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There's a lengthy piece up over at Wired's culture blog Underwire about Trek in the Park, which kicks off its final season this weekend at St. Johns' Cathedral Park with classic episode "The Trouble with Tribbles." Having witnessed a Tribble-making party at the Jack London Bar, where the bar turned into a very fuzzy factory floor, I'm looking forward to seeing all those Tribbles in action.

For my money, the best piece written about Trek in the Park over the years was Denis' article two years ago, "Set Phasers for Learn!", a primer for the Trek-illiterate:


THE PREMISE: If you people had bothered to watch even one measly episode, you'd know at least this much: "These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise"—an interstellar spacecraft 250 years in the future. It's on a five-year mission to extend the military and economic might of an America-like assemblage of peace-loving planets called the Federation. It's also tasked with checking the expansionist impulses of the Soviet-like Klingons and Red China-like Romulans.

And while we're on the subject of dredging up geeky nostalgia for things past: If you haven't read the history of the Oregon Trail computer game that's making the rounds, give it a look.

(Full disclosure, I occasionally freelance for Underwire.)