On September 8, 1966, Gene Rodenberry and NBC brought us Star Trek, which followed the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise led by its fearless and sometimes reckless Captain James T. Kirk throughout the deepest parts of space running in enemies like the Romulan Empire and the Klingon Empire. The Original Series only lasted on T.V. for 3 years and aired 79 episodes, but left a lasting legacy that still thrives today. Not too many people don’t know who Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock are. Since the Original Series ended back in 1969 there have been 4 spin off shows with a 5^th one on the way in 2017, 13 movies and countless comic books and novels. Now admittedly I am a Trekkie and proud and would stay up during the weekday to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation. I had a shuttle craft alarm clock, a type-2 phaser, a communicator badge and of course my own NCC1701-D U.S.S. Enterprise. So when I recently went on my honeymoon with my lovely wife Jessica I came across the Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience located at the Intrepid, Land, Air & Space Museum in New York City, I of course became giddier than a kid at a Taylor Swift concert and had to purchase the tickets, thankfully my wife understood and let me make my dreams come true.

When you walk in you show your tickets that were purchased at the ticket counter at the main desk of the Intrepid Museum. The crew gives you a wrist band that you use throughout the entire exhibit as it’s fully interactive which is what I loved most about it. After you get your wristband, you walk down a line, which wasn’t busy at all at the time (it was a Tuesday in September after all) there is a photographer who takes a picture of you and you can choose to buy the photo later in the gift shop. Once you’re done the true adventure begins.

The exhibit takes about an hour to go through filled with interactive things you can do like scan a Klingon with a Tricorder, take a selfie of yourself and try to make yourself into an interesting alien you would find while out on space exploration. You can beam yourself onto another planet, test your skills at firing a phaser (do not wear a red shirt, unless you want to die), test your knowledge and see what position in Starfleet would best suit you. According to my certificate, I would be best suited to become a tactical officer (damn a red shirt). Not only are there lots of awesome interactive things to do there is also tons of Star Trek knowledge to read about which was pretty interesting like the history of Starfleet and the different captains and their ships. There’s tons of awesome props like Tribbles, medical equipment used on the shows and movies, and costumes like William Shatner’s uniform he wore to play Captain Kirk.

Once you see all that you’re like how can this get any better? It does! You walk into a room and it’s a replica of the Bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Upon seeing it I almost lost it (seriously, I thought I died and went to heaven). While in the replica bridge you can test your skills in the Kobayashi Maru, you know the one Captain Kirk cheated on while he was enlisted at the Star Fleet Academy. You can sit in all the chairs so being the natural leader that I took the helm and sat in the Captain’s chair and tried ordering for a red alert while directing all shields forward and firing all torpedo’s and phasers, you know….normal stuff. For a Trekie it was amazing and an experience I will never forget

With that said, for normal, casual, sorta kinda fans or being dragged, it was fun, but maybe kind of gimmicky. My wife enjoyed it due to the interactivity. Like something of its nature they look to monetize it as much as they can beyond just the ticket price. Like I said in the beginning you have the “professional” photographer who takes your photo and after you finish the tour you can purchase your photo or choose not to and they throw it away, and of course there is a gift shop at the end where you can buy a few Star Trek items (the gift shop was actually much smaller than I thought it would be. I ended up purchasing the photo because we were photoshopped onto the Bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D and I purchased a display enterprise complete with lights and sound because I can’t help myself sometimes).Overall, I would highly recommend the Starfleet experience for anyone regardless if you are a Trekkie or a casual fan of the franchise. The exhibit is going on until October 31, 2016 at

Overall, I would highly recommend the Starfleet experience for anyone regardless if you are a Trekkie or a casual fan of the franchise. The exhibit is going on until October 31, 2016 at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Pier 86, W 46^th St & 12^th Avenue, New York, New York 10036.