To be honest, I just assumed this was something that had already happened. For someone who created such an enduring TV and film legacy and such a phenomenon, I thought Gene Roddenberry was already in the TV Academy Hall of Fame. Apparently, I was wrong because at a special ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel next year, the “Great Bird of the Galaxy” himself will join the ranks of Academy Hall of Fame inductees.

Other inductees to be honored at the ceremony include Candice Bergen, production and art director Charles Lisanby, announcer Don Pardo, Tom and Dick Smothers and game show producer Bob Stewart. Seriously, and I apologize in advance for the rant I’m about to go on, the guy who created Star Trek and Don Pardo are getting the Hall of Fame treatment at the same time? Come on TV Academy, what the heck are you thinking?

I don’t think I’m alone here, and this is nothing personal against Mr. Pardo who’s great at what he does, but Star Trek is one of the most popular, longest lasting and incredibly innovative pop culture icons ever created in the history of TV and the guy who announces Saturday Night Live and some production designer get into the Academy Hall of Fame at the same time as he does? I just don’t get it. I guess all I can say at this point is about frakkin’ time.

It looks like the “gracious and classy actor award” is going to Patrick Stewart and not William Shatner — at least according to a post over at IMDB. After Shatner’s much publicized disappointment with being left out of J.J. Abrams highly successful Star Trek reboot, Stewart’s delight with the film was a welcome display of his class and style.  Then again, that’s why we love Patrick Stewart and sometimes want to kick Shatner’s Denny Crane in his legal briefs, right?

Star Trek: The Next Generation star Stewart says he “loved” the much anticipated Star Trek movie, but says  “It was a very odd experience to be in the cinema watching a Star Trek movie that I wasn’t in. With the exception of Leonard Nimoy, I didn’t know any of the cast but it’s still Star Trek. I got a great kick out of it.”

He even had kind words for newcomer Chris Pine, who plays a young Captain Kirk, calling him “brilliant, charming, funny and utterly delightful.”  Such a British gentleman, that Jean-Luc. The J.J. Abrams film is a reboot of the Start Trek films and of course, the iconic 1960’s television series. With spinoffs like Stewart’s Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and four Next Gen films, the Star Trek franchise has fans of all ages, from my father to my six-year-old nephew, and most of the geeks in between.