Star Trek's U.S.S. Enterprise walks on water (photos)
We recently caught the Enterprise lounging in a canoe in the LA neighborhood of Venice, Calif. Captain Kirk was nowhere to be found, but we solved the mystery with the assistance of the ever-helpful Internets.
Edward Moyer
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
It seems the U.S.S. Enterprise crops up everywhere--as a kitchen utensil or even a masquerade costume for a pooch. So we weren't all that surprised recently to discover the venerable craft lounging in a canoe in a canal in the LA neighborhood of Venice, Calif. Still, we did kinda wonder how it got there--and why exactly. Then we had the brilliant idea of using the Internets as a handy research tool(!). And lo and behold, we got our answer. Read on for more.
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Finely detailed, with Legos
After stumbling across the DIY ship, of course we moved in for a closer look. Here's the familiar face of the Enterprise, expertly crafted with miscellaneous Legos and other goodies.
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Kirk's perch
This is where Captain Kirk would no doubt sit, tricorder and paddle in hand. Or maybe he'd sit on that seat just visible in the front there, and Scotty or Uhura would sit in back.
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A labor of love
More exquisite DIY craftsmanship. But was all this effort expended simply so a geeky resident of a canal-side house could get his or her Trekkie thrills rowing around on weekends? There was no one nearby to ask. But we later heard tell of some sort of holiday boat parade. And--gasp--we still later had the bright idea of putting an Internet search engine to work on the puzzle.
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The Enterprise streaks by
Eureka! We worked Google and waded through a couple of YouTube videos, and after 4 minutes and 29 seconds of this one--"BOAT PARADE 2011"--the mystery ship suddenly flashed through the frame! A truly exciting moment of Web sleuthery!
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The Enterprise takes it to the bridge
Here's our spacey canoe yet again, making its way down the festively adorned Venice, Calif., canals. The musical backdrop to the parade was James Brown's "Sex Machine," as played by a barge-surfing cover band with Spider-Man on drums and Godzilla on bass. Yes, they "took it to the bridge."
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Paddle-toting Kirk explores strange new worlds
The video even provides a glimpse of the U.S.S. Entercanoe's mysterious crew. After a little more Internet sleuthery, we discovered that the "S.S. Enterprise" was apparently put together by Liz and Tim Prokop, and Stephen Kruger, and that it won a prize for being one of the best boats in the parade. Way to go! Kirk would be proud!
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Klingons?
The Enterprise wasn't the only starship sailing by...
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A boatload of aliens
...and some little green men participated in the parade as well.
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Spock the duck looks on
It's mission--to boldy go where no canoe has gone before--now safely accomplished, the makeshift gondola Enterprise rests in wet-dock, carefully guarded by Spock the duck.
