William Lengeman III is a fan on a mission. His goal: to watch all 700-plus episodes of the live-action Star Trek series in one year.

The Tucson-based freelance writer was a fan of the original Star Trek series back when it aired in syndication in the 1970s, and has “probably seen each (episode) 57 times.” By the time the later series hit the air, Bill had moved on to other interests. Recently, however, he realized that there was “a whole mass of Star Trek out there” that he’d never seen, and he thought it would be interesting to “confront it all” over the course of a year. To date he has viewed 115 episodes of the original series, Voyager and Enterprise. He is documenting his progress daily at www.MyStarTrekYear.com.

Bill is leaving his selection of episodes to the fates, choosing to use his DVR to capture those episodes that are being broadcast. Whatever it captures, in whatever order it finds them, dictates what Bill will be watching. This caused a bit of confusion when the very first episodes of Enterprise he saw put him somewhere in the middle of the show’s Xindi-arc third season.

So far he hasn’t been overwhelmed by Voyager, but found some Enterprise episodes to be “pretty good.” His capsule reviews of each episode are brief and witty, and he’s not afraid to tell you how he feels. He says his intent is not to trash Trek, but “some episodes, I just can’t resist.” Bill recently discovered that the remastered Star Trek episodes are airing in Tucson on Saturday nights, and he will seek them out. He intends to catch up on the 22-episode Animated Adventures at some point as well.

Bill acknowledges that Gene Roddenberry’s view of the future was very forward thinking, with a racially-mixed crew that was certainly revolutionary in the 1960s when the show was produced. There are moments that feel very much “a creature of its time,” however, with many fistfights and falling back into a “space western” feeling. He has been very impressed by viewing first-season episodes again, especially in comparison to some of the third-season episodes he viewed when he started this ambitious quest.

He’s finding this project to be quite interesting, even more so since he began the process without having seen a single episode of any of the later series.

Bill is aware that Star Trek: The Next Generation was extremely popular, but he has yet to see an episode. Likewise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has so far eluded the grasp of his DVR. He admits he may have to resort to DVDs to catch those series, and to fill in the gaps he has already noticed.

Check in with Bill as he makes his way through almost 30 full days of Star Trek episodes. If he’s enjoying the shows so far, I can’t wait to hear what he thinks when he gets into TNG and DS9!

If you want to take on a project like this for yourself, you can find all six series in complete DVD sets at great prices here in the Store.

Star Trek Remastered

Speaking of the Remastered series, this weekend’s episode is “By Any Other Name” - production number 50, which originally aired on February 23, 1968 near the end of the show’s second season. The story is by Jerome Bixby, who also penned the episodes “Mirror, Mirror”, “Day of the Dove” and “Requiem for Methusaleh”. Bixby’s sci-fi credits also include the classics “It! The Terror from Beyond Space” and “Fantastic Voyage” plus the Twilight Zone episode “It’s a Good Life”. Bixby is credited along with D.C. Fontana for the episode’s teleplay.

The Star Trek Remastered team has created several breathtaking new images, and we’ve got them! Click the photo to see four shots from the updated episode, including two you’ll only see here at Roddenberry.com!

The Kelvans take on human form and commandeer the Enterprise to return to their home in the Andromeda galaxy. As a display of their advanced technology and power, they turn several crewmembers into harmless crystalline objects. In the “teaser” where the away team first meets Kelvan leader Rojan, the paralysis field seems to render everyone immobile - except for Captain Kirk’s eyes!  Rojan is played by the always-solid Warren Stevens, veteran of the sci-fi classic “Forbidden Planet”. Also watch for the comic scene where Scotty plies Tomar with a smorgasbord of liquor, at one point offering a new beverage with only the explanation, “It’s green!”

As you watch this scene, raise a glass to James Doohan, whose birthday was Monday, March 3.

Other Star Trek-family birthdays:

Jolene Blalock (T’Pol - Star Trek: Enterprise) - March 5
Donna Murphy (Anij - “Star Trek: Insurrection”) - March 7
Anton Yelchin (Chekov - “Star Trek [2009]”) - March 11

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