Touring Alien Territory

You don’t have to wait until the 23rd Century to explore strange new worlds. Hollywood location managers discovered plenty of bizarre places in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys to shoot scenes for “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Set aside three hours in the morning for a Trek mini-tour to two famous location sites.

And bring a picnic basket. It’s a long way between planets.

To find the legendary Starfleet Academy, warp on over to the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant at 6100 Woodley Ave. in Van Nuys.

That’s right: The place that trained Captains James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard is a sewage plant.

You can almost hear the Ferengi snickering.

In a “Next Generation” episode titled “The First Duty,” the facility’s Japanese garden is used as the picturesque academy grounds. There, cadet Wesley Crusher has to decide whether to reveal the truth about a horrific accident in space to Capt. Picard or keep the secret with his fellow cadets.

In an earlier episode, “Justice,” the Japanese garden is Rubicun III, a pleasure-planet the crew visits for rest and relaxation. Despite the fragrant blossoms and the sensual natives, the crew ends up in trouble when Wesley kicks a ball into the off-limits zone--a violation punishable by death.

Reservations are required to enter “Starfleet Academy.”

Free tours of the Japanese Garden, which last about an hour and 15 minutes, are available by phone for as few as one person and as many as 50.

Children younger than 12 are not allowed, and neither is food or pets. Also, flat-heel shoes are required.

Even in the far future, there are rules to follow.

*

You don’t have to graduate Starfleet Academy to explore a distant planet. A trip to Vasquez Rocks County Park in Agua Dulce will do.

According to Bob Justman, a producer of both the original “Star Trek” and “The Next Generation” shows, no other off-set location has been used as much in the history of Trek as the 750-acre park’s desert maze of rock formations jutting toward the sky--a 20-million-year-old product of earthquake activity.

Fans of the original “Star Trek” series will recall William Shatner huffing and puffing down the barren slopes as Kirk, trying to outwit the lizard-lipped Gorn in “Arena.” Other original series episodes shot there include “Friday’s Child,” “Shore Leave” and “The Alternative Factor.”

“A lot of the stuff we did wasn’t on location because we had to create alien surfaces,” said Justman, explaining how most sets are created at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

Vasquez Rocks was an exception, he said. “It was a weird landscape with hardly any vegetation. The large rocks gave it an unearthly appearance.”

The “Next Generation” episode titled “Who Watches The Watchers?” uses the rocks as the surface of Mintaka III, where Federation scientists observe an alien culture.

For your other-worldly visit, bring plenty of water and watch your step: There are terrestrial dangers, too--rattlesnakes and 100-degree heat during late spring and summer.

But it’s a small price to pay for walking an alien surface.

Where AND WHEN

What: Japanese Garden in the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant.

Location: 6100 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys.

Hours: Open to the public by guided tour only. Tour reservations for the garden are taken 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Morning tours conducted Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday year-round, unless it rains. Additional evening tours are available Monday through Friday, June through September.

Price: Free.

Call: (818) 756-8166.

What: Vasquez Rocks County Park.

Location: 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Road, Agua Dulce.

Getting there: Go south on Woodley Avenue to Burbank Boulevard, then east. Take the San Diego Freeway north to the Golden State Freeway, connecting with the Antelope Valley Freeway north. Exit at Agua Dulce Canyon Road, going north and then east where it becomes West Escondido Canyon Road. (It’s 2 1/2 miles from the freeway off-ramp to the park entrance.) The park will be on your right.

Hours: Open sunrise to sunset daily.

Price: Free to walk in or $3 to drive in.

Call: (805) 268-0840.