This past year was a good one for Star Trek. All it takes is a tall ship and a star to steer it by, and steer it did both in new directions and past several historic milestones. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame finally inducted Gene Roddenberry (while his creation, Data, was inducted in Carnegie Mellon's Robot Hall of Fame!). "The Wrath of Khaaaan" reached its twenty-fifth anniversary and "The Next Generation" achieved its twentieth. Yet fans eager for fresh material were not left disappointed even after being abandoned by the television professionals.

In my opinion the big Trek story of 07 belongs to Star Trek New Voyages, now generating episodes of incredible quality on a regular basis. Excuse me, that would be the award winning Star Trek New Voyages after landing the prestigious TV Guide Online Video Award for web programming beating out such Gorn-sized competition as USA Network and the SciFi Channel. STNV attracts a caliber of talent uncollected since the halcyon days of the original series. It's easy to choose James Cawley as Trekker of the year, for all his good work in keeping the spark alive so spectacularly.

The release of "Star Trek: Of Gods and Men" trickled out at calendar's end but ever since "The Menagerie" I can't stand cliff-hangers and don't mind waiting until it's all ready to enjoy. Speaking of that illustrious pilot episode, another famous Trek first occurred in November when the remastered version of "The Menagerie" was released to the cinema screen in a well-received event (showing some inspiration from the corporate side to keep the fans happy, paying for a thinly-disguised advertisement for the HD release of TOS season 2). Watch for a forty-city Star Trek tour later this year, hopefully refraining from the taint of fraud that sadly crept in to haunt the Christie's auction from a little bit ago.

What's yet to come? The health of the official side of the franchise is subject to interpretation, with all eggs in one basket awaiting the new movie scheduled for release late this year. Rumors seem to have settled into a pleasant cast and unpleasant plot but we'll see. If anything Hollywood excels at generating buzz so pardoning any exceptional dud at the box office, as the year progresses talk about the film (and the overall enterprise) should mount increasingly up and until its release. Probably go back to the hands of the fans then, but all in all 08 is already set to be another great year for Trek!