Kennedy Space Center: Sci-Fi Summer 2011

For Star Trek fans visiting Kennedy Space Center this summer, there is plenty to see and do.

Three Star Trek-related attractions are being held at Kennedy Space Center this summer, including Star Trek: The Exhibition, Star Trek Live and the Star Trek Shuttlecraft Simulator Adventure.

The Sci-Fi summer 2011 lasts until September 5, and your reporter, who resides in Florida, was finally able to check out each of these attractions and can heartily recommend seeing them, especially Star Trek: The Exhibition, which has been traveling around the U.S. and the world.

The first attraction is the Shuttlecraft Simulator Adventure. Having the good fortune to visit KSF two days after a launch, the crowd was small, and the wait for the ride was a mere five minutes. The ride itself was rather tame though. A group of people sit inside a mock shuttlecraft (the Hawking), which takes off to engage/avoid the Borg, with the usual twists and turns on a simulated vehicle ride. Recommendation? If the line is short, then go on this ride, but if the line is longer than fifteen minutes, skip it. Universal in Orlando does this type of simulator ride much better.

Next up is the half-hour Star Trek Live interactive show. According to the description of the show, “eager to learn from Starfleet’s best and brightest, our cadets assemble, anxious to prepare for their first day at the Academy. As we are introduced to the Academy, the Earth itself comes under attack from a renegade Romulan, leaving the fate of the future itself in the hands of our cadets.”

The show is set in the near future, and a familiar name to original series fans is the person in charge of leading the cadets through the challenge, with help from a visiting friend from the future and a familiar pest. The show is fun, with audience members being brought up to assist at various points in the production. Afterwards, fans may take pictures with two of the three main characters in the saga.

Star Trek Live is clever, fun and amusing and the kiddies will enjoy it. Tip: If you wish to be called for the last important adult audience member role, sit up front.

Finally, the highlight of Sci-Fi Summer 2011, Star Trek: The Exhibition was next. There is something for fans of all Trek shows here, but for fans of the original series, something not to be missed is a replica original series-era bridge, complete with Captain’s chair upon which one can sit (free of charge unlike at the former attraction in Las Vegas featuring the TNG Bridge) and have others snap photos.

Luckily for this reporter, when we first arrived, the place was almost empty, which meant plenty of time to take photos without other people appearing in them.

Another highlight of The Exhibition is a replica Guardian of Forever set. One can actually go behind the Guardian of Forever and jump through it, making for some fun photographs.

The Exhibition is split into two sections; the 23rd century (with the aforementioned Bridge and Guardian of Forever sets) which is located in the IMAX Theater and the 24th Century, which is located in a separate area of KSC. In the 24th Century part of The Exhibition, fans can see a small Sickbay set, and sit in a Klingon Captain’s chair.

Both parts of The Exhibition feature various costumes worn on the shows (and in movies) and plenty of props; either authentic or replica. There were weapons, and communicators and maps and ship models, as well as Data’s head, and a Borg in a regenerative chamber.

Overall, The Exhibition is a must see for Star Trek fans and double that if your preference is for the original series, courtesy of the two excellent replica sets. If Star Trek: The Exhibition comes to your city, by all means go and see it. You won’t be sorry.

Click on the thumbnails for the full-sized images.