Great Trekspectations: Two enterprising critics debate all things 'Trek'

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before."

"Star Trek" is back, after a four-year hiatus on television and a seven-year hiatus on film.

Director J.J. Abrams and "Transformers" screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have "re-envisioned" the "Trek" concept with a big-budget, science-fiction thriller that sees new actors taking on the roles of the original, beloved characters.

Of course, for some fans, "Trek" never left. That's a discussion for another day, though.

Deseret News film critic Jeff Vice and television editor Scott Pierce both count themselves as "Trek" fans. (They claim to be the less-fervent Trekkers rather than the more rabid Trekkies. They do not own Starfleet uniforms.)

Jeff once co-hosted a short-lived television series on the local UPN affiliate titled "Sci-Fi Sunday Nights" and was ridiculed for taking his "Star Trek" Mego action figures to elementary school in a Marvel Super Heroes lunchbox.

He has a William Shatner standee in his cubicle. And he also shares a birthday with actor Brent Spiner, who played the android Data in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." (They both were born on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2.)

Scott has been watching "Star Trek" since the original series was in first-run. Not only has he seen all 627 episodes of the six series and all the movies, but he's interviewed just about every member of the casts.

Just last month, Scott (nearly) danced for joy when he received a Sovereign-class Enterprise-E model for his birthday.

Both were invited to an early prescreening of the new "Trek" film. What follows is a lively, back-and-forth discussion of all things "Trek," from the big screen to the small screen.

The TV series

JEFF: I guess we should start off by explaining exactly where we're coming from. My favorite of the Trek series is "classic" Trek, also known as "The Original Series." Though I'm also quite fond of "The Next Generation" as well and think that the last season or so of "Enterprise" didn't get nearly as much respect as it probably deserves.

SCOTT: Captain Kirk (Shatner) was my hero when I was a kid, but I'm a member of Team Picard (Patrick Stewart). "Next Generation" is the best of the TV series.