Home Theater Transformed Into Star Trek Bridge

gevmage writes "Gary Reign, a guy with apparently way too much time on his hands, built a home theater in his basement. This is not unusual. However, the room is designed, floor to ceiling, as the bridge of a Star Trek style starship. See his photo page for details."

Market value, schmarket value.

[WidescreenFreak]

Why do people automatically make that assumption? Look, unlike the nutcase in England who ran himself into unbelievable debt to make a transporter room in his flat, this room at least serves a legitimate purpose: home theater. And in that perspective, why not use something like the bridge of the Enterprise? The screen does exactly what it's supposed to do both on the Enterprise and in a regular theater - show video; the dome lights do exactly what they're supposed to do on both the Enterprise and in a regular theater; the speakers are placed in strategic locations where speakers should be placed for a home theatre system. Considering the things that he could have done to his house to show his love for Star Trek, this is probably the most practical and least bizarre.

It's nowhere near as kitsch as you guys are making it out to be. If he had a regular door instead of a Starfleet door and replaced any blatantly Star Trek-related items with something more contemporary, no one would be bashing his setup. "Nice bookshelf, nice ceiling lighting, leather chairs, big screen, hidden speakers -- this is really nice. Oh wait. Look! The door (that can very easily be replaced) is a Starfleet door! Oh, how stupid this whole thing is!!" Oh, please. I honestly think that to anyone who is a Star Trek fan and has an appreciation for home theare this is not nearly as much of a turn-off as you'd think.

Yet look how Slashdotters react when the newest, highly-creative, PC case mod comes out. "Cool!" "Where do I get one!" "And it's water-cooled!" "Look how it glows!" "r0x0rz!" "Awesome case!" I certainly love cool-looking PC cases, too, but most people would scorn us for paying premium prices for a PC case, no matter how cool it looks. So, perceived value goes both ways.

And don't confuse "market value" for "marketability" or "sellability". They're completely different. The "market value" for a PS3 when it first came out was $699. The "marketability" and "sellability" values were obviously much, much higher. Houses are no different. I don't see this particular home theatre design hurting its market value, but I do see it increasing its marketability to even mild Star Trek fans who happen to love home theatre, especially when the blatant Star Trek-related items appear to be easily replaceable.

Re:Why did he..

[MasterC]

Were I one of those fan artists, I'm not at all sure how I'd feel about his use of my work, so perhaps he's just protecting himself from that issue.

No doubt that Paramount would claim they own the fans' work (derivative work) so maybe he's protecting the fans both by not naming them and blurring the images out. Why assume malice when you (and I) don't have a clue?

Re:One photo missing

[Darth_brooks]

However, there's one photo missing: one of these days, he'll have to sell that house.

Says who? Oh sure, some day he'll die. But I'm betting he'll be interested in an entirely different real estate market by then.

A house is just a place to live. If you want to make money, there are a few hundred thousand other things in the world you can pour money into that will have a better return.

Spending your time designing, sweating, building and creating just so that the next guy will give you a couple extra grand to enjoy the fruits of your labor seems like a waste of time to me.

Star Wars theater is better

[mcdermd]

http://www.dillonworks.com/portfolio/starwarstheat er/ [dillonworks.com] http://www.modernhometheater.com/virtualtours/star _wars/slideshow/index.html [modernhometheater.com]

Re:Market value, schmarket value.

[archen]

As someone who has little interest in Star Trek I have to admit that it's a nice setup. Now if he did a shoddy job I'd say it was crap, but he must have spent a lot of time getting that setup just right. I don't think you have to be a Trek fan to enjoy the novelty of it. Why is it so trendy to make home theaters look like real theaters now? This guy just took it to the next level.

I'm curious if he has any sound effects set up for the room.

Good for him

[Lazerf4rt]

The guy probably spent 4+ hours/day on a project that now makes an interesting story. Meanwhile, the rest of us of spend 4+ hours/day screwing around on the web or watching TV. Who's the one with too much free time?

I say good for him. And I yield to his nerd superiority. I'd buy him a beer, but something tells me he only drinks whatever they serve on Deep Space 9.

Re:Market value, schmarket value.

[WDubois]

Agreed. I, for one, think it's brilliant. He didn't obsessively create a replica of a bridge. Instead he combined elements that worked for his theater. I particularly like the way he combined bits from both series while at the same time keeping to the main idea of a home theater. Good job.

Re:Market value, schmarket value.

[deesine]

If I was him, and selling, I would keep everything as is and actually go for the Trekkie buyer. He might even fetch more for it. After being on the market for a couple months without any offers, then I'd redo the room sans Trek.

However, you are correct: anything non-standard and one-off'd, tends to lower the value. A shrewd buyer, even if he is a Trekkie, would still use the uniqueness to get a lower price.

Time on hands

[massysett]

"a guy with apparently way too much time on his hands"

Actually it looks like a good thing to do with spare time: he was creative. That took some thought, design work, and craftsmanship.

"a guy with apparently way too much time on his hands" is apparently code for "I think how you spend your free time is silly."

Not thinking this through...

[TheGreatGraySkwid]

No couch? Chairs/loungers only==no snuggling.

It's almost like he never expects to have a woman over...

Re:Market value, schmarket value.

[Le Marteau]

I think what disturbs many people is that this guy obviously does not care about resale value, or getting laid. Anyone who is not interested in either cash or sex, but instead does something just because it is fun, is looked at as deviant by many.