Geek Love, it’s a beautiful thing and so difficult to find as not everyone lucks out with a chance meeting at a convention that blossoms into romance. Ryan Glitch’s sci-fi speed dating presents a new opportunity to meet fellow convention-attending geeks in the hopes of finding someone to connect with. Following on the heels of the Geek Love one-hour special in 2012, the new web series of Geek Love features nine 10-minute episodes that focus on a particular geek as she or he gives sci-fi speed dating a try.
The participants of Geek Love come across a little strong at first, with the show highlighting the aspects of their personality that make them seem like stereotypes like, “the Brony,” the “not fake geek girl,” and “the hardcore Superman fan,” but it doesn’t take long to get to know these nerds beyond their passions or initial appearance and start to root for them on their quest to find love. To be fair, though Geek Love highlights the passions of these geeks, it never resorts to making fun of them or turning their fandoms or struggles with dating into the punchline.
The featured geeks all come from diverse backgrounds and have different problems when it comes to finding someone right for them. For example, Alex from Ep. 1 has difficulties with the infamous friend zone. Ep. 2 focuses on Casey Anne, who has what Ryan Glitch refers to as “reverse ugly duckling syndrome.” Basically, because she’s attractive, most of the guys Casey Anne gets to speak to reject her immediately or insinuate she’s a “fake geek girl.” Brittany has a take charge personality, etc. Of the four episodes so far, I found it easy to identify with each of the geeks in some way, even when their dating problems are not one I’ve experienced.
One of the things I really like about this series is it’s not about “true love,” it’s about dating and having fun meeting new people. Dating is hard for anyone, especially for many geeks, and this series is more focused on a neat way to meet people with similar interests and get started dating. Not only do each of the highlighted geeks learn from their experiences, but Ryan delivers some helpful information every episode in reference to that person’s specific strengths and flaws, which can serve as great tips for those with similar personality traits.
I am disappointed that in spite of the fact that every episode includes Ryan at the front door asking the participants, “Girls or guys?” there’s never any focus on someone who is looking for same-sex love. It makes sense since Geek Love is mainstream, but as an LGBT geek my ears perked up when I heard Ryan ask that simple question about orientation, and I’d love to have seen at least one story focused on same-sex dating. There are still five episodes to come, so I might yet get my wish.
Seeing this series, I’m sold on the idea of sci-fi speed dating. It may not be a surefire way to find the geek of your dreams, but it’s an opportunity to meet a ton of fellow geeks and have some fun dating. Next convention I’m at that has this, sign me up!
You can check out the episodes of Geek Love yourself over at the START YouTube channel where a new episode of the nine-part series is scheduled to release every Thursday. Additional information on the geeks, Ryan Glitch, and the show can be found over at IGN’s Meet the Geeks. The nine-episode web series is produced by Authentic Entertainment, LLC, an Endemol company, for IGN.
