Star Trek 2008

It's remarkable how self-consistent the Star Trek universe has remained over 726 television episodes and ten feature films, not to mention countless novels, comic books and virtually every other type of media. This consistency is undoubtedly part of it's appeal. Star Trek's world of warp drives, transporters and the Prime Directive is embedded in our popular culture and helps to shape the direction of our technology. But the densely interweaving "future history" created over the years has painted storytellers into a corner. They must be careful not to contradict previously established Star Trek cannon. To get around this writers often take the easy way out and set their stories in an alternate universe or invoke time travel.

Now JJ Abrams is at the helm, working on a new Star Trek movie with Kirk and other familiar characters which is a prequel of sorts to the original series. It's hoped this movie will rejuvenate the franchise. By the end of this year, we'll see. I wonder if it will "boldly go" into unexplored territory or take us where all of us have been many times before.