Even the most amiable folks divorcing in Pasadena have to figure out who gets to keep the house. And in those not-so-amiable breakups, houses and apartments can become battlegrounds. Over the last few months, we've seen celebrities duke it out over beach houses and billionaires trying to cling to castles - but when it comes to property squabbles, nothing beats the saga of the
Star Trek apartment.
Super Star Trek fan Tony Alleyne has been profiled more than a few times for having the ultimate Trekkie apartment. After his wife left him in 1994, Alleyene spent a staggering $150,000 to transform his one-bedroom apartment in Leicester, U.K., into an exact replica of the fictional starship the U.S.S. Voyager from the Star Trek: Voyager television series.
"I have always considered that of all the Starfleet ships, Voyager is, in terms of interior, the luxury liner of the galaxy," Alleyne said in an interview in 2009.
No detail of the ship was skipped and Alleyne calls the remodel his "life's work." The project took fifteen years to complete and has been blogged about by fans of the franchise since its completion. A high-tech bathroom, voice-activated blue lights and his own captain's chair are just a few of the one-of-a-kind features.
So imagine Alleyene's disappointment when he learned that his ex-wife would be taking the apartment from him. How did an ex of nearly twenty years stake claim on her estranged husband's ultimate sci-fi man cave? Turns out Alleyene's ex-wife is the actual owner of the apartment and has been paying the mortgage since the pair broke up in 1994. She is just now seeking an official divorce and hopes to sell the apartment as a "conventional property." She plans to dismantle all of the Star Trek fixings and remodel the apartment before she puts it on the market.