Originally set for this Memorial Day weekend, the official unveiling of a monument honoring Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Kathryn Janeway has now been set for October 24, 2020.
Bloomington, Indiana honoring its future hero
Last year the Captain Janeway Bloomington Collective fan group launched a campaign to fund the construction of a monument to be placed in Bloomington, Indiana, the future birthplace of Captain Kathryn Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager. The campaign was successfully funded earlier this year with this weekend picked to unveil the monument. Working with the city of Bloomington, a spot on B-Line Trail, next to the WonderLab Museum in downtown Bloomington was chosen for the bronze bust.
Artist rending of what the Janeway monument will look like (Captain Janeway Bloomington Collective)
In April the Bloomington Collective announced the unveiling had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. This week – on Captain Janeway’s birthday – they announced the new date of October 24, 2020 has been set for the official unveiling. The Bloomington Collective is planning a weekend of Star Trek-themed activities around the unveiling and hopes to have some “VIP persons” in attendance.
Bronze being poured for the monument (Captain Janeway Bloomington Collective)
Star Trek: Voyager established that Captain Kathryn Janeway was born in Bloomington, Indiana on May 20, 2336. Indiana was featured prominently in the episode “11:59,” where Voyager star Kate Mulgrew played her own ancestor Shannon O’Donnel in the year 2000.
For more information on the Janeway monument and upcoming event, visit janewaycollective.org.
Kate Mulgrew as Shannon O’Donnel in “11:59”
More Star Trek hometowns
Bloomington isn’t the only town that celebrates a future Star Trek hometown hero. The town of Riverside, Iowa stakes the claim to be the future birthplace of Star Trek’s James T. Kirk. There is a commemorative marker and a statue to Kirk in the town, along with the annual TrekFest, which includes a parade and other Star Trek-themed events. Linlithgow, Scottland has embraced Star Trek’s Montgomery “Scotty” Scott as a future son. The Linlithgow Museum has an exhibit dedicated to the famed engineer of the original USS Enterprise. And the town of Vulcan, Alberta in Canada has embraced its name, including opening a “Trek Station” and honoring Leonard Nimoy with a bust of Mr. Spock.
Riverside, Iowa celebrates James T. Kirk
Keep up with all the Star Trek events at TrekMovie.com.
I know, lets memorialize a future fictional character on a weekend when we take a moment to remember those called upon who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Bad optics, folks.
I think most people are capable of doing both. Chill.
I thought this was cool. The unveiling is in October.
I agree, let’s remember the brave men and women who sacrificed themselves for their country and freedom.
Most people look at Memorial day weekend as a time to party these days. People hit beaches, watch movies, have BBQ and go to theme parks….well not so much this year. But Memorial day is not really celebrated as a somber holiday for probably decades now other than a few flag waving stuff like a few small events in Washington DC or what you catch on the news honoring the soldiers. But I doubt most people even think about it in that way anymore and mostly as a start to summer season.
And if you read the article more closely it was suppose to be celebrated this week because that’s Captain Janeway’s birthday. But as Faze Ninja said it’s not happening until October now.
Agreed, plus it looks kind of tacky. And given that, how long will it be before this get’s routinely toilet-papered and spray painted by local high school kids?
I don’t find this really necessary. And it’s not like she’s iconic worldwide like Kirk, Spock and Picard are.
You do know there’s dozens of monuments to fictional characters right? Rocky in Philadelphia is probably the most famous. This one seems a bit odd, but I see nothing offensive or tacky about it. Feels more to me like Indianapolis was desperate for someone to memorialize!
OK, it just looks tacky to me — my personal opinion. But Peter below says it looks better than the rendering, so I am happy if I am wrong on this.
You mentioning Rocky as an example kind of reinforces my point though — he’s a hugely popular worldwide figure. The only Trek figures that I see rising to that level would be Kirk, Spock and Picard.
The actual bust looks much better than the rendering shown. Captain Janeway was a role model to a generation of young women and more than deserves being memorialized. The bust will be right next to WonderLab, a children’s science museum, a more than appropriate location.
Hey, if you locals there see the benefit of this, go for it. No worries. And good to hear it looks better on-site. THANKS!
YES. Gee, why are all those posters above OK with statues of Kirk, Spock and Picard but not Janeway? It couldn’t be because one of those captains isn’t like the others, could it?
Yes, and the difference is Janeway is simply not iconic like those other three characters are. Neither is Archer or Sisko.
Kirk, Spock and Picard are by far the most recognized Star Trek characters on the planet…they rise to the level of being iconic. No other characters in Trek rise to that level — not Janeway, not Sisko, not Archer.
It is what it is.
Listen here you 5000 year old tree….Captain Janeway aaaaand Kate Mulgrew are the shit!! Jealous much?
;-) “I’m laughing at the superior intellect”
I know, let’s overreact to a fun little gesture by a local government, and pretend like said gesture insulting to the troops even though it’s completely unrelated, because if we don’t, people might think we don’t love the troops, and heaven forbid my insecurity is exposed.
