Star Trek: The Exhibit

• May
• 2

6:34 am General

In case you somehow haven’t heard, there is a Star Trek exhibit traveling around the country. Although it was originally one large one, it’s been broken into two smaller ones. I went to the “second” one yesterday, the one that features the Enterprise-D bridge.

It is, however, still a large exhibit. Many, many costumes. The first thing I saw upon entering was Khan’s outfit. Velor, torn as it should be and yet impossibly clean. In the same case was also one of the white engineering outfits from the early movies. There were three… or was it four cases in that first section? Also in the cases was Ruk’s outfit from “What Are Little Girl’s Made Of?”, both a Klingon male and female uniform, Kara’s outfit from “Spock’s Brain”, Guinan’s 19th century outfit from Time’s Arrow, civvie clothes for Data… There were others, I wish I could’ve taken pics.

A photographer waited at the entrance, to take your picture in front of a green screen. You could then purchase these pics at the exit of the exhibit. I’m guessing that’s why you’re not allowed to take pics. I didn’t buy any photographs.

There were also models of each ship important to Star Trek, from the space shuttle Enterprise all the way up to the Enterprise-E. I kind of wish the models were all to the same scale, instead of being more or less the same size. Would’ve had more of an impact.

Moving on was the Infinite Diversity Gallery. There were busts, or just heads really, of various alien beings. Borg, Cardassian, Klingons. The same room also had communicator props. Phaser props. Props! Yay! And more uniforms. Kirk’s gold command uniform (which was not, by the way, velor), his Admiral uniform from TMP, red uniform from the rest of the movies and combat fatigues from ST:V. I find it slightly jarring to know that the red uniforms are a knit, not a weave, and that they seem redder in person than in the movies. In the same room was a replica of the TOS command chair. I wish I could’ve sat in it. But, alas, it wasn’t for sitting.

Moving on was the Enterprise-D bridge, with another photographer. These chairs, you were allowed to sit upon. Someone remarked that the seats were comfortable. I didn’t find them so. I couldn’t find any funny labels on the commands, though I know that they were there on the actual set. Kind of boring.

After leaving through the other side of the bridge, I was then greeted with Picard’s uniform, Crusher’s uniform and an outfit of Guinan’s. I think a Janeway uniform was there, too? Maybe. I found it interesting to note that the commbadges are held in place with velcro.

Around the corner was a sickbay setup, with a mannequin of both Worf and Crusher and a third alien laying on a biobed. Unfortunately, barriers prevented close examination of the sickbay equipment. Probably so nobody makes off with a hypo.

There was an engineering mockup of the Enterprise-D, which I found to be kind of dull. If you’re an engineering fan, though, it would’ve been nice.

“Engineering” faced a larger room, in which there were more props. The black space-vehicle thing from Star Trek: Nemesis was there (I don’t know if it was a shuttle or what, I didn’t see that movie and there was no tag). More props. A couple of TVs, one running the Nemesis trailer over and over again, another playing an explanation of various special effects in Star Trek.

Between the two TVs was Shinzon’s command chair, also not sit-able. I wish I could remember all the props. I wish I could’ve taken pictures! Dang it.

After this, the exhibit continued downstairs. There was a mock-up of Quark’s bar, with chairs lined up at the bar. A few tables. The tables are uncomfortable, the bar chairs/stools are much more comfortable. Yes, you could sit at the bar. They even had two touch-screen monitors where you could answer Trek trivia.

Many more props in cases, clothes. The Grand Nagus outfit was very… VERY pink. Saw one of the Bajoran Orb props, an orb ‘ark’, several Bajoran phasers. Gold press latinum. Ferengi quill. There was a Ferengi head that probably belonged upstairs in the Infinite Diversity Gallery. Dabo table. Giantly huge saucer section of the Enterprise-D; I think it was 10-12 feet across.

After leaving the exhibit, there was a shuttle simulation ride. The graphics were kind of cheesy, but it was still fun. At $6 a trip, not bad.

All throughout the exhibit were poster-things hanging on the wall, explaining or discussing various aspects of Star Trek. Time travel, aliens, bios of the crew. Downstairs was the “History of the Future” with the timeline of important Trek events.

Of course, being a traveling exhibit has taken a toll on some of the fragile items. The Dabo table was broken on one part, the Enterprise-D was missing some inlays. The Ferengi head (which was supposed to be Quark, I believe) had one toothpick-like fang. Seeing the blemishes was disappointing, part of you wants to believe that these things are real.

I also take issue at not being able to have any photographs to commemorate my visit. Yes, I could have purchased the “official” ones, but at $10 a pic, I didn’t think it was worth it; not for pics of me. I wanted pics of the displays.

All in all, however, I think it was definitely worth the cost of admission. If it were staying around longer, I’d definitely go back a few times. Unfortunately this half is packing up after tomorrow and going to Philly.

You folks in Philadelphia, have fun at the exhibit. Be kind and, if you find the missing piece of the Dabo table, put it back,will you?