Like most fans of Lost, I was terribly disappointed when the smoke monster apparently killed Mr. Eko in season three. Eko was a great character who helped the equally great John Locke discover the possibilities of a life led by faith. Lost is still an amazing show, but I've really missed Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's presence.

Adewale, who will guest star in the Aug 7 episode of Monk and appears in the potential blockbuster G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, now says he wants to go back to the island. The actor says he left the show after his parents passed away in 2006, but he'd like to return to give Eko some real closure.

... Bryan Fuller thinks so. The former Star Trek: Voyager producer and current Heroes scribe told Sci Fi Wire that he'd love to create a new Star Trek series.

"I think that a Star Trek TV series is probably a couple years away, just to let the feature franchise breathe," the Pushing Daisies creator said, adding that any new Trek series should take place in the universe seen in J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie.

Fuller said a new Trek series shouldn't focus on the Enterprise crew – he thinks the Federation flagship should stick to the big screen – but on a new ship with a new crew and "an entirely new adventure."

Rumors that Jack Black was headed to the next Star Trek movie as stellar con man Harry Mudd were dismissed by director J.J. Abrams Tuesday.

Harcourt Fenton Mudd was originally played by Roger C. Carmel (right) in Trek's 1960s series. Whether hustling beauty drugs or androids, Mudd was always looking for a quick space buck and was a humorous thorn in Captain Kirk's side.

While some sites suggested Mudd's would-be return in Abrams' next movie could prove a great opportunity for Jack Black to come aboard the Enterprise, Abrams denied the Black casting move.

Over at ComicMix, Alan Kistler has written annotations for the new Star Trek movie and how well it fits into the overall continuity of the show. It's a pretty impressive list and does prove that despite the blatant contradiction of the show's history as a result of time travel, they were actually pretty good with getting the details of the characters correct.

Spoilers follow this paragraph. You have been warned.

J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek has sparked a huge controversy in the Trekkie universe, a controversy that in the real world amounts to a drunken debate in a dive border town bar over which Darren on Bewitched was more "boneable."

My sneak preview review sparked a wave of supportive and angry comments that I have never seen in my history with TV Squad, which amounts to six months depending on which of my accountants you talk to. My former accountant can be reached at the Tennessee Colony State Prison, Tennessee Colony, Texas.

It seems the angrier of the Treksters are getting their head gear in a bunch because Abrams chose to work Leonard Nimoy into the picture via a time travel plot that completely alters the original history and lore of the original series. As one commentor put it, "instead of obliterating a few minutes of exposition about 20 years we didn't watch, this has obliterated [forty three plus] years of storytelling that we did watch."

I'm not the kind of person who normally resorts to pumping something full of hype, but if you are reading this and haven't seen the new big-screen adaptation of Star Trek, you need to be tied to something heavy so that "certain" people can know your whereabouts at all times.

J.J. Abrams' new vision of TV's original Star Trek has everything you expect from a summer movie flick that costs $150 million to make and $8.25 a ticket: laughs, big explosions, smokin' hot alien babes who spend the majority of their screen time in skimpy underwear.

Actually, talk about a sequel to J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot started a few months ago. In March, Paramount announced plans to hire Abrams' pals Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman (Fringe, um, Star Trek) and Lost producer Damon Lindelof to pen the sequel.

Now, the writing trio is talking about ideas for the sequel. One idea they have is possibly casting Javier Bardem as frakkin' Khan!

I like the idea, but I doubt it's gonna happen. As Lindelof said in a recent interview with Crave, Bardem as Khan -- originally played by Ricardo Montalban in Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan -- would probably eat up the entire film and possibly push characters like Kirk, Spock and Bones to the sidelines. It would be too big.

We all knew this was a lock.

Fans of Fox's Fringe can now officially look forward to season two.

The show was a hit right out of the gate, garnering huge numbers for its series premiere. It's currently the "number one show for adults 18-49," according to Fox. If that doesn't guarantee you a renewal, then I don't know what will.

Aside from the show's great cast, its quirky sense of humor, and its compelling mysteries, there are two reasons I'll stick with Fringe through season two: Producer J.J. Abrams and Leonard Nimoy.

Star Trek's Nimoy is slated to be around for an episode or two (hopefully more) next season as Massive Dynamic founder William Bell. Nimoy's return to television is reason enough to tune in.

And it might open just in time for ... one of the eventual sequels to J.J. Abram's new movie? Maybe. We're not sure.

