As I prepared for this trip, I thought I may pull together a Geek In Review that focuses on non-gambling activities for geeks who are visiting Sin City, so I started with The Pinball Hall of Fame, and then moved on to Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton.
That's as far as I got, because when I thought about Star Trek: The Experience, my mind kept drifting back to the first time I, uh, experienced it, and it's a story that seemed to fit very well with the stuff I write about in this column.
Star Trek: The Experience should be visited by every Trekkie in the world, at least once, but that's not why I wanted to write about it. I wanted to write about it because it's very important and special to me, largely due to an experience I had there in 2001, that is a big part of The Saga of SpongeBob Vega$Pants, which first appeared in Dancing Barefoot.
See, Star Trek: The Experience helped me make my peace with Star Trek: The Job I Used To Have, and also gave me a story which helped propel me down my path as a writer; it remains one of my all-time favorites to perform. For today's Geek In Review, I've decided to share a portion of that story.
The Transporter Chief says, “Welcome to the 24th century. You are aboard the starship Enterprise.”
She could have said to me, “Welcome to 1987, Wil. You are on Stage 9.”
She touches her communicator and says, “I have them, Commander.”
Jonathan Frakes' voice booms over the comm, “Good work, Lieutenant. Please take them to the bridge.”
We leave the transporter room and walk down a long corridor which is identical to the ones I walked down every day. I realize as we walk that, in my mind, I'm filling in the rest of the sound stage. I'm surprised when we don't end up in engineering at the end of the corridor. Instead, we are herded into a turbolift, where we enjoy some more special effects. The turbolift shakes and hums . . . it's infinitely cooler than the real ones we would stand in for the show.
When the turbolift doors open, and reveal the bridge of the Enterprise, I gasp.
The bridge is a nearly-perfect replica of ours, with a few minor differences that are probably imperceptible to anyone who didn't spend the better part of five years on it. The hum of the engines, which had only existed in my imagination on Stage 8, is now real. I stare at the view screen, where a beautiful starfield gives the appearance of motion. I remember how much I hated doing blue screen shots on the bridge and how much I loved it when they'd lower the starfield. When I looked at those thousands of tiny mirrors, glued onto a screen of black velvet, I could lose myself in the wonderful fantasy that this spaceship was as real as the view.
I am consumed by hypernostalgia.
I am 14-years-old, walking out of the turbolift during Encounter at Farpoint. Corey Allen, the director, excitedly tells me, “Picard controls the sky, man! He controls the sky!”
I am 15-years-old, sitting in my ugly grey spacesuit at the CONN. My fake muscle suit bunches up around my arms. I feel awkward and unsure, a child who desperately wants to be a man.
I am 16-years-old, working on an episode where I say little more than, “Aye, sir.” I want to be anywhere but here.
I am 17-years-old, wearing a security uniform for Yesterday's Enterprise. I am excited to stand in a different place on the bridge, wear a different uniform, and push different imaginary buttons.
I hear the voices of our crew, recall the cool fog that hung around our trailers each morning from Autumn until Spring.
I recall walking to the Paramount commissary with the cast, on our way to have lunch meetings with Gene before he died.
I have an epiphany.
Until this moment, all I have been able to remember is the pain that came with Star Trek. I'd forgotten the joy.
I don't have a link at the moment (I'm writing this early in the morning and the link won't be live until noon Pacific) but maybe someone can put it in the comments for this post. I'm also unsure about how SFW the geekwire will be, so maybe someone can note that, as well. In any event, I'll update this post with direct links later today when I get back from CES.
