Last year we did a wildly successful article about how Star Trek--despite its goal of showing a diverse, multicultural universe--had failed to live up to that promise when it came to gay characters. Part of our story discussed how back in 1988, Star Trek: The Next Generation nixed an episode called Blood and Fire written by David Gerrold. The episode centered on a epidemic caused by a blood borne pathogen called Regulan Bloodworms. Basically the episode was an allegory for the AIDS epidemic which still gripped the nation with outright fear at the time. But it wasn't just that aspect which scared off Rick Berman, Star Trek's executive producer. The episode also included Star Trek's first openly gay couple, two men named Freeman and Eakins. Berman and others reportedly feared the reaction including gay people might stir up among parents and the script was never shot. Fast forward almost twenty years, and even though there is currently not a Star Trek series on TV for the first time since Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in 1987 (a new Star Trek movie is in production) several websites are helping keep the Star Trek franchise alive by shooting their own episodes which are available online for download. (They've had to tread carefully so as not to offend Paramount.) One of the most successful of those websites is Star Trek: New Voyages which has set itself the ambitious goal of shooting an entire new season of the original Star Trek series. They've already shot three episodes (available free online; the last episode has been downloaded 30 million times) and have managed to attract quite a bit of talent including appearances by original Star Trek cast members George Takei and Walter Koenig. Yesterday New Voyages announced their fourth episode would be Blood and Fire, the very script originally turned down twenty years ago by Berman. They also announced that the script has been re-written and was to be directed by Star Trek Veteran David Gerrold who wrote the original episode. Also working on the script is Carlos Pedraza. James Cawley, senior executive producer for New Voyages, told AfterElton that the gay characters are Peter Kirk (Bobby Rice), Captain Kirk's nephew and his boyfriend Lt. Alex Freeman (Evan Fowler). During the episode, Peter comes out to Kirk and reveals his relationship with Freeman. I don't want to give away too much more, but the couple is central to the plot and, even better for gay Trek fans, one of the characters remains on as a series regular. The two actors chosen for the parts were chosen out of more than 200 actors who auditioned in Los Angeles. James explained they were able to shoot the script because Gerrold still owns the rights and wanted to see it finally get made and live up to the promise Gene Roddenberry made to gay Trek fans twenty years ago. Also involved in the production will be D.C. Fontana, an associate producer with Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as Darren Dochterman who did visual special effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I have to say, this sounds like a fantastic project and we've been invited to attend the filming of the episode this June. You can bet your last Star Fleet credit we'll be there!