On Wednesday, July 19, the day before Comic-Con, Daily Variety published special sections devoted not only to the San Diego convention, but to Star Trek's 40th anniversary. It included an interview with J.J. Abrams, a story about Internet fan films, and a commentary from one of the Hollywood trade paper's columnists.

That Wednesday Variety was designed to be distributed to attendees throughout the weekend at Comic-Con. To that end, Paramount Pictures ran a full-page color ad which "Proudly Congratulates Star Trek on its 40th Anniversary" (see picture at left). In addition, STARTREK.COM ran a half-page black-and-white ad declaring "The Adventure Continues..." with characters, drawn by "The Trek Life" artist David Reddick, in Starfleet uniforms of the various eras, with an implication that there is more to look forward to in the future (picture also on left). Creation Entertainment also ran a rare ad in that Variety promoting its August Las Vegas convention.

"Nicholas Meyer attended J.J. Abrams' bar mitzvah," begins the article titled "Star scribe beams up: J.J. Abrams talks about guiding the next voyage of the Enterprise." It continues: "To most folks, that bit of trivia means zilch. For die-hard Star Trek fans, it's a cosmic coincidence that augurs well for the fate of their beloved franchise."

Meyer, of course, is the writer/director whose golden touch propelled "Star Trek II," "IV" and "VI" to great success, as the Variety article pointed out.

"It was my first step in preparation for working on Star Trek," Abrams jokes about that auspicious meeting.

The "Star Trek XI" producer said that he's been doing a lot of research for the project, having been provided with every published Star Trek work including novels and series companions, and has been watching episodes of the Original Series. However, "We don't want to become oversaturated with the pre-existing material," Abrams says. "We're reading as much as we can, and as much as we need to, but we're also going to limit it. You want to remain fresh and be inspired."

As usual, Abrams won't reveal any details about the script being developed by writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and won't confirm yet whether he'll direct the project. But he did talk about what he thinks the "soul" of the movie should be.

"Star Trek to me was always about infinite possibility and the incredible imagination that Gene Roddenberry brought to that core of characters," he says. "It was a show about purpose, about faith vs. logic, about science vs. emotion, about us vs. them. It was its own world, and yet it was our world."

Regarding the balancing act he and his writers and co-producers have to perform between die-hards and the mass audience, Abrams comments, "We absolutely feel beholden to the fans, but at the same time, we have to recognize that you can't only go out and make a movie or TV shows for a group of people that live and breathe a show."

But he concludes that "a great telling of a Star Trek movie ... could be as thrilling and as fun as anything I could imagine."

Read the full article at this Variety.com link.

The special section also had an article titled "Fans trek into future on Net" reporting on the phenomenon of Internet fan productions (similar to previous mainstream media reports — see related article). The story focuses on "Star Trek: Hidden Frontier" and the makeshift studio which fan/producer Rob Caves built in the home he inherited from his grandmother. It also highlights a parody from Finland called "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning," and James Cawley's "Star Trek: New Voyages" in Ticonderoga, NY.

The feature points out that legions of Trek fans are taking advantage of advances in desktop filmmaking to create their own shows, with some hoping to use them as a steppingstone to go pro, or at least perhaps to license their work and make a little money.

However, the article quotes John Wentworth, exec VP of communications for CBS Paramount TV: "We greatly admire and respect the passion which fans have for Star Trek, but CBS Paramount's trademark rights and the intellectual properties related to Star Trek must always be protected from unauthorized use. Our policy is to pursue our legal options when those rights are determined to be violated by anyone."

Fans feel safe, the article notes, as long as they don't charge audiences to view their films, but the threat of legal action obstructs any chance of recouping their investment. Therefore for some, like Cawley, it has become a very expensive hobby.

To read this article, visit this Variety.com link.

In addition, Variety columnist Brian Lowry wrote an editorial titled "Love and money fuel Trek trips" in which he states, "The tale of the original Star Trek is, at its most fundamental level, a love story. Underappreciated during its initial run on NBC, the series was nursed to life through the undying, if more than a little geeky, adoration of its fans."

He states all the reasons why the original show was tremendously likable, but continues, "The problem, from where I sit, came in the form of everything that followed ... All the Trekking that ensued has felt like commerce, so much so that Paramount took to referring to the various tie-ins and spinoffs as 'the franchise.'"

He goes on to talk about how each Trek incarnation has been part of a business strategy, such as Voyager launching the UPN network, and while each show has its merits, "none possesses the mix of excitement, character and plain old fun that marked the first series."

He concludes, though, that, "Like Spock ... Star Trek at this point is probably beyond succumbing to the grim reaper's touch, destined to keep rising from the ashes," and points out that "simply living long isn't enough — Hollywood's primary directive, after all, is to prosper."

You can read this column at this Variety.com link.

The section also contained a timeline of crucial events in the history of Star Trek production, from March 11, 1964, when "Gene Roddenberry boldly taps out his first outline of what will become Star Trek," to April 20, 2006, when "Paramount announces that Lost mastermind J.J. Abrams will produce and possibly direct a new Trek film."

There is also a page devoted to a "Star Trek Family Tree," which graphically outlines how the creative talent behind the various Trek series relate to other shows, such as Maurice Hurley on Baywatch, Richard Manning on Farscape, Naren Shankar on CSI, James Crocker on Lois & Clark, Ken Biller on Smallville, and many others.