iPad frenzy: This Facebook page asks for what's right!

From the "Things that got buried on my desk" Dept.:

...I don't know how many thought to grab the great unsung artist Wah Chang—he of the original TOS communicator design— when flip-top cell phones "debuted"... but I was sitting here and had to wonder what Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach were thinking, PADD-men all, when Jobs finally let the iPad out in the open. :-D

So... I asked Rick what he was thinking the day it was unveiled, and he emailed:

"I'm thinking that it would be nice if Steve Jobs sent me a 64GB model with 3G wireless and a free data plan. :) Good to know that we had some really good ideas back in the day."

Rick"

I had nothing to do with it, but now for you Facebookers out there: it's not too late to join the page that does demand Rick and Mike O. get their due—at least according to us in Trekland:

Have Steve Jobs give Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda iPads

Of course, of all the talk and debate, the true question for Jobs is:
Why not double-D it and give us the "iPADD"?

UPDATE: Auction time again: "ST: Experience II" gives up on "rescued" items

UPDATE: Sources clarifying: Auctions and non-use of old gear, yes; end of Neonopolis contract, no.

And as throughout: CBS' intention to see a new ST:TE— still very much go.


From auction/collectibles maestro Alec Peters and his Propworx Co. comes the news:
—The long-debated future of the stored ST: The Experience artifacts is settled: Neonopolis won't use them across town in Vegas.
—CBS Licensing is selling the warehoused assets—both artifacts and Quark's/etc. fixtures.
—There's a live on-site auction in Vegas Feb. 27—hurry!—followed by a few pieces to be auctioned this summer. (Photo above from Alec's blog, same link.)

This is out ahead of any formal CBS press release, but just to be sure: The Neonopolis license deal is still in place, sources tell me, and CBS Licensing still intends to pursue a "new" Star Trek: The Experience. There's no other new news re: the project—but this does mean that any future "museum" there would be all-new items, original or replica.

And, as Alec notes, most of the non-costume and sometimes now-damaged "artifacts" from ST:TE were indeed replicas, not originals from TV/film use. But think a sec—what they are now are true Experience originals ... and as ST:TE and Quark's are already the stuff of lore and legend, there will be no shortage of sentimental bidders, I'm sure. Costumes include those of the beloved on-site cast, as well.

BTW--Alec mentions the Enterprise-D is the lone "total loss" among among the BIG ships that once hung from the giant through-deck foyer. I can tell you it's because it HAD to be cut up just to get it out during demolition at the Hilton space; it had been installed in the construction before the major ST:TE/Quark's openings were framed up and sealed off. They was no other way to budge it, sadly. But wonder if there's a bridge module or main hanger deck section out there to be had? Don't trash it all, guys! Even in pieces.

Glad to hear all the other "big ships" are in good or at least salvageable shape: Here's how the giant Voyager looked almost exactly a year ago when we saw it during demolition of the whole space, parked in the "back corner" of what was the Promenade retail area (photos by moi):





So—what would YOU want to take home, if it's still around?

Fake visor: The new look of MSM Trek legal reporting

I'm not sure what to make of this story, except that the mainstream media couldn't figure out how to handle it either—but that didn't keep them from blathering on about it beyond its purely news angle.

NEW YORK (AP)— A "Star Trek" fan isn't entitled to millions of dollars in damages for buying memorabilia that he says wasn't as out-of-this-world as it seemed, a court said Tuesday.

Ted Moustakis wasn't promised he was getting a one-of-a-kind plum when he paid $11,400 for a uniform for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" character Data at a 2006 auction, an appeals court said.

The court also said Moustakis is due at most a refund for two other purchases he says were fakes: a $6,000 poker visor supposedly worn by Data and a $6,600 table from the show's set.

Is it just me, or does this AP story's no-nonsense, geekdom-is-mainstream tone just scream with barely concealed regret at its restraint from the cheap "pointed ears" and "basement-dweller" jokes that used to color all mainstream news stories with a Trek angle?

To my knowledge I never got to meet the plaintiff, Mr. Moustakis, but I know I was at the Vegas con when word spread there that Brent told him the Data green-shade visor he'd bid on was not authentic. I still think of the Christies' and It's a Wrap auctions as the new Paramount regime's effort to further show how the "new generation" of Trek had taken over, as if all those items from ST—TMP forward were now obviously useless; it was also a good way to save a lot of monthly warehouse rental, of course.

Now, there has been more than one Data visor—including those used for set decoration in the TNG movies, which were dressing and not props, and thus not actually worn by the regulars; Data never played poker in the four films, for instance. Veteran set dresser John Dwyer tried to echo the regulars' beloved personal effects from the series in those on display in their big-screen quarters even if he didn't have access to those original pieces. And then, for the Nemesis swan song, a lot of his routine work was undone by director Stuart Baird—so even more variations crept in.

Not having access to the piece Moustrakis won, this is all guesswork, to be sure—aside from its pic in the Christies auction catalog. But my point is, there may be lots of wiggle room for everyone to be right. Let's see how this plays out, even as it is out of the courts now.