New series predates original Star Trek

Professor Krauss watched the first episode which aired on US television last week with interest.

"I particularly enjoyed the fact that the transporter was an experimental technology and the captain of the ship was afraid to use it," said the author of The Physics of Star Trek.

This is one of the key elements of the new series, with viewers watching as the crew get to grips with the technology that is crucial to their existence in outer space. In the later Star Trek series, the crew always seem to find a technological solution to their problems.

New life

"I enjoy the fact that it is closer to today because that means that the stories will depend less on technological fixes and more on good plots," said Professor Krauss

Krauss: Likes the human element

But for him, it was not the technology that felt out of place.

"The thing I found most surprising was how nearly 100 years from now, we are already in contact with all of these aliens," he said. "It's a little unrealistic to expect that we will be having alien cooks and doctors on Earth in 100 years."

Paramount, which produces and owns the rights to the Star Trek saga, is hoping the new series will breathe new life into an otherwise flagging sci-fi franchise.