Star Trek Nerds : This Would Have Been So Cool...
 

A Life-Sized Starship Enterprise?
It almost happened -- in Vegas!


This story has been floating around for a few days now, but it's almost too difficult to talk about because of what we lost. For there was a time when mankind almost got a life-sized Starship Enterprise.

Yes, all of humanity's woes could've been wiped away if this wondrous project had gone ahead, but alas it was not to be. Gary Goddard recounts on The Goddard Group blog the project his design firm worked on in the early 1990s in an attempt to revitalize downtown Las Vegas. "It would create a new '8th Wonder of the World,'" he writes, "with an iconic monument that would take its place alongside other 'must see' monuments in the world. (You would be able to see this from the airplanes as they came for landing at the Vegas airport. It's that big.)"

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8...rshipenter.jpg


http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/8...rshipenter.jpg


Of course, visitors would be able to board the vessel. "Conceptually, it was to be a 'tour' of the ship, with all of the key rooms, chambers, decks, and corridors that we knew from the movie. There was to be the dining area for the ship's crew (where you could dine in Star Fleet comfort), and other special features. There were also one or two interesting ride elements that we were considering including a high-speed travelator that would whisk you from deck to deck. But we were really just getting into the show aspects when everything came to a head."


In other words, when the warp-drive brakes were slammed on the project. It all came down to Paramount CEO Stanley Jaffe. After five months of work, the plan was presented to him. This is how Goddard remembers the exec responding:

"You know, this is a major project. You're going to put a full-scale Enterprise up in the heart of Las Vegas. And on one hand that sounds exciting. But on another hand, it might not be a great idea for us -- for Paramount. … In the movie business, when we produce a big movie and it's a flop -- we take some bad press for a few weeks or a few months, but then it goes away. The next movie comes out and everyone forgets. But THIS -- this is different. If this doesn't work -- if this is not a success -- it's there, forever…"


And that was the end of it. But maybe it's for the best. After all, everyone knows that the Enterprise was not designed to exist within a planetary atmosphere anyway. That's why they built it on Earth but assembled it in space!

Just to piggyback on the Star Trek nerd thing:

http://www.artemis.eochu.com/

I've heard really good things about this, but I'm not really into ST. It's getting good press in gamer circles.

I don't blame them for not building it, even though it would have been cool as hell.

I wonder if it would have had crew quarters you could stay in?

That would beat the shit out of any normal hotel or casino (well, at least for a nerd it would)...

My wife got all pissy when we went to Vegas and we missed Star Trek the experience. I would have to go back again for this. Stupid decision. Would have been the most popular thing on the strip at least for a time.

That certainly would have got me to go to Vegas.

It would be even cooler if they were realistic crew quarters, where you have a 1000 people crammed into a small area.

That would have been so sweet.

but they shut down the Star Trek Experience thing in Vegas due to lack of interest right?

Yes, but honestly that was pretty cheesy...I'm not surprised it didn't last.

I'm not a Trekkie, but I would've liked to see it happen.

I would have paid many cash monies to visit such a locale.

An Enterprise E would have been stellar.

This is much cheaper and almost as cool:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84187960..._type=handmade

Apparently it wouldn't have. What I've read is that the whole thing came about because the downtown hotels were looking for an attraction that could draw business for them. So they weren't looking to build a competitor. When the Enterprise idea got killed they built that light up awning thing instead.

Hell no.

Enterprise D or original Enterprise only.

And I would have built the thing so I could walk on the bridge of every Enterprise.