Star Trek Discovery launches a new vision for the franchise that is familiar yet different

Star Trek has been a huge impact to the scifi geek community worldwide. The franchise has spawned 5 television series, 13 movies and 1 animated series. Star Trek started out as a television series in 1966 for 3 seasons before being revived as a movie in 1979, thanks in no small part to the blockbuster success of Star Wars. More movies then followed together with multiple TV spin-offs: The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine (DS9), Voyager, Enterprise. The last series Enterprise ended in 2005, leaving fans devoid of Star Trek on TV for over a decade... until NOW. Star Trek fans, or Trekkies, of all generations can join on adventures where no one has gone before with the release of Star Trek Discovery early this week!

Star Trek: Discovery is co-created by Bryan Fuller (Star Trek DS9 & Voyager) and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek 2009 reboot & Into Darkness, Transformers) for CBS, a US media corporation currently custodian of the Star Trek franchise. The series lead goes to Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead) as Starfleet Commander Michael Burnham. The support cast includes Doug Jones (Hellboy) as Lt. Saru, Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Captain Phillipa Georgiou, James Frain (The Lone Ranger) as Vulcan Ambassador Sarek, Shazad Latif (Spooks) as Lt. Ash Tyler, Anthony Rapp (A Beautiful Mind) as Lt. Paul Stamets, Jason Issacs (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Captain Gabriel Lorca, Mary Wiseman (Baskets) as Cadet Sylvia Tilly and Chris Obi (American Gods) as Klingon leader T'Kuvma. Since the departure of Bryan Fuller in November last year, Executive Producers Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts currently serve as showrunners for the series, i.e. the ones with overall creative authority and management authority, or figuratively the joint-Captains of Star Trek Discovery.

Behind-the-scenes featurette.

This new series is yet another prequel ("can we not finally move forward in the timeline?" - editor's rant) that takes place 10 years before Kirk and Spock begin their missions in The Original Series. It is is not affected by the reboot films (Star Trek, Into Darkness, Beyond) which have since been classified as the Kelvin timeline. Therefore taking place in the Prime timeline, the adventures of Discovery occur in the time-span between Enterprise concluding in the year 2161 and The Original Series commencing in 2266; let's not get into stardate namenclature, it's just confusing!

Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham (centre), Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou (right) and Doug Jones as Lt. Saru on the bridge of the USS Shenzhou.

The main protagonist Michael Burnham is a human black woman raised on Vulcan as a ward of Ambassador Sarek; yes Spock's father. Michael (show creator Bryan Fuller likes assigning female characters male names) has since joined Starfleet at the urging of her adoptive father and progressed to the position of First Officer of U.S.S. Shenzhou, serving under Captain Phillipa Georgiou for the last 7 years. So begins the pilot episode of the series "The Vulcan Hello".

The opening title sequence of Star Trek Discovery is departure from the typical starship flybys of preceding series (Enterprise excepted).

Introducing the Starfleet crew circa 2256:

Senoque Martin Green as Commander Michael Burnham, First Officer of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

As a result of her Vulcan upbringing, she maintains an air of cool logic with emotions held in check yet not totally suppressing them unlike true Vulcans. Burnham is a Xenoanthropologist and inherently a first contact specialist.

Malaysia's Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Phillipa Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

She is a veteran of war and Michael Burnham's Starfleet mentor.

TV trivia: Most US TV productions task their cast to speak English in American accents. As a departure from this norm, Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou retained her polished Chinese-Malaysian accent as a statement on global diversity in the hopeful future. Read more into this from an article on SyFy. Whilst here in Malaysia we are much accustomed to this as her normal accent, Americans may be just tempted to flick on the English subs to catch every word!

"Easter Egg" found! Captain Georgiou keeps a piece of asian culture in here ready room / office. Can you spot it? Read more about this at TheHypedGeek.com. 

Doug Jones as Lt. Saru, Science Officer on the Shenzhou.

Saru is a Kelpian, an alien species that has the ability to sense threats including rather pessimistic premonitions of death.

Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabriel Lorca of the U.S.S. Discovery.

A brilliant tactician with a decisive charisma but he hides some secrets.

Anthony Rapp as Lt. Paul Stamets on the Discovery.

An Astromycologist by training means Stamets specializes in space fungus ("seriously how useful is that going to be?" - editor's rant)

Shazad Latiff as Lt. Ash Tyler, Security Officer of the U.S.S. Discovery.

Mary Wiseman as Cadet Sylvia Tilly.

A final year cadet of the Starfleet Academy working in Engineering of the Discovery.

Listen directly from the Starfleet crew themselves as they introduce the mission of Star Trek Discovery.

James Frain is Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan.

Father to the soon to be infamous half-Vulcan Mr. Spock, and adoptive father to Michael Burnham.

In every incarnation of Star Trek, the lead starship (or space station in case of DS9) is every bit a character by itself. The starship brings our Starfleet heroes to adventures where no one has gone before and often times is an adventure itself.

U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031.

The lead starship of the namesake series is captained by Gabriel Lorca. Nothing much is known about this starship yet of its capabilities ("although it could be used as a giant space pizza cutter!" - editor's rant). Fan speculation suggests it is one of Starfleet's newer starships and conceivably fast with its lengthy warp nacelles. This speculative video by Hybrid Network might provide more insights:

U.S.S. Shenzhou NCC-1227, Walker-class starship.

The other major Starfleet vessel to feature in this series is the U.S.S. Shenzhou, commanded by Phillipa Georgiou. It is designated a Walker-class starship and apparently an older model, although how then its registration number of NCC-1227 exceeds that of the Discovery's NCC-1031 may indeed suggest otherwise. Unusually the bridge for this class of starship is located at the bottom of the saucer section.

The Shenzhou in atmospheric flight.

It's no spoiler that Klingons feature heavily in this series and looks to provide the over-arching plot. At the start of the serious, relations between The Federation and The Klingon Empire is icy, unlike most of the TNG era where both are staunch allies. There are 24 Great Houses in the empire and whereby a formidable leader T'kuvma steps forth attempting to unite them all against the Federation.

Chris Obi is Klingon T'Kuvma.

Outcast albino Klingon V'oq serves T'Kuvma as his devote right hand.

What, those are Klingons? We have seen the smooth forehead Klingons from TOS evolve to their bumpy forehead versions in TNG, explained as side-effects of genetic engineering gone wrong in the Enterprise series. Then Klingons in the JJ Abrams Kelvin timeline sported another variant. Now here is yet another variant of Klingon in Star Trek Discovery looking even more alien. And not just in physical look but also dress (ouch, spikey!) and cultural look (organic ships?). No clues yet as to whether this will be explained over the course of the series in a logical explanation acceptable to fans. Read more about the new Klingon look in this article by USA today.

REMAIN KLINGON: A cool Klingon trailer version for Star Trek Discovery as seen from their perspective!

There are many more Klingon characters and look towards which ones to be the major antagonists as the series progresses. Oh, in Klingon scenes, our Klingons now fully speak Klingon! Worry not there are subtitles provided... in fact each episode contains Klingon subtitles for our English-speaking characters!

Star Trek Discovery is now available to us here in Malaysia via Netflix. New episodes will be released on Mondays at approximately 3pm Malaysian time. There are 15 episodes for this season with the first 8 scheduled until 6 November 2017. After a mid-season break, the remaining episodes commence on January 2018.

The first two episodes of the series has been released this Monday 25 September 2017. Here are initial reactions for episode 1 "The Vulcan Hello" & episode 2 "Battle at the Binary Stars" during a mini-viewing party for Malaysian Trekkies by Outpost (no spoilers):

This two episodes can be seen as a pilot to the new series, introducing some key characters and the tone for the season. For a more in depth look into Star Trek Discovery, watch our video review hosted by Vulcan cultural officer Mr. Smock with local Trekkies Thomas Kuan and Chow F.C. aka Mr. Engineer:

Here are snippets of what to look forward to in the coming episodes including the U.S.S. Discovery in action (beware MAJOR SPOILERS if not yet watched first 2 episodes):

Now for some goodies to our valued readers!

