A hundred quatloos on the newcomers.
RED ALERT Lost 3 ft TOS Enterprise found????
- Thread starter CessnaDriver
- Start date
Borg69
Active Member
…We don’t need another hero…
alensatemybuick
Well-Known Member
I'm going to say something here - and I see it all too often - it is sad to see such threads devolve into idiotic "yuk-yuk" commentary. Makes it harder to find the useful "pearls". 
Lightning
Master Member
My summary based on the video:
The Unit belonged to the Jennings family. This is likely the family of Joseph Jennings the TMP art director, but that hasn't been conclusively established. The family claim is that Roddenberry sold the model to them for $5000. Susan Sackett says unequivocally that did not happen.
another tidbit from the comments: there may be actually 2 storage units involved, and perhaps the wrong one was sold. If so, that would, I assume, transfer ownership from the finders back to the family, or perhaps the storage unit company would be liable for damages?
The Unit belonged to the Jennings family. This is likely the family of Joseph Jennings the TMP art director, but that hasn't been conclusively established. The family claim is that Roddenberry sold the model to them for $5000. Susan Sackett says unequivocally that did not happen.
another tidbit from the comments: there may be actually 2 storage units involved, and perhaps the wrong one was sold. If so, that would, I assume, transfer ownership from the finders back to the family, or perhaps the storage unit company would be liable for damages?
Can it get more complex? LOL
Rumor has it, that the scream heard in that song, is actually Majel, when she found out Gene sold the Enterprise model for $5,000.
Rumor has it, that the scream heard in that song, is actually Majel, when she found out Gene sold the Enterprise model for $5,000.
Back of my head, I've forever read he had a serious drug abuse problem, not sure how much a stretch it could be that he actually did so. Of course this woman very well could be making up a story to make a legal claim.
asalaw
Master Member
Well, if Susan Sackett denies it outright, I'd believe her. She wasn't just his assistant...
mach7
Well-Known Member
I'm no legal scholar, but to a layman questions arise.
If Jennings legally purchased the model why would he put it in a storage unit for 30-40 years?
Why not put it on display and enjoy it?
He had to know its whereabouts were the subject of much discussion.
It seems GR had legal ownership of the model, in that Paramount gifted it to him.
Gene says it went missing.
Susan Sackett says it was not sold
Majel says it was stolen.
Gene wrote a letter stating it was missing and he wanted it back.
Jennings or his family never stepped up and said "I have it"
This woman, who now shows up, claiming ownership may believe that the model was legally purchased, but with the information
out now, it looks like it was probably stolen. She might know its history perfectly or she might know only what she was told over
the years, either way I would think that the burden is on her to produce evidence/documentation to support her claim.
Some questions:
Why were the contents of the storage unit sold if it was still being paid for? Was it a mistake or on purpose?
Why was the model never displayed or even acknowledged from the 1980's until now? The opportunity to do so existed.
Why was such an important piece of Star Trek history allowed to come to such a state if it was legally purchased?
Does her family have any documentation to support the claim, or is it all just oral family history.
Is there any insurance paper work supporting the claim? Like a mention of a very expensive piece TV history needing extra coverage?
Can she produce anything other than hearsay that supports her claim?
Of course if/when more information becomes public all of these questions might get answered, and her family could be the legal owners.
Time and the courts will tell.
Myself, as of right now, I think its one of 2 possibilities.
1. Jennings stole the model, hid it, and later told family that he bought it from GR for $5000
2. GR did sell it to Jennings, but both parties knew that the deal was "under the table" and not really a legal transaction.
Trek world Jim says he has more information, will that clear up the situation or further muddy the waters?
If Jennings legally purchased the model why would he put it in a storage unit for 30-40 years?
Why not put it on display and enjoy it?
He had to know its whereabouts were the subject of much discussion.
It seems GR had legal ownership of the model, in that Paramount gifted it to him.
Gene says it went missing.
Susan Sackett says it was not sold
Majel says it was stolen.
Gene wrote a letter stating it was missing and he wanted it back.
