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Take your own virtual Star Trek tour of the original U.S.S. Enterprise set

ByChad Porto|
Smithsonian Channel will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with a two-hour special that will take a look at the lasting influence the original Star Trek series has had on the world. BUILDING STAR TREK will premiere Sunday, September 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.BUILDING STAR TREK will follow the conservation team from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum as they attempt to restore and conserve the original 11-foot, 250-pound model of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the original series. The special also will track the effort to rebuild a model of the original U.S.S. Enterprise bridge by using authentic set pieces and props, which recently went on display at Seattle’s EMP Museum. - Photo: Courtesy of Smithsonian Channel Copyright: 2016 - SmithsonianChannel_StarshipEnterprise
Smithsonian Channel will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek with a two-hour special that will take a look at the lasting influence the original Star Trek series has had on the world. BUILDING STAR TREK will premiere Sunday, September 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Smithsonian Channel.BUILDING STAR TREK will follow the conservation team from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum as they attempt to restore and conserve the original 11-foot, 250-pound model of the U.S.S. Enterprise from the original series. The special also will track the effort to rebuild a model of the original U.S.S. Enterprise bridge by using authentic set pieces and props, which recently went on display at Seattle’s EMP Museum. - Photo: Courtesy of Smithsonian Channel Copyright: 2016 - SmithsonianChannel_StarshipEnterprise

You can now have your own tour experience of a rebuilt U.S.S Enterprise from the original Star Trek series thanks to a YouTube video.

With traveling not the best of ideas right now, you may have found yourself a little bored from time to time. Well, with winter still underway and the pandemic being very active, we decided to share something totally fun and unique with our fellow Star Trek fans; a virtual tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise set, painstakingly rebuilt by a dedicated fan and his crew.

The man in question is James Cawley, a 54-year-old Elvis Presley impersonator. Because of course, he is. Cawley built the entire Enterprise set in an old grocery store and began shooting fan-made episodes with Cawley as Captain James Kirk. Then CBS shut that down.

Yet, Cawley asked if he could open up the sets to fans, so they could tour. CBS, shockingly said “sure”.  So now this once little grocery store in Ticonderoga, NY is one of the best places to go visit (when you can safely) to experience the history, lore, and ambiance of the original series.

This was made possible in part to former Star Trek costume designer William Ware Theiss, who upon his passing, bequeathed the original studio layout to Cawley. Cawley made sure to put the time, energy, and money into making the recreation as authentic as possible.

Even William Shatner himself has visited the sets, and he was quite impressed.

The tours in person are about an hour-long, and if the YouTube video is any idea, well worth the time. When things calm down, doing a Star Trek themed vacation doesn’t sound half-bad. With so many fan-made spots in the United States, like Kirk’s birthplace and the subsequent mini-museum in Iowa, or the Indiana birthplace statue for Kathryn Janeway.

There’s so much to see, and with this set-tour, it only keeps getting better.

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