StarTrek.Com Future In Question After Staff Laid OffStarTrek.Com Future In Question After Staff Laid Off

CBS has fired the entire production staff at a popular Web site devoted to the iconic Star Trek television series, raising questions about the site's future.

"Sadly, we must report that the CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the StarTrek.com site has been eliminated," said a blog post from the team that appeared Friday on the Web site.

The post said that the move is "effective immediately" and added that "We don't know the ultimate fate of this site." CBS officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

StarTrek.com, which has operated for the past 13 years, houses news, features, images and video related to the original Star Trek series and the numerous movies, sequels and prequels it generated.

Fans said they were shocked and disappointed over news of StarTrek.com's possible demise. "It is a tragedy," a poster who goes by the name 'Star_Rose' wrote on the site's forum. "This is the first place I think of whenever I need to check out a bit of trivia," wrote 'TribbleKeeper'.

Despite its possible termination, StarTrek.com at the very least will have lasted ten years longer than the original TV series from which it took inspiration. The first series -- which featured William Shatner as an archetypal space captain named James T. Kirk -- ran on NBC for just three years, from 1966 to 1969.

Since then, numerous follow ups have appeared -- with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. The most popular sequel, Star Trek: The Next Generation, ran from 1987 to 1994 and starred Patrick Stewart as the dashing Captain Jean-Luc Picard.