The cruise portion of my 50th birthday trip is now booked, and on Saturday Laurie gave me a large glossy brochure detailing the various wonders available on the ship which will be moving us about the Mediterranean for seven days.Fun will now commence.Seven of Nine, Star Trek: Voyager
"We'll be travelling on Voyager," she said, and then gave me a strange look after my resulting burst of laughter. (Let's not forget that Laurie has never watched very much television, let alone any of the Star Trek: Next Generation spinoffs from a few years back.)
A little investigation reveals that the United Federation of Planet's farthest flung explorer and the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's floating hotel are very nearly the same length, with the USS Voyager measuring in at 1020 feet, and the Voyager of the Seas coming in at 1128 feet. It's an interesting comparison, because very often it's difficult to get a sense of scale for the various starships, battle stations and orbital platforms that one sees in science fiction movies and television shows. To be honest, I expected to discover that USS Voyager was considerably smaller than its aquatic namesake, and the information that they're the same length considerably alters my impression of the starship based on my actual experience of cruise ships.
Someone has already attempted to sort out the various questions of scale in science fiction - take a look at Jeff Russell's Starship Dimensions site for an impressive comparison of the various ships, shuttles and suits from over the years. (Apparently there's a noteworthy difference between the observed size of the Imperial AT-ATs in The Empire Strike Back and the height listed by Lucasfilms.)
For myself, I've now got an entirely different expectation for the cruise: I see Captain Janeway standing resolutely on the bridge as we dock at Cannes, Neelix manning the breakfast buffet, and, of course, there's the titillating prospect of bumping into Seven of Nine in the gym. What more could a science fiction fan want?*
- Sid
* Actually, that's not as strange as it sounds. (Okay, it's almost that strange.) If your dream is to spend a few days in the Caribbean with some of your favourite Star Trek actors, your dream can come true. Visit http://www.startrekcruise.com/ for more information.
Obviously you have never seen the Trekkies movies hosted by Denise Crosby All about fans and the cruise figures prominently
ReplyDeleteTo be truthful, no, I haven't seen the Trekkies movies, or at least not all the way through, the bit about Denise Crosby hosting rings a little bell so I may have watched a bit. But I WAS already familiar with the Star Trek Cruise phenomenon, and this seemed like the perfect spot to mention it.
ReplyDeleteAnd really, people, get on with your careers! Yes, you can make a lot of money pandering to the fan community, but is this really how you want to spend the rest of your lives? Remember the lesson taught to us by Adam West...
- Sid
Has Chase Masterson had some work done on her face? She used to be cute and a bit pixyish, now she looks a bit like a victim of bad Photoshop.
ReplyDelete- Sid
If we show up dressed as Trekkies do you think they will let us command the ship? "We will take the following route!" And yes - let's make a detour to Iceland just for the hell of it - the days can be quite pleasant in the summer and extra long due to the northern latitude.
ReplyDeleteIf we were to show up dressed as Trekkies, I think that they might well tell us that we were on the wrong ship. (As per the link to the Star Trek cruise experience.) However, I appreciate the gesture on your part, given that what you REALLY want to do is go around dressed as a Jedi.
ReplyDelete- Sid