OUTPOST GIVEAWAY

Thanks for Netflix, we have more GOODIES to GIVEAWAY! Up for grabs we have 3 complimentary 3-month subscriptions for Netflix so you Trekkies can watch Star Trek Discover legit. Also 1 lucky winner with receive a Netflix tote bag, notebook, lanyard, and pen.

To stand a chance to win this Outpost Giveaway, just follow these few simple steps:

• Like our Facebook Page Outpost Productions.
• Like / Wow / Love this Facebook post.
• Share the Facebook post to your timeline (set privacy to public) with reasons why your friends should watch Star Trek Discovery, .e.g. I want to watch Star Trek Discovery to see Michelle Yeoh as a Starfleet Captain.
• Include in your shared post hashtags #StarTrekDiscovery #Netflix #OutpostGiveaway.
• Join local Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia
• Fill in your details in the form below which include permalink to your shared post.

This contest will be closing on Monday 2 October 2017, 11.59pm. winers will be notified. So make sure to follow us and stay tuned!



Other Terms & Conditions:
a. Participants must be resident in Malaysia.
b. Giveaways comprise 1 tote bag with Netflix gift card (main prize), and 2 Netflix gift cards (consolation) for total 3 winners.
c. Winner of tote bag must be able to arrange self-collection of prize within 2 weeks of notification. Collection point will be in Klang Valley.
d. Only 1 entry per person.
e. Submission to Join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia must be received before closing deadline.
f. Selection of winners are final
g. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions without prior notice.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

Stay tuned to Outpost Productions on the following channels for our geeky news and intel plus Trekkie meetups in Malaysia:

• Facebook / Twitter / Instagram: OutpostMY
• YouTube: MySciFiFanOutpost

Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.

Deciphering the logic behind Star Trek most rewatched episodes on Netflix

Renown streaming service Netflix officially opened access to Malaysia subscribers in January last year, offering STAR TREK content from the entire franchise comprising six television series and twelve movies; the 13th movie Star Trek Beyond has yet to join the Netflix roster. Excluding the movies, the 1970's Animated Series and Trek-related documentaries, that's a massive database of 695 episodes produced in half a century logging in over 536 hours of airtime.

Star Trek first aired on 8 September 1966, creating sci-fi icons Mr. Spock (left) and Captain Kirk.

In conjunction with the 51st Anniversary of Star Trek and pending launch of the next series, Discovery, Netflix has revealed some interesting statistics on viewership of the venerable sci-fi franchise from among its 104 million subscribers across 190 countries. Firstly, 12,000 fans have watched every episode of Star Trek on Netflix. We presume these are true fans, or Trekkies, to have dedicated the equivalent of 22 days to this endeavour. Yes, Outpost and our resident Vulcan Mr. Smock salutes you hardcore Trekkies. LLAP.

Source: Netflix

Secondly, Netflix revealed the ten most rewatched episodes of the saga, and the selection certainly raises Vulcan eyebrows from the fandom. Among Trekkies, our gut feel (as unVulcan-like as it sounds) of favourite episodes would lean towards some of these titles:

• The Original Series (TOS): The City on the Edge of Forever, Balance of Terror, Mirror Miror, Space Seed.
• The Next Generation (TNG): All Good Things, The Inner Light, Yesterday's Enterprise or Best of Both Worlds.
• Deep Space Nine (DS9): Sacrifice of Angels, What You Leave Behind, Trials and Tribbleations, The Visitor.
• Voyager: Scorpion, Timeless, Message in a Bottle, Endgame; this series tends to have short titles!
• Enterprise: Similitude, Carbon Creek, In a Mirror Darkly, Twilight; some of the multi-episode arcs of Season 4 were also fascinating

Netflix's methodology omits the pilot episodes of each series, possibly since most viewers would logically watch the pilot first to sample the series before committing to its run.  So if pilot episodes were allowed as candidates, the top ten list may indeed comprise each pilot from the five series. "Rewatched" is defined as a subscriber returning to watch at least 6 minutes of a previously completed episode. Logical? Enough so.

