How did it happen that a plastics manufacturer, a computer salesman and an office manager came to own the entire bridge crew of the Starship Enterprise?

At three conventions over the coming weeks celebrating Star Trek's 40th anniversary, fans will have the opportunity to view and get their picture taken with seven wax renderings depicting Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, and the other principal characters of the classic show. One might assume this display was brought together by a professional collector or exhibitor. But the truth is, they're just ordinary people with regular jobs who stumbled upon a unique opportunity, seemingly by fate.

The seven figures in question had been on display at an Orange County wax museum since 1974. The three people who managed to acquire them are Star Trek fans, but they are not collectors. They don't own other wax figures, and they don't have a bunch of Star Trek or other sci-fi paraphernalia around their house. So the story of how Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov ended up in their dining room is still a little strange to them.

Museum closing its doors

If you happened to read the Los Angeles Times during the weekend of Creation's Grand Slam convention last March, you might have seen a story about an auction that took place in Buena Park, California (it's reprinted here). The historic Movieland Wax Museum, the largest in the world, was closing its doors and had to clean house. The article noted that Chris Doohan, son of the late James Doohan, was there hoping to pick up the figure of his father, but the bidding went too high for him. (The feature actually focused on Daniel Roebuck, who played a Romulan in "Unification" and is a famous monster collector, and who was gracious enough to put us in touch with the subjects of this article.)

What ultimately happened was a bit more complicated. The seven Trek figures — which had lived as a group on a bridge set at the museum for 32 years — were being auctioned off separately. But they were all snatched up by one very aggressive bidder, who committed to a total dollar figure around $40,000. (Apparently there were some snags in the concurrent online bidding process, or else the price could have gone a lot higher.)

Steve Greenthal, the owner of a small plastics manufacturing plant in the O.C., was at the auction with his wife, Lori, who is also his administrative partner in the business. Steve, a self-described "auction vulture," is always on the lookout for a good deal — and usually the auctions he frequents are industrial in nature, but this particular one was literally three minutes from their house. The Star Trek figures were one of the centerpiece displays of the auction, having received many thousands more hits on the auctioneer's preview site than any other items up for bid. Marilyn Monroe and a "Wizard of Oz" display also drew a lot of interest, but Steve and Lori never had any intention of competing for the high-ticket items. They actually had their sights set on Stella Stevens and Dudley Moore.

But those figures ended up in someone else's hands, so they walked away disappointed. When Steve went to the window to get his deposit back (all participants had to put down a $300 advance to get their bidders card), he asked to be put on the "Pass List" — the standby list in the event a winning buyer defaults.

Well, apparently Steve — that savvy auction hound — was the first one to do that.

"We didn't get what we wanted, and I was completely bummed out, and it took me 'til Wednesday to get over it," Steve recalls. "And then the phone rings: 'Um, is this Steve?' 'Yeah.' 'You were interested in Movieland?' 'Yeah...' 'You better come over here.' Vrooom!!" He rushed right over to see the auctioneer at the museum. "'What what what?' 'Well, we got some stuff.' 'Anything good?' 'Um, yeah...' They showed me the list, and it was like, 'Oh my God...'"

"We need to keep them together"

For whatever reason the original bidder — the one who would "take no prisoners" during the auction — failed to come through with the money he committed, and all the items he won, including the seven Trek figures, were now up for grabs. And the Greenthals were at the head of the call list. Suddenly Steve and Lori were in an unusual position.

"We had first right of refusal. And we had all night!" Steve exclaims. "They gave us until the next morning to think about it. Which is not at all normal for auctions! So we left, we went and had some Margaritas, and we started thinking, 'What a weird opportunity. Of all the gin joints in the world, what are the odds of us being at this one at this time?'" Because, after all, this is a significant anniversary for Star Trek.

Lori was overtly nervous about the financial risk, but for her it became a matter of principle. "They were auctioned off as individuals, and the auctioneers were wanting to get their money back any way they could. So if they found somebody that would take three of them for such-and-such a price, they'd split them up in a heartbeat," she says. "And I'm looking at him going, 'We need to keep them all together. That's priceless to a Trekkie, it really is.'"

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