Love and money fuel 'Trek' trips

Passionate fan base keep star ships in flight

By BRIAN LOWRY

The tale of the original "Star Trek" is, at its most fundamental level, a love story. Underappreciated during its initial run on NBC, the series was nursed to life through the undying, if more than a little geeky, adoration of its fans.

Granted, 40-year-old men wearing Spock ears must find love where they can get it, but in hindsight, there was much for them to like. The show delivered action, male (and human-alien) bonding, as much sex as the era would allow (including the occasional green- or blue-skinned chick), intriguing sci-fi scenarios and thoughtful rumination -- through the prism of the future -- on what was happening now.

The problem, from where I sit, came in the form of everything that followed. If the first Enterprise crew eventually squeezed back into their space suits and took flight again theatrically thanks to a passionate fan base, all the Trekking that ensued has felt like commerce, so much so that Paramount took to referring to the various tie-ins and spinoffs as "the franchise."

This isn't meant to sound naive. The demand for "Star Trek" has always feathered nests, even if that meant something as peculiar as watching guest actors who had appeared in a single episode cash in signing autographs at conventions.

Yet the fact remains that "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was originally conceived as the foundation of a fourth TV network (before Fox dove into the ring) and proceeded to beam up a mint for the studio in syndication.

Airborne over that success, next came "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." By the time Paramount finally launched into the network (or, more accurately, netlet) biz with UPN, again, "Star Trek" was the cornerstone, this time with "Voyager," offering the series' first female captain. Never a major hit, that gave way to the prequel "Enterprise," which managed the seemingly unthinkable -- driving fresh "Trek" off the airwaves for the first time in 18 years and, come to think of it, eventually helping drag UPN down with it.

Each subsequent "Trek" incarnation has its merits, but none possesses the mix of excitement, character and plain old fun that marked the first series. Small wonder the movie "franchise" gradually fizzled once William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley were finally too long in the tooth to comfortably chase Klingons.

Then again, even the movies never quite satisfied my palate, including the much-beloved second installment, "The Wrath of Khan." Sure, it was amusing to finally see the Enterprise blow the crap out of something with the benefit of feature-scale special effects, but the humanity showcased in the original episode -- which concluded with Kirk going mano-a-mano against the genetically superhuman Khan (Ricardo Montalban) -- was noticeably absent when they met again.

Anything with this kind of built-in following, of course, can never be allowed to fade. In the interim, the aforementioned fans -- newly armed with digital equipment -- have rather hilariously sought to fill the "Trek" void with their own productions until Paramount can get a new crew sailing again.

Like Spock, in fact, "Star Trek" at this point is probably beyond succumbing to the grim reaper's touch, destined to keep rising from the ashes.

In terms of boldly going where no studio has gone before, a dignified sendoff would probably be the most fitting tribute. Alas, though, as any student of recent history can attest, simply living long isn't enough. Hollywood's primary directive, after all, is to prosper.