Trekkie madness

[faceless]

'Star Trek' ship fetches over $500,000

A model of the Starship Enterprise used in the pilot and title sequences of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" sold for $576,000 Saturday at an auction of costumes, sets and props from 40 years of the "Star Trek" sci-fi franchise.

The 78-inch-long miniature of the "Enterprise-D," built by Industrial Light and Magic, debuted in 1987 in the episode "Encounter at Farpoint," and then was used in many subsequent episodes, as well as the film "Star Trek Generations."

More than 1,000 items from the archives of CBS Paramount Television Studios went on the block over three days at Christie's auction house, and fans forked over a total of $7.1 million for set furniture, pointy Vulcan ears and other props.

Some Christie's employees taking bids by telephone wore Star Trek uniforms, and a live feed of the auction was carried on the History Channel's Web site.

Other top sellers from Saturday's auction included a spacesuit belonging to the series' Dr. McCoy from the episode "The Tholian Web," which fetched $144,000; and a replica of Captain James T. Kirk's chair on the bridge in the first Star Trek series.

The painted wood chair was only a re-creation for a 1996 episode of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" that mixed action from that newer series with old footage, but it still sold for $62,400.

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$575 000

what a bunch of weirdos!

[Kezza]

Jerry Seinfeld put it best when he said that men love Star Trek because the bridge of the Starship Enterprise had the ultimate recliner/lounge and wide-screen TV.