Stumbled onto 3 Star Trek artifacts...

[This blog post is an addendum to the 7 1/2 week travelogue. It has nothing to do with photography. GF]

So here we were in Sandusky, Ohio near Lake Erie. After a full day of driving the motor home, we parked for the night near a shopping mall. I went inside for a walk because I needed the exercise and besides, it was air conditioned.

Malls are doing creative things to stay in business these days. This one had a summer camp inside.

Also, to my surprise, not one but TWO large spaces had something to do with Star Trek:

1) Federation Headquarters is a non-profit memorabilia store with lots of original signed items from all the series'. The guy running the store was a personal friend of Gene Roddenberry's and he granted me an interview where he shared this important mission of the entity "to help anybody who needs, it anywhere in the world".

And here's the brief interview:

2) Across the hall is something I don't have photos of but I can sure tell you about it: Somewhere in Kingsland, Georgia there is (well, was) an exact replica of the original Star Trek sets, where people have been making fan films for many years. I actually talked about this at the end of my blog post from 2020.  Many fan films and series have been shot there, including the series I mentioned in my blog,Star Trek Continues.

Because the landlord of the old space in Georgia decided to sell the property, the sets are being moved to THE LARGE MALL SPACE ACROSS THE HALL! That's right, a dying mall was able to provide space that's air conditioned for less than the cost of an old warehouse in the South. They're re-constructing everything from Georgia using volunteers, and they're going to be filming their next fan film next year.

So what, you say? 

Well, if you're like me and you grew up on the show, this is your chance to appear in a Star Trek TOS show! Sets and mall space is paid for by contributions, and volunteers build the sets, work the crew, and can be in front of the camera. So make a contribution and be part of Star Trek (fandom) history! :-) Go to https://neutralzonestudios.com for more info.

3) All this unexpected Star Trek stuff made me want to visit a place I had heard about but never had the opportunity: In the Adirondack mountains of Upstate New York, there exists another exact replica of the original set.  Once a production facility for fan films, it has been converted to a tourist attraction, and they are contractually forbidden by Paramount to actually film anything there.  For $24 USD you get a one-hour tour of the set, and the chance to take all of the pictures you want. You're not allowed to touch anything, but you can have your picture taken in the Captain's chair (see top of blog post).

It had the sparkley fabric and everything.

More images can be seen here.  

So that's it for my Star Trek geek-out. I leave you now with this walkthrough of the set in Georgia several years ago:

Until next time,

Yours Truly, Gary Friedman

I was(n't) an extra in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Between takes I was showing off the Data Egg (a Keyboard for Astronauts I developed while at JPL) to the cast and crew. They weren't impressed.