Bob Silvera, shown at left, spent many years collecting ‘Star Trek’ memorabilia, which is now on display at the Glen Ridge Public Library.
There are no coincidences in deep space.
So while Sunday, Sept. 8, was National Star Trek Day, the date in 1966 when the world was introduced to Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock and the Starship Enterprise, the current month-long Star Trek memorabilia exhibit at the Glen Ridge Public Library is just a coincidence, according to Bob Silvera, whose collectibles are being exhibited.
He did not plan his show with the Sept. 8, 1966, TV inaugural in mind, he said. But there are no coincidences in deep space.
“Sometimes we’re called Trekkie,” Silvera, 63, explained last week in the library. “But I’m not much into it. I got into it when I was a teenager. My brother, Tom, and I used to watch the reruns of the first series. Let’s say, this was around 1974-77. I was too young to be a Trekkie when the series first came out, 1966-69. I was still in fourth grade and probably couldn’t stay up that late.”
The original Star Trek series spawned a franchise with TV series, movies, books, toys, public conventions and library exhibitions.
Silvera also got into collecting somewhat late. He was about 23 when he saw an ad for a Hamilton Collection Star Trek Plate. It was not cheap, but he was working as a middle school teacher in Belleville and was able to afford it. He is now a retired Belleville elementary school principal with 47 Hamilton plates. Borough residents may know him from the community pool where he was a manager.
“The first plate was of Kirk or Spock,” he said, referencing two lead TV characters played by William Shatner and Leonard Nemoy, respectively. “I started with a plate and saw little things like records, alarm clocks and Tribble Toys.”
Silvera pointed to what looked like a small wig in the library exhibition case. He said it was a Tribble, a replica of a furry creature from the first TV season that invades the Enterprise, where Kirk, Spock and crew functioned. The Tribble did nothing but eat and multiply. Silvera said it was a comic episode and pointed to a second Tribble in the glass case. And while he claims his interest in Star Trek is behind him and would like to sell his memorabilia, at one time collecting was serious to him.
“I have an entire trading card collection,” he said. “On my wedding honeymoon, I was in Hawaii looking for cards. My wife’s not a Trekkie, but she agreed to go to a convention with me. Her mother gave me a large pen and ink drawing of Kirk and Spock. By the time all the Hamilton plates came out, I had children and was working two or three jobs and my interest in Star Trek had waned. My wife tolerated it, especially at the beginning of the marriage. You do their things and your wife does your things, a little bit.”
He said the most money he spent was for VHS tapes of the TV shows. “This was before DVDs came out,” he said. “Before VHS tapes, you’d have to watch a show when it came on TV. But with a DVD, you can watch it anytime; not that I do anymore.”
Silvera said his goal now is to jettison his payload. He has some interesting stuff: a telephone in the form of the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock marionettes, a vinyl LP of music from the TV series.
“I want to sell everything,” he said. “I’ve had it for all these years. Now it’s just taking up space. But I love the Star Trek movies and especially appreciate the updated hardware. In the original TV series, things looked like plastic because they were plastic. Even the acting has changed.” But Silvera, who said he is not keen on Star Trek dates and facts, pointed out one moment when the ‘60’s Star Trek series planted its spaceship’s flag into the landscape of TV history.
“In one of the episodes, there was the first inter-racial kiss on TV,” Silvera said. “Capt. Kirk kissed Lt. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols.”
He indicated there are hardcore Star Trek originalists out there who love only the plastics. In February and September, 1996, he exhibited two different collections at the Belleville Public Library spanning years of Star Trek incarnations and was contacted by Channel 9-TV for an on-air interview. Juxtaposed to this was an interview with a Trekkie who believed the short-lived ‘60s TV series was the one and only.
“This man considered the original TV series to be the real deal,” Silvera said. “Everything else to him was a knock-off.”
For Trekkies, Silvera, a Glen Ridge resident, can be beamed up at 201-665-1690.
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