Star Trek continues its return to popular culture consciousness this year with everything from magazine covers to movie trailers in anticipation of the new feature film. Yet another example is seen at the 72nd Annual Sun Bowl Parade in El Paso, Texas this Thanksgiving Day.
Enterprise gets floated
An approximately 12 foot USS Enterprise float is being unveiled during the three mile parade to commemorate Gene Roddenberry. The creator of Star Trek was born in El Paso, Texas in on August 19, 1921. As the theme of this year’s parade is "El Paso Pride" it is appropriate to honor the man who gave the world Star Trek. The float is being created by the Downtown Lions Club of El Paso. [El Paso Times]
Roddenberry float being prepared (El Paso Times)
UPDATE: Float in Parade
Enterprise flies through El Paso (El Paso Times)
UPDATE 2: Float Wins + video
The Star Trek float won the parade’s "Sweepstakes Award" which is kind of like a best in show. Plus goto The El Paso Times for video of the parade, the Trek float comes in around the six minute mark.
The Sun Bowl Parade is the largest parade of its kind in West Texas/New Mexico, with between approximately 350,000 people attending. It started in 1936 as a prelude to the New Year’s Day Sun Bowl football game. However, in 1978 it was moved to Thanksgiving Day. The parade is on TV beginning at 10 a.m. on Channel 9-KTSM (cable Channel 10)
This isn’t the first time El Paso has honored Roddenberry. In October of 2002, the Gene Roddenberry Planetarium was named in his honor.
Plaque from the GR Planetarium
(photo by desizemoe on flikr)
Star Trek now joins franchises like Star Wars (which had a float in the 2007 Rose Bowl Parade) and Superman (which has had a presence for many years at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, beginning in 1939) with floats in major parades.
Bonus Video: A Very Shatner Thanksgiving
William Shatner has a new Thanksgiving video available at his Shatner Project. The man himself, along with his wife and daughter, discusses his Turkey cooking history and what he is thankful for.
Trekmovie would like to join thank Gene Roddenberry (and William Shanter) today, also, for giving fans the entertainment and the fun of Star Trek. Thanks, Gene and Bill.
Wonderful tribute. Wish they’d do it in Chicago. Ever been to Riverside, Iowa? That place is a nice and unexpected tribute to Trek as well.
Oh no, they redesigned the Enterprise again…wait a second…
FIRST!! Well, I’m not American, but Happy Thanksgiving, people!!
@Anthony Pascale
The Caaaaaaaaaaaage!!!!
Greetings from europe, I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving Day!!!
“Star Trek now joins franchises like Star Wars (which had a float in the 2007 Rose Bowl Parade) and Superman (which has had a presence many years at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, beginning in 1939) with floats in major parades.”
Not true John, there was a Trek float in around 1991 or 1992 at the Rose Parade in Pasadena,CA, with the exception of the Macy’s parade that is the biggest you can get
Shouldn’t they be building that float in space?
Sorry couldn’t resist…
Happy Thanksgiving folks!
I love it when someone says FIRST and they never are.
Cant wait to see the final product…
I wana be #900 and yell FIRST!
I thought The Shat was a vegetarian……….hmmmm. Good fried turkey brings out the carnivore in everyone. LOL
That ship is NOT CANON!!!
Now THAT’S what should have been in the movie!
Is it just me or does Bill’s wife look younger than his daughter? Awk-ward!
#8 I heard that too. Years ago I’d heard he refused a heart op because it involved using a valve from a pig and that disagreed with his vegan ideals.
Guess turkey is just too tasty for Bill. Deep fried as well.
# 5
Go easy on John, he’s stuck at the office while everyone else is gorging on Turkey.
Either that or he filed it from home in a tryptophan-red-wine-induced haze.
Funny. I”m in El Paso today for Thanksgiving and I watched that parade. Guess I missed that. My wife’s from here and she says that the city didn’t realy lay claim or recoginize Rodenberry back in the day. The passage of time colors things a little differently Of all places.
#6
HA! HA! HA!
Now THAT’S funny!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to Anthony and Trekmovie.com’s team.
And to all the good posters that visit this site.
#6 and #9…
Both posts are hilarious!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!
Star Trek has previously had a float in a very famous parade. In the Biography of Gene Roddenberry, there are several pictures in the center, one of which is a large enterprise float in the Rose Bowl Parade in 1991 for the 25th Anniversary.
Love Bill Shatner. He is what Star Trek is all about.
Gotta love the man.
Check out this TOS era Bridge model. It is too cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoWB17wgfJE
Trek floats are non canon
I love this idea of ‘thanksgiving’. we should do it here in Britain.
Happy thanksgiving to all our American friends.
Greg
UK
Happy T-Day to the Shats.
