Star Trek: Federation Science

by Simon Plumbe

Star Trek: Federation Science is a new interactive exhibition currently touring Europe focusing on the technological and scientific nature of Star Trek. Most UK fans will remember the exhibition from 1996, and the current Star Trek Adventure, but is this another exhibition worth visiting...?

I was able to visit the exhibition near to the end of its run in Cardiff, and the first thing that struck me was the admission price - a very reasonable £2.50 for adults. So far so good. I approached the entrance and was unfortunately told I couldn't take photos (even though I tried to beg on the grounds of being a member of the press!), so we went in as normal.

The idea behind the exhibition was to try and explain how technology in Star Trek worked, as well as giving an insight into real world physics and science, as well as highlighting areas where Star Trek has had a direct influence on real science. As well as the interactive displays and video presentations, there was also a collection of props and costumes from the various Trek shows.

The bulk of the exhibit consists of interactive displays and activities that allows the visitor to take control of various aspects of Starfleet technology including navigation, communications, helm control, scanning and much more. Each tries to teach the concepts behind each as well as trying to make them fun.

They are all designed and housed in display units made up to look like parts of the Enterprise-D (remember, this exhibition has been touring the world for a few years). For the interactive elements, they are all multimedia productions using touch-sensitive screens and a recreation of the LCARS computer interface system seen on the show. Each activity is accompanied by sound effects from the series, as well as original speech recorded for the exhibition. The speech includes computer dialogue from Majel Barrett, alongside instructions from Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton and more, adding to the feeling that you are in charge of the Enterprise.

There was also an interactive transporter display, where you could be seen to beam out and take place in a motion sensitive game, but I'll come on to that later...

There are other interactive exhibits as well that cover other aspects of science and space exploration, although the obvious and primary appeal is for the Star Trek items. Everything is still presented in a Star Trek style though. One of my personal favourites was thermal imaging sensor. As people walked in front of the unit, a thermal image of their bodies were displayed on a large screen. I was quite surprised to see what parts of my body were generating the most heat!

The other elements of interest to Star Trek fans were the original props and costumes. Many of these were recycled from the old Star trek Exhibition, but there was a good display of phasers, tricorders, communicators, medical devices, PADDs and much more. Possibly the highlight here were the TNG hyposprays, displayed next to their real-life counterpart!

There were some of Michael Westmore's make-up creations including a Borg, Klingon, Ferengi, Neelix, and several of the appliances used to turn René Auberjonois into Odo including a before and after display. As with all of Michael Westmore's displays at any of the exhibitions I've seen, the make up was displayed on heads with articial eyes that looked a little TOO real...!

Then there were the costumes. There was a mock Loctus costume (obviously not the original), but the rest of the costumes were and I was surprised to see many of these outside the US. Some were the same as the last Star Trek exhibition that hit the UK, but the rest were all new to these shores. They included Klingon and Romulan outfits, original cast uniforms from TNG's early days including Picard and Worf, Picard's dress uniform from Star Trek: Insurrection, Spock's beige combat gear from Star Trek V, and my personal favourite - Kirk's original Classic Trek costume! As you imagine, I spent a while grinning while I looked at this one!

However, the exhibition was not without it's bad points. Generally, it seemed to be targetted at a younger audience based on some of the activities on offer. Also, as with the previous exhibition, the staff were all seen in uniforms that bore little resemblance to the genuine costumes. Luckily, none of them approached me during my visit. Also, it was fairly short, just occupying a single room in the museum.

Then were the mistakes. Some were minor and weren't worth getting annoyed over, but a couple stuck in my mind. First was with one of the costumes - the display indicated that one of the costumes was a Voyager medical outfit, when infact it was a season one DS9 medical uniform. Then, on the same costume, the communicator was one of the cheap £5.99 pin badges rather than one of the original props and it stood out a mile!

Then, my least favourite part of the event - the transporter. You enter a chamber and stand in front of a blue screen. On the monitor in front of you, you can see yourself on the transporter platform and after a few minutes, you beam out only to reappear on an alien planet. Here you take part in a simple puzzle game, touching falling objects to match them with an object displayed on the screen.

This would be a fun diversion if it wasn't for a couple of things. First, the effects for the transporter were substandard, the visual display was full of glitches and there were random blue "blobs" all over the screen. Then, when it came to the game itself, you were supposed to touch the falling objects to match them up, but the calibration of the system was off so it didn't really matter what you tried to touch as that item was never selected.

Overall, while the exhibition had its bad points, it was still worth visiting. The new material from the cast was worth seeing, and it was great to see some original props and costumes. It's cheap enough for families to afford, and will provide a mildly entertaining diversion for an hour or so. It's better suited for younger Star Trek fans who'll get more out of the interactive side of the exhibition, but adults will still get something out of the visit, so if you seen it near you, it's worth paying a visit.