Building Star Trek

Nerds play around with the original star ship Enterprise model. I am amazed that I am the first to review this, I was expecting 20 reviews! Look, there is no question that the subject of this film gives new meaning to the term trivial subject, but hey, I love classic Star Trek and I would kill to have the original Enterprise model in my home...so why not make a show like this. It is rather sad to discover that most of the sets and props for the 1966 series were destroyed because, at the time, nobody had any idea of the value of such items. In a nutshell: it has been a few weeks since I watched this show, and yes, it does sort of linger in the memory weeks after a viewing, so don't feel the whole idea of it is just too nerdy to bother with. Give it a go!

Matter of fact is, only a fraction of this film deals with "building Star Trek." Much time is spent on comparing today's technologies to what was shown in the original series (thus allowing various institutions and organizations to, implicitly, make a plea for funds). Actors of current movies (Pegg, Urban) contribute various sound bites, in the style of a making-of and thus also resembling a marketing effort. And then, thankfully, there actually are a few original contributors and one cast member who get a few little things to say. Nothing particularly new or revealing though. A key problem this documentary has to deal with is the terribly sad state of the original series' props they try to assemble for various exhibitions. There's the USS Enterprise model itself of course. Kirk's commander chair. The navigator console. And various bits and pieces, including some costumes. But whenever a piece arrives and is unpacked, what we're confronted with are various degrees of decay which effectively produce an ongoing sense of frustration. Accordingly, with the exception of the Enterprise model, they don't really show what's going on during the restoration work, because that would have revealed how many parts exactly they had to recreate or replace. And thus made it clear that the final exhibits, to a notable degree, aren't really "original" props anymore. An illusion, on the other hand, the exhibitions obviously depend on and which they would not want to completely destroy with this documentary. So, altogether, a sufficiently decent effort but somewhat bound to fail, because the core material they had to work with was in such a desolate state. But then, real fans will probably be able to appreciate these kinds of insights, too.

Attention, all you SyFy enthusiasts - You really don't have to be a die-hard fan of TV's "Star Trek" in order to enjoy this particular science-documentary. In this 90-minute presentation - The Smithsonian Institute pays respectful homage to Star Trek which first aired on prime-time television 50 years ago. To be sure - Star Trek was clearly a SyFy program that was (in many ways) ahead of its time. This first-rate presentation takes space-travel technology to a whole new level - "Where no man has gone before".

This often-intriguing, 90-minute technology-documentary from the Smithsonian Channel proudly commemorates the 50-year anniversary of Star Trek which first made its TV debut back in 1966. Through interviews, stills, and archival footage - "Building Star Trek" tells the curios viewer, plain and simple, all about what space travel dreams are made of. Throughout this informative presentation we are shown how modern-day space-travel technology is clearly striving to emulate the SyFy/Fantasy gadgetry of Star Trek. All-in-all - "Building Star Trek" is definitely well-worth a view whether you are a die-hard fan of the classic, iconic TV series, or not.