Star Trek: The Exhibition

Last Saturday since it was raining, William and I went to see Star Trek: The Exhibition at the Tech Museum. We had really enjoyed the one in Las Vegas and so we were hoping it would be just as good. We were actually really disappointed because it was not worth the $25 each admission price. We were able to see over 200 artifacts from all of the Star Trek series and films but it did not include any of the special photos, nor the two rides, nor any of the IMAX films at the museum. AND you could not take any of your own photos PERIOD inside the exhibit. They had a replica of the original bridge as well as some of the sets like Picard's office, transporter room, and one of the planets. They had clothing worn by the characters, the phasers, transponders, and communicators and how these objects influenced modern technology or were not physically possible (although they did try very hard to be somewhat grounded in scientific principles). They also had the various models of the Starship Enterprise as well as the Borg cube (which was actually incredibly detailed- and my favorite object of the exhibit). I did learn some interesting things about the original series, such that Scotty left for a few years to go fight in the war and lost one of his fingers and so in the remaining movies, he was always careful to keep his hand in a fist (though they said that if you looked hard enough, you could see it sometimes). Also, the original series was canceled after two years but that the reruns produced enough Trekkies who lobbied for its return- look at the power of consumers. Gene Roddenbury created the group of the Klingons after a police officer he once knew. The other highlight of the exhibit was the gigantic timeline that located each of the series and movies (including Deep Space Nine and the latest movie) and some of the key events that had happened. I am primarily a Next Generation fan so it was very helpful to me to be able to put everything into context.

The rides looked interesting but were an additional $5 and $6 each. The $6 one actually went upside down but only allowed two people at a time and the wait time was already an hour!! The other simulator seated about 5 but we still weren't interested in paying any more money.

Overall, the exhibit was good but it was definitely NOT worth the $25 entrance fee- it is more worth about $10-15. We figured that they had jacked up the prices to capitalize on the new movie, which is probably their rationale.