Review – Star Trek SceneIt? DVD Trivia Game

It has been nearly a decade since the last Star Trek board game ("Star Trek: Trivia Game" by Mattel). Now, board games return with Mattel and ScreenLife’s "Scene It? Star Trek Edition." TrekMovie has played this game and has a full review with images and DVD screen caps below.

 

Star Trek SceneIt?
There are many nice game play features of the "Scene It? Star Trek Edition," especially that the board game "transforms" and allows for either a quick game (about 15 minutes) or a traditional game (about 40 minutes). Also, there is a "Party Play" feature which is great either for solo play or play with larger groups. The feature plays one puzzle or scene with questions after another on the DVD without using the remote or game board.


Star Trek SceneIt? Board and game components

There are two editions of Star Trek Scene It? available: Standard and Deluxe. While game play is the same, there are differences between the two in packaging and items.
The standard edition features a cool box with the five captains featured. Its game pieces of the starships are plastic and its dice are small. The deluxe edition features two tins, one with the captains, and the other with the starships. Also, the deluxe edition has more question cards, and its dice are bigger. The starship game pieces are metalized instead of plastic.


Star Trek Sceneit? – Deluxe Tins

How to Play
"Scene It? Star Trek Edition" is a hybrid DVD and board game based on trivia questions from all six television shows (animated show is included) and the 10 feature films. Players roll two dice (one that tells you how far to move your game piece and one that tells you what kind of question you are going to have to answer). If you get a trivia card question, you will have to either answer a green "United Federation of Planets" question (about aliens, ships, planets, etc.), a red "Stardate" question (events), or a yellow IDIC question (the popular culture world of Star Trek). If you get a DVD question, you will either have to answer a "My Play" question by yourself or a "All Play" question where players compete to get the answer first and take control of the game.

One of the best features of the game play is the variety of questions that are asked on the DVD. Sometimes players must answer trivia questions based on scenes from films or episodes. Other times there are very challenging word jumbles that must be deciphered. There are "scanning" questions where images of favorite characters are distorted which players must properly identify. Also, there are places, events, or names hidden behind Klingon script which are revealed letter by letter and must be guessed. One of the most fun and challenging questions is an almost "Password" like set of clues which help players identify characters from the shows. When players select the DVD, the game travels around the bridge of the Enterprise D until it stops at a station. At the stations are various types of questions to answer. What is nice is that some questions require almost no previous knowledge of Star Trek so that nonfans could play, and there are some challenges for serious fans.


Star Trek SceneIt? DVD Game menu

Here is a list of the types of DVD questions (with a couple of screencaps below):

  • Who Am I?  — This question involves providing four clues and players guessing the character, alien, planet or object described. This is best for serious fans
  • Energize — Players must guess which character has been removed from the photo from episodes or movies. Both casual and serious fans could answer these questions.
  • Sensor Readings — Players are shown a very distorted image of a ship which eventually clears. Players need to guess which starship, which is a challenge for casual or nonfans.
  • Finish the Line  — Players experience a scene from an episode or feature film. They are given a choice of possible next lines spoken by a character and must guess the proper answer. This is best for serious fans, although casual or nonfans could guess!
  • Mind Meld — The names of characters are jumbled and constantly change with players trying to guess the answer. This is challenge for all kinds of players
  • Spatial Anomaly  — Players are shown a distorted image of a character which must be guessed. The characters are usually well known, though difficult to guess because of the distortion, and this makes this a good question for all kinds of players.
  • Questions based on scenes — Players experience a scene from a movie or television episode. There will be a question based on the scene or from the episode or feature film. If the question is from the scene, then all players could answer. If the question if from the episode, but not the scene, this is best for serious fans.
  • First Contact — Players must guess from a pixelized picture the alien group. This best for serious and casual fans.
  • Captain’s Log — Players hear a captain’s log played and must guess the episode or feature film. This is challenging for all kinds of players.
  • What’s Missing? — The players must guess which item should be featured. This is challenging for nonfans, yet easier for serious or casual fans.
  • Coded Transmission — The player is shown a coded transmission featuring a word from Star Trek lore. This is best for serious fans.


Can you ‘spot’ what is missing?


Who Am I?

Winning involves answering "Final Frontier" questions first before opponents take control of the game again.


