Transparent Metal - A Future Goal?

Very thin metal films can transmit light, but they are not at all very strong.  It would be nice to have a transparent material with the mechanical properties of a bulk metal.  Science fiction works have noted this:  Star Wars novels refer to "transparisteel" (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Transparisteel), and of course, the movie Star Trek IV made reference to "transparent aluminum" (for the scene, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSmGjB-G6v8).