From the dedication, “For Gene” to the end where we see the ending moments of the episode, “The Inner Light”, it brings back wonderful memories, great moments in the series, and honors the man who started it all.  I'm speaking about the tribute video to the recent 20th Anniversary of Star Trek The Next Generation, which was created by Roddenberry.com's 2007 Member of the Year, Justin Toney.  He manages to capture in a very short 8 minutes video, the moments that stick out in our minds from the series that relaunched Trek all over again.  Those video clips, combined with the haunting music from “The Inner Light” makes it one that stays in your memory.

Justin, a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, works for his local FOX television station, and will graduate this year with a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts, with a major in Television.  When I asked him what he does for the station, he responded, “Hmmm......what don't I do?”  He then went on to tell me that he is an assistant engineer, videographer, “....if it's handed to me, I'll do it.”

He began watching Star Trek as a child.  Off all the incarnations, his favorite is “Star Trek the Next Generation” as he stated that was where he started watching.  However, his favorite character in all of the shows is James Kirk from the original series.  In the realm of the opponents for show over the years, he says his favorite is Q as, “He was the guy you loved to hate and by far was one of the better characters I have seen.”

He has got to attend a couple of conventions over the years, the most notable being the 2007 Creation convention at Las Vegas, Nevada.  He is also a member of an independent scifi club in his area the USS Jean Lafitte, after the famous gentleman pirate who, according to local legend, buried treasure in that area that has defied being discovered to this date.  The local club is working on a major project, being the first Star Trek SciFi convention held in their area.  There will be more information on it released on Justin's website, www.justintoney.com in the near future.  Speaking of his website, he has a lot of other videos on there besides his TNG tribute which might be of interest to you.  You need to visit it soon as it will be changing to an entirely new look before long.

His interest in science fiction isn't limited to just Star Trek, has he has become a fan of SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica.  In fact, he told me that since January he has watched the first three seasons, getting ready for the new season which is running now.  Like me, he is interested in seeing how they explain Col. Tigh being a Cylon and going undetected all this time.  (At the time this was written, there have been very few clues given.)  

Justin is a very interesting person who's heartfelt fandom is very refreshing to me.  He is a person I hope a lot of you will get to meet as I feel we'll all be hearing about him in the future.

In closing for this week, I want to start a new feature in the column, which will be called, “Ain't That Weird?”  The title is taken from a 1960's comedian, Bro Dave Gardner, from one of his catch phrases, “Ain't that weird, when you think about it?”  This feature will be for bizarre and way out there examples of fandom, be it Trek fandom or any kind.  If you find a news item that would fit, please email me at drayburn@roddenberry.com and maybe I'll use it in a future column.  

A perfect example would be the recent chaos at the new Yankee Stadium where a construction worker, who was a Boston Red Sox fan, tried to put a whammy on the Yankee by entombing a Red Sox's jersey in the concrete of the stadium.  This resulted in the area in question being jackhammered till they found and removed the item.

And folks say we Trekkies are weird!

Think about it.

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