Now you can see Star Trek: The Next Generation sets
James Crawley, the Star Trek fan behind the re-creation of the Star Trek sets from The Original Series, is in the process of expanding the tour to include Star Trek: The Next Generation. Right now, the construction of the bridge is underway in Ticonderoga, NY, and Crawley told WCAX news that there will be a transporter room, corridors, and more, as Star Trek Tours is set to the purchase the facility next door which is 28,000 square feet and two stories high. (You can get a sneak peek at the bridge by going to the news site at the link above.)
While William Shatner, the original Captain James T. Kirk, appears in New York for tours of the original set at least twice a year, fans looking to tour The Next Generation set can look forward to seeing Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data) and Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher) in the spring. Although the full set will not be complete, Crawley anticipates that the bridge will be available for viewing sometime next year.
Why is Star Trek Tours expanding to include Star Trek: The Next Generation?
It took James Crawley fourteen painstaking years to create the sets from The Original Series, and he did so, according to Star Trek Tour, from the original blueprints, hundreds of hours of in-depth research and thousands of photographs – “period images and images culled from extensive review and capture from the original episodes.” And fans from all over have come to take the tour, but Crawley knew it was time to create something for the fans who grew up watching Captain Picard and his crew.
"“The Next Generation is hugely popular, and the generation that watched that as children are now adults. So they are really getting into this kind of thing. The grandparents come to see The Original Series, and the kids want to see The Next Generation.”"
While there isn’t a set timeline as to when the expansion will be complete, you can check on the progress at www.startrektour.com as tickets will become available when the set is ready for viewing.