For the next few days at San Francisco\u2019s Pier 39, if you split your fingers in the classic Spockian V shape (\ud83d\udd96) and utter those words at participating shops \u2013 and buy $15 worth of goods \u2013 you\u2019ll snag some fun \u201cStar Trek\u201d swag.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771185189_196_-S3840x5120-FPNG.png\"\/)
Paramount is giving away pins and bags to celebrate the new series, \u201cStar Trek: Starfleet Academy\u201d. | Source: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771185191_19_-S3840x2891-FPNG.png\"\/)
Pier 39 is running a \u201cStar Trek\u201d-themed promo through Feb. 19, while supplies last. | Source: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez<\/p>\n
This week, until Feb. 19, numerous Pier 39 retailers are handing out the aforementioned swag: \u201cStarfleet Academy\u201d pins in various colors shaped like its newest starship, the USS Athena (opens in new tab)<\/a>, and a branded, transparent messenger bag. (We\u2019ll include a full list of participating retailers, restaurants, and even gyms, at the bottom of this page.)<\/p>\n The star of the show, however, is the new Star Trek-centric audio narration aboard Blue & Gold Fleet\u2019s tour of San Francisco Bay (opens in new tab)<\/a>, which will run 14 trips through March 22.\u00a0<\/p>\n This reporter is a lifelong Trekkie, so I set a course for Pier 41 on Saturday Feb. 14 for the tour\u2019s shakedown cruise aboard the Blue & Gold Fleet\u2019s ferry, Oski (just remember, the tractor beams won\u2019t be installed until Tuesday (opens in new tab)<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n And to the delight of all Trekkies everywhere, actor Robert Picardo was on board. The famed actor is best-known for portraying a sentient hologram named \u201cThe Doctor\u201d in both the new series and 1990s-era \u201cStar Trek: Voyager.\u201d The Emergency Medical Hologram came aboard for the tour\u2019s maiden voyage, alongside his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Moore.\u00a0<\/p>\n Picardo and Moore, who live in nearby Orinda, had a grand time taking selfies as the ferry glided under the Golden Gate Bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the show portrays similar views (opens in new tab)<\/a>, Picardo said centering \u201cStarfleet Academy\u201d in San Francisco has a far deeper meaning than featuring city landmarks (opens in new tab)<\/a>. <\/p>\n The show takes place further in Star Trek\u2019s future than any spinoff series before it, during a time after a calamity called \u201cThe Burn (opens in new tab)<\/a>,\u201d which robbed the next generation of Starfleet cadets of the glistening utopia of the past.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re relaunching Starfleet Academy, rediscovering all the values that founded it in the first place,\u201d Picardo said, including reveling in people\u2019s differences.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStar Trek has always been the United Nations in space, the mutual cooperation of spacefaring planets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As if it were picking up on the actor\u2019s argument, the audio tour chimed in, pausing our conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cMore than that,\u201d the tour\u2019s voice intoned over a loudspeaker, \u201cSan Francisco was known for its idealism, progressivism and diversity, which best captured the tone of the show that [creator] Gene [Roddenberry] wanted to create. The United Nations was founded in San Francisco in 1945.\u201d<\/p>\n Picardo\u2019s eyebrows shot up. \u201cBang! You can say I said that.\u201d<\/p>\n The ferry tour attracted Trekkies from across the state, like Jay Aguda and Ron Aspiras, who ventured up from Los Angeles, proudly sporting Starfleet uniforms. <\/p>\n \u201cTo come to the roots of the movies, San Francisco, from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, it\u2019s an experience in and of itself,\u201d Aspiras said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lifelong \u201cStar Trek\u201d fans Megan Flannery and Thaddeus Wuest, both schoolteachers, drove down from Gasquet, Calif., near the Oregon border. They were ecstatic to see Picardo, who stopped to take a selfie with them aboard the Oski. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d been wanting to do a Bay cruise, and on the website it popped up that there\u2019s a Star Trek cruise \u2013\u00a0 I was like, \u2018Oh yeah!\u2019\u201d Flannery said.<\/p>\n The promotion is already bringing foot traffic to Pier 39. When I brought my miniature skee-ball toy up to the counter at LOLA (opens in new tab)<\/a>, a gift shop, clerk Pierre Houle said he had run out of most of the multicolored Star Trek pins \u2013 he only had gray ones left.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dalia Garcia, a manager at The Cable Car Store (opens in new tab)<\/a>, told me customers even hit the phones to purchase items, hoping to score their own \u201cStar Trek\u201d goodies. Count me among those who trekked in person, as I purchased a festive water bottle to score my blue Star Trek pin to complete my collection.\u00a0<\/p>\n She hadn\u2019t seen a single episode of \u201cStar Trek.\u201d But the flocking fans piqued her interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see what it is, I\u2019m curious,\u201d Garcia said. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s the list of participating retailers at Pier 39 (opens in new tab)<\/a>, while other San Francisco \u201cStar Trek\u201d-themed promos and events (opens in new tab)<\/a> are taking place at locations ranging from the DNA Lounge to Temple Bar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quick, name a famous \u201cStar Trek\u201d catchphrase. \u201cMay the force be with you?\u201d That\u2019s \u201cStar Wars,\u201d buddy. Go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[44604,101,103,102,25373,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-179359","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-pier-39","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-san-francisco-public-library","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771185193_193_-S3840x2891-FPNG.png\"\/)
\u201cStar Trek\u201d actor Robert Picardo (left) delighted fans while on a Blue & Gold Fleet cruise on Feb. 14, 2026. | Source: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771185194_391_-S3840x2891-FPNG.png\"\/)
Jay Aguda and Ron Aspiras were proud to show their fandom. | Source: Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez<\/p>\n