In the nominations for the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards announced this morning, Star Trek: Enterprise was given four chances to add to its trophy case.

Well, three really, because like in previous years, the show has multiple nominations in the same category, namely Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series. The effects teams on both "Countdown" and "The Council" were nominated in that category.

Also, makeup supervisor Michael Westmore was personally nominated on behalf of "Zero Hour" in the category Outstanding Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Prosthetic). And composer Velton Ray Bunch was recognized for his contributions to "Similitude" in Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore).

Enterprise earned five nominations last year and the year before. The show won two Emmys in its first season, for Special Visual Effects and Hairstyling (related story).

The entire list of Enterprise nominees, as posted on www.emmys.org, is as follows:

Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series (2):
"Countdown"
Ronald B. Moore, Visual Effects Supervisor
Daniel F. Curry, Visual Effects Producer
Elizabeth Castro, Visual Effects Coordinator
Paul Hill, Lead Visual Effects Compositor
Greg Rainoff, Lead Visual Effects Animator
Fred Pienkos, CGI Supervisor
Sean Scott, Lead CGI Animator
David Morton, Lead CGI Animator
Chris Zapara, Lead CGI Animator

"The Council"
Art Codron, Visual Effects Supervisor
Dan Curry, Visual Effects Producer
Steve Fong, Lead Visual Effects Compositor
Greg Rainoff, Lead Visual Effects Animator
John Teska, Lead CGI Artist
Sean Jackson, Lead CGI Artist
Mike Stetson, Lead CGI Artist
Koji Kuramura, Lead CGI Artist
Pierre Drolet, Lead CGI Artist

Outstanding Makeup For A Series, Miniseries, Movie Or A Special (Prosthetic):
"Zero Hour"
Michael G. Westmore, Makeup Supervisor

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Dramatic Underscore):
"Similitude"
Velton Ray Bunch, Composer

The competition in the Visual Effects category is Dead Like Me, Stargate SG-1 and Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. In the Makeup category it's Nip/Tuck and Tracey Ullman in the Trailer Tales. There are five shows competing against Enterprise in the Music category.

Numerous other members of the Star Trek family also earned bragging rights in this morning's nominations. One of the most notable is William Shatner, nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his guest role as "Denny Crane" in The Practice. That role will continue into next season in the new spinoff series Boston Legal (fka "Fleet Street"). This is Shatner's second Emmy nomination, the first being in 1999 for his comedy guest appearance in 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Also notably, Patrick Stewart, as an executive producer, was named on behalf of Showtime's "The Lion in Winter" (which he also starred in) for a nomination in Outstanding Made For Television Movie. His production company partner, Wendy Neuss (Flying Freehold Productions), was also listed in the nomination as executive producer. Neuss was a co-producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.

David A. Goodman, who was a writer and consulting producer on Enterprise in its second and third seasons, is among the producers listed in the nomination for Futurama in the category Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less than One Hour).

A former Star Trek writer/producer (and science consultant), Naren Shankar, is listed with the other producers of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in its nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. Earlier this year Shankar accepted a Saturn Award for that show (related story).

Other veteran actors of Star Trek nominated this year include Oscar winner Louise Fletcher ("Winn Adami") as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Joan of Arcadia, and Brad Dourif ("Lon Suder") as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Deadwood.

Awards stalwarts Kelsey Grammer ("Captain Morgan Bateson") and Kim Cattrall ("Valeris") cap their long streak of Emmy nominations for their respective series, being that Frasier and Sex and the City have concluded their runs. Grammer, once again, is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, and Cattrall for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

There are many names on the nomination list, especially in the technical categories, of people who have at one time or another worked on a Star Trek show, and it would be impractical to list them all. But a few other notable mentions include: Junie Lowry-Johnson (long-time casting director for Trek), Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Deadwood; Mary Jo Slater (casting director for "Star Trek VI"), Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, "Traffic: The Miniseries"; Greg Jein (modelmaker on Voyager and several Trek movies), Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, "Angels In America, Part 2"; Josée Normand (hair designer/stylist for Voyager and DS9), Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series, Deadwood; and James MacKinnon (makeup artist on "Star Trek: First Contact"), who is competing against Westmore in the same Makeup category on behalf of Nip/Tuck.

The technical awards Enterprise is competing for, and some of the acting trophies, will be handed out at the Creative Arts Awards ceremony on Sunday, September 12. The main Primetime Emmy presentation will take place the following week, on Sunday, Sept. 19, and will be telecast on ABC.