Well the actual results did reflect some of the above picks but also contained some surprises:

Source: Netflix

To be fair, if each series were to be reflected equally in a top 10 list, that would only allow 2 episodes to be nominated from each series. TNG is no doubt a common fan favourite, hence having Best of Both Worlds and Q Who is no surprise as the most watched episodes. What does seem surprising among Trek fandom is the overwhelming popularity of Voyager taking 6 out of 10 slots in this list, and totally leaving TOS and DS9 in the dust! No Enterprise, no tears that's fine since it's often touted as the weakest series.

You must watch these: Resistance is Futile
Source: Netflix

A closer look at the selections point towards rewatching Borg-centric episodes from both TNG and Voyager: Q Who, Best of Both Worlds, Scorpion, Dark Frontier and Endgame (ranked no. 1). These episodes making up 70% of the list clearly shows continued fascination with the Delta Quadrant's most dangerous cybernetic species. Perhaps fans were selectively screening Borg episode marathons. Here's a Borg documentary which fans surely don't mind rewatching:

This is part 1 of 2 (pun intended).

One of the non-Borg episodes from Voyager The Gift is easily remembered when Kes departs the series immediately after the events of Scorpion allowing for recruitment of sexy Borg 7 of 9 as part of the main cast. The other two episodes comprise Time and Again from Voyager Season 1, and Clues from TNG Season 4. Er, what? Need a mindmeld to jog your memory? Maybe these 2 episode trailers could help:

Whilst the TNG episode trailer for Clues seems intriguing, the choice of Time and Again from Voyager's opening season defies logic when compared against so many better episodes from the saga. Perhaps if the 2-part episodes were merged to allow 2 more slots in this top ten, there would be some entries from other series and the better known episodes among the fan community.

On a global scale, Netflix reflects that TNG and TOS have bigger audiences, but Voyager and DS9 have more rewatches of favourite episodes. And despite well-known mixed emotions fans have towards the 7-year run of Voyager, many still return to rewatch the series.

Here's what American Trekkies had to say to Netflix on their favourite captain and episodes.

Now Netflix's data on the most rewatched episodes for subscribers in Malaysia are indeed more curious:

Source: Netflix

Voyager dominates unanimously on the top ten list ousting even TNG. Similarly with the global top ten, popular Borg episodes Endgame and Scorpion make the list together with The Gift and Time & Again (still why?). A selection of other Season 1 episodes come into play from Phage introducing the organ-stealing Vidiians, The Cloud and Eye of the Needle. Here's a more thoughtful hypothesis on why by our Mr. Smock: "Together with Time and Again, this cluster of the four first season Voyager episodes listed in sequence are simply reflecting a number of local Netflix viewers rewatching the series from start."

Here's revisiting the Voyager with the cast Kate Mulgrew, Garrett Wang, and Robert Picardo.

Indeed the devotion of Malaysian Trekkies to Voyager may be uncharacteristically high due to airing of the series on Hallmark channel on pay-TV broadcaster Astro during the previous decade. Hallmark aired every episode every day consistently plus reruns for an extended period thereby allowing many Malaysians to be exposed to Star Trek through Voyager. In contrast, TNG was broadcast weekly on public TV during the 1980's into the 1990's, whilst Enterprise may have only been available through one of Astro's subscription channels in the early Y2K era. Deep Space Nine was only broadcast for the first couple of seasons before the host channel went off air, hence never completing the series run in Malaysia.

Crew of the Voyager can toast towards being the most popular Star Trek on Netflix in Malaysia.

For Malaysian Voyager fans out here, Mr. Smock highly recommends sampling some of the other Star Trek series on Netflix, starting with the episodes mentioned near the start of this post. Kindly note later seasons of both DS9 and Enterprise became highly serialised, hence it may be more difficult to jump into these series which may form part of a wider story arc. For more standalone episodes, select from TOS and TNG.

