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A Touch of Hollywood

The Aquarium gains movie star status as a result of appearing in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Paramount Pictures shoots scenes in the front of the Aquarium, the entrance, the Marine Mammal Gallery and the decks. Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic firm "reinvents the whale," using special effects. Hundreds of members come down during the three-day filming to watch the spectacle.

Special After-Effects

A special exhibit on the filming, Humpback to the Future: Star Trek at the Aquarium, begins in November, featuring props and photos from the movie. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a lifelike 18-foot model of a humpback whale's head. The temporary exhibit explores how special effects transformed the Aquarium into the "Sausalito Cetacean Institute," complete with San Francisco's skyline behind it.