Ever Wonder Why People Like Star Trek?

This last weekend, I was feeling a little stressed for one reason or another, and I turned to one of two things that snaps me out of bad mojo, Star Trek. (Early M*A*S*H being the other)

It got me to thinking......why do I love it....and why do some shake their heads at this "kid stuff."

I love it....because I honestly, on some level, feel the crew of the Enterprise as family. The magic of Star Trek is not the effects, or even the stories.....none would matter if it wasn't for the incredible cast. The original series was based on the foundation of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Their performances made the bad episodes bareable....and the good episodes soar. The Next Generation in my opinion hinged solely on the peerless Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard.

Now I understand the rap Star Trek has. You see the folks who are SUPER fans....getting married in Starfleet Uniforms, or Klingon outfits. I think those guys are dorks. I have been to a Star Trek convention....and enjoyed myself quite a bit.

I had the pleasure of watching Star Trek 2- 7 over the weekend, and listening to the commentaries on each one. (These DVD's are dirt cheap......$10 or less most places) It is fascintating (maybe only to me) how these movies get made. The commentaries are out of the ordinary frank. They talk about the infighting with the studio....what they feel in retrospect didn't work.....and best of all, William Shatner defending his not so good directorial debut in Star Trek V, which suffered from poor special effects and lack of monetary support from the studio.

Star Trek has had a tough time in the last few years. The last Next Gen film, Nemesis tanked at the Box Office. Star Trek Voyager, and Enterprise were disappointments. And for the first time since '87, there is no Trek series on TV.

I do consider Star Trek Deep Space 9, to have been a suburb series....joining Next Gen and the Original Series as my favs.

Can't wait 'til next May, when Star Trek is relaunched, with Lost mastermind J.J. Abrams at the helm. I'm hoping it will signal a rebirth of one of my favorite franchises.....but that may be greedy of me with the wealth of Trek that is available.

Jason