Of course, Trekkies across the world are standing by for the next live-action series Star Trek Discovery releasing in under 2 weeks on Netflix come 25 September 2017. Discovery takes place in the Prime timeline  10 years prior to TOS. The series lead actress is Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead) as Michael Burnham, First Officer of the USS Shenzhou. Michael Burnham has been revealed as Spock's half-sister through adoption by his Vulcan father Sarek, played by James Frain. Captain of the USS Shenzou is Malaysia's own Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, in the role of Captain Philippa Georgiou. The USS Discovery itself is captained by Gabriel Lorca, played by Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter). Much of the series appears centred around conflict with the Klingons. Let's start the countdown to Discovery!

Star Trek Discovery lead Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham (centre) and Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Phillippa Georgiou (seated right).

Stay tuned for our special feature on Star Trek Discovery coming soon after premiere of this new series on 25 September 2017.

OUTPOST GIVEAWAY

Thanks for the nice PR folks at Netflix who actually noticed this piece, we have some GOODIES to GIVEAWAY! Specially for 1 lucky Malaysia Trekkie, we will giving away a Netflix tote bag loaded with a notebook, lanyard, pen and 3-month subscription to Netflix.

Win this Netflix tote bag and goodies

Plus 2 consolation winners will also receive a Netflix Gift Card for 3-month subscription. Perfect for binge watching over 700 episodes of Star Trek which can be completed within 22 days of the 90-day subscription, provided no sleeping involved!

Win this complimentary subscription to Netflix and binge watch every single episode of Star Trek.

To stand a chance to win this Outpost Giveaway, just follow these few simple steps:

1. Like  / Wow / Love this Facebook post.
2. Share the Facebook post to your timeline (set privacy to public).
3. Post under Comments in the Facebook post title of your favourite Star Trek episode from those mentioned in this blog post with your reasons for selection.
4. Include in your comment hashtags #StarTrek #Netflix #TopTen #OutpostGiveaway.
5. Join local Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia
6. Like our Facebook Page Outpost Productions

This contest will be closing on Tuesday 26 September 2017, 11.59pm. Notification of winners will be via Outpost Productions Facebook Page with instructions for prize redemption. So make sure to follow us and stay tuned!

Other Terms & Conditions:

a. Participants must be resident in Malaysia.

b. Giveaways comprise 1 tote bag with Netflix gift card (main prize), and 2 Netflix gift cards (consolation) for total 3 winners.

c. Winner of tote bag must be able to arrange self-collection of prize within 2 weeks of notification. Collection point will be in Klang Valley.

d. Only 1 entry per person.

e. Submission to Join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia must be received before closing deadline.

f. Selection of winners are final

g. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions without prior notice.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

Follow Mr. Smock's cultural assimilation via Outpost social media channels.

Stay tuned to Outpost Productions on the following channels for our geeky news and intel plus Trekkie meetups in Malaysia:

• Facebook / Twitter / Instagram: OutpostMY
• YouTube: MyscififanOutpost

Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.

Star Trek Away Missions by Malaysian Trekkies

2013 has turned out to be an amazing geek-out year for Malaysian Trekkies living out their "Holodeck Adventures" of Star Trek. The year dawned with Star Trek: The Exhibition taking place in the National Science Centre / Pusat Sains Negara (PSN), Kuala Lumpur, where every serious Trekkie in the region should have beamed over. On top of hundreds of authentic props, models and costumes from the venerable sci-fi saga, even a Vulcan would have found it hard to suppress delight for the opportunity to "take command" of the Enterprise-D from its replica bridge, or to "beam up" on the transporter platform. Read our previous  survey of Star Trek: The Exhibition for further details, or feature article by The Star. The exhibition has since been concluded on 7 April 2013 and is now hosted in Taipei, Taiwan. Get latest updates from the official Facebook page.

Here's some snapshots of Trekkie Away Teams at the exhibition:

Trekkies journeyed over from neighbouring Singapore and Indonesia.

