To boldly go...

I wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie growing up with the original series, but over time, the franchise grew on me. The new generation of television versions acquired a certain sanctimonious quality I found startling in comparison to watching Captain Kirk's fistfights, and while Captain Jean-Luc Picard exuded the Zen of starship maintenance, I grew tired of where it and its successor series were leading me. The grittier Babylon 5 succeeded in grabbing my attention as the un-Trek--helped along by Claudia Christian, whom I later had my own adventure directing on stage (saving that story for later!).

Well, consider me brought back into the fold with the new Star Trek movie. Its remarkable evocation of the original series characters without resorting to camp and its action-packed willing-suspension-of-disbelief plot are a real shot-in-the-arm for this franchise.

Live long and prosper.