Just uttering the word "documentary" can be enough to put most people to sleep. It conjures up the kind of feelings that induce clock-watching or channel-surfing. Not so with America Loves ... Star Trek. It's fast-paced, packed with a ton of interesting facts and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. For one thing, it's honest. From the beginning, it points out that the special effects were "cheesy" in the first Star Trek, and that it was often overacted.

But what makes this documentary so rich and interesting are the depths to which it explores the question: "Why do people love Star Trek so much?"

One answer is that Roddenberry's goal was to create a series with an emphasis on optimism, hope and tolerance during a period of time when those elements were sadly lacking, both in everyday life and in the way science fiction was presented on television. In the documentary, William Shatner comments about the mindset of the time, "If it's foreign, kill it, which was also anything that wasn't European and blonde—kill it, as well."

The only downside for some viewers might be the documentary's focus on the original series. The Next Generation and other series are touched upon briefly, but the major emphasis is on the first Star Trek. And die-hard Trekkies may already be familiar with much of the ground that's covered.

And yet this program is so well-paced and so diverse that there's something here for everyone. A huge number of actors from various Star Trek series offer up comments. Others, such as former NASA astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, have pithy insights on everything from the costumes to how Star Trek has influenced current technology. And for the die-hards, the documentary is peppered with fun tidbits. (Do you know what the winning bid was for Spock's ears at a 1998 Sotheby's auction?)