It's either good or bad news, depending on how you look at it, but the Starship Enterprise will have to wait awhile longer before beginning its next voyage. Paramount has pushed back the release date for J.J. Abrams' revival of the Star Trek franchise from Christmas to May 9, 2009.

No official reason for the push back, but according to Variety, studio sources say holding the film until next summer makes sense because it could make more money than during the crowded holiday movie season. Also, the writers strike delayed production on many films, possibly leaving holes in the release calendar that the studio had to fill.

Paramount already has a full 2008 slate, with this weekend's "The Spiderwick Chronicles" plus "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones 4" in May and the "Madagascar" sequel, Brad Pitt's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and Leo DiCaprio's "Revolutionary Road" due at the end of the year.

Then there's the theory I hope is true -- that writer/director Abrams wasn't thrilled with the script he was going to start shooting with and wanted more time to tweak it. That's fine with me. I'd rather J.J. take his time and get the story just right before starting "Trek XI."

BTW, Eric Bana dropped by last week for an interview to promote his upcoming "The Other Boleyn Girl." It airs this weekend (Feb. 23-24) on REEL TALK. We taped it early because he had to get ready to begin shooting the Trek flick. If you're reading this, then you know Bana's playing the bad guy Nero. Alison asked the former "Hulk" star about doing another iconic pop culture picture.