At the offices of video game developer Cryptic Studios in Northern California, certain rooms look like a Trekkie's nirvana: Posters from the television series Deep Space 9 and movies Generations and Nemesis line the walls, along with original sketches of the Borg Queen and new designs for Federation ships.
Those who became Trekkies in the past year, however, might not be so dazzled.
There are no posters, no sketches and almost no trace of last year's JJ Abrams-directed Star Trek movie that relaunched the dormant franchise.
In Star Trek Online, which Cryptic and publisher Atari released recently after more than two years of production, there's no evidence of the Abrams film that went back in time to tell the story of youthful Kirk and Spock at Starfleet Academy.
Instead, the game is set in the year 2049, about 20 years after 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, the final movie starring the Next Generation cast.
Like the ultra-successful World of Warcraft, Cryptic's new title is a massive multiplayer online (MMO) game, in which players pay $US15 a month to interact in a virtual world.
For Star Trek Online, that includes flying through space at warp 9 and beaming down to alien planets.
Many video games based on movies and TV shows find their fates decided by the vagaries of Hollywood.
Last year's hit Batman: Arkham Asylum benefited from the massive success of The Dark Knight in 2008, even though it features a new story.
French publisher Ubisoft's plan to produce a Heroes video game, however, was scrapped after ratings for the NBC series tanked.
So the pool of fans for Star Trek Online is exponentially larger than a year ago thanks to the success of the new movie.
But because the new Star Trek is so different from the old version on which the game is based, the game may have a tough time appealing to a new generation of Trekkies.
"The timeline's different, but a lot of the elements are iconic stuff that you find in the new movie, the old movies and the TV shows," said John Needham, chief executive of Cryptic.
Among the iconic details found in Star Trek Online: the Enterprise, Klingons, the planet Vulcan and Borg cubes.
There are even nods to Star Trek's less serious moments, like a mission involving Tribbles, the adorable fuzzballs that once overran the original Enterprise, and "red shirts," anonymous crew members in red uniforms who beam down on missions and inevitably end up dead.
There are plenty of familiar elements missing, though.
Most notably, captains Kirk, Picard and their crews.
In the game's time period, most characters would be old or deceased, but in a future when time travel is de rigueur, that's not necessarily an impediment.
Needham said the decision was primarily financial.
Star Trek Online cost about $US15 million to produce and launch and the added expense of hiring William Shatner and Chris Pine (Kirk) or Patrick Stewart (Picard) for a few days or weeks wasn't in the budget.
Instead, Cryptic recruited two generations of Spock to do a few hours of voice work, though not exactly in character.
The original series' Leonard Nimoy performs an introductory narration for the game, while newbie Spock Zachary Quinto portrays a hologram that teaches newcomers how to play.
"My character is definitely influenced by Spock, but I don't think I would have done it if it meant playing the same person I was in the movie," said Quinto, who added that the game will be his only Star Trek-related project until a big screen sequel.
The Star Trek movies and television shows focused on exploration, diplomacy and questions about what it means to be human, concepts that don't translate easily to interactive media.
"This is a game, so it's overwhelmingly about combat," said executive producer Craig Zinkievich.
Most missions (called "episodes" in Star Trek Online) consist of starship-on-starship battles and phaser fights on alien planets.
Like other MMOs, socialisation is also a big theme.
Players can join up for episodes and even throw dance parties on the "pleasure planet" Risa.
The game attempts to remain consistent with 35 years of Star Trek lore, right down a detailed map of the galaxy, not surprising since it was crafted by a team of about 70 hard-core Trekkies.
Zinkievich, wearing a faded blue Enterprise T-shirt at work, noted that creating Star Trek Online has been more than just an opportunity to rewatch hundreds of TV episodes and movies for research.
It has also put him in charge of a timeline that died on the big screen; in Star Trek Online, the universe that fans loved for 35 years didn't blow up along with the planet Vulcan, as it did in Abrams' film.
If enough people subscribe to the game - Needham said it could be a success with as few as 50,000 subscribers per month, compared to more than 11 million for Warcraft - the 80 to 120 hours of story included with the game disc will continue through new episodes delivered via the internet.
Zinkievich said he's particularly excited about opportunities for time travel, including visits to historic Star Trek moments.
"Until the next JJ Abrams movie," noted Needham, "this is one of the very few avenues for Star Trek fans."
