In 1967, six years after "Peter Gunn" was canceled, we got a theatrical version — but it wasn't until the '80s and '90s that Hollywood began in earnest to develop movies well after TV shows were canceled (with all-new casts, of course) — "Sgt. Bilko," "The Saint," "My Favorite Martian," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Maverick," "Car 54, Where Are You?" — and redos of "Dragnet," "The Flintstones" and "McHale's Navy."

Another odd variation of this trend was theatrical movies edited (with additional footage) from actual TV episodes, as happened with several "Man From U.N.C.L.E." features.

And the feature-length pilot episodes of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and the original "Battlestar Galactica" were also shown in theaters.

Anyway, none of this changes the fact that "Star Trek" is unique on several counts: It came a decade after the end of the TV series and kept the complete cast intact, and then after several films it morphed into the second "Star Trek" series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and managed to hang onto that original TV cast as well!

And now this new "Star Trek" movie seems to have successfully relaunched the beloved characters for yet another string of movies in a franchise that just keeps living longer and prospering.

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