Game winning ‘Final Frontier’ questions are not easy

Star Trek SceneIt? Captures Star Trek Themes
Sometimes games that are themed around a popular culture item like Star Trek fail to take advantage of the characters or ideas from the show or feature films in the game itself. This is not at all a problem with "Scene It? Star Trek Edition" which has many fun Star Trek features. That this is a Star Trek is never forgotten in this game, and all the versions of Star Trek are nicely represented. For example, if two or more players answer a "All Play" question at the same time, a Romulan Warbird must be destroyed utilizing the DVD’s tie-breaker feature. The playing pieces are the Defiant, the Enterprise, the Enterprise D, and Voyager (although it would have been nice to include the option of playing as the NX-01 for Enterprise fans). The entire game has a LCARs feel to it, and especially enjoyable are the starting mini music video and the montage that is played when a player wins (there is a perfect use of a scene from "Generations" during this victory celebration!). Even Star Trek fans themselves are included as some of the questions were written by fans and they are given credit on the trivia cards.


Star Trek SceneIt? game pieces (regular and deluxe) with dice

Special notice must be made of Mattel and ScreenLife’s decision to utilize Judi Durand as the voice of the computer in the game. An accomplished voice actress, Durand has played voices in such films as Lilo & Stitch, yet Star Trek fans know her as the voice of the Cardassian computers on DS9 and the voice of spacedock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. She was also the voice of the Federation computers in many of the Star Trek video games. Durand’s voice is uncannily like Majel Barrett’s distinctive voice, so much so that it wasn’t until I engaged the credits of the game that I realized it wasn’t Majel. While no one can replace Majel, Durand’s voice work is amazingly familiar and commendable.

There is something very comforting to what might be called a "Franchise Fan" like myself to see the visage of all five captains on the Scene It? game box. I enjoy all versions of Star Trek and have never gotten into the debate of which is better. While certainly criticizable, my opinion has always been that Trek is Trek, and I have enjoyed them all. Many fans enjoy more than one version of Star Trek, and this game is perfect for anyone who enjoys DS9 and TNG, or which ever combination because all versions are represented nicely.


Star Trek SceneIt? Box (Regular Edition)

Star Trek SceneIt? Works for all audiences
There are many potential audiences for this game. How might different audiences experience the game?

THE SERIOUS FAN (seen all the Trek there is, knows all the Trek there is)
For the serious fan who knows it all, there are plenty of challenging and fun questions here. No matter how much you know Star Trek and its characters, puzzlers like the word jumble are going to be a challenge. There are questions on the cards of varying difficulties, so there will be plenty of new information to learn.

THE CASUAL FAN (seen most versions of Trek, knows most of the main characters)
Many of the same reasons why serious fans can enjoy the game are also reasons why the casual fan can enjoy the game. Questions have varying difficulties, and DVD questions such as the "scanning" (identify the character) or word jumble require only a passing familiarity with the show. Casual fans will not feel lost or at a disadvantage in this game.

THE NON FAN (or those who have yet to see the light)
Non fan spouses or friends can also enjoy the game because of its fun playability. My son is 6 years old and although a fan, he was able to answer questions without years of indoctrination to Star Trek. Plus, many of the DVD questions featuring scenes are self-contained questions, meaning the question is based on the scene players have just experienced, and therefore no knowledge of Star Trek is required at all. In fact, non fans have many more questions to answer here than say a non-sport fan does in answering the sport category of Trivial Pursuit.


Promo video
(NOTE: 10 minute promo video available on Comcast OnDemand)

Conclusion
In conclusion, this is arguably the best Star Trek trivia and board game ever. It has a nice techno component appropriate to Star Trek, it features carefully thought of Star Trek designs, great questions and fun challenges. It is a perfect gift for Trekkie family or friends and is reasonably priced. Mattel and ScreenLife have an excellent product here, one that brings family and friends together,whatever their affection for Star Trek. You should definitely see "Scene It? Star Trek Edition."

As a summary, here are the number of stars (from 1 to 5, with 5 being the best) for each feature of the game.

  • Game Board Design: 5 (great feature of being able to play fast or traditional game)
  • Dice: 2 (would have been nice to Trekify the dice)
  • Game Pieces: 4 (would have been nice to include the NX-01 as an option)
    Box: 5 (excellent design featuring all five captains)
  • Instructions: 5 (both the written and DVD instructions are great, especially the DVD instructions which feels like you are being educated by the Enterprise computer)
  • DVD Questions: 5 (excellent and varied questions)
  • Card Questions: 5 (good mix of challenging and less challenging questions for various players)
  • Music: 4 (game does utilize music from Star Trek, although the music while the DVD is idle should have been a Trek theme and isn’t)
  • Playability: 5 (excellent for all kinds of players)

Star Trek SceneIt? is available now at Toys R Us and other retailers. You can also order it online:

[Order Standard SceneIt? at Toys R Us $29.99]

[Order Deluxe SceneIt? (Ships) at Amazon for $44.95]

[Order Deluxe SceneIt? (Captains) at Amazon for $44.95]

 

Play the demo
An online demo is available at the SceneIt site.

