There is nothing to see, period. In fact, Neonopolis manager Rohit Joshi hasn’t been paying his air-conditioning bills lately. (The local Telemundo affiliate, headquartered in Neonopolis, had the foresight to install its own HVAC system, but other tenants have been less fortunate.)
On April 17, Las Vegas Sun reporter John Katsilometes reported in his "Kats File" that CBS/Paramount would not permit Joshi to reopen Star Trek: The Experience in conjunction with the release of the new film. On May 5, Katsilometes followed up with the news that ST:TE wouldn’t open in Neonopolis "until 2010 at the earliest." Joshi, whom Kats described as a "wily entrepreneur," told the reporter when ST:TE eventually does open, it will be as one integrated attraction. The previous plan was to phase ST:TE back in, piecemeal. CBS/Paramount added that plans for the reimagined ST:TE still hadn’t been finalized.
"Regardless," a dismayed Kats wrote, "what was to be a triumphant week at Neonopolis with the arrival of the Star Trek brand (in the form of a restaurant/tavern and gift shop) in tandem with the heavily attended premiere of the new Trek film is instead another dull weekend at the retail and entertainment complex. … Customarily, Joshi promises ‘great stuff’ from the Star Trek Experience, but can’t specify what the stuff will be or how it will be shaped."
We at LVA are beginning to share Kats’ skepticism that ST:TE will return for years, "or maybe eons, when ‘Star Trek XXX: Grandson of Spock’ hits theaters." Heck, you can’t even see the new Trek movie at Neonopolis. Its cineplex closed on May 7.
It took the Las Vegas Hilton the better part of a year to remove the ST:TE logo from its gigantic marquee, but that has finally been done. The hotel-casino, however, has yet to designate, let alone build, anything for the space where the attraction once stood. (Owner Colony Capital doesn’t have a strong track record of reinvesting in its properties.) The former SpaceQuest casino is still decorated in vaguely Trek-ish motifs, which is aptly symbolic of the limbo that ST:TE has inhabited for the last eight months. If it’s any consolation, the Official Star Trek Convention is still being held at the LVH, Aug. 6-9.
