Together with the Roddenberry Estate, IDEA member OTOY has made it possible for Star Trek fans to experience Gene Roddenberry’s original vision for the franchise in 1964. During this year’s Creation Las Vegas, they revealed the first previews of the Roddenberry Archive — a memorialization of the entirety of Gene Roddenberry’s life, legacy and creative works, including a real-time, fully interactive and immersive collection of ever-growing 3D datasets that are all presented at 1:1 scale.
In addition to physical assets filmed for real-world TV or film productions, the archive also includes in-universe conceptualizations for how items, ships or the show’s other props would behave inside the narrative universe. Perhaps the most striking of these is a life-size digital recreation of the Starship Enterprise as Gene Roddenberry had originally envisioned it in the show’s pilot, “The Cage.”
When entering or exiting the Enterprise, fans beam in and out using the ship’s teleporters, consequently transporting them some 234 years into the future. From there, the fully immersive and interactive 360-degree exhibition would take them through every filmed location in the show’s pilot, where they could interact with the ship’s interior as if they were on board. From sitting in Captain Pike’s chair to visiting his quarters, and from visiting different levels via the turbolift to flipping through Spock’s Talos IV presentation in the briefing room, the exhibit gives fans everything short of a full crew uniform.
Other displays at the show included a first-time presentation of scenes from Star Trek’s early TV, literary, and film history that were captured and recreated on holographs, intended for future volumetric viewing on real-life Holodeck panels built by Light Field Lab.
Additionally, virtual production technologies are combined with LightStage scans of the archive to put original Star Trek uniforms, props, and other materials on display in a new concept video “765874: Mem ory Wall.” The concept video is directed by Carlos Baena and Jules Urbach with collaboration from world-renowned Octane CG artists Aaron Westwood and BLR VFX.
OTOY and the Roddenberry Estate have collaborated for over a decade to unearth original materials from Gene Roddenberry’s legacy, including the Star Trek creator’s own personal notes, internal company documents, and prototypes of the series’ various iterations. Said Gene’s son and CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, Rod Roddenberry, “We wanted to provide a behind-the- scenes personal story about Gene and the evolution of the series, which has made such a profound impact on the development of humanity in the 20th century, inspiring so many around the world.”
He added, “With new real time and holographic technologies, it is getting more and more possible to immerse new generations who didn’t experience Star Trek first-hand into my father’s universe, and we are thrilled to push forward on this new frontier in collaboration with 3D graphics pioneer, OTOY.”
Jules Urbach, CEO and Co-Founder of OTOY, spoke further about how a show of this scale best cap tures the genius of the franchise’s creator. He said, “Gene Roddenberry saw into the future and projected a vision of the future where remarkable technologies affirmed the human spirit and ethical powers. Technological advances today in holographic imaging and real time graphics are making recreating his vision ever more possible.”
Fortunately for those who missed the show, the archival videos and images—as well as behind-the scenes video logs — are available for public viewership online.