Details about the re-opening of Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas are sketchy at best. TrekMovie.com reported that Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman said part of the new Experience would open this week, just in time for the new Trek movie. We're still waiting on that.

The latest news is that the new Experience -- the original closed last year – will open in 2010 at Neonopolis in downtown Vegas. Here's the cool news: It will feature more elements and props from the original 1960's Star Trek series and from the new movie.

Arguably the twelfth movie in the franchise (or the second movie in the rebooted franchise), Paramount and J.J. Abrams are showing a lot of faith by already hiring the writers for the Star Trek "sequel". These scribes are frequent co-conspirators of Abrams: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.

Orci and Kurtzman wrote the upcoming "first" movie (and are also responsible for the first Transformers movie, although the bulk of the blame for that should go to Michael Bay). Lindelof is a co-creator of Lost. Abrams is "staying within the family", as it were.

(And since the franchise is being rebooted from scratch and all the rules can now be broken, can we have Kirk fight the Borg? I've always wanted to see that.)

I know that advanced planning like this is normal in Hollywood, but In the event the movie bombs (not bloody likely, admittedly), they're going to have eggs on their collective faces for their presumptuousness.

Star Trek will be in movie theaters on May 8, 2009, and with it the hopes and fears of Trekkers worldwide. I'm one of those longtime fans who is both excited and apprehensive about J.J. Abrams' take on Gene Roddenberry's vision of Wagon Train to the stars. Yes, that was once all it aspired to be. It was just going to be a TV show. Roddenberry optimistically referred to a five year mission in the intro hoping it might last that long.

Of course, that's a long, long time ago -- in a galaxy far, far away, if you mix sci-fi metaphors. Now, we're poised to see a new incarnation of Star Trek, and the new trailer is online. Take a look at it after the jump.

It's almost as if J.J. Abrams is patting nervous Star Trek fans on the back and cooing, "It's OK. Everything's gonna be alright."

Variety reported this week that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry will reprise her role as the voice of the Enterprise computer for Abrams' upcoming Star Trek flick. Barret-Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, voiced the computer for all six Trek series and many of the movies. She also played Christine Chapel in the original series and two of the films as well as "Number One" in Star Trek's original pilot. And who could forget her as Lwaxana Troi, the randy Betazoid from The Next Genertation?

I went to see Quantum of Solace over the weekend anxious to see the second Daniel Craig iteration as James Bond, and had the chance to see the big screen full trailer for J.J. Abrams' re-imagining of Star Trek. Of the latter, I'd be very skeptical. After reading many of Abrams comments --like "I've never been a fan of Star Trek" -- my Trekkie (not Trekker) heart fears that the Lost/Alias creator had bungled the ST that I know so well.

So, now that I've seen the trailer, I'm even more concerned. Oy vey, what has Abrams done to the Trek universe? The trailer looked more generic sci-fi that ST to me. And where was the iconic music? Why was Kirk using his middle name; I don't think he ever did that on the TV series!

J.J. addressed the media and shared some clips and information -- but no photos -- of the feature which won't be hitting theaters till May 8, 2009. I'm a little more relieved by the description of the scenes. Here's the gist of what they're about:

I knew that the new Star Trek movie was going to be an origins story, but I didn't realize how far back they were going to go.

The first trailer (not counting that lame teaser trailer that debuted months ago and was only aimed towards hardcore fans who get off on Enterprise blueprints) for the movie is now available. It is attached to some copies of Quantum of Solace (though, sadly, not the place where I saw QoS the other night, damn it) and Paramount has also released the official version online so we don't have to sit through YouTube videos that someone shot in a dark theater.

Some images are up at EW.com for the new Star Trek movie starring Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. There are also some interviews in the along with an article pushing the revamp of the franchise.

It was a mistake pushing the release of the movie from Christmas Day 2008 to May 2009. This sort of movie would do much better in a December release. Now Star Trek will simply be another movie among all the other summer tentpoles.

In the article, J.J. Abrams describes himself more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan and that may be reflected in the movie. I'm ambivalent about that idea. On one hand, Star Trek always seemed more a thinking person's franchise whereas Star Wars was always about fights, chases and space explosions. On the other hand, fights, chases and explosions seem to be more popular in sci-fi movies than cogitative fiction.

Star Trek: Enterprise didn't work so well as a prequel. Let's see if this movie does better.