Star Trek: The Adventure (Hyde Park, London.)

[Dave]

Star Trek: The Adventure arrives in London's Hyde Park on the 6 December 2002.

http://www.startrektheadventure.co.u...ent/index.html

There is an article in 'Star Trek Monthly' #99, and it looks like something that I ought not to miss. There is some different stuff here that was not at the 'Federation Science' exhibition, much more interactive stuff along the lines of the 'Star Trek Experience.'

It only runs until Friday 31 January 2003. Here is the bottom line:

Opening hours are 10am-10pm Sat-Sun (tickets in advance £15.50) and 10am-8pm Mon-Fri (tickets in advance £13.50). Family Tickets (two adult/ two children) are avilable Mon-Fri (£45) and Sat-Sun (£55). All tickets are subject to a booking fee.

Tickets may be booked via www.bookingsdirect.com or telephone 0870 837 1701 for the 24-hour booking line.

[Tabitha]

I saw Majel Roddenberry on Liquid News last night touting this. They managed to talk about it for a while without really telling us what is happening - in fact when asked about it, her first words were, "well I don't really know what it is".

Still, I am planning a trip to london some time in the new year, so I might pop in and see what all the fuss is about (and how it compares to "The Experience" in Vegas.

[Dave]

'Star Trek Monthly' has details, and while there are rides, I don't think it will compare with 'The Experience'. But I went to 'Federation Science' at the Science Museum and an earlier exhibition they did there, and it looks like it will be much better than those.

I'm sure I will go, so I'll tell you more then.

[Tabitha]

Looking forward to your review

[Dave]

This actually opened yesterday (18/12/2002). I heards a radio news report about it. I'm not sure if the earlier date was wrong, or got changed.

It is the biggest exhibition in Hyde Park since the Great Exhibition in 1851, the one that resulted in the building of the Crystal Palace.

It has an Eartbased Ops Room, Props from 'Nemesis', an exhibition about the development of 'Enterprise', Quark's Bar from DS9, four 'Voyager' flight simulators, a TNG Transporter Room, the NCC 1701 Bridge, and the 1707-D Bridge.

[Neo]

Hi guys.. long time no see

i am been in london recently and been to see the seting up of the adventure..

actually got to go in yesterday... all i can say is WOW..

if u get the chance... then go see

by the way i am back now

[Dave]

I haven't found time to go yet (still not seen The Two Towers and Nemesis is out tomorrow!!!!!)

Luckily, I may have more time as according to a feature in The Hollywood Reporter, (via SciFi Wire), although 'Star Trek: The Experience' is slated to run in Hyde Park through Jan. 31, 2003, it may be extended through May 2003, if it maintains its goal of 500 visitors per day.

[Maria8475]

oh wow, i seriously hope so!!!!!

cos i'm defiently not gonna be able to go in jan, but am dying to. especially since haven't been to any of the conventions or the "Federation Exhibition".

so everyone go - and keep the visitor numbers up!!

[Dave]

Originally posted by Maria8475
so everyone go - and keep the visitor numbers up!!

Booked my ticket for next week!!

[Maria8475]

oooh cool, it is definetly open til march now. so i'll have to book my tickets soon too

[Dave]

I'm going to let you know all about it, but one thing I didn't realise is that the ticket is for a 2 hour session (4 per day were available when I booked - 10am, 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm.) Maybe the evening slots are more fully booked?

[Tabitha]

*crosses fingers* please let it last beyond march, I still haven't been able to get down to London yet this year

looking forward to your report, Dave

[Dave]

I went to ‘The Adventure’ today. I’m glad that I went, but unlike Neo, I wasn’t that impressed by it.

Firstly, I don’t think that it’s value for money. It costs quite a bit for 2 hours. I could see a concert or West End theatre show for the same price. (They weren’t strictly adhering to that 2-hour limit, but you don’t need more than that anyway.) Then they charge £3.00 for the Audio Guide, which is essential really. Then, another £ 8.50 for a photo on the Transporter, even more for videos of you on the Enterprise Bridge (I think it was £18!), and the usual price for T-shirts and sweat shirts, Tribbles, models and mugs in the shop. It is in the very centre of London, but even the coffee (small cup £1.40) is far more expensive than the local Oxford Street shops. They don’t accept Latinum, but they do have cash machines inside, so you can’t run out of money. Pity they can’t just replicate the merchandise for you.

