John Katsilometes at the LV Sun has a good piece on the failure of Star Trek: The Experience to beam down into Neonopolis in time for this week’s Trek movie mayhem:
The once-optimistic plans to open phases of Star Trek Experience at Neonopolis in concert with the new “Star Trek” movie on a single date — May 8 — have been beamed to some far-off galaxy. The Experience won’t open until 2010 at the earliest, Rohit Joshi, head of the development company that owns Neonopolis, confirmed today. He added that the exhibit will not open in phases, but as a single entity. A few hours later, the wily entrepreneur also confirmed that Galaxy Neonopolis 11 movie theaters are closing as of Friday, and that he would reopen the cineplex, often as vacant as the sparsely inhabited planets favored by Captain Kirk, once it has been remodeled.
Joshi has not yet said why the theaters need to be renovated starting on the very day the “Star Trek” film is set to open, or who would manage the remodeled theater complex when or maybe, if it reopens. One published report indicated that Galaxy was pulling out of Neonopolis because bills for the complex’s centralized air conditioning system went unpaid, and Galaxy was unwilling to continue reimbursing customers’ parking fees by validating tickets from the Neonopolis garage. But Joshi’s account is that the theaters are to be remodeled as part of Neonopolis’ grand renovation project, which could be finished in a matter of months or maybe eons, when “Star Trek XXX: Grandson of Spock” hits theaters.
Starship Enterprise in holding pattern over Neonopolis – The Kats Report – Las Vegas Sun.
He did a decent job of hitting a few Trek references. I liked “the sparsely inhabited planets favored by Captain Kirk” bit, but the “far-off galaxy” would make a true Trek fan livid with rage, since all of the action in Star Trek takes place in our galaxy–it’s Star Wars that’s in a galaxy far, far away. He could have substituted “Delta Quadrant” for “far-off galaxy,” which would have made sense to no one but Voyager fans.
He would have made me a fan for life if he’d have suggested that someone was sabotaging the deal, because of the interesting way William Shatner pronounces the word:
Seriously, Star Trek: The Experience would be a godsend for Neonopolis. It’s a perfect fit because it’s a non-gaming attraction that could really draw people to the place. I don’t understand why it was impossible to get this done by this weekend, since interest in the show won’t be any higher for the foreseeable future. Of course, I think they should have soldiered on at the Hilton for another year to take advantage of the movie hype, so I guess I don’t know too much about how these things work.