20th Century Cryoship Model

Seen in various scenes in the Star Trek: TNG season one final episode #126 “The Neutral Zone,” which aired the week of May 16, 1988. The Enterprise-D was sent to investigate the destruction of Federation outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone. On route they discovered a derelict Earth Cryoship vessel containing three cryogenically frozen humans from the 20th century. Captain Picard had to decide how to handle their revival and the implications of bringing them into the 24th century. This model was built by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda. When they were building it, Joseph Kerezman was working in the art department. He said there were frozen dead people on the ship so you should call it the “USS Birdseye.” Rick laughed and told Mike, who agreed to put it on the model. While Rick did the heavy lifting on the model Mike built the solar wings and recalled spending an entire evening in his apartment with an Xacto knife cutting all the holes and the ragged edges. Mike added the “USS BIRDSEYE” using yellow rub on letters approximately 12 points. The model is made of fiberglass with various greebles throughout the hull. Painted in shades of gray and beige, it features two distressed solar panel wings with one blue side and one yellow side, as well as various black decal identification numbers including “4077.” It features four numbered distressed chambers with hand-painted details to appear struck by space debris and scorched. Also present are two small working lights mounted near its base. It has a production-cut hole (unthreaded) at the bottom for mounting. It comes with a custom-built display base that cradles the miniature. It measures 25.5 in. x 27 in. x 4 in.  Propstore Entertainment Memorabilia Auction LA, Lot 322, Wednesday March 26, 2025 - Jeremy Stieglitz - Adam Schneider - Greg Jein.