How the Enterprise Almost Landed in Las Vegas

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.