 

69 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Must see about getting it.

First? Whoo-hoo!!

Any question focusing on the spin-offs would be lost on me so I’ll have to pass on this one. I think they missed the boat by putting all of the series and movies in one game, making the faulty assumption that all of the fans are fans of all the series.

Scene i t is generally a pretty fun game though. When, and if, a classic Star Trek- only version is released, I’llbe there with bells on.

#2:
I’m the same, after TOS, I’m lost, other than naming the Captains…

I last bought the Next Gen Monopoly. My wife loves that so I’m betting she’ll really love this! Second?

Very nice review. I’m glad they took a genneral overview of this. Much better than a Feringe themed product. I’m putting this on the “Fathers Day List”.
K’Plah

Star Trackie> TOTALLY agree! I’d be first in line for a Classic Trek- only version, but I’m hesitant to pick this one up. I’m more of a casual fan of the later shows, so I don’t think I’d enjoy a trivia game based on those. Oh, and it’s a minor nitpick, but I would have much rather seen the menus and such using TOS styling as opposed to TNG. I’m really surprised they went that route when we seem to be in a TOS renaissance right now…

There should have been some way you could choose your era on the game…that way all fans could pick their favorite.

I think this would be a lot of good Trek fun!

YES! Words hidden behind Klingon text!

It’s a fun game, but hard. Like others have commented, if you’re not familiar with one of the spin off series, then the questions can be virtually impossible to answer correctly. On the other hand, it’s a good way to pick up some knowledge about the Trek universe. I like how the my play and all play questions relate to on-screen items that don’t require a lot of Trek knowledge, in case you’re like me and don’t have a lot of Trekkie friends. Words well for the uninitiated.

Did they re-do teh box art? Wasnt Picard originally in the center? Sees it was originally the Captains in order from L-R but now Kirk is in the center (as it should be). I could be remembering wrong but I thought there was some discussion about this before.

As a fan of all six sieries, I’m glad they’re all on one game.
But yes, it would’ve been nice if you could select them from an a la carte menue. (Say, play only TOS & TAS questions.)
If they came out with six different games, they’d have a bunch of angry fans. Who wants to buy six games?
And I think the LCARS display is used for everything. It was used on 3 of the shows, and we know how it works. The TOS displays didn’t have the FX necessary.
How about a Klingon interface?

Wait, I was *just* at Toys “R” Us where my 2yrold picked herself up a TOS Spock “doll”. I didn’t see it. Which is just as well since I’d rather get DELUXE.

Impressive.

Thankfully I am in your position Anthony and I must say, I have never seen it put so eloquently! TREK is TREK to me as well!

I lived thru the 60’s where Captain Kirk was my hero, watched the animated series on Saturday mornings and was always in line for at least 2 showings of STAR TREK movies on the day they were released. I couldn’t believe my world had expanded the day I found the “ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT” video tape at my local video library in the 80’s. Could lightning strike twice? It certainly did for me.

I always thought Deep Space 9 was formulated to go up against “Babylon 5” which I really didn’t like. I did enjoy DS9, loved Voyager and Enterprise. I must admit though I didn’t like the last 2 Star Trek outings. That is ENTERPRISES “These Are the Voyages…” and “Nemesis”. I agreed, Star Trek needed a break. Which actually gave me time to catch up on the STARDATE franchise which has filled in nicely until this year.

I am so glad that Star Trek has been so much part of my life and like you Anthony have never felt the need to try and single out one over the other/ It’s all part of Roddenberry’s universe and I’m on tender hooks like I was back in the 70’s waiting for JJ’s instalment.

I’m not into games as such but I think I will purchase SCENE it

STAR TREK … Live long and Prosper!

There’s a demo version of this on the Scene It? website:

http://www.sceneit.com/_demo/startrek/gamepage.html

sorry – Paragraph 3 – Read STARGATE franchise …some times I hate spell correctors

I own several of the SceneIt games – TV, Disney, Squabble, and my kid has the Harry Potter Volume 1 and 2 versions. They’re great fun to play as a family or with friends or at a party. One think I will warn you about though, and that is for a franchise version – like Harry Potter or probably Star Trek – they will come out with a new version every time there’s a new movie coming out. There will be new questions with each version, however, so it’s not all a bad thing.