Jennings or his family never stepped up and said "I have it"
This woman, who now shows up, claiming ownership may believe that the model was legally purchased, but with the information
out now, it looks like it was probably stolen. She might know its history perfectly or she might know only what she was told over
the years, either way I would think that the burden is on her to produce evidence/documentation to support her claim.
Some questions:
Why were the contents of the storage unit sold if it was still being paid for? Was it a mistake or on purpose?
Why was the model never displayed or even acknowledged from the 1980's until now? The opportunity to do so existed.
Why was such an important piece of Star Trek history allowed to come to such a state if it was legally purchased?
Does her family have any documentation to support the claim, or is it all just oral family history.
Is there any insurance paper work supporting the claim? Like a mention of a very expensive piece TV history needing extra coverage?
Can she produce anything other than hearsay that supports her claim?
Of course if/when more information becomes public all of these questions might get answered, and her family could be the legal owners.
Time and the courts will tell.
Myself, as of right now, I think its one of 2 possibilities.
1. Jennings stole the model, hid it, and later told family that he bought it from GR for $5000
2. GR did sell it to Jennings, but both parties knew that the deal was "under the table" and not really a legal transaction.
Trek world Jim says he has more information, will that clear up the situation or further muddy the waters?
asalaw
Master Member
Some good factual questions there. It'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out.
Listen, we all know that Roddenberry had a checkered past of screwing people over, among other questionable behavior. Possibly worse.
But I tend to think that the story as we know it still makes the most sense, based on the publicly-available data: Roddenberry loaned the model out as a reference for PHASE II/TMP, and never got it back. He may never have filed a police report, but he did put out a search for it.
It makes no sense that he’d suddenly say “just keep it”, sell it for $5,000, then falsely claim it was missing. By this point, he’d been handsomely paid for his work on the new TREK production, along with his college lectures and other projects, so money can’t have been the motivating factor. He knew that TOS artifacts had considerable cultural and financial value, even back then. He also knew that the cultural and financial value of the model could only appreciate, as time went on.
Looking at it from the other side, why would he sell it, only to then claim it was stolen, but then never follow through in any meaningful way—i.e. a police report? What would he possibly have to gain from that? Spontaneously selling off a treasured relic for blow money, then claiming it was stolen would be a strange thing to do. What’s the motive?
Personally, in the absence of more info, I think it’s likely that the model was either stolen (or perhaps merely forgotten about in the mad rush to get TMP made), and that now, with considerable culutral and financial value attached to it, opportunists have come out of the woodwork to fight over pieces of the pie.
Money ruins everything.
And, frankly, Trek World producing all of these “insider” videos has made my Spider-Sense tingle from the start. Everyone’s a clout-chaser, these days.
But I tend to think that the story as we know it still makes the most sense, based on the publicly-available data: Roddenberry loaned the model out as a reference for PHASE II/TMP, and never got it back. He may never have filed a police report, but he did put out a search for it.
It makes no sense that he’d suddenly say “just keep it”, sell it for $5,000, then falsely claim it was missing. By this point, he’d been handsomely paid for his work on the new TREK production, along with his college lectures and other projects, so money can’t have been the motivating factor. He knew that TOS artifacts had considerable cultural and financial value, even back then. He also knew that the cultural and financial value of the model could only appreciate, as time went on.
Looking at it from the other side, why would he sell it, only to then claim it was stolen, but then never follow through in any meaningful way—i.e. a police report? What would he possibly have to gain from that? Spontaneously selling off a treasured relic for blow money, then claiming it was stolen would be a strange thing to do. What’s the motive?
Personally, in the absence of more info, I think it’s likely that the model was either stolen (or perhaps merely forgotten about in the mad rush to get TMP made), and that now, with considerable culutral and financial value attached to it, opportunists have come out of the woodwork to fight over pieces of the pie.
Money ruins everything.
And, frankly, Trek World producing all of these “insider” videos has made my Spider-Sense tingle from the start. Everyone’s a clout-chaser, these days.
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