The Nexus Ribbon Sighted in the Alpha Quadrant by Scott R Heath

A twisting ribbon of glowing gas marks the point where the expanding blast wave
from a stellar explosion known as SN 1006 is sweeping through.
When I spotted this supernova remnant the Trekker within me cried out KIRK. It looks like the Nexus energy ribbon that had trapped a couple of ships around the turn of the 24th Century. The Enterprise-B arrived and managed to rescue some of the ship’s crew members when the ribbon struck out and blasted a hole in the hull of the Enterprise-B, pulling Captain Kirk into the Nexus. 78 years later Kirk left the Nexus to help Picard stop a madman from destroying a world. Or did he? Maybe it was an incarnation of Kirk that helped Picard. Maybe the part of him that is real is still there, possibly chopping wood for another 78 years. Picard owes it to him to find Spock and try to recover Kirk from the Nexus. In a novel by William Shatner Kirk was resurrected by Borg nanoprobes to turn Kirk into a weapon but that ended with Kirk dying. Again. Something that Shatner never should have allowed TPTB to do with the character. Seeing that Ribbon on the MSNBC website made me think of Kirk and how important he is to the Star Trek franchise and I really hope Kirk is restored in a future project. We’ve killed him off enough – We owe it to him to bring him back while Shatner’s alive.

To Boldly Go Again Where No Man Has Gone Before

All the Star Trek sites are buzzing about the 11th Star Trek film coming out next year and how William Shatner is not in it. Leonard Nimoy will be playing older Spock while a new cast of actors are playing young Spock and the rest of the Enterprise crew, who are embarking on their first mission together. The problem with having William Shatner in the film is that Captain Kirk was killed in the 8th film, Generations. How can we have an older Kirk in the new film without some explanation as to why he’s not dead? Since the Nexus Energy Ribbon only travels through our part of the galaxy every century or so, why not start out the movie with Spock leading an expedition of scientists into the Nexus? There they discover Captain Kirk alive, although some of the scientists are really there to use the nexus’ time travel power to return to the 23rd Century and kill Kirk in his youth. These so-called scientists are Romulan agents who hope to alter the timeline. Kirk and Spock follow them into the past where they meet up with their younger selves and warn them of the plot, which will reboot the entire Star Trek universe. Now I’m only using this plot because there are already rumors on the net that claim that Spock follows Romulans back in time to kill Kirk and Spock must find his younger self to warn him. Why not use the nexus for this, at the same time allowing The Shat to play older Kirk? Now I’m not happy about my entire Star Trek DVD Collection being reduced to a cancelled timeline, but surely Enterprise happened a significant amount of time before then, and the films as well as The Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager occurring a significant amount of time after this reboot. There may be minor changes but not enough to cancel out Starfleet’s future history.

I have loved Star Trek all of my life, and I’m almost 46 years old. I’m not crazy about new actors in these roles but if Trek is to survive, it has to be done. Trek has been done on TV just about every way feasible. Going back to its roots is a smart idea. There are some rumors suggesting the design of the Enterprise is being changed, but I’m pretty sure the Enterprise is the only aspect of the show that should not be changed, at least not much. How do you feel about it?