Highlight of any Trekkie visit: Manning the bridge of the Enterprise-D!

Getting beamed up from Transporter of the Enterprise, 2009 reboot era.

Trekkies interviewed in 8TV Quickie.

Following the success of 2009's Star Trek movie reboot, JJ Abrams sequel Star Trek Into Darkness finally blasted back into cinemas in May 2013. Malaysian Trekkies revelled again and turned out in force at a special Star Trek fan preview of the movie on 10 May 2013, presented in IMAX 3D at TGV cinema, 1 Utama. Fans generally responded with a firm thumbs up for Star Trek Into Darkness, often teased by aspects of the original series incorporated into this new reboot timeline... well, except perhaps the fan which screamed "Nooooo!" at the big reveal during the preview! Every visual effect was simply stunning in IMAX 3D and no doubt many fans would have returned to the cinema for 2nd or more viewings by now. For further opinion, check out this review by CinemaOnline, plus a few other opinions compiled by Says.Com.

Gathering to head Into Darkness at TGV IMAX 3D.

The Next Generation crew.

The Original Series captains.

If you want to bring home a piece of Trek, the Outpost Movie Recon Team (MRT) was hard pressed to find any official Star Trek merchandise about Malaysia. Official movie toys for Star Trek Into Darkness are Kre-O brick building products from Hasbro, which unfortunately are not being brought officially into Malaysia and no sign of them from any local retailers. Otherwise find them online from BigBadToyStore or Entertainment Earth, which ship to Malaysia.

Star Trek boardgames may be available at local Borders and Times bookstores, plus some hobby gaming shops like Toybox and Meeples. Previously sighted were Star Trek Expeditions (based on reboot movie), Catan, Fleet Captains and Deck Building Games (based on Next Generation series).

Colonise the galaxy in Star Trek Catan.

Outpost has a handful of Star Trek 6in action figures by Playmates from the preceding 2009 movie as pictured below. Please e-mail toys@outpost.com.my if interested to purchase.

While the new Enterprise mess hall hasn't been featured yet in the movies, it could be serving Galactic Burgers like these from Burger King:

Includes food vouchers valid until July 2013.

Or try your luck to win some a Star Trek Into Darkness mini-joystick and other non-Trek stuff via the GSC Watch & Win contest:

Outpost is also giving the opportunity to our Trek followers to snag Limited Edition Star Trek glow-in-the-dark posters and 6in action figures. Just submit your entries via Punchtab below by 15 June 2013 for a chance to win a toy action figures. The first 3 qualifying entries will also receive the limited edition poster. So join now and get your friends to support this giveaway!

Live Long & Prosper! Q'apla!

Giveaway Terms & Conditions:

1. This online giveaway promo commences 1 June until 15 June 2013.

2. Participation is open to all residents in Malaysia. Outpost Events personnel are not eligible to particpate.

3. First 3 submissions will automatically receive a limited edition poster.

4. Winner of the action figure will be randomly selected amongst qualified participants with correct answer to question.

5. Winner will notified within 7 days of promo closing for giveaway collection arrangements. If the winner does not response within 14 days of notification, the giveaway may be awarded to next qualified participant. Postage charges may be required if giveaways cannot be personally collected.

6. Outpost Events as the organiser reserves the rights to change these terms and conditions without prior notice.

Thank you for participating.

Disclaimer: Star Trek and its trademarks are copyright to their respective owners, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.

Survey Mission to Star Trek: The Exhibition, Malaysia

Trekkies, Trekkers and all forms of Star Trek fans in Malaysia are up for an exceptional sci-fi experience at Star Trek: The Exhibition which has just transported over to Pusat Sains Negara (PSN) in Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur. This official exhibition showcases a wide assortment of props, costumes, models and even replica sets from the entire Star Trek franchise covering 5 television series and 11 movies. And miraculously brought all the way from North America to Malaysia from now until March 2013! Fans of our immediate neighbours in Singapore, Indonesia & Thailand can also arrange their away missions coming to PSN so as not to miss such a rare opportunity in this region of the world.

