A Long-Lost Piece Of Star Trek History Has Been Found – And Returned To The Roddenberry Family

The next time you fire up eBay looking for a lightly used PS5 or a random everyday item that kind of resembles the face of Jesus Christ (look, do whatever you want with your hard-earned money, folks), take a closer look — you might just come across a priceless pop-culture relic that has been missing for decades. Anyone who's used these sorts of online marketplaces for long enough undoubtedly has their fair share of horror stories, but this is one case that ultimately resulted in a happy ending for all involved.

It's a tale that has gone down as part of "Star Trek" lore over the long years. A franchise as long-lasting as this one will inevitably rack up its fair share of fan-favorite props and other objects of import, created by talented and pioneering artists to bring genuinely out-of-this-world visuals and legendary concept art to life. Historically, "Trek" has relied on matte paintings, cutting-edge VFX techniques, and all sorts of innovative production designs to help turn various shows and movies into the beloved entries they became. One in particular that had been lost to time, a 33-inch model of the USS Enterprise used in the classic opening credits for "The Original Series," has managed to find its way back where it belongs.

The news was announced on Twitter (only the Borg would call it "X") by Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., the son of late franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, via a report by the New York Times. Roddenberry had some eagle-eyed fans to thank for it, who spotted an eBay listing auctioning the starship for $1000. The seller, upon being alerted to its significance, authenticated the find and eventually handed it over to Roddenberry for an unspecified reward. How's that for a feel-good story?

Perhaps no other fanbase understands the value of memorabilia and franchise history quite like Trekkies do. This probably explains why, rather than selling the Enterprise model for a quick buck, the unnamed seller instead went through the proper channels and made sure the priceless artifact was returned to its rightful owner. But how did it end up lost in the first place, you ask? Well, Gene Roddenberry originally lent the model to be used during production of 1979's criminally underrated "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," whereupon it mysteriously went missing. For their part, the seller claimed to have found the model in a storage unit — the exact path it took to end up there, however, will likely never be known.

In order to fully authenticate the find, according to the New York Times report, Eugene Roddenberry enlisted the help of "Star Trek" art supervisor Michael Okuda, "Trek" VFX artist Denise Okuda, and technical consultant Gary Kerr, the latter of whom used an old photo of the model from the 1960s as a point of comparison. According to Eugene:

"We spent at least an hour photographing it, inspecting the paint, inspecting the dirt, looking under the base, the patina on the stem, the grain in the wood ... It was a unanimous, 'This is 100 percent the one.'"

With that, an age-old cold case in the "Star Trek" universe has finally been solved.