Star Trek: Federation Science Exhibition Guide

Ever been aboard a Galaxy-class Starship? This exhibit guide makes it so...

• Star Trek: Federation Science Exhibition Guide
  Collector's Edition
• Created by Science Network
• $14.95 plus shipping
• Available from:
  orderservices@sciencenetwork.com

tar Trek: Federation Science is a science education exhibit, designed by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in 1992, which tours national museums. To go along with the exhibit the Science Network created a 61-page exhibition guide that contains hundreds of photographs and diagrams, along with 3-D glasses to view the "virtual reality" centerfold. The guide -- now offered in a stand-alone collector's edition -- is a wonderful book in its own right, detailing the science of Star Trek in its inviting, inventive and informative pages.

The guide describes the five main theme areas of the exhibit -- The Bridge, Engineering, Science Stations, Away Team and Sick Bay -- with brief overviews and catalogues the rest of the individual exhibits such as, Your Body in Space, Transporter Room, Aliens and Me, Human Genome Project (the mapping of human DNA), and What's Antimatter?

Typically, the description of an individual exhibit blends Star Trek and reality. In Warp It, readers can find out about Newton's Rocket Roll, a low-friction chair that simulates the same locomotion conditions a ship would be subjected to in space. Participants in the exhibit can propel themselves in the chair by ejecting bean bags. Although the participant has pushed or pulled against nothing, the chair moves -- just as a rocket would in frictionless space.

In Aliens and Me, life forms both real and hypothetical are explained. In our real world, six-foot-long "tube" worms live on the ocean floor in a symbiotic relationship with specific bacteria that enable them to consume hydrogen sulfide. In the hypothetical world of Star Trek, alien simulators allow visitors to see themselves as a Klingon, Borg or Ferengi. What do Star Trek aliens and tube worms have in common? Tube worms live in hydrothermal vent communities, proving that life can exist completely independently of sunlight. The exhibit concludes that this increases the possibilities for extra-terrestrial life.

Frequently, exhibition guides are about as colorful and informative as brochures from the Chamber of Commerce in Podunk County -- a couple of credit lines, with the exhibit itself being the superior animal. However, this guide is superbly executed -- detailed, stylin' and actually informative.

The usual scenario with Trek-related merchandising is to first pay off Paramount for licensing rights and then to milk the product unmercifully with a minimum input of actual substance. The folks behind this guide actually provide original content and work in some nifty gimmicks, like a series of stills in the lower right hand corner of each page that function like a flip book (the Enterprise D shoots out into space, taken from the opening sequence of Star Trek: The Next Generation).

Another bit of coolness is the 3-D centerfold. Eighteen stills from the original series and The Next Generation were converted into 3-D anaglyphs that, when viewed with the enclosed 3-D glasses, yield dimensional perspective to Wesley, Kirk, a Vulcan mind-meld and more.

Ultimately, the guide delivers on its prime directive: to get the reader to actually want to see the exhibit. The splice between reality and Star Trek sets, props and concepts feels about as tight as the fit between DNA nucleotide pairs Adenine and Thymine and Cytosine and Guanine. It even looks fun. The entire exhibit looks like a Galaxy-class Starship: the control panels, the chairs, everything. Ever wanted to tour an actual starship? Even those who sniff at Star Trek's impact on culture probably have that secret desire.

There are no real downsides to this guide. It's informative, well-designed, and even humorously goofy. What's not to like? -- Tamara I.

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