Rumors fly this week regarding the impact of a freshly issued request to curtail Season Three production, reducing the normal twenty-six episodes down to twenty-four. Since the production staff didn't ask to reduce their workload this news doesn't appear encouraging, and the general guess that the Enterprise series is being force-fit into a hundred-episode syndication package seems a likely answer. So far the third season has shown improvement in quality if not also in ratings, ratings which generally lag the interest of the viewers. Therefore this theory should pan out after the second half of the season, confirming a consistent improvement or continued decline of the material. We'll see, won't we?

No word yet why broadcast network UPN made the request for fewer shows from production house Paramount, nor word as to what will replace the chopped stories - old reruns perhaps, or even something altogether different. What is clear is that Trekker interest in new material hasn't begun to waver, so how they've managed to take the televised equivalent of sliced bread and fail to satisfy starving people is beyond quick explanation. (Might fresher bread have helped?)

Early on this column predicted that the fans would pick up the torch after Series Five, and wow have they ever. It pleases me to spotlight the highly respectable attempt at new material being produced over at "Star Trek: New Voyages." If you haven't yet encountered this group or taken a glance at their trailer, you'd be well off sparing a moment to do so. The "New Voyages" refer to STNV's ambitious effort to explore the final years of Kirk's original five-year mission, recasting the old crew and building fractional but accurate sets based on the originals. (At first the differences in appearance between the new and classic casts startle, but with a little imagination they fade - and Trek has always been a playground for the imagination.)

The first episode of STNV is due as a holiday present sometime around the end of this year, with others to follow. I'm tremendously excited about this "mission" - at least as excited if not more so than when "Enterprise" launched - particularly because this production team is proud of their connection to the neglected roots of the franchise. These guys obviously love Star Trek and I hope their devotion shines a steady path to well-deserved success. Godspeed to the powers that be at STNV - the "professional" franchise may be stumbling its way into an early death, but in the bigger picture, Star Trek Lives!