From Star Wars to Star Trek: that’s been pretty much the back-and-forth pattern of my life for decades now. They’re the twin moons that rise and fall over my personal landscape. Or some labored metaphor like that. Anyway, to business:
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been gathering articles and blog entries about Star Trek‘s 40th anniversary — hey, somebody‘s got to do it, right? — and I now present the links below for your rainy-afternoon geeky reading pleasure.

I have to say first, however, that I have been somewhat disappointed by the general lack of chatter out there in the blogosphere about this subject. I really thought more people would be writing about this anniversary, and that I’d see some insightful, inspiring, or at least personal commentary instead of just the usual rote stuff about the show’s history and the supposed reasons why it has endured. But then I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. As I admitted the other day, Trek isn’t exactly a big deal in popular culture at the moment. Its fifth incarnation, Enterprise, died a lonely death several years ago — how long ago? Even I forget! — and I don’t know anyone who really cares that there’s supposedly an eleventh feature film in the works. Still, I did find a few articles that may be worth your time:

Not surprisingly given the demographic of its readers, Wired.com published the most material. The geek-news site posted up an an interview with The Shat, an opinion piece which theorizes that the original endures because it’s both “…serious and ridiculous, heavy and light, outlandish and undeniable,” and a photo album containing reader-submitted images that encompass “the scope of Trek’s impact on its audience and our culture…through the artifacts collected by the people it touched.” I’m particularly fond of this one, which could easily be a shot from my own family album.)

Moving along, CNN has another interview with that well-known comedy duo Shatner and Nimoy, the official Trek site offered up a company-line editorial, and the astronomy-oriented website Space.com discussed the cultural legacy of Star Trek.

Closer to home, the Salt Lake Tribune‘s resident film critic Sean P. Means thinks Star Trek endures because of “something that nearly killed the show during its original TV run: It’s smart.” And I’m still waiting around for Wil Wheaton‘s tribute to the show that had such an impact on his adolescence (he was on Star Trek: The Next Generation, if you don’t know who he is), but in the meantime, his reminiscence about the classic Star Wars action figures of his youth is almost enough to tide me over.

And finally, here’s a little video clip that I haven’t been able to work in anywhere else, a “fascinating” mash-up of two of TV’s most distinctive theme songs:

Enjoy!