Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Star Trek season premier. The TV show originally appeared on NBC, and has been going on in some form – movies, television, cartoons, comic books, novels, websites, and so – ever since.

Why not share your love for all things Star Trek with your kids? After all, Star Trek teaches an appreciation for science fiction and science fact like astronomy, physics, engineering and all the other sciences that have gone into exploration and space flight.

The series showed appreciation for cultural diversity with its Vulcan philosophy of IDIC – Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Most importantly, the Star Trek expressed the hope that humanity did destroy itself, but matured and found peace, and went on to explore the galaxy to find new life and new civilizations.

HOPE – this is the lasting legacy that Gene Roddenberry gave us. Thanks sir, may you live long and prosper!

TV Activities:

First, TV Land is celebrating Star Trek with a 40th Anniversary prime time salute tonight. TV Land will showcase four of the most talked about and best remembered episodes from the series, including the show’s premiere and the historic episode featuring TV’s first interracial kiss from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET/PT before the show joins the TV Land roster beginning November 17, 2006. In November, TVLand.com’s new broadband media player will stream full-length episodes of Star Trek, which have previously not been available for free on the Web.

Web Activities:

Visit some cool websites with your kids (Thanks to the Delphos Herald for pointing some of these out):

• Startrek.com — The official Star Trek website
• TrekGuide — The definitive guide to every episode ever. Also find an intricate map of the Star Trek galaxy. Lot of Star Trek merchandise for sale at this huge site as well. Also a Star Trek news section and message boards.
• Star Trek Quotes — Who doesn’t want to live long and prosper or be beamed up by Scotty? But what about the more obscure Star Trek quotes. One fan claims to have the definitive collections. From the original series to the feature films, there are hundreds of quotes to peruse. There’s also Star Trek humor, a fan forum and links to more sites.
• StarWrecked — So you’d rather be making fun of Trekkies than reading about how the show got its start. Here’s a site that pokes fun at the show and its followers. See fixed photos, read jokes and “reworked” biographies. Also find some trivia, computer screen savers and wallpaper.
• BBC News – The BBC has a wonderful section on their website covering the Seattle conference, a picture gallery, a discussion of the definitive Star Trek, an interactive Star Trek timeline, fan films and clips, Star Trek through the eyes of a devoted fan, video clips, and Brent Spiner’s (Data) memories of working on ST:NG and the movies.
• More Star Trek 40th Anniversary news at Google

Museum Activities:

For you folks fortunate to live in Seattle, Planet Expo and Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum will present the 40th anniversary celebration for the show. This site shows all the information for that event including celebrity photo and autograph opportunities, a champagne toast at the top of the Space Needle, museum tours and more. Dress up, bring the kids and have fun!

If you don’t live in Seattle, visit a space or science museum to celebrate Star Trek’s 40th anniversary.

Cooking Activities:

Finally, make a yummy Vulcan Apple Pastry. According to Voyager’s chef Nelix, in his The Star Trek Cookbook, Vulcans adore these as a quickie hot breakfast treat, or at room temperature, as a school lunch box treat.

Nelix says that these are great afternoon snacks if your kids have to go from school to practice or an after-school activity. And they’re great for parents on the go or college students between classes or labs. Geez, that Mr. Nelix really knows how us 21st century Americans are always eating on the run.

Vulcan Apple Pastry
Yield 12

Ingredients:

1. Use packaged crust as your shell or your favorite pie crust recipe to make them from scratch
2. 4 cups of Gala or Granny Smith apples, peeled, sliced and cored
3. 1 egg beaten
4. 1/4 cup melted butter
5. 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
6. 1 cup heavy cream
7. 1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F.
2. Line the cups in a greased 2-inch muffin tin with individual muffin-sized shells of crust.
3. Pour in sliced apples into the shells fulling them just 3/4 full.
4. Mix the egg, butter, lemon juice, brown sugar, cream and cinnamon together, and pour the mixture over the apples.
5. Moisten the edge of the crust and cover each muffin cup with another layer of crust.
6. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top crust is golden.
7. Serve warm or chill in refrigerator before wrapping them in foil for your away mission.

Technorati tags: Star Trek, Star Trek 40th Anniversary, family activities, cooking, science fiction, recipes, science appreciation, IDIC,

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