Intergalactic rubble from Star Trek: The Experience up for grabs at sale

Can you deliver Hamlet's famous soliloquy in Klingon? Do you ever crave Ktarian chocolate puffs? Or use your phaser to heat up your coffee?

Then we have just the event for you!

Propworx, a California company that markets set decorations and costumes from TV shows and movies, will sell several hundred items from the Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience on Saturday.

In an 11-year run that ended in 2008, Star Trek: The Experience and its interactive rides generated plenty of set pieces. Trekkies will be able to snap up parts of the beloved attraction for as little as $25, and everyone who walks in the door will get a free pair of 3D glasses worn on the rides. Up for sale will be themed signs, 20-foot spaceship replicas from the attraction's lobby, Starfleet costumes, bar furniture and components of transporter rooms (perfect for when your mother-in-law visits!).

The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 66 Spectrum Boulevard. Propworx will accept cash or checks only.

One "Star Trek" expert said the sale should appeal to anyone interested in the history of the show, which first aired on NBC from 1966 to 1969 and has lived on in movies, syndicated sequels and themed attractions.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Anthony Pascale, editor-in-chief of California-based TrekMovie.com. "A lot of people around the country and in Las Vegas had a very strong affection for Star Trek: The Experience. For them, there's an emotional connection, and to have a piece of it in their home would be very special."

The sale should also offer a great place to meet like-minded "Star Trek" fans. If you want to dazzle fellow aficionados perusing the wall panels, you might want to grab the conversational-Klingon iPhone app, complete with swear words, for $3.99. (Sample snippet apropos for a warehouse sale: "qatlh Dat DI tu'lu', tlhIngan," which means, "Why is there rubble everywhere, Klingon?")

For Propworx Chief Executive Officer Alec Peters, Saturday's event isn't just a business transaction. It's a personal labor of love. Peters remembers his mom waking him up at 10 p.m. on Friday nights back in 1968 so he wouldn't miss the show as an 8-year-old.

Asked to say something in Klingon, Peters said, "I'm not that kind of fan."

But he is the kind of fan whose Star Trek memorabilia collection is probably worth more than his house. As a connoisseur, Peters' personal favorites in Saturday's sale include fixtures from Quark's Bar -- a table and four chairs will sell for $195 --as well as Borg alcoves, small pods where Borgs, a humanoid race in the "Star Trek" universe, physically matured and regenerated their energy levels. The alcoves will retail for $600 to $800.

The sale precedes a major auction scheduled to happen during August's Official Star Trek Convention 2010 at the Las Vegas Hilton. Propworx has set aside 25 significant items from Star Trek: The Experience for the auction. The event will feature a panel from the bridge of the original "Star Trek" Enterprise, as well as a two-foot filming miniature of Enterprise Capt. James Kirk used in special-effects scenes. Peters estimated that the bridge panel could bring in $20,000, while the Kirk miniature could command up to $30,000.

If you wonder why fans go so gaga for "Star Trek" props, consider the show's message and appeal.

"It reveals an optimistic and welcoming view of the future, and a future we all want to live in," said Pascale, who's interested in snagging an "exit" sign from Star Trek: The Experience to hang inside his home over his front door. "(Show creator) Gene Roddenberry believed in a future without war, where people came together and worked together and Earth united with aliens to face the universe. It was inspiring. It had a cool future vision of technology. And it had a fundamental story you can understand with characters you care about."

Both Saturday's sale and August's auction make it clear that a proposed new version of Star Trek: The Experience will depart substantially from its predecessor.

Rohit Joshi, a representative of downtown's Neonopolis, said Thursday that he holds the rights to the Star Trek: The Experience name until 2018. He added that he's still in discussions with CBS, which owns overall rights to the "Star Trek" brand, on a future Experience. Joshi wouldn't discuss a possible opening date. But observers say CBS has decided that any future iteration of the Experience will focus less on older TV versions and more on later movie incarnations of "Star Trek."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at
jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.