... Where No Corporation Has Gone Before

Those of you who know me, or may have read me, are surely surprised that I've been writing a blog for nearly three weeks now and have yet to make a "Star Trek" reference.

The wait is over. Two things happened on Friday that led me to remember a third thing, which actually is Enron-related. Here's how it went down:

Friday morning, I had the TV on in my room. Suddenly, there's William Shatner, pimping a Texas law firm called--no kidding--Malaise & Davis. Personal injury, even. "Tell them you mean business," Shatner says in the ad. So I had to Google it to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Indeed, I wasn't.

Shatner is capitalizing on his bravura role as lawyer Denny Crane on "Boston Legal." (Which also stars a former "Star Trek" actor, Rene Auberjonois.)

Later Friday, I got the good news that Paramount Pictures plans on releasing its 11th "Star Trek" film, sometime in 2008, to be directed by "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams.

All of which made me remember the Enron connection.

When I was down here four years ago, I spent several fruitless days trying to unearth an Enron corporate video of an appearance by Jeffrey K. Skilling and Kenneth L. Lay before employees, dressed as characters from "Star Trek."

I would not kid about this.

And, apparantly, there were similarly minded souls at Enron.

I finally tracked down the post-production shop that edited the video and they confirmed it existed. But they would not hand it over without Enron's permission which, as you can imagine, was not forthcoming. I suppose I can understand why Enron would not be keen on seeing a picture of Skilling in a "Star Trek" tunic or Lay wearing pointed ears in The Washington Post.

Still, Lay once sported a Carmen Miranda fruit-hat at a company event, so how could Spock ears have been worse?

By Frank Ahrens |  April 22, 2006; 1:56 AM ET  | Category:  Enronia
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