Star Trek fans have a lot of power.
Back in 1968 when the original series was threatened with cancellation by NBC executives who had no idea it would become a cultural icon of the 20th century, fans started a campaign to save the show.
They wrote letters - tens of thousands of them to NBC, demanding the series continue.
And, unheard of at the time, the network responded, caved in and renewed the series.
The rest, as they say, is history. Despite a third season of less than stellar quality, Star Trek slowly worked its way into the cultural identity of western civilization - thanks mostly to syndicated reruns.
When NASA started the space shuttle program, Star Trek fans demanded that the program recognize the show that had "paved the way" - sort of. NASA gave in and named the prototype spacecraft used to test shuttle aerodynamics the Enterprise.
Fans who grew up and got jobs in the TV and movie industry pushed and prodded studio execs until they did the unthinkable and created a theatrical movie sequel to the TV series and then - in another TV-land first - a sequel TV series.
And now, Star Trek fans, Boston Legal fans, and perhaps all-bran cereal fans are banding together for another campaign: to get William Shatner installed as Canada's next Governor General.
The whole thing started, of course, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced current Governor General Michaelle Jean's term would not be extended past this September. The speculation of her replacement started immediately, with serious analysts and political pundits weighing in with their ideas: retired Generals John de Chastelain or Romeo Dallaire, wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen, Conservative Party godfather Preston Manning.
Then Shatner's name got thrown into the mix, he ended up topping a poll of choices with 43 percent of the vote, and on March 22, a facebook page "Help nominate William Shatner for Governor General of Canada" started up.
The page now (right now, while I'm writing this) has 32,889 "people who like this" and a lively comment wall ranging from almost-serious discussion about the position's real powers, to the usual facebook bantering. (The page is public - even if you're not a facebook member you can look at it: google "shatner for governor general facebook" and you'll find it.)
The movement is growing - fast. In the time it's taken me to write these last three sentences, the "like this" count is up to 32,907.
"This is our chance as Canadians to have our voices heard and to tell our leaders in Ottawa that we know who we want to represent us on the global stage," it says on the site's information page.
Few of the comments on the facebook page get into a discussion of qualifications, probably because nobody really knows what they are.
Lately, the main qualification seems to have been "former CBC staffer." After three of them, though, perhaps it's time for a change - otherwise Harper's probably going to appoint Peter Mansbridge, or Rex Murphy.
Ability to speak well in public, a certain personal presence, the ability to look professional at events, the ability to express basic emotions on cue, a certain diplomatic ability … these all seem to be good qualities to have. They're qualities that actors have in abundance - and if they don't have them, well, that's what acting's all about. Let's face it, if you can't look sad and sympathetic and say "I'm overwhelmed by the devastation" in a suitably sombre voice when you visit a disaster area, you're not going to get much work even on network TV.
Shatner has played a wide range of parts in his acting career. He started out onstage at Stratford before heading to the fledgeling TV industry in the mid-1950s, which eventually landed him in the captain's chair of the Enterprise. He's headlined five TV series - Star Trek, Barbary Coast, TJ Hooker, Tek War and Boston Legal - guest-starred in others, been featured in TV and theatrical movies, and voiced characters in video games.
Unfortunately, the very thing that makes Shatner appealing to many people, will also likely kill any chances he has of getting the nod - his celebrity status.
Shatner is probably better known and a more familiar face to many than the current Prime Minister. But no one's going to upstage Stephen Harper in the public eye.
The Governor General, after all, has no real power. It's a figurehead position. Only in certain rare crisis occasions could the GG actually go against the wishes of the Prime Minister or exercise true viceregal power.
The Prime Minister and Governor General might have a discussion, options and alternatives might be presented - as seems to have happened when Stephen Harper pulled the plug on Parliament the first time. But in the end, unless there's some extremely strange or demonstrably illegal use of powers, the GG does what the PM asks.
And this particular Prime Minister is not going to want a free thinker - or a celebrity. Stephen Harper is not going to appoint a Governor General who's an icon of the people, someone who might believe his popularity would let him get away with making an actual decision or even making a statement without prior approval by the PMO.
No, the new Governor General is going to be a relatively unknown Conservative yes-man (or yes-woman), who'll say and do exactly what Harper and the PMO want, but look good doing it.