Star Trek, the concept, not the show, is now in its 5th decade. Star Trek began as an entertaining, almost laughable 60s space drama with a cardboard looking set, less than excellent characters, and some outrageous story lines. Yet in the very short time that the original series was on the air, Star Trek fans, otherwise known as Trekkies, established themselves as a sub-culture of the United States. As the years passed, long after the original series ended, the aging actors continued to show their faces (and evolving uniforms) in various Star Trek movies that took the same original crew on daring new missions that took them boldly where no man had gone before. Even as Captain Kirk developed a bit of a belly and Scotty's hair all turned white, they acted with the same gusto as they had 20 years before. Spock was still stoic, McCoy still borderline erratic. But they continued to work together as a team and brought peace and good will to the galaxy.

When Star Trek: The Next Generation emerged on the scene just in time to usher in the 90s, Star Trek took on a new look and a new crew, which was difficult for some of the original series fans to accept. The Star Trek camp became divided between those who accepted the new show as part of Star Trek and those who would never look upon it as anything but counterfeit. Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a new and different captain. Unlike Kirk, he was refined, intellectual, and small, but very tough. His right hand man and several crew members were more like Kirk - the cowboy personality and size to boot. The new crew was a bit awkward at first as it tried to emulate some of the old Star Trek, but after the first couple of seasons, they found their niche and emerged as a great team that brought a whole new generation of fans to the Star Trek scene. Several movies followed and the series lasted much longer than the original series.

It wasn't long before other Star Trek copycats began popping up all over the networks. Star Trek: Voyager and Deep Space Nine were two that did fairly well. Captain Janeway never really convinced anyone she was Star Trek material, but she was a good leader and had a faithful crew. Perhaps the best thing to happen to Star Trek was the advent of the Borg, a race of cyborg creatures who traveled the universe, collecting beings of all shapes and sizes to assimilate into their collective. The Voyager crew obtains one such Borg member and removes all the Borg paraphernalia that has been attached to her body. She is never quite human again, but adds an interesting dimension to the show.

Most recently, Star Trek: Enterprise gave the story of the beginning of earth's space travel, just before the establishment of the federation. Although the opening song for the show and many of the characters were charming, the lovable Captain Archer never quite convinced anyone he was as tough as he tried to be. Sadly, with the wrap up of the Enterprise series came the first time in 40 years that some Star Trek show was not on TV. Seems a new one should be in the makings before the Trekkies revolt!