Secondly, some of the exhibits, masks, prosthetics, costumes, small props and the original Enterprise NCC 1701 Bridge were in the ‘Federation Science’ exhibition that I saw at the London Science Museum, and in the ‘Star Trek World Tour’. The exhibit on Gene Roddenberry is so battered and out of date, it looks like it’s actually the same one. There was a fair amount of new things, especially the memorabilia from ‘Nemesis’ and the other films, but if you’ve seen those earlier exhibitions you might expect more. There are 250 exhibits in all, including a lot of model spacecraft. There was Soran’s missile from ‘Generations’ and a ‘Scorpion’ attack fighter from ‘Nemesis’, Shinzon’s throne and blood transfusion equipment, and ‘Q’s chair. There was a display on the design of Archer’s ‘Enterprise’, and a mock-up of Malcolm Reed’s torpedo bay and armoury. (That part WAS good.)

There is a Simulator ride, but if you’ve ever been on ‘Star Tours’ at Disney, it is pretty tame in comparison. They could learn a few more things from Disney too. It would benefit from a few actors in costume to set the scenes. I actually expected this, because the ‘Federation Science’ had people dressed up in Starfleet uniform, but the guides here were in blue overalls. They didn’t interact or role-play and seemed quite bored. And they didn’t look like they’d been to the Academy! (Not for quite a few years anyway!)

Sorry, to go on about earlier exhibitions, but they had interactive things to do, such as a voice activated console. These were all look and listen displays, with nothing to touch.

There is an advertised “themed” restaurant, but it served meals with chips, no Klingon food!! It did sell Romulan Ale, Klingon Export and Ferengi Eelwasser, but there was no Raktajino or Earl Grey Tea Hot. I thought that it was going to be mock-up of Quark’s Bar, but that exhibit was off limits, and the restaurant itself had normal seats, tables and crockery. I thought that was a missed opportunity. It did have windows to look like 10-Forward, but had a very poorly constructed ‘Star field’ out of them.

The final part is very well done, but I’m sure it’s not a patch on the Las Vegas ‘Experience’. You enter a mock up of the NCC 1701-D Engineering. A problem with the Warp Core means that you have to evacuate up a corridor and take a Turbolift. The Turbolift develops a problem too, and smoke appears, but you manage to exit to the Bridge, in the middle of a Borg attack. Another Starship comes to the rescue and you are saved.

I would never ever tell you not to go, because you will ignore me anyway, but don’t come to London just to see this alone. It has been extended until March 30th, and will no doubt go on a tour after that, so you aren't going to miss it.

Do take your camera along! I didn’t, but personal photography IS allowed, and I could have had some great pictures. The guides will take pictures for you too, one thing that they were good for!

[Athena293]

Good News for all of us ST fans across the Atlantic. The ST Exhibit is coming to the US in 2004. Now we can see what you all have been lucky enough to have for the past month and a half. Sounds like some of you like it and some don't but I still think I'll give it a try.

[Dave]

Athena293 made me feel bad about my rather critical review of 'The Adventure'. I thought that maybe I had been too harsh. But, this online reviewer agrees with me:

http://home.btclick.com/ukc802510745...k/stadvrev.htm

Personally, I found overall presentation and organisation of the exhibits to be disappointing; many of the props are very tatty....

This lack of attention to detail extended to the information panels adorning the walls, many of which seem to have been recycled from earlier exhibitions; they were inconsistent about whether this was the Star Trek "Experience", "Exhibition", "Adventure" or "World Tour". Many of the panels bore a copyright date of 1998 and so didn't acknowledge the (Star Trek) "Enterprise/Archer" series at all. Elsewhere, panels were inconsistent about calling the Kirk-era series "The Classic Series" or "The Original Series", and the videoscreen above the "Bridge set" exit exhibit mistakenly claimed that "The Starship Enterprise is the centrepiece of all the Star Trek series"

Don't misunderstand me - it was most interesting to see the props and costumes. But given the hype and the ticket price... I expected more.

I enjoyed it too, it was the value for money and the use of exhibits re-cycled from earlier exhibitions that I was disappointed with. That's exactly what he says too.

BTW That reviewer seemed to think that the attendents were wearing NX-01 uniforms. I may be mistaken, but although the ones that I saw were wearing blue overalls, but I'm not sure that they were NX-01 uniforms.

There are some photos at this site:

http://www.rubycon.org/photos/startrek/index.html