Last week, I mentioned one of those "so cool I can't talk about it" projects. Today, I can go ahead and reveal what it was: I composed that post about an hour before I put on pointy sideburns and a space suit, brought Lieutenant Commander Wesley Crusher back to life as the Assistant Chief Engineer of the USS Titan.

Before I tell you why, I would like to point out that it was particularly gratifying to see that his rank, considering this, from Dancing Barefoot:

“One time, when we were renegotiating our contracts, we were all asking for raises.



“We all felt a salary increase was appropriate, because The Next Generation was a hit. It was making gobs of money for Paramount,” (I like that word – gobs) “and we felt that we should share in that bounty.



“Of course, Paramount felt otherwise, so a long and annoying negotiation process began.



“During that process, the producers’ first counteroffer was that, in lieu of a raise, they would give my character a promotion, to lieutenant.”



I pause, and look around. I wrinkle my brow, and gaze upward.



“What? Were they serious?”



A fan hollers, “Yeah! Lieutenant Crusher! Woo!”



I smile back at him.



“My agent asked me what I wanted to do. I told him to call them back and remind them that Star Trek is just a television show.”



Okay, that was risky to say. It's pretty much the opposite of just a television show to these people, but I've gotten the audience back, and they giggle.



“I imagined this phone call to the bank,” I mime a phone, and hold it to my ear. “Hi . . . Uh, I'm not going to be able to make my house payment this month, but don't worry! I am a lieutenant now.” I pause, listening to the voice on the other end.



“Where? Oh, on the Starship Enterprise.”



I pause.



“Enterprise D, yeah, the new one. Feel free to drop by Ten Forward for lunch someday. We'll put it on my officer's tab!”

It's for Star Trek: The Tour, which starts in Long Beach on January 17th, where it's going to live for about a month before it goes on a national tour later this year.

In addition to the encounter thing that I'm in, there are some really cool things for Trekkies on this tour, including full-size recreations of the NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-D bridges (where you can trade some of your gold-pressed latinum for the opportunity to sit in the captain's chair and pose for a picture) corridors you can walk through, and more costumes and props than you could feed a Targ. Sadly, there is no Ten Forward where we can all have a drink on my officer's tab, but there is a killer app that I can't wait to try out: There is this thing where you step into a blue screen environment, and through the magic of teleprompters, multiple camera angles, and creative editing, perform in a mini episode of the original series, where you'll get to act with Kirk and Spock. I'm hoping that I can improvise some dialog with Kirk about his, uh, luxurious maine of carefully-styled hair.

Two down, two to go! Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!