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So this is the kind of geek I am: I watched How William Shatner Changed the World twice. This is, in fact, the reason the News Bullets were late on Monday, but how could I not see the US premiere of a show about Star Trek, science and society? From the beginning, when Shatner showed up in a shirt that appeared to be spattered with bird poop, my old crush on him was back.

The show of course is really about how Roddenberry and Star Trek changed the world - even Shatner acknowledged that - but, being Shatner, he also took all kinds of hilarious credit for things. My favorite moment in the entire show was probably Shatner on the toilet saying he needed to be alone to grieve for the original series, for the "desolate void" between TOS and TNG. Then, "Why is there a bald guy named Jean-Luc Picard sitting in my captain's chair?" And then the show cut to Picard, "I don't want excuses, Number One! I want answers!" Later, we see Frakes in bed dreaming and moaning Shatner's name, just before he gets up and admits he was not an original series fan. Which he discusses while brushing his teeth.

There are so many fun images of geek viewers and science nerds in this documentary. Professor Lawrence Krauss of The Physics of Star Trek turns up wearing a "Gravity Sucks" apron while Bill has "E=mc2 and Stuff" on his, and they cook together, chatting about space. "The anchovy is the Enterprise? There's something fishy about that," Shatner announces. It's nice to see George Takei there talking about Asian characters in the 60s and why he wanted to play Sulu - Takei and Shatner must be speaking again - and Kate Mulgrew doing her usual "I only had three days to prepare for the technobabble" explanation of how she came to be Star Trek's first female captain. Yet there is a hilarious montage where Shatner talks about women's outfits he really likes, miniskirts and one in a thong, while Janeway and Seven exchange disgusted looks onscreen.

Plus I was really happy to see DS9's Ira Behr with his blue goatee. "The sunny optimistic vision of Star Trek's future was awful" for Behr, says Shatner while showing a clip of nudists in a nice green setting. Ira says that, growing up in New York City, star Trek looked like Connecticut to him - too nice. The Star Trek nostalgia combined with the 60's nostalgia and the science is so much fun. And tonight, we get Doctor Who, finally! There is joy in Mudville!

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Did the Xindi/Expanse arc drag out too long?

-US viewers! Ready for the new Doctor Who tonight?

-What have been the best innovations of the 21st century so far?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items from March 2004:

• Berman Teases Season's Last Six
  Executive Producer Rick Berman provided some hints about what lay in store for fans in the third season's final six episodes, including Archer committing an act of piracy, T'Pol becoming addicted to trillium and the Xindi arc "resolved almost entirely, and I underline the word almost."

• 'Enterprise' Up For Three 'Spaceys'
  Star Trek: Enterprise was nominated by Canadian entertainment network Space for Favourite TV Series, Favourite Male TV Character (Archer) and Favourite Female TV Character (T'Pol).

• Picardo's Still In Outer Space
  Robert Picardo may have put Voyager behind him but he remained involved in science fiction, reprising the character of The Doctor in Borg Invasion 4-D and playing a recurring character on Stargate SG-1.

More news can be found in the archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

The Discovery Channel is planning to show 'How William Shatner Changed the World'. How did William Shatner change the world? Captain Kirk is the reason people went into science, politics, the navy, exploration vessels and on dates with hot green-skinned women. 60.6% - (550 Votes) Created...an acting style ... namedjustforhim! 20.5% - (186 Votes) Denny Crane. Denny Crane. Denny Crane. 8.1% - (74 Votes) Played a character who is one-half of the pairing for which slash is named. 3.9% - (36 Votes) Made it cool to wear olive polyester with gold trim. 2.8% - (26 Votes) His 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' made people forget the Beatles. 2.5% - (23 Votes) His rap 'Julius Caesar' in 'Free Enterprise' made people forget Shakespeare. 1.3% - (12 Votes) Total Votes: 907

Please vote in our new poll on which futuristic device you'd like!

Happy Birthday!

Saturday, March 18th is the birthday of J.G. Hertzler, who played Martok on Deep Space Nine; Sunday, March 19th is the birthday of Connor Trinneer, who played Trip Tucker on Enterprise; Monday, March 20th is the birthday of John de Lancie, who played Q in several incarnations of Star Trek; and Wednesday, March 22nd is the 75th birthday of William Shatner, the inimitable Captain Kirk.

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