Gary Goddard was to build a life-sized Starship Enterprise replica in downtown Las Vegas. Goddard successfully bid to build the attraction as part of the 1992 competition to revitalized Vegas's sagging downtown and bring back tourist traffic. However, the project was scuttled at the last minute when Stanley Jaffe, then CEO of Paramount, got cold feet.
The project was budgeted at $150,000,000 (in 1992 dollars) and the whole system was a ride based around a mock "tour" of the newly constructed Enterprise were replicated in the build. All of the most familiar rooms, chambers, decks, and corridors from the movie. Jaffe though was not as enthusiastic as everyone else however. “I don’t want to be the guy that approved this and then it’s a flop and sitting out there in Vegas forever.” was his reason for nixing the whole project.
Boing Boing article
6 comments:
There's 5 acres of land I know of, that he could build this on. Then if it flops, or if people refuse to pay the entrance price controlled by me of course, it wouldn't be sitting in Vegas dead. It would be a nice little house. Sitting in the woods. Of which I am betting I'd be prying you, and about 10,000 others out of before I could move in.
But I just can't see this being a flop. I know trekkies, kind of am one. The smegging thing would become a religious shrine, and we'd end up with an episode of Futurama for real.
yeah, exactly! Star Trek fail? what planet? This would be the worlds BEST science fiction convention hall! It would have years long waiting lists! Tell you what....build it...they will come......
I can't believe they removed Star Trek: The Experience. As "Nerdy" as it was, it had some decent SFX.
Marching Morons for sure Anon. Who can say. But it IS clear that the then head of Paramount had an amazing lack of fore sight when it came to Star Trek fandom. Can you imagine such a thing existing? It would be a Mecca for fans the world over!
I'm still kicking my butt for not taking in the entire Star Trek: The Experience on the couple of times I went to Vegas while it was open. I usually got by there after I had already lost my ass at the slots so I would just go to the promenade or Quark's to drown my sorrows with a warp core breach while watching people singing Happy Birthday to each other in Klingon. I asked a bartender, while downing one of the Romulan Ales, what kind of beer is this? He told me that, just between me and him, it was Pabst. I was like, I'm paying $5.00 a glass for the crap I can buy at the 7/11 for $.99 a can. He said that it was the only beer that would hold the food coloring and not separate. Go figure!
But back to the point of this post. This should have been on the strip, not downtown. I can picture seeing this massive structure looming over all of the other resorts. It would have been like Chris Pine on his cycle pulling into the shipping yard. I can only imagine what it would have looked like if you flew over it coming into McCarran. There is no way I can envision what this place may have looked like. I am still in awe with most of the things in Vegas!!
Too bad that it never came to fruition during the 90's and early 00's. It would have been awesome!!!
Oh I agree, it would be something for the strip, but I can really see the genius of maybe the best convention hall for an area that was having money flow problems. I don't really see this as a big impulse visit, though that is likely a facet, but a pre-planned sojourn or convention. It's all moot now though...idjet
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