What to expect at Star Trek: The Exhibition? A survey mission was conducted on Stardate 16/12/2012 by our Away Team comprising Outpost Commander, Mr. Engineer, Lucas and a pilot of some Alliance from a galaxy far, far away. This scouting party visited on the soft opening weekend of the exhibition, coincidentally in conjunction with "Festival Sains 2012" whereby PSN was invaded by hordes of kids during this school holidays period. Fortunately this also provided free entry into PSN, otherwise there would be an entry fee of RM5-6 per adult.

 

Check at the official PSN website for directions as well as opening hours and admission fees. As PSN closes at 5pm daily, Trekkies who want more time may wish to arrive earlier as our survey mission's 2+ hours was not quite sufficient to totally geek-out and read descriptions on every display. Star Trek perhaps suitable housed here as a sci-fi franchise that has inspired scientific inventions and creative thinking, e.g. Federation PADDs kinda looking like current iPads, right?

Star Trek: The Exhibition is located on the upper level of PSN. Just warp through the aquarium tunnel into the central atrium then make your way up the spiral ramp and follow wall signboards or floor stickers to the exhibit entrance. Entry fee is RM20 per adult and RM10 for students and children below 17, suitably affordable for an iconic franchise experience compared to theme parks or equivalent exhibits overseas where MYR is at currency disadvantage. Unfortunately own photography is not allowed in the exhibition so this survey report is respectfully deprived of visual information. More exhibition guidelines can be found at the official website by EMS Exhibits.

SPOILERS: If you want to be surprised by the exhibition displays during your visit, do NOT read further!

Skip until "END SPOILER" below...

Upon payment, we received a small blue ticket stub with small print terms and conditions (no smoking, no photography, audio & video recording, etc.) and an exhibit "checkpoint" pass for photo-opportunity at 3 replica sets. The 1st set comprises only The Original Series (TOS) Captain's Chair of the Enterprise. We were given opportunity to be photographed seated in the command chair whereby the TOS bridge background will be digitally added later. Surprisingly Captain Kirk's chair was more comfortable than it looks.

Exhibition photo holder; Outpost Commander on TOS Captain Chair (right).

The 1st section of the exhibit comprises background of Star Trek, showcasing posters of the movies plus screenplay from The Next Generation (TNG) episode "Sins of the Father". There is also concept art from the movies & series, of which particular interest was concept art from First Contact depicting various types of Borg drones: Labour, Transport, Maintenance, Tactical, Assimmilation, & Medical. And it seems the Federation is mainly menaced by maintenance drones!

The following section replicated a corridor from the Enterprise 1701-D adjacent to the Captain Picard's Ready Room adorned with props such as the Ressikan flute, Picard's dress uniform, Riker & Troi's wedding photo, a bottle of Chateau Picard, one of Data's paintings and a Hor Ga'hn.

The 3rd section comprises displays of starship models such as the Borg Sphere, shuttlecraft, Federation starships NCC-1701D Enterprise & NCC-2000 Excelsior (model from Voyager series), and alien starships of the Klingon Vor'cha cruiser and Cardassian Hideki class corvette. There are also uniforms of the Captains from the 5 television series plus 2 Klingon thrones (not for sitting) and Bird-of-Prey's navigation chair. And check out of the wall of chrome ships named Enterprise starting from an aircraft carrier, space shuttle, the NX-01 Enterprise prototype, and so forth until the NCC-1701E plus starships from Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Take command of the Enterprise 1701-D!

The major highlight of the exhibition comes next: a set replica of the Enterprise 1701-D bridge! And everyone is invited to sit at the various stations, including Captain Picard's command seat, for a group photo opportunity taken by the exhibitor's fixed camera. Our away team of 5 almost complemented all bridge positions: captain, first officer, counsellor, ops, navigation and tactical (there is really no chair for Worf!). Our Mr. Engineer also had a major geek-fest at the rear bridge stations with "working" monitors, as well as the tactical station by pressing the torpedo firing buttons. We highly recommend the next Away Team to come suitably attired in full Federation uniform (except maybe Troi's "bunny" suit) to takeover the corresponding bridge command crew stations.

