Star Trek Fan Spends $500,000 Turning His Basement Into The Enterprise

Hopefully without the auto-destruct feature.

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Star TrekA great many of you out there are rabid Star Trek fans. That’s a well-established fact at this point. And Star Trek fans are widely known to be some of the more passionate, obsessive, and detail oriented of science fiction fans—you all have your own movie, that’s all I’m saying. That’s why the story of Anthony Sforza shouldn’t really surprise anyone. The Long Island, New York resident spent $500,000 and more than 1500 hours turning his basement into a replica of the Starship Enterprise.

The 48-year-old Sforza has been a fanatic for years, collecting Star Trek memorabilia since the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2010 when he finally made the decision to turn his home into the iconic Federation Starship. But once he started down that road, it was on. Over the next few years he spent all of his free time trying to track down exactly what the series used to create the futuristic spacecraft, modeled on the latest version, the one from the Scott Bakula-fronted Enterprise.

After hitting numerous dead ends, including attempts to get in touch with the producers to learn what materials to use, he got his hands on an actual piece of the set. From there, he was able to dismantle it and discern the components for himself. He even went so far as to figure out the exact paint used on the sets, that’s the kind of fanatical attention to detail that we’re talking about here.

Sforza’s immediate family all appear to be totally on board with this venture, which is probably for the best, considering that they all have to live there, too. The entire clan even hangs out on the bridge to watch their favorite TV shows and movies. One guess what show in on heavy rotation.

Sforza’s wife Annette says, “I think it’s wonderful, I admire him so much for being able to put vision into something like this and for it to look so incredible—it’s wonderful and I’m so proud of him.”

7-year-old Daniel adds, “’I think that it’s cool because he has all the belts and badges and everything is here to show just how much he loves Star Trek.”

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Michael, 11, even finds inspiration in his father’s obsessive quest, saying, “I would love to do something like this when I’m older—it would be pretty cool and I think it would be a good addition to any home.” It really is, isn’t it? If you find the right buyer, having a the bridge of the Enterprise in the basement might be one hell of a selling point, but I doubt Sforza has plans to move out anytime soon.

Sforza’s younger sister isn’t quite as on board as the rest of the family. The 44-year-old Marion thinks her brother’s behavior is a wee bit strange, and I imagine that she isn’t the only one. She even calls him a “freak,” though in a good-natured way. She may not share his obsession, or even understand it, but as she says, he could be in much worse things than Star Trek, and if that makes him happy, what the hell?

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