Amok Time ...

Recently I was talking about geeky things I don't write about much on this blog, and I brought up those modern day titans Battlestar Galactica and Lost, but, of course, the elephant in the room is Star Trek.

Dr Who had gone off the boil and eventually off the air in the late 80s, Star Wars had vanished into outer space after Return of The Jedi (1983). Both looked as though they weren't ever coming back. What was a young geek to do with his time (besides profiteering off buying and selling old Star Wars toys)?

Who else could I turn to in this sci-fi void but my trusted old friend: Star Trek. Sure, Aliens came out in '86, but it looked like a one-off sequel and I don't remember much merchandise for it at the time; but Star Trek fans had already gone through the "Dark Times" before I was even watching TV and it was in a time of resurgence with Star Trek: The Next Generation (I had a massive 'crush' on Dr Beverly Crusher ... but that's another story).

There were clubs to join, conventions to attend (yes, Nick and I did attend at least one Star Trek convention and, yes, I did buy a Picard uniform and, yes, I did later sell it at a boot fair because it was too uncomfortable to wear ... not that I ever did ... mind you ...) and novels to read (Star Trek embraced the idea of an "Expanded Universe" years before Star Wars).

But I was always a very fickle Star Trek fan, my heart really belonged in a "galaxy far far away". I was really into Trek when it was the only regular thing around, but as soon as Star Wars resurfaced in the late 90s, while I was at university, it kind of slipped off my radar, except for the odd cinema trip to see the increasingly poor films.

However, one friend of mine has kept the Trek flame alive better than anyone I can think of: John Carrigan, actor, stuntman, martial artist, writer etc etc

In the current issue of the official Star Trek magazine, he has authored a four-page article on his involvement in Of Gods And Men, a 40th anniversary Star Trek mini-series featuring a host of stars from all the original series.

I first met John when I was a young journalist on the Kent & Sussex Courier and I was interviewing him about his acting and stunt work, and he was working on a low-budget sci-fi film of his own, called The Need, which I eventually appeared in as an extra in a pub scene.

John has gone on to bigger and grander things, including guest roles in that other mainstay of Trek's online presence: New Voyages, as well as plenty of non-Trek work, from the Chronicles of Narnia to The Brittas Empire, but he always comes back to Trek.