Again its not even happening until October . I respect Phil a lot and agree with most things he says, but yes its pretty silly to be upset about this since PLENTY of things done this weekend has zip to do with the troops. The city where I live usually organize a huge water balloon fight on this weekend for kids every year. I don’t know how that is suppose to honor the troops either but its popular lol.
But clearly he didn’t read the article close enough since its not even happening this weekend anyway, so there are zero optics to think about.
The troop thing wasn’t my main issue. And I am just a fan commenting on an article — this is not a big deal that I worry about. Go for it, Indiana! :-)
Hope the person who done the artist rendition isn’t doing the statue! Who is that and why do they have a cold sore?!?
Not the same person. The bust was done by sculptor Aaron Eby, the render by Josh Dinner, who has a whole different set of skills.
Wow, that’s awesome.
Does Picard have a monument? Picard was born in France so there should be a monument in Paris dedicated to him.
Statues to future fictional characters give me hope in the goodwill of human nature.
Picard wasn’t born in Paris.
Picard was born in France. The French should remember that.
There’s more to France than Paris.
If the community of La Barre wants to set up a monument for Picard they should go for it.
I hope you do realize that these statues are set up to attract some tourism, not to actually commemorate fictional people.
Congratulations, Captain Janeway!
Gotta offer this quibble: it’s hard to say that Bloomington figures prominently in ‘11:59’, when the episode’s O’Donnel/Janeway scenes take place in fictitious Portage Creek IN.
(And given that Bloomington is home of a major university branch, it would never have the challenges of Portage Creek in that wonderful episode.)
Not necessarily. I grew up in a town with a University campus. It wasn’t exactly the most enlightened place….
Bloomington, Indiana is a fantastic city full of positive energy! Wife and I making plans to attend now! To many, Janeway is iconic as brilliantly smart female leader of Starship Voyager!
College towns are not enlightened places either. Here in Minnesota is no exception as in Indiana.
You are correct about that episode. Try Season 7, Episode 2 Or Mosaic by Jerri Taylor. Mosaic even mentions IU.
That’s certainly the case… I was approaching ‘11:59’ from a slightly different angle:
what many would describe as ‘progress’, vs. the impact that ‘progress’ has on small communities.
Certainly the fictitious Portage Creek was depicted as a picture of that, and the episode did an elegant job of exploring the nuances of it, as it impacts people.
For instance, this rich question: what are we to think of Henry Janeway? Our good Captain thought of him as unenlightened; certainly he wasn’t reaching for the future. But is it so simple?
WASTE
BASKET
Oh god, I hope the actual statue is a little less… that.
That’s just an artists render, the actual bust by sculptor Aaron Eby looks much better.
Wow the power and devotion of Star Trek fans, am I right?
Congrats to Janeway! Has any other captain gotten a memorial somewhere? I assume Kirk has but don’t know.
I am curious, is this the first real life memorial to a Trek character? I’ve visited the Sherlock Holmes statue on Baker Street, the Robocop in Detroit, the Rocky in Philadelphia, and I know of the Superman in Illinois.
But it feels awfully odd that Janeway is the first Star Trek character to get a monument!
EDIT: just saw the articles mention of kirk– weird there’s no likeness!
LOL I saw that picture to of Kirk after I wrote this post as well. I guess we scrolled down too fast or something.
But yeah, I’m ALWAYS happy to see iconic Star Trek characters such as her noted in the real world! Always cool! ;)
Picard deserves a statue in France. A statue of him in the middle of Paris.
I say give all the captains a monument in their hometowns. It will be like each president getting a library. ;)
Picard isn’t Parisian. He’s from “La France profunde.”
Congrats, Janeway!
I don’t think we should take these kinds of things too seriously. They are just fun, tongue in cheek way of memorializing certain actors or characters. I remember there were statues of Arnold Schwarzenneger is his home town in Austria and Jean Claude Van Damme has one in his home city in Belgium. Take these for the fun they are.
It’s “Scotland” not “Scottland haha. Gonna need to check out Linlithgow when lockdown is over to check that out though!
Alien Archeologists are going to be so confused why Earth is celebrating a Warp Ship captain when the rest of the planet seemed to have ended in a late industrial stage. :P
Oh Captain, my Captain! Kathryn will always be my rolemodel
Not a good likeness.Is it the same artist who did the Lucille Ball statue?
That’s just an artists rendering, the actual bust by sculptor Aaron Eby looks much better.
I presume that Spock’s memorial will be erected on Vulcan.
As far as I know there is already a Spock memorial and a statue of Leonard Nimoy as Spock in Vulcan, Alberta, Canada.
There’s a replica of the Enterprise A in a park in Vulcan, but I haven’t seen anything about a statue of Nimoy / Spock. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan,_Alberta
Hmmm…For those of us here in #49… Valdez?