And like the diehard Trekkers I was disappointed to see STAR TREK jump the Trakolian Blood Shark a few years back. Six series (I may be counting the animated cartoon) and eleven movies later (I may also be counting FREE ENTERPRISE), the STAR TREK juggernaut apparently ran out of gas.

Or dilythium. Which I'm probably also misspelling.

(I'm making a list now: paraphanalia, dilythium. When I get to ten, I'm buying a dictionary. And a nerd.)

Here are my presumably unoriginal thoughts about why STAR TREK went wrong:

The first STAR TREK was a bunch of people on a space ship exploring the universe. Great.

The second STAR TREK was a different bunch of people on a space ship exploring the universe. Fair enough.

The third STAR TREK was a different bunch of people on a space station, just kind of hanging out and then later fighting a war. Progress!

Then the fourth STAR TREK was about a different bunch of people on a space ship exploring the universe.

And the fifth STAR TREK was about...

And I know I left out the cartoon just there, but you can imagine that it was probably drawings of people on a space ship exploring the universe.

STAR TREK isn't just a sci-fi series. (Or a series of series even.) It's not just a universe. It's a whole freakin' genre unto itself: the "bunch of people on a space ship (or maybe a space station)" genre.

Warren Ellis calls them "spaceship shows." I call them all STAR TREK.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA is a STAR TREK show. FIREFLY was a STAR TREK show. FARSCAPE, ANDROMEDA, BABYLON 5, all the way back to BUCK ROGERS and freakin' BLAKE 7? STAR TREK, STAR TREK, STAR TREK, STAR TREK, and freakin' STAR TREK.

Yes, there were differences. I'll get to them in a minute. But they all had that one big idea in common:

In the future, all the interesting stuff will happen on spaceships. Most of the time, these will be military spaceships, but sometimes the spaceships will be fleeing the military (FIREFLY, BLAKE 7) and sometimes they'll be trying to rebuild the military (ANDROMEDA).

In 2006, we have doctors and lawyers and police officers and precocious teenagers and entire offices full of wacky but lovable weirdos. But in the future?

Just dudes on spaceships.

Over the years I’ve given a lot of thought to how to do STAR TREK differently. How to create a STAR TREK show that defies the genre. How to create a STAR TREK show that’s accessible to a larger audience.

Let's play "See if you can spot the flaw in my thinking!"

Back when ST:NG was still on the air, I thought: “They should do a show about a small exploratory ship traveling through uncharted space. They could call it STAR TREK… TRAVELER!”

As it turns out, not a great idea.

Other ideas the seemed good at first included a show set in the future, with the heroes of the Enterprise X rebuilding the Federation (ala ANDROMEDA), and a show set at the dawn of the Federation called STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (ala ENTERPRISE or, you know, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT).

And, sure, any one of those ideas could have made for a good show. (Could have, but didn’t.) But ultimately I was just repackaging the same idea: STAR TREK on a smaller ship. STAR TREK on a more advanced ship. STAR TREK on a more primitive ship.

Ooh, here’s an idea: a bunch of people explore the universe in a spaceship that transforms into a giant robot!

What?

Here’s the thing: TV shows, and stories in general, are about people. Not spaceships. Or so I'm told.

And that brings me to “Across the Universe.” It’s a STAR TREK story in the loosest sense. It's set in that sort of "spaceship universe," but it's not a spaceship show.

It's a people show... with a spaceship thrown in here and there.

If I were a television executive in charge of “saving STAR TREK,” I’d turn “Across the Universe” into a TV show. But I’m a comic book writer, so I’m putting together a pitch for an OGN.

Hopefully folks will like it.

More on what "Across the Universe" actually IS to follow. Right now it's at the very early script stage, but I hope to have a full pitch ready in the next month or two (or, let's be honest, decade).

And before I get any emails, yes, I realize that people tell all sorts of stories about the future that aren’t set exclusively on spaceships and that these stories typically appear in “books” and that these books can be found in “book stores” or on the “amazon dotcom.”

Bonus points for you! You're very clever, and you're "oh-so-literate." Now come over hear so I can beat you to death with your library card!