Trek

I'm tempted to let my inner Star Trek fan out to play for a while. The new movie seems halfway decent, according to the reviews, and I'm relieved that it's more of a flashback than something new. If Voyager is any guide, I don't need new Trek, I need old Trek, and I need it now.

I've always been something of a Trek fan, though I never wore a uniform or pointed ears, or collected Trek merchandise, or even said "Live long and prosper" in any way that wasn't pointedly ironic. What I'm saying is that though I've been to Star Trek conventions, I wore jeans and didn't affect some sort of idiotic headgear. And though I may have had the urge to buttonhole people and tell them why Bread and Circuses is my favorite Trek episode, I never actually did.

But though my flame of Trek fandom doesn't burn very hot, it burns long. I've liked the original show since the late 1960s, when I saw it as it was being made, and I tend to curl my lip at people who today heap scorn on the show. "Oh, the special effects were so hokey!" Well, sure, but it was 1969; what were you expecting? "Oh, the moral judgments of the show had all the subtlety of sledgehammers!" And you thought All In The Family was subtle? "Oh, William Shatner was such an awful actor!" To that, all I can say is "Gates McFadden".

My point isn't that Star Trek was the greatest thing ever made. I still think canned chili might be the greatest thing ever made. But I think the show was a lot better than our modern irony-craving post-modernistically exhausted society will allow, and in terms of story I think there are a half dozen Trek episodes that deserve to be immortal. So I'm letting my inner fan out for a while.

Engage (yes, I know I'm crossing shows here).