Bloopers of the Borg Review
Great Fun for the True Trek Nerds Among Us
As a father of two children, I can find my way around a good search-and-find book. In fact, one could say I’m somewhat of an expert… at least compared to my kids, who are five and seven. My daughter has a particular love for these types of books as they allow her to explore strange new worlds of fantasy and adventure! Search-and-find books offer a respite from reality and allow participants to become a part of the story as they search the details of its pages.
Bloopers of the Borg, published by Hero Collector, has certainly managed to capture the essence and spirit of such adventure in this Nerd Search book. I love that they call it a “nerd search” book, because it gives us hardcore Trek fans our due. This book gives homage, not only to TNG itself, but also to us, the fans who helped propel TNG into becoming the cultural icon it is today.
As a TNG fan, I was really excited to see such a book produced, as I was previously unaware of Hero Collector and their creations for fans of all sorts of genres of fiction. Now that I am aware of them and, because of this search-and-find book, I am awakened to a whole new way of enjoying Trek!
The book opens up with a description of what you, the fan, are about to experience. That is the heart of this book: to bring us into the story and to allow our imaginations to wonder, What if Captain Kirk had shown up during the episode ‘Unification’?, for example. Great fun!
The book describes the rules and point-counting very clearly and gives you categories for what to look for. However, don’t be fooled by what looks like, at first glance, an easy mission! As Glenn Dakin, the writer, points out, “This is not a simple 21st-century search-and-find book, it is more of a 24th-century, next-level challenge, with goofs in it that only a true Trek fan can spot! And along the way, we’ll be saving the universe too.”
As I engaged this mission of finding the Borg Chaos Cubes and in finding what was “wrong” or out of place with each scene (the scenes are based on particular episodes of TNG), I found myself reminiscing with the actual episodes and my memory of them. If you’re a die-hard TNG fan and knowledgeable about the series, the characters, and the individual episodes themselves, this book will feel like a special treat to your heart and imagination!
I was a little surprised at what I missed as I worked my way through the answers in the back. I was also pleasantly surprised to find more than just what the answers were, but to read the why. My Trek nerd excitement could hardly be contained, as the answers section felt more like a behind-the-scenes exploration of the show I grew up watching and loving. Us Trek fans can’t get enough of this kind of information, as it helps us feel more deeply connected to and a part of the franchise, even if from a distance.
I tip my proverbial hat to the creators of this book, as it does many of the things us fans love to do with the shows we enjoy so much. It pays homage to the show itself and acknowledges its success and impact on our culture and psyche as fans. It also affectively draws us into the story, something that I believe Trek generally does superbly.
Furthermore, this book pokes fun at the characters and episodes we all love. I think most fans enjoy laughing at the things about our show that we find humorous or ridiculous, from time to time. This book does so in a light and fun way.
My score was low enough that it’s not worth mentioning in this article, and because my ego is slightly wounded. But I’m okay with that, as I now must go back with more focus to see if I can spot what I missed. I get to have more fun interacting with this story! That’s also the sign of a great search-and-find book. My kids can look at these types of books over and over again; still enthralled in the story and still craving more adventure.
If you pick this book up, you may find yourself seeking out other experiences with Hero Collector and their collection of fun resources!
The only reason I’m not rating this search-and-find book a solid five out of five is that I wish it featured a few more episodes! You will definitely want to pick this up as a whole new way to explore and enjoy Trek!
Star Trek: The Next Generation Nerd Search: Bloopers of the Borg is available from Amazon.com, and directly from Hero Collector.
