Drunkard's Walk Forums

Holy crap... this would have been AWESOME.

Quote:The real winner of the 1992 downtown Las Vegas redevelopment competition
was NOT the FREMONT EXPERIENCE – it was the STARSHIP ENTERPRISE from
STAR TREK.  But no one knows this – until now.

Artist's rendering of Starship Enterprise and downtown Las Vegas Skyline facing directly down Fremont Street

Quote:My concept was to do something so large and so epic, it would fire
the imaginations of people around the world.  After looking at how
difficult it would be to bring people to the downtown core (from the
Strip), I knew we had to have something really exciting, dynamic, and
without equal.  We kicked around a few ideas, and then I came up with
something really unique.  I went to Chuck Canciller, my lead designer
then – and a genius as well – and said, “What if we built the STARSHIP
ENTERPRISE – FULL SCALE  – on the land at the end of the street. 
Imagine that…”  Chuck looked at me as if I had lost my mind, but by that
time he also knew I was serious about big ideas like this.  He
immediately started working on some ideas.

My gut hunch was that this was the single best solution to the city’s lists of goals as it exceeded their criteria:

• It would, in one fell swoop, make the downtown THE destination for Las Vegas visitors.
• It would provide international press at every step of the way, from
  first announcement, to ground breaking, to topping off the highest part
  of the ship, to opening day and through the opening month, and then
  continuously for special events throughout the year.
• It would transform the downtown area, creating new jobs, stimulating growth, and would fill the hotels and casinos.
• It would create a new “8th Wonder of the World” with an iconic
  monument that would take its place alongside other “must see” monuments
  in the world. (You would be able to see this from the airplanes as they
  came for landing at the Vegas airport. It’s that big.)
• It would truly be “The World’s Largest” destination attraction and
  one based on a classic mythology that would be around for generations.

Presentation meeting art illustrating size, scale, and scope of project
and demonstrating the plaza level view and point of entry

Quote:We learned everything we could about the Starship – its actual size
and dimensions, how it would exist in “dry dock” on the planet if
indeed such a situation had been possible.  We imagined what it could
be, and how we might achieve it.  We got Ken Ball (former head of
engineering at Disney’s MAPO) involved to figure out how to engineer and
support it.  (Ultimately we realized we would need to add some supports
on the outer edge of the “disc” section due to the extremely high wind
conditions in Vegas.  For this we created a high tech “scaffolding
structure” that gave the ship more of the appearance of being in an
open-air dry dock.  I have not yet located that sketch, but I’ll try to
find it.)

The “big idea” was building the ship itself at full-scale.  That was
the main attraction. That being said, we also knew we would have to have
some kind of “show” on board.  So, conceptually, it was to be a “tour”
of the ship, with all of the key rooms, chambers, decks, and corridors
that we knew from the movie.  There was to be the dining area for the
ship’s crew (where you could dine in Star Fleet comfort), and other
special features.  There were also one or two interesting ride elements
that we were considering including a high-speed travelator that would
whisk you from deck to deck. But we were really just getting into the
show aspects when everything came to a head.

It was ready to go. The Las Vegas city planning people loved the idea, the Paramount planners loved the idea. The deal makers loved the idea..
AND ONE FUCKING BASTARD KILLED IT.
Read the link at the top for the rest.
EDIT: Here's some more of the concept art -

Quote:“You know, this is a major project.  You’re going to put a full-scale
ENTERPRISE up in the heart of Las Vegas.  And on one hand that sounds
exciting.  But on another hand, it might not be a great idea for us –
for Paramount.”  Everyone in the room was stunned, most of all, me,
because I could see where this was going.  “In the movie business, when
we produce a big movie and it’s a flop – we take some bad press for a
few weeks or a few months, but then it goes away.  The next movie comes
out and everyone forgets.  But THIS – this is different. If this doesn’t
work – if this is not a success – it’s there, forever….”  I remember
thinking to myself “oh my god, this guy does NOT get it….”  And he said
“I don’t want to be the guy that approved this and then it’s a flop and
sitting out there in Vegas forever.”

And with that, Mr. Jaffe in a single moment, destroyed about five
months of work by a host of people, and killed one of the greatest ideas
of all time.

......  PUNISH HIIIIIIMMM!!!!