TrekRanks

The Fan Who Fired the Phasers: My Day on Star Trek

Let me get this out of the way right up front. These recaps are long. Like 20,000 total words long. But when you are afforded a once in a lifetime opportunity like I was, appearing as an extra on Star Trek, well, you want to make sure you don’t forget anything. So with that in mind, I can say that one of the smartest things I ever did was immediately write down every single thing that happened to me as I spent two glorious days on the Paramount sets of Star Trek: Enterprise.

My main set day was on a Friday and I literally spent all day Saturday and Sunday writing. These memories are basically a complete stream of consciousness thrown onto the page. They aren’t exactly poetry and I’m sure there are many spots that lack appropriate syntax or are just flat out incoherent.

Bottom line, if you are interested in the quick hits of what it was like to be a Star Trek fan appearing in an episode of Trek, check out the article “Top 14 Things About Being an Extra on an Episode of Star Trek.” If you want to do the deep dive and go through it all moment by moment, then check out everything else.

Ultimately I imagine this all looks pretty self-indulgent (fair!), but it was created for myself so I wouldn’t forget anything about an incredible experience. (Which I guess is pretty much the definition of the word self-indulgent!)

Anyway, from the auction that got me on the show to my appearance preparation to finding out the role selected for me by the production staff to my costume fitting to the odd fact that my 15 hours on the set literally seemed to last forever (and did not flash by as you might expect), it’s all here. This is my story of how a lifelong Star Trek fanatic got to fire the phasers and put the ship on red alert from the bridge of the Enterprise.