XL Video called in by UK promoters Triple A, working for LA-based SEE - Special Entertainment Events Inc - who are staging the exhibition under license from Star Trek's owners Paramount. Sited in a 7,000sq.m tent at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, Star Trek is the largest exhibition to hit London since the Great Exhibition in 1851, and contains over 30 million dollars worth of Trekkie memorabilia.
A previous incarnation of the exhibition had been on the road in the mid 1990s. It was bought unseen by SEE in 1996, and then mothballed in 138 x 40ft sea containers parked at Hamburg Docks. The first stage in its resurrection for the 21st century was the freighting of all 138 containers to RAF Finningly, near Doncaster, in September. Here each container was opened and its component parts assembled - like a jigsaw. The XL Video team of Stuart Heaney and Quinton Willison assessed each piece of AV technology as it emerged, seeing if it needed upgrading, repairing, servicing or replacing to re-build the show in its New Generation format.
They discovered that the existing gear was well-built but low tech, consisting of some spectacular relics from the early digital video projection. XL converted all the show's video, plus the control system - from start to finish - to SDI digital. On the hardware side, XL replaced all the old composite video devices - the majority of which were Sony (karaoke type) laser disks - with MPG 2 players, supplying a total of 29 new Blade Pro 2 DVS machines for the job.
During the re-build in Doncaster, XL's Quentin Willison wrote the new show control software. This is still based on the original AMX controller, but is specific to the new more complex and sophisticated technical demands of the current exhibition. Orbital Sound were brought in to revamp all the audio elements, and UKE Media did the same with the lighting. Once all technical disciplines were re-created or re-vitalized to the latest specifications, the show was de-rigged in Doncaster, and reinstalled into the Hyde Park tent, ready for opening just before Christmas. LSD were contracted to architecturally light the venue.
On site, XL has also supplied 2 Barco ELM projectors, 7 Barco SLM projectors, a Barco 6400 projector, plus 22 Pioneer plasma screens. XL also created six touch screen interactive exhibits, and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the show whilst in Hyde Park until the end of April. Barco 701 CRT projectors are in each of the four flight simulators.
(Lee Baldock)
