Earlier this year we previewed the Star Trek: Operation Enterprise roller coaster attraction at Movie Park Germany. After a “soft launch” in May, today Movie Park officially announced the opening of what is the only licensed Star Trek coaster in the world.

Movie Park General Manager Thorsten Backhaus states:

“We’re incredibly proud of our new themed attraction. It’s a roller coaster that gives guests an adrenaline rush and much more, because it takes them right into the heart of the Star Trek universe before the ride even begins, making them part of the story.

Federation Plaza

Riders for the new attraction start at the newly built “Federation Plaza” which is a 1000 square meter Star Trek-themed area for the new attraction. There’s also a Federation snack bar and a Star Trek shop.

As you enter the main building, you’ll be greeted with Star Trek-themed imagery and as you make your way through the line, there are a number of Star Trek-themed replicas to view.

Becoming A Starfleet Cadet

Inside the main building you will find a holodeck, two transporter rooms and a replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D bridge as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The story of Operation Enterprise

As they move from room to room inside of Federation Plaza, guests are immersed into the story of Operation Enterprise while they are “trained as Starfleet cadets” for their first mission.

This is a synopsis for the storyline for the coaster which is revealed as you make your way to the coaster:

The Enterprise and its crew are on their way to a United Federation of Planets meeting when they are attacked by the Borg and taken aboard the enemy ship. The Enterprise is now unmanned and caught in a tractor beam. The only hope of rescue is the Starfleet cadets on the bridge of a nearby ship at the time of the attack. They are preparing to be launched out of their ship’s transporter room in shuttles on a rescue mission. This holodeck mission’s success depends on the cadets breaching the Borg ship’s deflector shield, destroying its main systems and saving the crew of the Enterprise.

The coaster

As for the roller coaster itself, it is a “triple launch coaster,” meaning there are a number of elevations where you are again launched as opposed to a single launch at the beginning. Operation Enterprise also features a twisted halfpipe which is the second highest element within Movie Park.

This video released earlier (before construction on Federation Plaza building was completed) shows you what you can expect from the roller coaster portion of your experience.

The music

Operation Enterprise features a new soundtrack composed exclusively for the new attraction. “We wanted to do something very special, so we decided to arrange for the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra to play the soundtrack that can be heard both outside and inside the attraction,” explains the General Manager. The Budapest Philharmonic recorded both this new music as well as a number of pieces of Star Trek film and TV scores, all of which is provided as atmosphere around the attraction.

The new music was composed by IMAscore of Germany. MoviePark has released a video with a behind-the-scenes look at how the music was composed and recorded.

For those who don’t speak German, the video features IMAscore’s Managing Director Xaver Willebrand who states:

The collaboration with CBS as the licensor of Star Trek was basically very pleasant but a challenge at the same time, because we simply wanted to create music which fits perfectly into the Star Trek universe. On one hand we had themes you could adapt, but of course new material was needed for the attraction. This was intended to be a way of integrating itself completely into the Star Trek music universe.

Speaking specifically about the new track “Starfleet Academy,” Sebastian Kübler states:

It was important for us to keep the theme of Star Trek. The big known themes are often played with a lot of strings, very solid and we wanted to make the Academy audible. It should sound military. This is mainly due to the rhythm that drives the whole track forward, and we want them to feel like “We go on a mission and now we start.”

And lead composer Andreas Kübler explains why they made a specific theme for Operation: Enterprise:

The music for Star Trek: Operation Enterprise is very dynamic. This means we have epic huge tracks besides the Star Trek titles, but also some quieter music such as “Endeavor,” which is very quiet, almost romantic. But it still carries this Star Trek sound in it, where you do not immediately realize that this is a soundtrack for a roller coaster, but you still feel in the Star Trek universe. In addition to the original themes, we also gave the roller coaster its own identity with the Star Trek: Operation Enterprise Theme, which we also recorded with the orchestra. It also fits into this universe but has a very own melody and is played several times both on the outside as well as indoors. We were not quite sure whether the roller coaster should get its own theme because we had the well-known tracks from the Star Trek universe. But we decided to go for it since this is a special project and it deserves its own theme.

Warpface

Movie Park is asking fans who have experienced Operation Enterprise to show their ‘Warpface’ on social media using the hashtags #MoviePark and #WarpFace on Twitter and Instagram, as can be seen in examples below.

You have 2 types of persons on a rollercoaster… 😂 #moviepark #warpface ! Vorige week met mn broer A post shared by Lily van Kooten (@lilwesttt) on Jun 7, 2017 at 10:39am PDT

Marina Sirtis event June 14th

Star Trek: Operation Enterprise is located inside the Movie Park Germany theme park in Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. There will be a special event on June 14th with Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Marina Sirtis, which will include her signing autographs at 2:00 PM.

More information on prices and packages can be found at movieparkgermany.de, and more info on the attraction can be found at operation-enterprise.de.

Keep up with all the Star Trek events and attractions news at TrekMovie.