- Original Release: 2018
- Developer: Messy Desk
- Publisher: Messy Desk
- Platform: PC
Stage 9 was a very ambitious fan project: recreate the Enterprise D in its entirety to explore at your own leisure. The project was shut down by CBS before it was completed, so we only have a selection of areas to explore – although most major areas are covered, including some never seen in the show.
As this is a very early build, the optimisation isn’t great, so it will be sluggish on decent PCs. As it’s just exploring, it’s not an issue. NPCs look a bit freaky, but you can turn them off.
The Enterprise D interiors have been recreated in astounding detail, areas we never got to see – such as the stairs to the Observation lounge – are now something we can look at and inspect. Some consoles also have functionality, you can take control of the ship, play with cargo bay tractor beams and open shuttlebay doors.
Speaking of shuttlebays, the most impressive location in this is the Enterprise D’s main shuttlebay, which we never got to see in the show. It’s absolutely colossal, like a full size airport, and you can see why they never had the budget to create a set for it (and CGI was too early when the show was on the air). It really helps to sell the scale of the ship.
Another treat is the holodeck, which has more bridges to explore. There’s the bridge of the Enterprise form The Original Series along with different variants of the Enterprise D bridge from: the Encounter at Farpoint, Yesterday’s Enterprise, All Good Things and Generations, giving you a nice idea of how much they were changed for these episodes.
It is easy to get lost, though, and it seems obvious that a map would have been implemented later in development. You can find some neat extras such as a phaser range and a shuttle you can pilot.
It’s a massive shame that this project was shut down. The developers behind this made an officially approved interactive experience for The Orville where you get to explore the whole ship, and some of them are working on The Roddenberry Archive.
Where to get Stage 9
How to play Stage 9 on Windows 11
Stage 9 works on Windows 11 by default.
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One of the coolest things about working on Stage9 was hearing from fans about how it brought them closer with family and friends. We all shared this “place” in our lives and our zeal to share and experience it with others was genuine. A very humbling hobby, but all good things…
This is something I’ve always wanted to see
But found out about it too late
It was a love letter from fans to fans and CBS just – well – really showed fans what they think of fans which is not much at all. A real shame as this was just a loving tribute. A huge reason why I refuse to sub to Paramount Plus or anything current with Star Trek.
All CBS had to do was gave them the okay to continue.
Was so well made. I have a build still on a old computer.
This could have been great
One reason to hate CBS’ legal department.
The fact that so many good fan projects get shut down before they can truly come to fruition is a true tragedy. For me it’s lcars 47. Sooo much room for further development, but nothing new since 2018.
(I still keep them on my computer to use for ambience reasons)
Guessing they shut it down due to it being too good, apparently this is something to do with the fair use laws and stuff. Still to those that have it I’d probably try to burn it onto a few disks. Saw a video of this and it would’ve been fun to walk through.
So lucky I managed to grab this before it got shut down, it’s absolutely incredible ❤️
Still have my copy and loved it. I was so looking forward to the next version as they had some really interesting stuff they were going to add
Shut down of this project was a big f..k you from CBS Paramount to fans back then. Latest version still resides on my PC. It was amazing. Is amazing.
Glad these folk found there way into the Roddenberry Archive. What Otoy are doing is truely humbling.