"TWO TO BEAM UP, SCOTTY..."

It must have been some time in 1972, when I was six years old. Around the same time I must have seen "Thunderbirds" by Gerry Anderson for the first time. That marvellous, immaculately stylish British puppet sci-fi show.

But this one was different. It had real actors, with zany-looking but lethal rayguns. The Captain was a handsome fella, who looked he had no problemos of sweeping pretty female Ensigns off their feet (which he certainly did quite regularly, we found out, as the series progressed). The other fella, with those funny-looking, pointed ears was my personal favorite.

Obviously, I'm talking about Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). I never was a Trekkie, short for a "Star Trek" fan-boy. But I liked those ray-guns, and I loved the functional design of the original U.S.S. Enterprise. "To boldly go where no man has gone before..." To a young boy with an all too vivid imagination, S.T. somehow "made sense" design-wise. (But not enough... I later became a rabid "Star Wars" aficionado.)

Now J.J. Abrams ("Lost", "M:I:3") is preparing to shoot a prequel "Star Trek" movie, which will open at Christmas 2008. I think Abrams has all the chances to make a great and rousing "Trek" movie, if he'll just keep the backstory and production design intact to avoid alienating the hard-core Trekkies. To introduce younger versions of Kirk and Spock to younger audiences is a great idea worth an applause.

The trades are already talking about actors like Matt Damon for Kirk, Adrian Brody for Spock and Gary Sinise for Dr. McCoy. Nobody is confirmed yet, but I think those actors could really pull it off, adding some personal quirks of their own into the roles.

I was never a Trekkie as I said, but for some weird reason I really look forward to this flick. I guess I'm getting ever more nostalgic as I get older...