Evolve or Die, A Star Trek Rant

Those Star Trek people infuriate me. You know the ones I mean. Whether they call themselves Trekkers or Trekkies (and yes, I do know the difference), it makes no difference when it comes to the 2009 reboot of the franchise, and its upcoming sequel in just a few weeks.

Let’s be serious now – if Gene Roddenberry had actually gotten his “Star Trek: Phase II” on the air when he wanted to, would we be still talking about Trek now or would the proposed series just be an embarrassing footnote like “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island” or “The Brady Bunch Hour”? Let's all be thankful that Star Wars was so successful, and Paramount made Roddenberry move it to the big screen.

And while we're being thankful, let's be thankful for J.J. Abrams for finding a way to both be faithful to continuity, and to free himself of it. He paid respect to the fans, and opened up the field for a new generation of fans. It works in the story, and you have the old continuity and the new continuity existing side by side. And come on, it's not like time paradoxes and parallel universes are foreign territory for the franchise. It's almost the norm if you look at the original series.

Let's talk about TOS, as "The Original Series" is called. It may as well stand for The Old Series, because it's dated. Worse than that, "Next Gen" is even more painful when it comes to looking dated. Special effects and hairstyles weigh down TOS, but man oh man, ST:TNG just screams eighties. It's so bad, it's almost embarrassing. And for most of these Trek people, TNG is the gospel canon.

I lost interest in Trek television, when "Deep Space Nine" came along, and once the Captains met in the movies, I was out of there too. "Enterprise" brought me back. The Trek people hate "Enterprise." I think it was great, it not only brought me back to Trek, it brought The Bride as well. The Trek folks whined about how the Vulcan protagonist behaved, behavior that was rationalized in the context of the series by the way.

These are the same people that don't have a problem with Klingons not having ridges in TOS, faulty physics, jumbled histories and timelines, and of course the fantasy of a cashless society. But a Vulcan enacting free will, that's wrong. It's okay for Spock, but nobody else.

Seems to me that the Trek folks have a problem with the mainstream taking their toys. It was okay when no one else liked Star Trek, but when there's a blockbuster movie, they get defensive. And I throw the "Doctor Who" latecomers into the same garbage bin.

I loved Abrams' Star Trek, and can not wait for the sequel. All y'all old Trekkies and Trekkers, feel free to stay home and not see it, just shut up about it. You're ruining it for the rest of us.

Majel Barrett Passes at 76

Majel Barrett, wife of the late Gene Roddenberry and the First Lady of Star Trek, has passed away from complications of leukemia this morning.

She appeared in several different incarnations of "Star Trek," including the original series, "Next Generation," several of the movies, and even in the fan-produced "New Voyages."

Her voice also is that of the Enterprise computer in the upcoming theatrical release of "Star Trek" from producer J.J. Abrams.

She'll be dearly missed.