I boldly went. And then some.

Doesn’t every little girl dream of sitting in Counselor Troi’s seat on the bridge of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D ? I’m not like, a nerd or anything for that, am I?

Loyal readers, I apologize. I almost died this weekend, depriving you of years of further enjoyment via my fabulous writing. How did this happen? I almost died from geekasm in the most extreme sense of the word. My brother and I went to Star Trek: The Exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. It was, as any Klingon would tell you, glorious.

My oldest brother is one of the reasons I love Star Trek as much as I do so when I first heard about the exhibit I knew that’s where I was taking him for his birthday. That was months ago and we were both too busy at the time. Well, September snuck up pretty damn quick and we were lucky to make it there for the very last weekend. Technically speaking, pictures weren’t “allowed” so I just snuck a few with my camera phone, hence the low quality.

The main attraction of the entire exhibit were the costumes. They had something from just about every ST series and every movie ever made. Classic KHAAAAAAAN of course above, minus Ricardo Montalbán’s classic chest. The strangest costume was William Shatner’s original Captain Kirk uniform which looked like it had been shrunk in the wash several times over.

My personal favorite however, were the set pieces. They had the arch and table from Main Engineering and the bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation (my personal favorite series). I had been on a recreation of the Next Gen bridge at the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas many years ago but you were only in the room for about two minutes and you weren’t allowed to touch anything. I just about lost it when I entered the bridge and realized I could explore. The screens in the rear had moving computer read-outs on them and everything. My brother and I giggled at the padlock keeping the turbolift doors shut.

And here’s what almost killed me. Not only were you allowed to touch the consoles, you could SIT in the bridge chairs. (I covered up my brother in Captain Picards chair because I didn’t have a chance to ask him if he wanted to be on my blog.) It’s cool to be Captain and all but my heart lies to the left of him in Counselor Deanna Troi’s seat. They were ridiculously comfortable and I wouldn’t mind having one in my living room. So yeah, we did the whole professional picture thing even though it cost and arm and a leg. It was worth every penny.

Speaking of pennies….Dabo anyone? There were tons of props being displayed as well and they were probably the most peculiar things to see. Most of them looked really cheap and beat up. Seriously, my toy tricorder looks more realistic. Some of the alien heads on display were impressive though. My favorite was, what I thought from a distance was Data’s head from “Time’s Arrow,” but turned to be B-4. Close enough I guess.

All in all, the exhibit wasn’t all that large but extremely enjoyable. It ended with costumes from the latest film, which honestly, this was all one big advertisement for anyway. I didn’t care. It was a geek’s dream come true. There were even a few people who showed up in costume. For anyone wondering, and because you can’t really see it in either photo, my shirt says “Nice Tribbles.” :)

10 Responses to “I boldly went. And then some.”

  1. Kelson says:

    Awesome! Also: My wife says she needs to meet you. She's also a Next Gen fan…and she has the same T-shirt!

  2. Rafiq Raja says:

    Awesome! To touch and feel those techi gizmos (even if they aren't all the way real), which we enjoyed during our childhood, spent watching Star Trek episodes.

    How do I love to get one of those pics inside the cockpit :)

    ÇómícólógÝ

  3. Kirk Warren says:

    Very cool. Did they happent o ahve anything on Deep Space Nine? I'm probably in the minority, but that was always my favourite version of Star Trek.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Lookin' Good girl!!! :)

  5. John says:

    One of my most prized geek-possessions is the framed photo of myself sitting in the Captain's chair on that very same bridge. First time I'd ever been to Las Vegas, and at that time, they had a special 'backstage tour' part of the whole Experience, which let you explore the bridge and get your photo done. It was awesome. :D

  6. Randy says:

    Mandyanne, I read it on Newsarama yesterday. Here is a link to the story:

    http://www.newsarama.com/tv/090921-big-bang–theory.html

  7. Awesome. I am totally jealous. I grew up on ST:TNG. :D

    And if what Randy (above) said is true about Wil, I am a very happy girl. Haha.

  8. Heretic says:

    oh my gosh, I think I would have gone insane from happiness! Im so jelous!

  9. Andy says:

    How cool is that?? I am insanely envious of you!

    And I'm sure your tribbles are awesome… ;-)

  10. Randy says:

    AWESOME!!! I am so jealous. Next Generation was my favorite of the Star Trek series too.

    BTW, I just read that Wil Wheaton is going to guest star as himself on an episode of Big Bang Theory in a few weeks. He shops at the same comic book store the guys go to and apparently has some kind of bad history with Sheldon.