The MIT Museum has long been home to models and technology that test the limits of knowledge and understanding, but few have generated the fervor of its newest addition: the original Starship Enterprise model used in the opening sequence of the 1960s TV series “Star Trek.”
Only 33 inches long, the model served as the opening image in an era of television that helped shape the science fiction genre. At the end of September, the model arrived for the first time in a museum on the East Coast during the inaugural MIT Future Fest, where Eugene (Rod) Roddenberry, son of “Star Trek” creator Eugene (Gene) Roddenberry, spoke on a panel.
“Our visitor experience director said it is the first time people come in asking to see something very specific,” said Deborah Douglas, senior director of collections and curator of science and technology. “They want to see this model.”
Timothy Hills, a 66-year-old “Star Trek” fan from Wenham who said he has “been in the fandom since, goodness, the ’70s,” spent the model’s first weekend at the museum dressed in both Spock and Captain Kirk uniforms that he and his mother had made decades ago. Upon seeing the model, he said, he knew it was “not just pop culture history but world history.”
Hills brought some of his “Star Trek” collectibles and relics, to show them to other fans who approached and asked to take pictures.
“You don’t have to do big things to help people have a better day,” he said. “Doing kindnesses, a smile, sharing a Trek prop, something like that — quite literally, those are things that not just brighten days but sometimes save lives.”
The MIT exhibition offers people on the East Coast their first chance to lay their eyes on the model in years. After its use in the original “Star Trek” series, Gene Roddenberry loaned it out for the production of the 1979 film “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” Then it disappeared.
Kamala Greenwood, a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, snapped a selfie with the model this week. She said she remembers watching a YouTube documentary series chronicling how the model was rediscovered and restored a few years back. She said it was unique to see such a preserved model, as she’s heard of many that were mishandled by production studios.
“It’s cool to have it in some museum,” Greenwood said. “It deserves it.”
Thursday afternoon, Northeastern University student Zaila Alves approached the model and gasped. “My dad is going to freak out,” she said, snapping a picture. Alves, who is from Quincy, said her father was “a huge fan” of “Star Trek” and that they had seen on the website that the model was at the museum.
Victor Parkinson, a 42-year-old Lynn resident who has been a “Star Trek” fan since he was 13, said he was astonished when he heard that the model would be at the museum. Through a connection with Douglas, Parkinson served as collections assistant for the debut weekend. He said he spent upwards of 60 hours in the room with the model and never got tired of looking at it.
“Seeing it for the first time and seeing it for the 1,701st time,” Parkinson said. “It’s the same tangible feeling of optimism.”
Discussions between the museum and the Roddenberry foundations about the loan took place a month before its arrival — a much shorter timeline than it usually takes to plan an exhibit, Douglas said, which is generally planned at least a year out. It will be on display until March 28. Douglas said she could feel just how much it meant to fans to see the model in person on display. As a curator, she said, “you live for those moments.”
This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom Initative.
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