The Alien section follows with various head busts and video on make-up effects. There is also various props from TOS, such as the tricorder, and aliens, like Ferengi latinum.

After a short walk pass wall of mirrors into the next hall, there is a chronology of major events from the Star Trek saga, starting from the prequal series Enterprise until the last TNG movie "Nemesis". Then follows displays of weapon props like Starfleet phasers & PADDs, and alien weapons.

Costumers will appreciate the penultimate section of the exhibition, showcasing 42 assorted costumes from the saga. A quick but incomplete list of costumes include: Klingon & Romulan TNG uniforms, 7 of 9 jumpsuit, Ferengi clothing, Dabo girl skimpy outfit, EV suits from TNG, Reman soldier, Kai Opaka dress, General Chang's uniform, Garak's suit, Worf's uniform with bandolier, & 9 main cast uniforms from 2009's reboot.

Energise! Lenticular photo beams us away!

The final section provides the 3rd photo opportunity on the Enterprise 2009 reboot's transporter room. The exhibitor's photo options includes lenticular version whereby we can be seen to disappear from the transporter platform. Oh, there is also a large scale (11 ft?) model of the Enterprise 1701 refit to gawk at.

END SPOILER!

Rare merchandise finds: Medicom Bearbrick Kirk & Uhura,
Rubies Spock ears, and Type 1 Phaser from Galoob dating
back to 1988!

Every exhibition would not be complete without chance to take home some souveniors, so there is a merchandise retail area just before exit. Most are not official Star Trek: Exhibition merchandise though, by there are some very rare finds such as Diamond Select Toys Wrath of Khan Communicator and even a Galoob TNG Type 1 Phaser from 1988! Yes, we geeked out a few hundred MYR on these goodies, but perhaps the more essential souvenior of the 3 set photos taken on the TOS captain's chair, TNG bridge and transporter room, sold as a set for RM25 with exhibition folder / photo holder. The lenticular photos for the transporter effect or 3D starship background can be added on for RM15 each. These all seem worth the latinum price for Trek fans!

 

Other hard to find memorabilia include Diamond Select Toys
Wrath of Khan Communicator, priced at a real bargain on only RM50!

Another page in the photo holder with a Trek cold drink cup.

To celebrate the arrival of Star Trek: The Exhibition in Malaysia, Outpost Events is giving away a pair of official Star Trek 6in action figures from the 2009 movie reboot. Just submit your entries via Punchtab below by 31 December 2012 for a chance to win toy figures of Original Spock and Cadet Chekov worth over RM130. Kindly note the giveaway is contingent upon this Blog receiving 20 Followers and the OutpostMY Facebook Page getting 1050 likes. So join now and get your friends to support this giveaway!



Win these Star Trek prizes from our Holidays Giveaway!

More Trek coming our way in May 2013 with Star Trek Into Darkness, the sequel to 2009's reboot movie staring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. After the crew of the Enterprise frind an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. Here's the latest high-warp trailer to tease your Trek fandom!

Watch the latest extended teaser trailer on iTunes.

Live long and prosper!

Giveaway Terms & Conditions:

1. This online giveaway promo commences 18 December until 31 December 2013.

2. Giveaway becomes valid for award once 1050 Likes are achieve for the OutpostMY Facebook Page and 20 Followers join the Outpost Events Blog.

3. Participation is open to all residents in Malaysia ages 18 years and above. Outpost Events personnel are not eligible to particpate.

4. Winners will be randomly selected amongst qualified participants with correct answer to question.

5. Winner will notified within 7 days of promo closing for prize collection. If the winner does not response within 14 days of notification, the giveaway may be awarded to next qualified participant. Postage charges may be required if giveaway hamper cannot be personally collected.

6. Outpost Events as the organiser reserves the rights to change these terms and conditions without prior notice.

Thank you for participating.

Disclaimer: Star Trek and its trademarks are copyright to their respective owners, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.