The Star Trek phenomenon began with the original late ’60s TV series as the intrepid Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner, right) and his Vulcan science officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) found adventure on distant worlds inhabited by the likes of Mea 3 (Barbara Babcock).

Paramount

Two weeks ago, Marc Morisseau and Jay Kingston boldly went where few men have gone before.

No, they didn’t go into space, the final frontier. The two Warwick men went to the movies. And they saw a special advance screening of Star Trek, which officially opens Friday.

“I knew somebody,” Morisseau says. “I have a friend who was able to get me some tickets.”

Morisseau, 50, and Kingston, 48, are founding members of the Rhode Island Science Fiction Club, established by eight Star Trek fans in 1987. And they’re also hosts of a local cable public-access show Sci-Fi Journal. But they say neither role carried much clout in their coup.

“I will refuse to say anymore,” Kingston says. “But it was all legal.”

Given the number of Star Trek fans, interest in the film is expected to be great. And given the nature of this movie, Morisseau and Kingston say that interest will grow. The movie, they say, is surprisingly good.

“The franchise needed a shot in the arm,” Morisseau says. “The last few movies have been awful. If you ask a Star Trek fan which ones have been bad, they’ll rattle off a list of them.”

Well, let’s ask Kingston. He’s ready to rattle.

The first movie, in 1979, was Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

“Quite a few of us call it Star Trek: The Motion Sickness. It was not well done at all.”

Then, in 1982, there was The Wrath of Khan, which featured Ricardo Montalban, and, Kingston says, was actually good. Then, in 1984, there was The Search for Spock.

“It was more like the Search for More Cash.”

Star Trek fans says there’s an alternating quality of the movies: the odd-numbered ones are bad; the even-numbered ones are good. Well, this latest movie is number 11. But, Morisseau and Kingston say, it’s a break from bad odd-numbered tradition.

“It’s an awesome movie,” Morisseau says. “It uses different actors. The cast of the 1960s is getting a little long in the tooth and they know that. It was time to pass the torch to a different set of actors.”

And it was also time, Kingston says, to shift the focus a bit.

“Back in the ’60s when the original Star Trek TV series was on, we were spoon fed morality. The new Star Trek is not like that at all. It’s basically about adventure and discovery and a passion for living.”

Yes, passion, which is generally not associated with the mild-mannered humans and Vulcans of the future. And while we don’t want to give away too many plot points in this movie, there’s one minor, yet significant moment worth mentioning.

At one point our intrepid explorers aboard the Enterprise encounter hostile aliens, which they’ve done dozens of times over the decades. But this time, they respond differently. One crew member says to another, “It’s time to kick some ass.”

At that select screening at the Providence Imax two weeks ago, these words produced a momentary stunned silence among Star Trek fans, Kingston says. Then they regrouped and gave a group whoop.

“We said, yes! That is reality, real human emotion.”

Star Trek made its TV debut on NBC in 1966, the creation of Gene Roddenberry, who had something of a utopian vision of humanity.

“Star Trek has always been very positive about the future,” Morisseau says. “In the Star Trek universe, everyone is accepted. It doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short, skinny or fat.”

And in the Star Trek universe there has been emotional self-restraint.

“Maybe that’s somebody’s idea of a perfect society,” Kingston says. “But it’s not mine. If you lose passion, you lose the sense of what you’re going for and the reason to exist.”

The actors have changed, but not the characters, although they are a little more passionate about their exploration.

“You will always have die-hard people who will say, ‘If there’s no Shatner and no Nimoy, I don’t want to know about it,’ ” Morisseau says.

The die-hard people know who they are, although there is some debate what they call themselves: Trekkies or Trekkers.

“That’s really a point of contention,” Morisseau says. “I just say I like Star Trek.”

Trekkie, Morisseau says, is associated with being geeky. Trekker, he says, is considered more dignified.

“But it still doesn’t mean that you have a life and that you’re probably still living in your parents’ basement. Call them Star Trek fans and you avoid all that.”

Some Star Trek fans are really quite fanatical. There are those who have not simply seen all 10 Star Trek movies and all 726 TV episodes, but committed everything about them to memory.

“There are people who know the registration numbers of the ships,” Morisseau says. “You really know you’re a Star Trek geek if you know the combination number of the safe on the Enterprise.”

William Shatner, who plays Captain Kirk, mumbled the numbers once while opening the safe in one of the earliest episodes of the show. Once when Morisseau was at a Star Trek convention, he watched someone ask Shatner if he remembered the combination.

“He looked at him like, ‘Dude, that was one episode in the ’60s. Get a life.’ ”

“This is not the Star Trek we remember growing up.” Kingston says. “And I’m glad.”

brourke@projo.com