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Roddenberry Archive
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While it's a bit of real sci-fi news blackhole so far this week - it just doesn't make sense to compete for attention with the likes of Star Wars (May the 4th celebration) and Marvel (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness cinema release) - Star Trek have thrown their hat into the ring and aren't giving up easily.

Not only did they boldly set the release date of their new but seemingly return to old form series Strange New Worlds this week, but we also have a video update on the virtual Roddenberry Archive featuring well-known production design pair Michael and Denise Okuda.

If you haven't heard of it previously, the archive is exactly what it sounds like - a virtual archive of everything Star Trek using all of the latest technology.

As this video details they've faithfully recreated the Enterprise (all of them) interiors and exteriors to the best of available knowledge and filled in gaps where necessary.

What does this mean for Star Trek fans?

This isn't a public service historical archive.

Tech company OTOY are a commercial enterprise and the dreaded NFTs (non-fungible tokens), aka expensive jpegs, are likely to come.

They promise full-sized, realistic holograms which at least presently could only be displayed in special, commercially built and operated facilities.

We've seen an official BBC Doctor Who museum created inside the online game Fortnite.

With these virtual assets Star Trek could create a much more sophisticated equivalent.

Additionally there are implications for gaming.

Whether or not a game officially supports modding, the modding community has become adept at "hacking" mods into a game.

Armed either with legitimately owned NFTs or copies, could modders drop these detailed ship models and other assets into existing or fan-made games to effectively make their own, unlicensed Star Trek games?

Which might compete with licensed ones.

Would Paramount fight that like Warner Bros. did the Lord of the Rings mod for Skyrim or enjoy the Star Trek intellectual property saturating the gaming landscape?

Presently with a limited gaming presence - there's really just the very dated Star Trek online - maybe they would be delighted to sit back and allow modders to copy and paste Star Trek over everything else.

None of that would occur overnight but Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premieres this evening in Australia on Paramount+.

[ Main Image: Star Trek - The Cage bridge. Credit: Otoy via YouTube. ]

References

Demosthenes (October 5, 2012). Warner Bros. shut down free Skyrim LoTR mod. TheOneRing.net.

Donnelly, Matt (May 3, 2022). Cast and Crew of Original ‘Star Trek’ Pilot Reunite for Virtual Set Recreation by Otoy. Variety.

Donnel, Matt (August 12, 2021). ‘Star Trek’ Creator Gene Roddenberry’s Estate Brokers Sweeping Digital Archive Deal With OTOY (EXCLUSIVE). Variety.

OTOY (May 4, 2022). The Roddenberry Archive: The Cage (2022). YouTube.