We are now just one week away from the launch of the month-long Universal Fan Fest Nights, where fans will have a chance to immerse themselves in the Star Trek universe — among other fan-favorite properties like Back to the Future, One Piece, Harry Potter and more — for four consecutive weekends at Universal Studios beginning on April 25.
 

 
As the Universal team puts the finishing touches on their extensive preparations, TrekCore was granted a preview of the events marquee experience with a private preview of the sets and narrative theme of Star Trek: Red Alert! from Stephen Siercks, the park’s Senior Director of Entertainment Production.

“When you look at the foundational elements of Fan Fest Night being sci-fi, fantasy, gaming and anime,” Siercks told us during the preview visit, “Star Trek, of course, rises to the top of that list in terms of brands we are able to celebrate and showcase.”

And the showcase element of the Star Trek portion of Fan Fest Nights at Universal will undoubtedly be Red Alert!, the all-encompassing walkthrough experience featuring iconic locations from the Star Trek universe and the legendary Enterprise-D.

While we won’t be spoiling any specific details of the Red Alert! storyline or mission, we can tell you unequivocally that the walkthrough experience has been designed to emulate — and in some ways recreate — the greatest elements of the legendary Star Trek: The Experience, which operated in Las Vegas from 1998 to 2008 (minus the motion simulator rides, of course).

As with most immersive experiences of this kind, the journey begins with fans immediately being brought “in universe” as they queue up to enter Red Alert!, where they are transferred from Earth to the Enterprise-D with some impressive interactive theatrical illusion. This staging element is a unique element of the Red Alert! experience, and something the Universal team is calling “a very big differentiator” for the attraction.

“We’re calling this a story-based pulsed attraction,” said Siercks, as he described how fans will interact with the pop-up experiences.

Compared to our Halloween Horror Nights event — where fans walk through in single-file line — here they’ll be placed into smaller groups and stay in those groups as they progress through the attraction.

 

That way fans will get to spend time in each room as the story unfolds around them, and get to really know the characters and environments a little bit more.

Passing through a Galaxy-class cargo bay. (Photo: TrekCore.com)Beyond being on the bridge of the Enterprise-D, of course, this dynamic singular story element was the highlight of our private tour, and it is this narrative framing that brings the entire walkthrough experience together.

Both the set and the accompanying visual elements related to this story point were absolutely stunning — and we only saw a small fraction of the visual effects, so the full effect (with all the bells and klaxons) should be very impressive. This element will undoubtedly help sell the entire immersive illusion for both hardcore fans and newbies right from the moment you board the NCC-1701-D.

Except for the Enterprise-D bridge, which survives from its use in Star Trek: Picard Season 3, all of the Star Trek experience is built from scratch, Siercks told us.

We have a really amazing partnership with Paramount and the Star Trek franchise team. They’ve been a part of the journey from the beginning, helping us with the development and the creative vision of the attraction.

 

Everything is using original reference photos and design documents where they’re available from the original Enterprise-D, as well as the other elements surrounding it.

The Red Alert! experience will feature interactive elements with a crew of lower-level ensigns and cadets interacting with the group from Earth, so by design, there won’t be any famous cameos during the presentation.

The entire walkthrough is estimated to last about 12 minutes and will feature four iconic locations on board Federation’s flagship vessel — including facsimiles of Geordi La Forge’s main engineering, pictured below, and Beverly Crusher’s sickbay (as seen in io9’s preview coverage).

Without question, the newly reconstructed bridge was a site to behold on the Universal lot, especially after seeing it in all its glory on screen at the conclusion of the third season of Star Trek: Picard. Those LCARS that shined so bright and popped along the back wall in its onscreen reintroduction in 2023?

They looked just as sharp and clean here at the Fan Fest Nights location — even though a few finishing touches (like Worf’s tactical horseshoe) were still waiting to be installed during our early-bird visit.

Said Siercks:

 

I loved watching Star Trek growing up, and certainly love still watching it, and one of the things that has been great about working on this attraction is that has been something that has been common across everyone who has been part of the development. They bring their own passion and awareness of Star Trek to it.

 

Two of the goals of Fan Fest Nights is ‘fan-first’ and ‘authentic’ — servicing the fans with this attraction and really making sure we are building it as authentically as possible — and then, of course, being uniquely Universal in its authentic approach to how we develop it.

Beyond what appears to be the most comprehensive fan immersion event since the closure of Star Trek: The Experience, Fan Fest Nights will also feature food, retail, interactive photo opportunities and a block party space for fans to gather — and be sure to check out our preview of the Fan Fest Nights Star Trek food offerings if you missed it!

Siercks shared with us his final thoughts about the Fan Fest Nights programming:

One of the really exciting things about Fan Fest Nights is that we are certainly celebrating these brands — not just with walkthrough attractions and other activations throughout the park, but we’re also celebrating them through food and retail. So being able to showcase Quark’s Cafe as well as the 10 Forward Bar, and then also be able to have different interactive moments throughout the park celebrating the brands — like getting a chance for a photo with the captain’s chair.

 

We’ve created a space within the event called the block party in Universal Plaza and that’s the place where we really want to celebrate the community around these fandoms and give them a space to celebrate one another. So, there will be trivia contests and cosplay celebration moments in that space and really create a community aspect around the event.

 

It will be a place you want to keep coming back to celebrate with one another, because we know that is a central part of the fandom.

Based on our interactions with the event, it’s clear that the appropriate work has been put into the Star Trek portion of Universal’s Fan Fest Nights and the entire event is set up to be a little bit of everything for everyone. It should be a great opportunity for fandoms across quite a few different genres and groups to experience what each has to offer.

Jim Moorhouse is the creator of TrekRanks.com and the long-running TrekRanks Podcast. You can contact him on Bluesky @TrekRanks.com, talking Trek all day long.