Nathan Koff knows that space isn’t the final frontier. His mother, Jeanette, doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to find out soon enough.
Ten-year-old Nathan-dressed in full Star Fleet uniform, phaser in one hand, tricorder in the other-is listing his favorite parts of the new “Star Trek” exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences. The transporter room was the best; the “action-reaction chair” was cool.
But there’s one strange new world he still has to explore.
“I haven’t gotten to the Star Fleet Store yet,” he says, his eyes wandering in that direction.
Jeanette Bemis’ eyes wander toward the ceiling.
Mr. Spock would understand: Build a whiz-bang, kid-friendly, $1 million exhibit based on a popular family of TV series and movies. Put it in a science museum, so parents will feel good about it. Sell lots of “Trek” merchandise, and get free publicity for “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Perfectly logical.
But here at the opening weekend of “Star Trek: Federation Science,” which runs for three months at the academy in Golden Gate Park, those messy old human emotions are getting in the way-particularly delight. The hordes of kids clustered around computer screens and pushing to get at the interactive displays seem to have nothing more important in mind than having fun.
In the transporter room-the exhibit’s star attraction-the Wrights of San Anselmo are beaming down to an unnamed planet.
“We’re gone!” Lori Wright tells Ian, 6, and Nicholas, 2, pointing at the screen where they can see themselves dematerializing. They reappear on a barren plain, then beam up just ahead of some nasty explosions.
Safely back on board, Ian maintains that he was never scared. And he knows exactly where he went.
“Paris,” he declares.
Maybe it was one of those time-travel episodes.
“Federation Science” was put together by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (with the permission of Paramount Pictures) and is touring like-minded institutions around the country (the exhibit already visited Chicago). This means kids of all ages are supposed to learn something from it.
Ask the kids what they’ve found out, and you mostly get shrugs. But Rick Felsing of Alameda, Calif., is here to learn. His son, Ben, is turning 10 soon, and the family is throwing him a “Star Trek” party, complete with 7-year-old brother Sam dressed as Data, Ben’s favorite character.
Data, the android-with-a-heart of “The Next Generation,” is the favorite of nearly every young Trekker in attendance. “He’s a robot, and that’s pretty weird,” says Ben. “But he’s perfectly like a human.”
Elizabeth Herbert of Berkeley, 14, is another Data lover. “He’s more human than any of the rest of them,” she says. “He’s really cute. He’s like a little kid, asking questions.”
Elizabeth takes her “Trek” seriously, and for her-as for most people you talk to-“Trek” means “The Next Generation.” Say “Beam me up, Scotty” and you seriously date yourself.
What kids like most at the exhibit are the interactive displays. There’s a fair bit of stuff in glass cases-Paramount donated a closetful of costumes and props-but it’s all being ignored, even the Klingon painstick. In the “Living in Space” station near the back of the room, no one is reading the panel titled “In space, no one can hear you flush.”
The interaction is particularly intense at the bridge, a semicircle of computer stations set up in front of a large “viewing screen” like the one on the Enterprise. Complete the task set for you by the computer and you get to see the “Trek” scene of your choice on the big screen.
At one station a young pilot is having trouble setting a course for home. You hate to say it, but he appears to be lost in space.
Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge, on leave from “The Next Generation,” pops up on the monitor. “You’re getting low on time. Just relax. Finding planet Earth is a snap.”
John Held of Berkeley semi-patiently waits his turn. He shoots a look at his dad, Martin, as if to say, “Do you believe what they’re letting into Star Fleet?”
When John, 9, finally takes the chair, he races laconically through the pulsar triangulation that sets his course. He has a small bout with pilot error-he accidentally hits the “Quit” button and has to repeat his navigation-but makes it to port with time to spare.
Now it’s decision time. John has 14 choices for the big screen, including “Crab Nebula” and “Klingon Ship.” He ponders. He agonizes. He throws himself on his monitor. Any moment now Dr. McCoy is going to appear on the screen saying, “Damn it, man, make up your mind!”
John chooses “Supernova.” On the viewing screen a star explodes with a satisfying bang. John speaks up for the first time.
“Yeah!”
Talking is no problem for Nathan Koff. He lets you know that he likes Dr. Crusher because she’s cool and Data because he’s strong and smart. He decides that this is “the funnest weekend of my life.” He recalls his way cool costume last Halloween, when his mother painstakingly made him up as Cmdr. Riker, working from a signed “Next Generation” cast photo.
“If she was a real `Star Trek’ mom,” Nathan announces, “she’d have known it by heart.”
It’s not just kids who are drawn by the siren call of “Star Trek.” Andrew Yee of San Francisco is here with friends, celebrating his 36th birthday. With the help of some holography he’s turning himself into a Ferengi. “I look like a Chinese Ferengi,” he says. “An alien with a green card!”
At the “Planet Walker”-a chair on rollers that simulates the moon’s gravity-Raymond Fong watches his son Spencer, 9, bounce up and down and admits that coming to the exhibit was his idea.
“I’m not a die-hard Trekkie,” says Fong, 48, a San Francisco wine merchant. “But I’ve been a `gazer’ since the first series.”
His gaze has shifted to “The Next Generation”-“after you’ve seen the reruns a hundred times, you’re ready for something different.” His family tapes it for him because he works late at the wine shop.
“I’m thrilled with the scientific aspect of the exhibit,” Fong says. “My kids wouldn’t be here without me. But this is hands-on-they can experience it without me pontificating.”
Back on the Planet Walker, Spencer, who’s been flashing a grin at his dad from the top of each moon leap, finishes his ride. Ray Fong-the next kid in line-hops on.
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“Star Trek: Federation Science” is at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, through May 1. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission: $8 adult; $5 ages 12 to 17 and 65 and over; $2.50 ages 6 to 11; free ages 5 and under. Information: 415-221-5100.
The California Academy of Sciences is fully wheelchair accessible.
