenly listening at Monday’s fan meeting were a group of hard-core sci-fi fans dressed up as Wolverine and Professor X, a character played by Patrick Stewart, who flew to Taiwan with Jackman.

Stewart is well known in sci-fi circles for his iconic role as Captain Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

The ringleader for this group of 20-plus cosplayers was Makoto Tsai, a diehard “Star Wars” fan.

Aside from being a dedicated sci-fi aficionado who regularly organizes fan gatherings, the 33-year-old is also a one-of-a-kind full-time lightsaber maker who sells his works to fans worldwide.

Makoto told The China Post that his cosplay gatherings were regularly joined by around 100 cosplayers. Most are more interested in dressing as superheroes from the Marvel or DC comics universes as they are currently the most popular, with new movie tie-ins released every year.

Others choose to cosplay as Star Wars characters, arguably the most successful sci-fi series in cinematic history.

Compared with Star Wars, the popularity of Star Trek, another highly successful science fiction franchise worldwide, is lower; not only because of the language barrier but also because local sci-fi fans have had limited access to the franchise.

A TV station in Taiwan introduced “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to local viewers in the 1990s but abruptly stopped airing the series at the end of its third season. “The Next Generation” had a total run of seven seasons.

Makoto said that compared with Star Wars fans, who are generally more extroverted, Trekkies were likely to be more low key and thus relatively fewer cosplayers in Taiwan wore costumes related to the Star Trek series. 

Taiwan still has its fair share of diehard Trekkies though.

During Monday’s fan meeting, a handful of fans showed up with their heads completely shaved to match the look of both Professor X and Captain Picard. 

You could imagine their disappointment when Stewart did not show up at the red-carpet event. The 76-year-old actor reportedly suffered from jetlag as he was getting ready for the showing, having touched down earlier from a 19-hour flight from New York. He attended the press conference the following day and apologized for his absence.

Only  a select few fans were lucky enough to get Stewart’s autograph before he left Taiwan on Tuesday afternoon. Kevin Pwu, a self-professed “hard-core Trekkie,” was one of them.

“It was so unreal and like a dream come true for me, especially when he signed his name on the replica Star Trek costume I made for myself,” Pwu told The China Post.

Like Makoto, Pwu also turned his hobby into a lifelong profession as he is now a certified manufacturer of officially licensed replica Star Trek costumes, with his company responsible for producing high-quality Federation uniforms to cater to the needs of fans around the world. 

Thanks to a franchise reboot that saw modern Star Trek movies hitting theaters in 2009, 2013 and 2016, he said a new generation of fans was falling in love with a franchise that has entertained fans around the world since it was first broadcast in 1966.

His replica uniform business is booming thanks to the reboot series directed by J.J. Abrams. With a new TV series coming later this year, Pwu hopes more fans like him can fall in love with the sci-fi classic.

We may have to wait another decade before Jackman and Stewart visit Taiwan once more, but the seed of sci-fi has firmly rooted in Taiwan and continues to grow.