The voyages of the starship Enterprise will continue this weekend when Star Trek: First Contact is released in theaters nationwide.

It is the eighth film in the series, and it is the first film to exclusively feature the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

At least one member of the cast was a bit trepidatious about taking the reigns from Shatner, Nimoy and the rest of the original “Star Trek” crew.

“I think for a lot of us, this movie is really pivotal. In a sense, it’s our coming-out party,” LeVar Burton, who plays Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge said. “It was really important for us to feel like there would be more of these things. “I guess none of us wanted to feel like we screwed the pooch on our watch,” Burton added with a laugh.

Apparently, Paramount Pictures isn’t worried. “Another movie is already in the works,” said film and series producer Rick Berman. “I’m certain that there will be discussions quite shortly about the next one.”

However, at a press conference attended by Berman and four regular “Next Generation” actors, Berman said, “There are only three actors here who will be in the next movie — and I can’t tell you which three.”

One member of the cast who does not want to quit Trekking is Patrick Stewart, the man behind Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

“I don’t want to let go of it, and in fact I think I’m in total denial as to what it would feel like if it were to go away right now,” he said.

“I’m in this for the long term, unequivocally. It’s too interesting to give it up,” Stewart said. “I’m really proud of what we did, and what we do. I think we’re all fortunate to be in a unique situation where we have an opportunity to go on creating these very potent characters over an extended period of time.”

Picard is at the center of First Contact ‘s story. That gave Stewart, a Shakespearean-trained actor, a chance to further develop his character and turn him loose on screen.

“I knew that I wanted to engage him more actively in the next movie, to put him on the firing line a little bit more. And once the Borg came on board, there was a terrific opportunity to wind him up in a way little else could,” he said.

The film deals with a second attempt by the cybernetic, hive-minded Borg to take over, or “assimilate” the Earth, which they failed to do in the TV series.

They travel through time back to the late 21st century to prevent humanity from making contact with an alien race, destroying the Federation before it can be created and making Earth an easy target.

In the series, Picard was kidnapped and assimilated by the Borg and later rescued by his crew.

As a result, “It’s Picard’s point of view that since he has an intuitive understanding of the Borg — of who they are and what they want — he is the ideal person to lead the defense of the solar system,” Stewart said

The assimilation left Picard angry and vengeful.

“When Picard was assimilated, it was a destructive and demeaning experience, and emotionally and mentally disturbing for him,” Stewart said.

Berman and screenwriters Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore knew that the Borg would be involved in First Contact .

“The Borg were undoubtedly the most popular villains in the history of the ‘Next Generation’ series, and we knew they would look great on the big screen,” Braga said. “We then incorporated time travel into it — the other most popular element in the series. We took those two elements and crafted our story.”

Berman expressed no concern over using time travel as a plot device, one used in numerous “Star Trek” shows including recent episodes of “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager.”

“The two television episodes were conceived well beyond the time that this movie was conceived. So in a sense, if there were ‘too many trips to the well,’ it has to do with those two recent episodes,” Berman said.

Berman also denies that a conscious attempt was made to make this film darker than previous episodes.

“The dark side doesn’t really exist in the 24th century in terms of these characters,” Berman said, referring to the regular “Next Generation” crew.

“We decided to create a really spooky, scary villain, by bringing the Borg back in and doing them properly,” Berman said.

“It gives us a certain sense of suspense and maybe even horror, but I don’t think it has anything to do with trying to put a darker turn on things.”