

$1.5 Billion Star Trek Theme Park to be Powered by Alternative Energy - rblion
http://inhabitat.com/jordans-1-5-billion-star-trek-theme-park-to-be-powered-by-alternative-energy/

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ChuckMcM
I find the cognitive dissonance of this stunning. If you claimed that the
opposite of an Islamic future was Gene Roddenberry's view of the future I
would not dispute that.

In Gene's future women wore as little as possible, religion was like a country
club membership, and discrimination against any lifestyle choices was a major
faux pas.

The Christians in the US really hated it back when it was first on for these
very reasons, I doubt the middle east would embrace it.

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rflrob
I don't think it's fair to think of Jordan as a particularly Islamist (which
is distinct from Islamic; the former being a political philosophy, the latter
meaning "primarily Muslim") country. Especially compared to the Gulf states
which have lots of oil wealth, Jordan is a relatively moderate society, much
closer to Turkey in terms of westernization than Yemen or even Saudi
Arabia[1].

[1] According to the CIA World Factbook, female literacy rates are 96% in
Israel, 85% in Jordan, 80% in Turkey, 70% in Saudi Arabia, and 30% in Yemen.
That's just a single, relatively poor metric, but gives some idea of the state
of things.

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ChuckMcM
I don't think I called out Jordan as Islamist, I said that a Star Trek
universe is conceptually the inverse of an Islamic universe. Creating a theme
park in the Middle east which is dominated by Islamic politics seems unlikely
to succeed at best.

Jordan is perhaps one of the few places where this project could even get off
the ground (Dubai as well perhaps). The fact that it would be built, in spite
of being antithetical to a large chunk of possible 'customers' is where the
dissonance comes in.

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cincinnatus
This looks like a pipe dream to me. Another fantasy building project for the
middle east.

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Jach
Except this one's a lot cooler and I'd actually visit, unlike the Burj
Khalifa.

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ranman
For $1.5 billion I hope it has a holodeck, transporter, and a take-home-pet-
android named Data.

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awongh
slightly off-topic, but why does the quoted press release refer to real time?
"...advanced visual and sound effects to give the people coming in the park a
real-time feel of things".

No idea what that could mean.

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rjbond3rd
My guess is that it's a next-gen version of Star Trek: The Experience, the
defunct Las Vegas tourist attraction.

You'd go through a transporter (it was very well done), get aboard the
Enterprise, then escape the Borg and ride a shuttle which was rigged up with
hydraulics and big-screen effects.

There was an original ST:TNG version, and later, a more advanced Voyager
version with incredible audio (built into the headrests of your chair), some
decent 3D and some well-designed low-tech effects (e.g., you'd get squirted
with water after phasering a Borg, and when you were assimilated, a mechanical
"probe" in the upholstered chair would start to "drill" into your lower back,
no joke).

You'd exit into the DS9 Promenade (gift shops) and then into Quark's Bar (a
themed restaurant). Lots of fun.

