AUGUST 22, 2022 - In 2004, James Cawley, assuming the role of Captain Kames T. Kirk, in the fan series, Star Trek: New Voyages (later renamed Phase II), set sail in what was hailed as ‘year four’ of the original 5-year mission.

Over the course of more than a decade, they put out 11 finished episodes and 9 vignettes of the voyages of the Enterprise crew (3 additional episodes were filmed, but never released due to the CBS restrictions for fan films in 2016.) It became so popular that many Star Trek: The Original Series actors, Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov), George Takei (Hikaru Sulu), Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand), and William Windom (Commodore Matt Decker) have all been a part of it. Even Denise Crosby of Star Trek: The Next Generation appeared as Tasha Yar’s grandmother, while Majel Barrett-Roddenberry reprised her role as the ship’s computer voice for an episode, and D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold contributed by each writing an episode for the series.

After the restrictions shut the production down, the sets moved and now are on permanent display for tours and special guest functions, such as the annual Trekconderoga convention weekend TOS set tours and celebrations in Ticonderoga, NY. Now Cawley and the team have announced that after discussions with CBS, they are creating a Star Trek expansion into the 24th century with new sets from the bridge of the Enterprise D. The Star Trek Set Tour now has a full recreation of the Enterprise-D bridge computer stations, along with the Ops and Conn stations set at the front of the command center — plus a full-sized holodeck arch.

Built with contributions from Star Trek: The Next Generation vet Michael Okuda, the four builds are the first nearly-completed replications from the forthcoming Enterprise-D bridge set replica which Cawley expects will be completed for public visits in the fall of 2023.

The LCARS interface panels on the first TNG console replicas were designed by Okuda himself, Because modern builds use LED lighting which backlights the interface panels very evenly, Mike Okuda engineered dark gradient ‘falloff’ coloring into the panels to emulate what was seen on the 1980s-era incandescent internal lighting which lived in the original TNG sets.

There is certainly much Trek goodness in store for fans visiting NY in the future. To read the entire article and see some of the great sets now in place, and what is yet to come, ‘engage’ over to Trekcore.com and read the entire article.