H&N: Trek-hibition

*Disclaimer: Some of the pictures you are about to see were taken where photographs were not allowed by the organizers, so if you are offended by these things, do not proceed beyond the SPOILER ALERT.

The Chinese New Year holiday was a week ago. I took a weeks worth of leave and returned home to celebrate this wonderful event with my family. So as usual my uncle's family would come over to my house to have reunion dinner the day before CNY. So what does that have to do with this post? I'll come to that now...

During my family reunion dinner, my uncle and cousin mentioned about a Star Trek exhibition held at the Pusat Sains Negara (National Science Center) that they were going very soon. If you did not know already, I am a huge Star Trek fan. Without hesitation, I searched the web for all information about this exhibition and found that it was the first ever official Star Trek Exhibition ever held in Asia, practically at my door step! But the problem was that there wasn't any appropriate time to visit the exhibition .

The awesome thing was that my dad was also very interested in this event and we somehow squeezed some time during the "hectic" CNY visiting period towards the end of the holiday for a short visit before I traveled back to Kuantan for work. One thing I realized then was that I have never been to this science center before this, so I guess Star Trek give me reason to pursue "Science"...lol

Never expect to see "Selamat Datang" and Star Trek in the same photo.

If you are interested already, these are some details you might want to know:
Venue: Pusat Sains Negara, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Opening Times: 9am - 5am Saturday - Thursday even during public holidays (Closed on Fridays)
Ticket Price: RM20 (Adult), RM10 (Children/18+ Students), RM5 (School Groups)

Anyway, back to the exhibition. Or I mean before entering it, because the Science Center itself was decorated with awesome Star Trek banners, stickers and posters. While walking towards the exhibition, you might notice many trivia questions printed on insignia shaped stickers guiding visitors to the venue. So if you haven't been doing your revision, those will start your hype again.

SPOILER ALERT!!!
When entering, the first thing we noticed was a small station dedicated to photograph souvenirs where visitors were allowed to get their photographs taken by the official photographers at 3 specific sets (TOS captain's chair, TNG Enterprise Bridge and Transporter from the 2009 Star Trek). Obviously they would cost a few bucks, but for fans, this is definitely a fantastic souvenir... in essence, I didn't get them.

Yup! That's the bridge I am talking about!

Before coming this exhibition, I have seen almost all the Star Trek episodes from every series and all 11 movies multiple times, so seeing it right in front of my eyes somehow makes it feel a little too real. Don't get me wrong, I love the feeling, just that sometimes fantasy worlds and sci-fi are just meant to be imaginary. If you are interested in props and models, check out the Beyond The Final Frontier documentary below.

The detail in many of the costumes on display were really beautiful and really invoke that nostalgia feeling of the movies and episodes. And after walking through the whole exhibition, the final room contains a detailed 7m enormous model of the original Enterprise as seen in the first 3 movies. I was in awe when I saw that model and comparing it with my crappy unfinished RM99 TOS Enterprise model at home.

To finish it off, at the end of the exhibition is a Star Trek store, if you can call it that. To most Star Trek fans who can afford fancy merchandise and souvenirs, the store would be the best place to purchase those uniforms, keychains and magnets. Believe it or not, this is the worst souvenir store I have ever seen in my life. There were hardly anything worth buying and the number of items are pitiful to say the least. So don't bother visiting if all you want is some souvenirs, you are better off getting them from Ebay. Come to think of it, the store may have got those from Ebay as well.

Wow... just wow!!!

Overall the exhibition was not spectacular in any way but still passable. If you are a Star Trek fan from this region, just drop by the science center before the end of March. You may regret passing this opportunity.

lalanandaFRY
23/2/13