Paramount Gears Up For Star Trek 40th Anniversary

Paramount is gearing up to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek in 2006 with a huge convention in Las Vegas and new merchandise. But without a Star Trek series on the air, the studio will be unable to repeat its 30th anniversary festivities, which included a television special plus flashback episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Creation Entertainment has unveiled a new line of merchandise featuring a newly designed 40th anniversary logo. Currently available are t-shirts including a long-sleeved black shirt with the title of every Star Trek episode from every series plus all the movies on the back.

In addition, Diamond Select Toys has announced that the company has signed a contract with Paramount which will allow Art Asylum to continue to develop collectibles, beginning with a wave of Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures including Commander William Riker and Lieutenant Commander Worf. Ship replicas such as the I.S.S NX-01 will be produced as well.

A set of collectibles based on 30th anniversary special episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" are available, depicting Deep Space Nine crewmembers Sisko, Dax, O'Brien and Bashir in original series uniforms, complete with tribbles. Photos may be found here.

As previously reported, there will be an official 40th anniversary convention in Las Vegas. Tickets are already available at the Creation web site.

In 1996, Paramount celebrated the 30th anniversary of Star Trek with two episodes of the then-current shows. "Trials and Tribble-ations" saw the DS9 crew travel back in time to stop Klingon agent Arne Darvin from killing Captain Kirk on space station K-7 while it was overrun by tribbles, and Voyager's "Flashback" sent Tuvok and Janeway onto the USS Excelsior under the command of Captain Sulu as Tuvok recalled his experiences as a much younger Starfleet officer.

The franchise also produced a UPN special, Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond, that featured dozens of cast members, guest stars and celebrity fans such as astronaut Mae Jemison and the cast of Frasier.

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