If you're thinking about taking any college classes in the Lake Tahoe area, there's something you should check out.

Lake Tahoe Community College in California is offering a new course during the upcoming spring quarter called "The Anthropology of Star Trek." It is being taught by Daryl Frazetti, who has been featured in the documentaries "Trekkies" and "Trekkies 2," as well as William Shatner's book "Get a Life!"

The course description states that students will be introduced "to the politics, philosophy, mulitculturalism, and historical context of the science fiction thriller Star Trek." ("Thriller"?) "Using select television episodes and excerpts of feature films that span all five series, this course will examine the significance of the cultural, historical, social and evolutionary nature of the human condition within the context of a futuristic setting, along with the underlying perspective on politics, philosophy, religion, ethics, science and the future of humanity."

Case studies will include Vulcan rituals, the capitalistic nature of the Ferengi, and the so-called "gay episode," "The Outcast." Topics addressed will include "The Prime Directive - what does it mean?" and "Analysis: Is Star Trek a religion?"

Guest speakers may include Richard Arnold, former assistant to Gene Roddenberry, and "Trekkies" director Roger Nygard, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune (click here for the full article).

"It's going to be quite the course," Frazetti promises. The 12-week Thursday-night class begins April 6.

Sternbach, Okudas to Speak at Space Development Conference

An illustrious slate of space entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, visionaries, and celebrities will speak at the 25th annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC), being held May 4-7 in Los Angeles, and that slate will include some prominent Star Trek alumni.

Michael and Denise Okuda and Rick Sternbach will be among the speakers at the four-day event. Mike Okuda was scenic art supervisor, graphic designer and technical consultant on every Star Trek series and movie since the beginning of The Next Generation. Denise was scenic artist and video supervisor. The Okudas co-authored "The Star Trek Encyclopedia," the "Chronology" and other publications. Sternbach was an illustrator and artist on TNG, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and several movies, responsible for the design of the U.S.S. Voyager and many other ships, props and set pieces, and he also authored several Star Trek publications.

Other special guests at the ISDC include Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut and prominent Star Trek fan; Burt Rutan, designer of SpaceShipOne; Peter Diamandis, founder of the X PRIZE Foundation; Dennis Tito, the first space tourist; legendary broadcaster Hugh Downs; and many others.

The conference will address a broad spectrum of space-related interests, such as steps required to land humans on Mars, a preview of the next generation of spacecraft, and the search for microbial life in our solar system, plus discussions on government policy, space tourism and dozens of other topics.

Co-sponsored by The Planetary Society and the National Space Society, the ISDC will be held in Los Angeles at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel near the LAX airport. For more information visit www.isdc2006.com.

TiVo Alert – "Living in TV Land: William Shatner"

Reminder: On Wednesday, March 22 — William Shatner's birthday — the TV Land cable network will debut Living in TV Land with a one-hour special chronicling the bold captain's very eventful life in the last year or so. The episode will include footage taken at last August's Star Trek Creation convention in Las Vegas (related story), the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, the Emmy Awards, the set of Boston Legal, and from his personal life.

An online preview of the show is available at this TVLand.com link. This video clip prominently features several fans in attendance at the 2005 Vegas convention. So if you were at that convention, you want to see this!

The special will feature appearances by Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Kate Mulgrew. As bridges between segments, Shatner will perform spoken-word, biographical songs from his album "Has Been," backed by musical partner Ben Folds. More details about the show can be found in this TV Land press release.

"Living in TV Land: William Shatner" airs after the "TV Land Awards," Wednesday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, 10:00 p.m. Central. It will repeat three hours later. Consult your local listings.

Jimmy Kimmel Update

Speaking of celebs with cameras at Star Trek conventions, Jimmy Kimmel was at Grand Slam in Pasadena last weekend with a crew to shoot footage for a segment on his late-night talk show (related story). The crew told us the segment would probably air within a week, but as of last night we haven't seen anything. So you may want to keep your TiVo or VCR programmed for this show for at least another week. Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights in most cities at 12:05 a.m. Eastern and Pacific, 11:05 p.m. Central, but please check your local listings.

Billingsley to Celebrate 40th Anniversary in Seattle

Convention organizer PlanetXpo has announced that John Billingsley will join the slate of special guests at the Seattle celebration of Star Trek's 40th anniversary (related story). Billingsley lived in Seattle and was very active in theatre there before moving to Los Angeles. The conference will take place the weekend of September 8 at the Science Fiction Museum and Space Needle, and due to the small venue, seating is strictly limited to 400. Visit www.planetxpo.com for more info.

Chris Doohan Invites Fans to Break Bonaduce With Him

Chris Doohan, the son of James Doohan, invites fans to join him in an episode of VH1's "reality" show Breaking Bonaduce. Doohan fronts a band called Muddflaps, and they will be playing a live public gig in Los Angeles which will be filmed for the show. Danny Bonaduce will be there, and his wife Gretchen will sing with the band.

The gig takes place Friday, March 24, at the Hard Rock Café at the Beverly Center, 8600 Beverly Blvd. (it's that place with the Cadillac sticking halfway out). Anyone interested in attending should arrive by 8:30 p.m.

Jason Alexander Makes Theatrical Directing Debut

Jason Alexander, who played "Kurros" in Star Trek: Voyager's "Think Tank" and has participated in other Trek functions, will make his first major foray into directing for the stage. He will tackle the Los Angeles debut of Sam Shepard's "God of Hell" at the Geffen Playhouse, running June 20-July 30.

"God of Hell" is a dark comedy that takes place in rural Wisconsin and satirizes the current political landscape. It has previously played in New York and London. The L.A. cast has not yet been set. Visit www.geffenplayhouse.com for more info.

Sensor Sweep

In sundry casting news, Kim Cattrall ("Valeris" in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country") has been tapped to star in a comedy pilot produced by Elton John. In Him and Us, Cattrall plays the manager of a gay British rock star played by Anthony Stewart Head (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). If picked up, the show will air on ABC.

Virginia Madsen ("Kellin" in Voyager's "Unforgettable"), who is red-hot in the movies right now, is moving back to television, at least momentarily. She has been cast in the pilot for Smith, a crime drama told from the criminals' point of view, for CBS.

Crystal Allen ("D'Nesh" in Enterprise's "Bound") will guest star in an episode of Modern Men on the WB airing March 31. Allen will also be featured in the May/June issue of Femme Fatales magazine. She is currently seen in billboards and magazines all over in an Anne Cole swimwear ad campaign, and in Europe, look for her in a Lynx deodorant commercial with Ben Affleck.

Congrats to Oscar Winners

We're a little behind the curve on this, but we'd like to congratulate Joe Letteri for winning his third Academy Award earlier this month. He won in the Visual Effects category for "King Kong." Letteri was a CG animator on "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."

We'd also like to mention that the big winner of Oscar night this year, "Crash" (Best Picture), counts amongst its cast Marina Sirtis ("Deanna Troi"), as well as Daniel Dae Kim ("Corporal Chang" and "Gotana-Retz"). So kudos to them too.