Star Trek Creator’s Work To Be Preserved In Cutting-Edge Digital Archive

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry‘s work is going to be digitally captured and cataloged in a new cutting-edge digital archive built by tech company OTOY. In a major deal with the Roddenberry estate, the “Roddenberry Archive” is a multimedia venture that will convert the sci-fi creator’s work into both digital and holographic renderings. Fans will get new visions of famous things like the Starship Enterprise and other vehicles – as well as memorabilia from the Star Trek TV series and movies. A formal presentation of the Roddenberry Archive will be made tomorrow at the annual Star Trek convention Creation, which is being held in Las Vegas. The presentation will be done by the Roddenberry estate, along with artists Denise and Mike Okuda, Doug Drexler, and Daren Dochterman.

The Roddenberry Archive will reportedly “include key texts and documents from Roddenberry’s career (the show predicted tablet computers among many other gadgets, after all), as well as images, blueprints, and models. The archive will span the flagship “Star Trek” series, original films, and subsequent spinoffs.” It’s also noted that the archive will have big technological features, such as “life-sized hologram installations that promise to be ‘indistinguishable from reality’ via Light Field Lab.”

Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod Roddenberry issued the following statement about his father’s archive project:

“I cannot think of a more capable and innovative company to trust with these materials. OTOY’s work will allow generations to experience my father’s contribution to humanity with the greatest historical accuracy possible. This project will protect an optimistic vision of the future, that has inspired so many and remains so important today.”

OTOY is a cloud graphics company whose board members include J.J. Abrams, Google’s Eric Schmidt, JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, and Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel. OTOY has set famed digital artist (and NFT sales crusher) Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann to work with iconic comic book artist Alex Ross as creative consultants on this Roddenberry Archive project. They will help shape the archive, as well as cross-link it to both Ross and Beeple’s personal OTOY token-based render networks (RNDR).

In a statement, OTOY founder and CEO Jules Urbach had the following to say:

“At OTOY, our mission to develop technologies that empower artists to realize their creative visions is deeply inspired by Gene. It is an absolute honor to use these same technologies to preserve and bring his legacy to life for future generations. Growing up with Rod and spending so much of my formative years in the Roddenberry household makes this a deeply personal project for me as well.”

The main purpose of the archive seems to be getting Star Trek and Roddenberry’s work into the market of digital collectibles that is rapidly springing up as the go-to lane of the collectibles industry. Archive items could be sold as NFTs, allowing fans to “own” a piece of Roddenberry’s legacy, without the estate actually losing any actual ownership.

Look for details about Star Trek’s Roddenberry Archive as they are released.

Source: Variety