The Servant's Quarters

At the beginning of March, we celebrate two birthdays in our household. Nathanael and Christopher were born 2 years and 2 days apart at the beginning of March. As is our typical practice, the birthday boys get to pick what our family does to mark their special day. It always involves that child picking a favorite amusement, museum, activity, etc. and the rest of us going along for the ride. This time was no exception, although it did turn out to be a little bit different this year.

One the of the rules that we always have about Nathanael and Christopher is that we will never combine their birthdays. Each of them deserves to have their own day, and they are each going to get it. I take both birthdays off, they each get their own breakfast at the restaurant of their choice with me, and they each get to pick what the family does for a day. We never take the easy way out and tell them they have to pick one "special, big" thing together.

This year was an exception.

This year, we did everything together. Part of the reason was because they were both sick. Nathanael got sick the day before his birthday, and he was down with a fever for a week afterwards. He was just recovering and we were about to go ahead with our birthday plans when Christopher went down with a fever. Fortunately, he didn't catch the same virus, and he wasn't sick for nearly as long as Than.

Finally, they were both healthy, and I scheduled my day off of work to celebrate their birthdays.

Like I said, the crazy scheduling was PART of the reason. The main reason is their choice of where to go. They both wanted to do the same thing, and with the price tag attached, we decided that it would be all right to combine just this once. So, on March 11, the Butlers packed up in the morning and went to downtown Detroit for our appointment in the 24th century.

We went to the Detroit Science Center to attend Star Trek: The Tour.

Now, most of the people who are reading this blog know that I have a lifelong love for the Star Trek television series. From my earliest days of cobbling together makeshift phaser guns and communicators as a small boy to feverishly video taping Star Trek TV episodes as a young adult to collecting the various shows on DVD today, I have been a huge Trekker for decades. When Rita and I were a young married couple (pre-kids), we attended several Trek conventions in Dearborn.

So, needless to say, I was at least as delighted, thrilled, excited, geeked, and just plain crazy to get downtown to the Science Center as any of my brood. This was a fantasy come true.

We landed at the Center around noon. The Tour was open until 3:00 PM, so we figured that had plenty o' time. We walked in and were greeted by a huge model of the Enterprise from the early Star Trek movies. I just watched it slowly rotate around for a few minutes until the family started clamoring to get the show on the road. I got in line and was soon buying tickets from the cashier.

Now, the first peculiar thing I noticed was that all of the Science Center employees were wearing something that had to do with Star Trek. Some of them had Trekker name tags. Others were wearing full costumes from the series. That, in and of itself, wasn't strange. What was strange and very amusing was the different reactions the employees had to wearing their Trek paraphernalia. Take the cashier, for example. While she was working on selling me tickets, I noticed that her name tag said, "Commander whatever her name was." So, I thanked her for the tickets.

"Thanks a lot, Commander."

MASSIVE EYE ROLL. "Oh, I hate this."

"I take it you're not a Star Trek fan. This is just a job?"

"No, I am not a Star Trek fan."

Contrast that with the guy who took us up the elevator to the exhibit itself. He was dressed in full regalia, and he was loving it. He even made us say, "Live long and prosper" while giving the Mr. Spock salute before he would let us off the elevator.

The exhibit started slow. We entered a room that had a few original series costumes for the main cast members: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty. A few props were off in one corner in a display case. We walked around trying to be fascinated. In fact, we really wanted to move onto what we knew was right around the corner.

We moved on, walked up a ramp and through a set of double doors, and entered the bridge of the Enterprise.

Did you read that?

We entered the FREAKIN' BRIDGE OF THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE!!!!!!

This was a recreation of the set from the original show. The first thing that caught my eye was the viewscreen at the front of the bridge. On it was Earth with the moon in the background.

Next, I saw the big chair. The seat that Captain Kirk occupied while saving the universe countless times.

I had to sit in it.

I stepped down onto the deck, took a few steps, and fulfilled one of my boyhood dreams by parking my rear end in the CAPTAIN'S CHAIR!

Wow. Heady stuff.

For the next half hour or so, we explored the set. Sitting at the various stations. Playing with the buttons. Reading all the displays. We had our picture taken.

It was perfect.

Almost perfect.

The only bad part about it was the dude who was on hand to engage the visitors and tell them all about the TV show. What an annoying chap he was. All I wanted to do was focus on my surroundings. He wanted to talk to me about Star Trek. He asked me a trivia question. I answered it. He was impressed. He asked me another, harder question. I answered it. He kept asking me questions. I wanted to tell him to shut up. He finally left to find out why the sound effects weren't working.

I wonder if other geeks find their nerd brothers annoying.

We left the bridge with the whoosh of one of those magical Trek sliding doors, and we found ourselves in a corridor of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Opposite us was a window that opened up on a recreation of Captain Picard's quarters. The place was stocked full of props from the show, including two of Picards uniforms, his flute, his desk chair, and a bottle of Chateau Picard, the wine from his family's vineyard in France.

Very kewl.

Next door was a recreation of the Transporter Room from The Next Generation series. A lady from the museum stood behind the console waiting to "beam us down" We piled onto the platfom and took our positions. And we waited.

Nothing happened.

Console lady told us, "Sorry. The computer that does the transporter effect isn't working."

(Note: We weren't expecting to transport anywhere. A computer screen was the only place we were planning on disappering in a flash of sparkly light.)

"Aw, what a ripoff. We want our money back," I complained.

She answered, "Hey pal, you don't want to mess with a finicky transporter."

We laughed and moved on.

The rest of the exhibit showed us models of ships, weapons, costumes, a detailed timeline of Star Trek's future history, and a great big donut called the Guardian of Forever.

What a fun day.

We wrapped things up by buying some photos of ourselves on the sets. And here they are: