This summer, William Shatner will be going where no 90-year-old has gone before. Ticonderoga’s Star Trek Original Series Set Tour, a meticulously built replica of the iconic sci-fi series’ ’60s TV set, will be hosting the actor July 23-24, as part of his 90th birthday celebration (Shatner turns 90 on March 22).
Shatner, who portrayed Captain James T. Kirk during all three seasons of Star Trek, as well as in a string of subsequent blockbuster movies, has been no stranger to the region; he last visited the Ticonderoga museum in June 2019 and has been to the set three previous times, as well as Proctors, where he spoke after a screening of the movie, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. His appearance in June 2020 was canceled due to the pandemic.
The two-day ticketed event in Ticonderoga will include a number of tiered packages. Those include a VIP, all-inclusive package, featuring a 90th birthday dinner celebration with Shatner, a tour of the set with the actor, a “bridge chat,” photo session and autograph ($1,500). General admission tickets are available early for $49.99 and $80 thereafter and will include a tour of the set guided by the Ticonderoga museum’s crew (guests who purchase a general admission ticket have the opportunity to take a photo with Shatner for $160 and get his autograph for $80). Additionally, there will be à la carte tickets for sale, offering just a tour of the set with Shatner ($499) with nothing else included. All options can be purchased here.
COVID rules will be strictly enforced throughout Shatner’s birthday weekend, with masks and social distancing mandatory at all times. Tours will also feature smaller groups of Trekkies than in years’ past.
Ticonderoga’s Star Trek Original Series Set Tour is the brainchild of James Cawley, an Elvis Presley tribute artist and actor, and has been open in its current iteration, a former Safeway, since 2016, though it has been hosted in different locations around the area since 1997.
