RTR Blog: Andrew's Away Mission to Gauman's Chinese Theatre!

Last summer I happened to find myself in L.A for an extended weekend in the city of angels. Of course I knew that Star Trek had a rich history in Los Angeles, and often location shooting on a distant far away planet was in reality within driving distance of CBS! With only a weekend to try and get to as many locations as possible, and seeing as I was staying in a hotel close to Hollywood; a good place to start was to see all of my favourite Star Trek heroes on the walk of fame and of course the Original Series names cast in cement at the Gauman's Chinese Theatre. Back in 1991, Star Trek was at an all time high, the Next Generation was settling nicely into it's third season, and was becoming the accepted successor to TOS, the original cast had it's final send off at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and the series itself had reached it's 25th Anniversary. In order to celebrate the original series cast; William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, DeForest Kelly, Walter Koenig, George Takai and Nichelle Nichols had their names and legacy immortalized in concrete in front of the famous Gauman's Chinese Theatre in downtown Hollywood. Although many of the original series alum would show back up in other star trek series, Generations, and of course Spock in the Abrams movies, this 25th celebration marked the unofficial end of the Original Series Cast.



 Now admittedly, a lot of people told me that the walk of fame and downtown Hollywood wasn't that great, and that I could find a lot better, less touristy things to do in southern California. They were partially right, the walk of fame and the area around the Chinese Theater, isn't as nice as it is portrayed on TV, everything is kind of expensive and it has a very "touristy" feeling. That being said, I was happy that I went, if for nothing else, to get a picture of me with the TOS signatures at the Chinese Theatre. Especially now with the passing of DeForest Kelly, James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy, when I was there I pondered how often if ever the entire Original Series cast was together after this moment. And as someone who grew up watching the movies and has found a love for the Original Series later in life, it left me with a sense of awe that's hard to describe. If you're ever in Hollywood, and you're contemplating whether or not it's worth it to check out the touristy part of Hollywood, my recommendation is to at least spend a morning and check out the TOS names at the Chinese Theatre, you'll be thankful you did. I sure was!

If you need more Star Trek in your life and you want to hear our latest TOS review of "Miri", have a listen at https://bit.ly/2v0z3SR