When I read this story, I was absolutely flabbergasted. I fancy myself a hard-core Star Trek fan, but had absolutely no idea that there were plans to build a life-sized USS Enterprise and put it in downtown Las Vegas as a tourist attraction. Let alone how close they came to actually going through with it.
Apparently they had the plans, the permits from the city, the funding from backers, and the license from Paramount. All they needed was the blessing from the studio CEO, Stanley Jaffe. And he said “no”, afraid that if the $150 million attraction was a flop, it would remain prominently in the public mind for years, rather than the few months a movie flop would. I’ve got to say, that has to go down in history as one of the poorest decisions in history, when one thinks about how successful the franchise has been since 1992. They would have made their money back a hundredfold.
This goes way beyond the Star Trek Experience that eventually was produced (and to this day I am kicking myself for not visiting it while I could). I mean, the actual USS Enterprise! Life sized! The mind boggles.
Read the whole story. It’s inspiring in its audacity, fascinating in its details, and tragic in its conclusion.
Hat tip to Aint it Cool News.
They should have done it – but would it have been the orginal or the one in Next Generation (which arguably would have been a bigger draw)?
I'll just leave this here: a walk-through of a fan-built version of the Enterprise done in Minecraft.
http://youtu.be/58oP0WJn3BM
Let's just say some people have too much time on their hands.
It was one of my childhood dreams to hit a big lottery and build the primary saucer of the classic 1701 (no bloody A, B, C, or D!) as a house.
Imagine if thay made it a hotel! Talk about a Trekkie Mecca! Of course, everybody would be stealing the complimentary towels and tribbles!