I’ll be getting this! :)

We picked this up last week and it’s great! Its alot of fun for me, w/ at least a passing knowledge of all the series, and fun for my wife, who pretty much picked up her trek knowledge by watching tv w/ me but still knows enough to be competitive. I highly reccommend this, it’s a blast!

P.S. great review, John!

Purity Purity only TOS !!!

Come on people if it was only TOS then it would only be TOS fans buying it.. Star Trek is more than (and MUCH more than) TOS. TNG lasted seven years, do did DS9 and voyager! You couldnt make an ENTIRE game based on TOS.. and if you did, it wouldn’t sell nearly as well.

man.. you “I only want to see TOS” people are fraking annoying. Seriously, we should accept everyone for what they like, so stop saying “Oh it has the OTHER shows.. well I’m not interested”.

how about saying.. in your opinion?

because in mine, Ds9 is a far superior show.

@14. KevinA Melbourne Australia – Deep Space Nine came out first in 1993. Babylon 5 came out in 1994 and was copying DS9, not the other way around.

Instead of making different games, Couldn’t they just make the DVD restrict itself to certain series? So you could just be quizzed over the series that you watch. And I guess you could just skip over the cards you’re not playing with =/ I’ve never played the game before, so I don’t know how that might work.

#2 and #3
We all know the 5 captains are: Captain James T. Kirk; Captain Robert T. April; Captain Christopher Pike; Captain Ronald Tracy and Captain Garth!

There are others? ;) (JUST KIDDDDDDDING!!!)

#20 TOS has lasted 43 years as of this year. TNG’s only lasted 22. ;)

#0 John, superb review. This was one of the few Trek products I’d been considering whether to buy or not–I basically haven’t bought anything for years. But your review makes it clear that this is something to share with the family and friends and should be fun.

I still have my dice from ST:TMP:The Game, so we’ll just use those. :)

Nobody’s voice will match Majel’s, I knew the instant she started talking that it was the voice actress used for the Cardassian computers when I started playing this game.

Here’s my take on the Star Trek SceneIt Game. It’s fun, but the questions arent randomized enough. Alot of emphasis has been put on the Original Series, and after 2 hours of gameplay I’ve had only 1 TNG clip, 2 Voyager Clips (featuring the same scene, but different questions), and 1 DS9 clip. All Questions (excluding the comm system sound ones) have revolved around the TOS crew’s TV series and Movies

Given that TNG has been around for 22 years, DS9 has been around for 16 years, and Voyager has been around for 14 years and each had 7 seasons compared to TOS’s 3 you’d think there would be more content around the other series. also, It doesn’t appear that The Animated Series was included in this, but there is so much talk whether or not the short lived animated Star Trek is canon or not.

This game looks awesome and a must have for all Star Trek Fans!

And for what it’s worth, personally I enjoy all incarnations of Star Trek! :)

I agree with #6 and #11, they should have included a menu to allow us to select which serie or series we want to answer questions from. I am basically a TOS fan, have a mild interest on TNG and no interest at all on the other series, so as it is the game probably isn’t going to work for me.

Just played the demo and found it a bit odd that when you win, they play a montage that contains a shot of the Enterprise D being shot at from Generations. In the movie the E crashed moments after that scene. In the montage, however they flash WINNER! across that scene. Looks more like a FAIL to me. ;)

it’s fun, Jim – but not as we know it!!

21. StarTrekkie – March 12, 2009
@14. KevinA Melbourne Australia – Deep Space Nine came out first in 1993. Babylon 5 came out in 1994 and was copying DS9, not the other way around.

Star Trek camp knew Babylon 5 was coming. They knew it was set on a space station. Still DS9 was 1st out and grabbed the time slot and an audience. Well here in Oz it did.

#23 “Here’s my take on the Star Trek SceneIt Game. It’s fun, but the questions arent randomized enough. Alot of emphasis has been put on the Original Series, and after 2 hours of gameplay I’ve had only 1 TNG clip, 2 Voyager Clips (featuring the same scene, but different questions), and 1 DS9 clip. All Questions (excluding the comm system sound ones) have revolved around the TOS crew’s TV series and Movies”

…hmmm…maybe I’l l buy it after all! lol

and #20 “You couldnt make an ENTIRE game based on TOS.. and if you did, it wouldn’t sell nearly as well. ”

…sure you can… TOS monopoly, TOS Uno…TOS 20 questions…all coming out this year and I think they will sell just fine, thank you.

