Star Trek Turns 40

Star Trek cast members and fans alike are descending on Seattle to celebrate the famed sci-fi show's 40th anniversary. Members of the original cast, including Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, will be descending on Seattle to celebrate the 40th anniversary in a three-day event.

As well as members of the original Star Trek series, Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis, of Star Trek: The Next Generation, will be in attendance. Majel Roddenberry, the widow of the series creator, Gene Roddenberry, will also head to the United States Northwest at the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration and Conference. The first episode of Star Trek aired in the United States on September 8, 1966, and, despite only airing for three seasons, has spun off numerous other series and has led to 10 feature films.

The series which spawned spin-offs like The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, will kick off its Gala with a party at Seattle's Space Neddle, complete with a live Klignon band. As a marker for the 40th anniversary, CBS/Paramount is releasing a re-formatted version of the original Star Trek series, complete with new CGI special effects and in the HD format.

As the CBC explains "Canadian actor William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk led the crew of the Enterprise along with his efficient science officer, the Vulcan Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy; the doctor-with-heart, Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, who died in 1999; and the cantankerous engineer Scotty, played by the late Canadian actor James Doohan."

Leonard Nimoy went on to talk to the CBC about how the original series addressed the worldwide issues of the day, and how they go on to carry meaning today. "There were stories about overpopulation. There were stories about global warming, stories about planet conservation, stories about ethnic wars, all the things that we're still dealing with."

Acclaimed sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, wrote a tribute to Star Trek on the conference's website. The article, quoted by the BBC echoed the sentiments of Nimoy. "Over the years the sophistication of storylines and special effects has certainly improved. But Star Trek retains its core values - still very much needed in our sadly divided and quarrelling world."

Star Trek has been off the TV airwaves since UPN chose to cancel the most recent spin-off series, Enterprise. Paramount has not announced any plans for a new TV series, though there plans in the works for an 11th feature film. JJ Abrams, director of the critically-acclaimed TV series Lost and Alias, as well as the director of Mission: Impossible 3, has been tapped to produce and possibly direct the next Star Trek film.

[Additional Sources: CBC, BBC]