missions.

You'll excuse a short break from me complaining about still being sick, about the 40 degree and rainy weather for the marathon this sunday, and about the car fire that awoke our family at 6:18am this morning, to talk about something even nearer and dearer to my heart: Star Trek.

I've long been a fan. In fact, when the final episode of The Next Generation aired, I had all my high school friends over for a viewing party and my mom made us cookies. I've seen every episode of TNG. (I prefer it to the original, which to these eyes is hokie.) My first car's license plate was NTRPRYZ (all the good ones were taken) and it had a "Vulcan Science Academy" sticker in the back.

I think part of the attraction for me was that the creator, Gene Roddenberry, had a view of the way he believed the world should be, and he made that view real through the show. Early Star Trek was a pioneer in racial equity and actually had the first on-screen interracial kiss. Roddenberry used the opportunity to create new worlds as a way to contrast the good and bad-- one episode sticks out in my mind where the planet the Enterprise visits uses death as the penalty for all crimes, no matter how petty, and how passionately the planet's leaders defend it. You'd be surprised how regularly the show was censored.

So, then things went downhill for the series. Roddenberry died and the franchise dipped into Deep Space:9, what I saw as an outer space soap opera, and Voyager, which never did catch anyone's attention. It lost the spark, or, more likely, it lost Roddenberry's voice for what should be. The new guys weren't pushing it or making a mark. It lacked vision.

Now there's a new movie out. I'm afraid to even go see it. I want to, but I know it will be a disappointment. It will have great special effects and fun gizmos and gadgets but I'm afraid that it might miss the mark. Star Trek had a message, a mission. I hope that's not lost.