I’d love to play this game, but alas, I am a lone Trekkie in my little world here in Maine and would have no one to play with. Oh well.

However, the new movie trailers have caused my girlfriend’s 9-year old son to suddenly become interested in Trek TOS. It’s cool to see a kid watching some classic television and enjoying it. He’s always asking questions and wants to know what episode to watch next. lol A new Trek fan is born.

Wow star trackie.. you are a nit picker…

I was referring to an entire scene it game of course.. not any general game..

Anyways……. the point was, be open minded.. g’night

I’m a fan of all Trek series, so this game looks great to me!

For you TOS folks living in the dark ages, this game is your chance to get aquainted with the rest of the Trek universe. You might grow to like it more. I grew up watching Star Trek in the 60s and can say there’s plenty of crap in Trek to go around in all the series, especially TOS. But there are gems in all of them too. Buy this game! Love Trek! Live long and prosper!

Give me these games now! I want to play!

As a hard core fan of anything Trek this will be exciting and fun to play. I can wait to test my knowldge of all things Trek.I love the fact they inckuded Tas as well. Should make for a lot of fun. I also challenge anyone here to a game and beware. Loser spends an hour in the Agoniser Booth.

Hey Anthony. Is there a list of Names of the fans that submitted Questions on the Game. I was wondering if there are names and if so could you post them.

2,3

I’m with you on this too. Except some of the questions may elude even me. I don’t remember what populace the planet Yonada was on collission with. I just remember that I didn’t like this episode as a kid and it made me uncomfortable watching McCoy get romantic.

I have been asking for this since Scene It? came out with a Star Wars version. How was it that that francise with ony six movies and no TV series to gleen from gets a game and ST with so much more didn’t?? Finally! I love that the box has the captains in their correct unique uniforms. Far too often this gets screwed up in posters, ads, etc.

Cute, but if it doesn’t involve a 1 hour countdown until a renegade Klingon flies you to his homeworld for a suicide mission, badly acted by Robert O’Reilly, then I’m not interested.

Damn, I love that board game by the way, I have to say it. Stunning Kavok makes me feel like a man!

I missed it if it was mentioned but will events from STXI be in this game? I thought I read a while ago that they would and that that was the reason it wouldn’t come out until the new movie was released.

#39. I loved that game. Was a lot of fun and Hearing Rikers Voice was kool. Though the scene where the Big E Blows up was from an Epesode of tng it was still fun tom play. But to easy to win.

Mmmmm well I am so dissapointed.. Oh the colour sceme of the box, and the design is all wrong.. and it breaks with canon… and .. well I am not going to buy it, hate it… but I can’t help but keep coming back and find out more about it…. Ooooooops… I was posting to the wrong thread then… damn I thought I was commenting on the look of the corridors on the Enterprise in the new film… (tounge in cheek joke there!).. ahem…

# 42. Very funny. But I think you should go to the Agoniser booth for conduct unbecoming a Star Fleet officer in the Terran Empire.

I’m dying to get my copy. Though I don’t know who would play with me. Though, I would like to see my question in there… I know I have at least one question in there. Maybe they’ll send me my copy soon. ::rubs hands in anticipation::

#43… LOL…

Looks interesting.

Great review John! I’ve wanted the games since it was announced but now I must have it.

#40. That was when the movie was supposed to come out in December. I guess they pulled all that stuff out when the movie was pushed back to May. I hope that means there’ll be an expansion pack at some point.

#20—“Come on people if it was only TOS then it would only be TOS fans buying it.. Star Trek is more than (and MUCH more than) TOS. TNG lasted seven years, do did DS9 and voyager! You couldnt make an ENTIRE game based on TOS.. and if you did, it wouldn’t sell nearly as well. ”

Maybe. But it looks like at least a few fans won’t be buying this one because they are not interested in the spinoffs. As far as “not selling as well”, if the games were sold both separately and as a package—I’m not sure how you could come to that conclusion. Some fans who, like those above, won’t buy it at all because so much of the game is about the spinoffs, would be at least buying one of the games.

People who like all of the shows would still likely buy the whole set at a package price.

I think someone else above suggested that the game should have “play__ only” options for certain incarnations of Trek.

I won’t be buying it either, but not for that reason. I don’t think I would have anyone to play it with.

Man, is it going to be an expensive time to be a trekkie.

I only like the first 3 series, but I will pick this up, because while the last two shows were erraticly written/conducted I still found the Trek philosophy in them. So yeah, deluxe me baby.