An authentic mannequin of the USS Enterprise utilized in Star Trek: The Original Series, which as soon as belonged to Gene Roddenberry, seems to have surfaced on eBay.
This is kind of a narrative: a 32-inch lengthy mannequin of the USS Enterprise, used for sure scenes within the authentic collection of Star Trek, seems to have been found on eBay – many years after it disappeared from the desk of creator Gene Roddenberry.
The discovery first got here to gentle on X (previously Twitter) when Alex Perry, co-owner of TrekCore.com, noticed an eBay public sale for a “uncommon {custom} Star Trek USS Enterprise spaceship by Richard Datin.” Images confirmed a timeworn however immediately recognisable Enterprise, mounted on a picket stand. The vendor listed the mannequin with a beginning value of $1,000.
According to Perry, the one who listed the Enterprise mannequin had bought “an deserted storage unit” and listed it on eBay, assuming it to be a duplicate.
“This ship is a custom-made spaceship by Richard Datin Jr,” the eBay itemizing learn. “Made by wooden [sic] and hand painted… 32 inches lengthy.”
This is totally wild. The lengthy misplaced 3 foot filming miniature of the USS Enterprise – stolen from Gene’s workplace within the 70s – confirmed up on eBay in a single day listed by somebody who bought an deserted storage unit. Analysis of the photographs exhibits it’s seemingly real. #StarTrek pic.twitter.com/qb0Shco8AM
— Alex Perry (@alexandertperry) November 1, 2023
An in depth-up picture seems to point out what seems to be like a enterprise card caught to the again of the mannequin’s base with sticky tape. It reads, “Richard C Datin, Jr of North Hollywood, California.”
You’ve in all probability guessed the place that is going: Datin Jr was the mannequin maker who constructed the unique Enterprise miniature, based mostly on the design by Matt Jeffries. The Howard Anderson Company, which offered the visible results for the collection, commissioned Datin Jr to make a number of fashions for Star Trek in 1964, and the 32-inch miniature he constructed was used for a number of photographs within the unaired pilot, The Cage, and some different early episodes. Later on, a extra detailed, 11-foot-long mannequin was created and used for different episodes within the authentic collection.
In different phrases: it’s extremely seemingly that the mannequin listed on eBay is real. So how did such an necessary piece of TV historical past find yourself in a storage unit? It’s right here the plot thickens considerably.
When Star Trek was cancelled in 1969, the 32-inch mannequin was finally given again to collection creator Gene Roddenberry. For a number of years, the mini Enterprise sat fortunately on Roddenberry’s desk – till in the future it was both lent out and vanished or was outright stolen.
A screengrab of the unique eBay itemizing. Credit: eBay.
According to RedShirtsAlwaysDie.com, Roddenberry’s private assistant, Susan Sackett, recalled that Roddenberry had lent the ship to a particular results firm in the course of the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture within the late Nineteen Seventies. From there, it seems that the mannequin was positioned in a storage container someplace and forgotten about for over 40 years.
Not lengthy after Perry tweeted in regards to the eBay public sale on 1st November, the vendor took the itemizing down, seemingly as a result of a minimum of one individual contacted them and knowledgeable them of the merchandise’s potential origins. “My understanding is that folks have been in communication with the vendor about it, who’re making an attempt to make sure it finally ends up again within the palms of the Roddenberry household,” Perry wrote on X/Twitter.
At the time of writing, you’ll be able to nonetheless take a look at the public sale on eBay, which features a gallery of close-up photos. Compare them with the up to date photographs of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner holding a miniature Enterprise in this tweet, and you’ll see that the mannequin on eBay seems to be nearly an identical. If the eBay Enterprise is a pretend, then it’s an extremely correct one.
Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner holding the unique USS Enterprise mannequin. Credit: @Doctors__TARDIS.
Will the Enterprise be returned to the Roddenberry household? Will Paramount, which owns the rights to Star Trek, attempt to declare possession? Whatever occurs, it seems to be as if a long-lost piece of Trek historical past has lastly been discovered.
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