I remember back in the day nero comes from the future kills the old spock and is then killed by kirk oops are those spoilers for trek??
Nope.
THIS IS A DISASTER
THAT ENTERPRISE IS AN ABOMINATION, IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE REAL NCC-1701 THIS PARADE MUST BE TAKING PLACE IN AN ALTERNATE TIMELINE, OR THESE PEOPLE JUST KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE FUNDAMENTALS OF STAR TREK
THIS IS A DISASTER
That float looks better than the Abrams Enterprise :-)
WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN FUNNIER IF I HAD TYPED IT IN ALL CAPS???
IT’S NOT YOUR DADDY’S FLOAT!
No.
Happy thanksgiving all
and now for something completely silly
http://whatistng.ytmnd.com/
15
Thanks
My other thought was:
“Space may be the final frontier but it’s made in an El Paso warehouse”
(with apologies to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, of course.)
#32. BouncyCaitian
Great stuff!
Here is a better version
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P9RGZxjORF0&feature=related
I have this argument with many other people who know the man and especially with people who most closely identify him with Kirk, but I LOVE William Shatner. Ironically enough, I never cared for his role in Star Trek, which compared to a MUCH BETTER role for him (Boston Legal) which lasted longer than Trek and which got much higher ratings than Trek, was just a gig in between the Oscar-winning Judgment at Nuremburg movie featuring anyone who was anyone in Hollywood and Boston Legal.
There are other actors of that generation … Lee Majors (Six Million Dollar Man) and many others who deserve the kind of chance to break the typecasting, but Shatner got that chance and he took it. When I told him how frustrated I was that he still has all of that nonsensical affliation with Star Trek stuff on his website, but not plug-ins to Boston Legal, Judgment at Nuremburg and so on, he simply shared a sigh with me and said it’s all about legal rights. Besides, he says, Star Trek fans have always been loyal to him, and he will always be loyal to them.
I am very sad that Boston Legal is going off the air, but in a way I’m not. Let me explain. My Dad never liked Star Trek as much as I did, and I missed the first few years of Boston Legal. But last year he talked me into watching the show, and weekly we got together on the phone to talk about Boston Legal. It was my Dad’s favorite show, and after catching all of the reruns on DVD and on the ION Network, now I know why. As I told Shatner in late July, nothing brought father and son together in his last year on Earth more than that show, and when there was an episode of that show on the air in the last year of my Dad’s life, there was a conversation about it between a loving son and a dying Dad. He died watching a TIVO rerun of the show before the real United States Supreme Court laughing his ass off, and Shatner means more to me for bringing that kind of joy to my Dad in his final moment of life than you’ll ever know. AND BY THE WAY … thanks to Shatner, I was able to get a round trip ticket from Tampa to Tulsa to go to his funeral for less than $200.00. No kidding.
Oh brother.
The nacelle caps are all wrong! Geeeeeeesssssshhhhh!
jk / LOL
There’s no secondary hull. Not canon!
This was a look at a nice float for a parade-not a open shot at the new Star Trek- and canon is not a legal requirement.
Bill always seems to be the snazziest of dressers.
Pumpkin Pie! Pumpkin pie is our business!
Happy Thanksgiving to all. Oh and that New Enterprise Float is NOT! Cannon!!!!. Oh ok ill give it a chance. Lol. Anyway happy Thanksgiving all.
#27: I feel like I’ve got back in time, either that or it is a lame, recycled joke I’ve seem posted a few hundred times here. (Eyes rolling wildly) If we’re going to make jokes about canonistas, which I am to a minor degree, can they at least be original.
…Funny, I could have *sworn* Anthony was going to punt all posts that started with “First”.
Thank you, Capt. Mike! Happy Thanksgiving wishes to you as well.
:)
Bill looking good. He has some lovely looking gals in his life- as you’d expect!
Hope all you guys had a great day.
RE 44
I have said repeatedly that we remove posts that SOLELY are about their position, or posts commenting on someones position. So the first post does not violate the rules however yours does. The first post actually had content about the article, you did not
comments on policies to
https://trekmovie.com/about/feedback
That float looks too CGI for my tastes.
Happy Thanksgiving, Bill.
That float may not be canon, but it looks great and the El Paso people seem to be really cool fanboys and girls. :)
#35
That’s a real moving story about your dad and BL. Thanks for sharing.
#5–Correct! 1994 William Shatner was the Rose Parade Grand Marshall, and he rode his own horse in the parade route instead of being hauled about in a convertible or a horse drawn carriage. The theme that year was Fantastic Adventures. I can’t find verification, but isn’t that the year a float of the NCC 1701D and two shuttlecraft were depicted? The hulls of the crafts were glowing in dried white beans, and the name of one of the shuttles was “Onizuka.” Does anyone have a pic of this?