"MAKE it so", is all the captain of the USS Enterprise normally needs to say to get the job done. But not even the might of the United Federation of Planets could overcome the traffic jam in Dublin yesterday, as the city was paralysed under the onslaught of the even more powerful European Union.
When Dr Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and the Queen Borg (Alice Krige) finally beamed down to O'Connell Street for the Irish premiere of Star Trek: First Contact, the eighth movie in the popular science fiction series, they were already running late.
Meanwhile, with invading helicopters whirring overhead, and gardai with phasers set to stun on every street corner, commuters might have wished for the use of the Enterprise's famous transporter room to get them home.
Older fans will be disappointed by the absence of their favourites in the new film, which concentrates on the stars' of the Next Generation television show, but Ms McFadden believes that First Contact is "much better than Generations", the previous film in the series, which saw Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scottie finally handed their P45s.
Ms Krige, who plays the villainous leader of the zombie like Borg, is a new arrival, and describes the experience as "like joining a big family".
The Next Generation finished as a television show three years ago, and according to Ms McFadden, making the new film was like a class reunion for the cast, who had spent the previous seven years boldly going where no one had gone before.
First Contact has already been a hit at the American box office, so it looks as though the series is set fair for a journey into the 21st century (the period in which the new film is set).
Of all television shows, Star Trek inspires the most extreme levels of fanaticism among its followers, with huge fan clubs' and conventions all over the world.
True Irish Trekkies will want to get their hands on the First Contact phone card launched this week by Telecom Eireann.
Frustrated Dubliners trapped in the traffic may also identify with the Borg slogan emblazoned across the £2 card: "Resistance is Futile", it says.
