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."

According to then President of Paramount Television, Gary Nardino, "Production of the new series will begin in the fall. It is expected back on the television screen next spring." Of course we know that would never happen, but what eventually did take shape was a fantastic re-launch of the original cast in motion pictures, and of course Trek returning to the small screen in the form of Star Trek: The Next Generation and beyond.

So we have to admit, we've spent a good deal of the night reading archived news stories about Star Trek in it's various incarnations. It's the most fun you can have in the past without slingshotting around the sun...

You can check out the archived Deseret News article here.