Today is a day I remember well. I was 16 years old and an avid Star Trek fan. It was one of those moments that we all have... knowing exactly where we were when we learn of something tragic. Some time, late in the evening of October 24th, 1991, I was incessantly flipping cable channels until I stumbled upon a news story about Gene. Like so many Trek fans, I was saddened to hear of his passing. While I don't have any personal memories of Gene, he influenced and touched my life in many different ways and I wish I had had the opportunity to thank him.

In years past we've celebrated Gene Roddenberry's birthday with a special salute and a Youtube video round-up. We've often overlooked another Trek alum's birthday that just happens to share the same date as Gene, Star Trek: The Next Generation's Jonathan Frakes. What better way to celebrate this special day with a video of Jonathan candidly remembering Gene. Happy birthday to both Gene "The Great Bird of the Galaxy" Roddenberry and Jonathan "Two Takes" Frakes. By the way, you can find out how Jonathan earned that special nickname here.

Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born August 19th 1921 in El Paso, Texas. Today would have been Gene's 90th birthday, so we pay tribute to the late Great Bird of the Galaxy. Gene's brain child, Star Trek, is celebrating it's 45th anniversary this year and continues to inspire and provoke generations. We recently returned from Vegas Khhaaan! 2011, where more than 20,000 fans participated in one of the largest, if not THE largest, Trek Convention. This proves that Star Trek, and Gene's vision, still has an indelible mark on history with more fans added each year.

Gene started life as a sickly young boy who would dream of traveling to the stars. He flew combat missions in the Pacific Theatre during WWII with the "Bomber Barons" of the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Wing of the Thirteenth Air Force. In total, Gene flew eighty-nine missions for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.

After WWII, Gene worked as a commercial pilot for Pan American World Airways (Pan Am). He received a Civil Aeronautics commendation for his rescue efforts following a June 1947 crash in the Syrian desert while on a flight to Istanbul from Karachi.

Cruising around the web, performing our ubiquitous Star Trek searches that we do on regular basis, we ran across a new service from our friends at Google. It seems that their fine cadre of engineers & magicians have started archiving old newspapers from around the country, possibly the world, and we've found some Trek gold, or latinum as it were. According to the Deseret News, circa June 18th 1977, Star Trek is to launch a new series! We're guessing that the article is talking about the ill-fated Star Trek Phase II that eventually got rolled into Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Buried amongst the various stories about the early shuttle program, lingering Watergate appeals, outbreaks of legionnaires disease in Olympia, Washington, and ads for plywood (sold by the trusty folks at Ketchum's) is a brief AP story mentioning the re-launch of our beloved sci-fi series. "Hopefully it will be even superior to the early Star Trek shows" Says The Great Bird of the Galaxy, Gene Roddenberry. Adding that he would like to "use as many of the faces as possible, as well as an infusion of new ones."

Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born August 19th 1921 in El Paso, Texas. Today would have been Gene's 89th birthday and to celebrate the life of this extraordinary man, we bring you a special Youtube Video Round-up: The Gene Roddenberry Edition. Gene wore many different hats over the years, writer, director, producer, husband, father, friend, and as most would agree; visionary. Gene's vision for the future was that of hope in mankind and the hope for a better tomorrow. It has played out on televisions screens all over the world starting on September 8th, 1966 through to today. So, to celebrate the life & legacy of the Great Bird of the Galaxy, we've scoured the halls of Youtube to find the very best of Gene Roddenberry. Enjoy.

A large amount of Star Trek memorabilia will be hitting the auction block this June in Vegas and It's all going to charity.  Included in the auction are items from the blockbuster Star Trek XI such as romulan weopons, cadet unifroms & badges, as well as Spock Prime's cold weather gear worn by Leonard Nimoy on Delta Vega.

In the 70's, after Star Trek's unworthy demise, Gene Roddenberry worked on several TV projects.  A few made it to the small screen as pilots and made for TV movies.  One in particular is going back in the spotlight.  "The Quester Tapes" is a 1974 television movie about an android with incomplete memory tapes who is searching for his creator and his purpose.

Thanks to one of our favorite SciFi blogs, Airlock Alpha, we learned of a special "hidden" interview Gene Roddenberry recorded in 1976 with none other than The Shat.  Apparently the interview was include on a spoken word album called "Inside Star Trek" that also featured DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy) and Mark Lenard (Sarek).