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Voyager_Press_Launch
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1995-11-09
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140 lines
TF01
3,Voyager Press Launch
4,by Simon Plumbe
Stardate: 1406.95
Location: Atlantic Bar & Grill, Picadilly, London, England, Earth
To promote the release of Star Trek: Voyager on video on 26th June
1995, CIC Video held this promotional event to tell the press about
the release of the series and to generally promote the show. Infinite
Frontiers managed to obtain a couple of invitations to this exclusive
bash, and myself and Mark Platts went along...
Arriving in London the day before, we managed to find a relatively
inexpensive hotel for the night before voyaging (!) to Picadilly to
try and find the bar to avoid problems in the morning. Two hours and
a phone call to Tim Gaskill later (who had to look up the address in
an A-Z!), we managed to stumble past it - less than a minutes walk
away from the entrance to Picadilly Circus tube station! Oh, for the
day when transporters are invented...!!
The rest of that day was spent in the Trocadero centre, spending an
absolute fortune in the arcades there... especially on the 8-player
Daytona USA machines!! Oh, and not forgetting the obligatory visit to
Pizza Hut!!
There were a number of celebrity Star Trek fans out to celebrate the
launch with CIC (and to add to the media profile of the event)
including Red Dwarf's Craig Charles and Danny John Jules, respected
actor Don Henderson (whose work in Star Wars and Doctor Who will be
familiar to genre fans), childrens TV presenter Timmy Mallett, and a
few others. Unfortunately, none of the cast themselves were able to
attend, but no-one there seemed to mind.
After a brief problem with the security staff on the door, trying to
convince them that we were supposed to be attending (while we had the
invitations, our names had been missed off the invitation list!!), we
managed to sneak in early to check the bar out, grab a few photos,
and to generally familiarise ourselves with the layout. We were also
subjected to a sneak preview of what was to come...
Then the launch started officially, as we were all ushered into a bar
where a really weird free non-alcoholic cocktail was being given to
everyone. When I say weird, can you imagine a drink made up of
several layers of colour??!! After this, we spent a while in here,
chatting to some of the other journo's, the celebrity guests
(including a nostalgic chat between ourselves and two of the guests
from T'Kon '94 - Danny John Jules and Tim Gaskill!) and a few other
fans who were present (drafted in by CIC to be dressed in costumes) -
which included one guy who turned out to be a TFF reader!!!
Then disaster struck! We noticed that a TV crew were present from the
newly-launched L!VE cable station, and they were interviewing the
celebrities about the show and the launch in general. I turned to
Mark warning him that the camera crew were looking in our direction,
but Mark was insistent that they wouldn't bother with us! Yeah,
right! They spotted that I was wearing a Voyager t-shirt (most of the
other writers and video reps there were in suits!) and that was it -
they homed in and proceeded to interview both myself and Mark... on
national LIVE television!! If that doesn't make you nervous, nothing
will!!
To try and create a sense of atmosphere, all of the CIC staff present
were in Starfleet uniforms, and after everyone had received their
drinks and settled down, Robert Hollocks walked into the bar and
introduced himself. Suddenly, lights started to flash as a group of
Klingons burst in through the doors and a staged fight sequence took
place with the Klingons and a group of Federation officers. All great
fun! After the Klingons were suitable despatched, we were ushered
into the main hall where a video was set up simulating a transmission
from Starfleet discussion the incident and the impedning situation
with the newly-launch USS Voyager. This was a very slick presentation
with video and slides, combined with apparent interaction between the
person on the video and the CIC staff in the crowd. Then, the video
handed over to "Admiral" Robert Hollocks, who took everyone through a
brief potted history of the series and where it fitted into the Star
Trek legacy.
After this, Robert left the stage for the video showing of
"Caretaker", which managed to hold people's rapt attention for the
full 90 minutes, leaving everyone present in no doubt that they were
witness to yet another success for Paramount and CIC Video. Everyone
seemed to enjoy it thoroughly going by the reaction of people we
spoke to afterwards, although I must admit that my attention did
wander somewhat during the screening - well, I had seen the pilot
several times by then and I had started to learn much of the
dialogue!!
After this, we were all then given a Voyager press kit in a rather
swish presentation case. Granted, the case was the one used by CIC
for the Jurassic Park "DNA" Pack, but it still looked quite good with
the Voyager logo on it! Inside, there was a complimentary time-coded
preview copy of the pilot, "Caretaker", press releases containing
information on the show, it's characters and behind-the-scenes
trivia, a copy of the video sleeve, the background booklet/additional
leaflets that were included in the first volume, a 35mm slide
featuring the full cast shot, plus (courteousy of MicroProse) a demo
CD for the ST:TNG game "A Final Unity" for the PC. As well as this,
Titan Books included a free copy of the latest edition of their Trek
magazine, which just happened to be a Voyager special. It was a
really impressive pack that I'm sure helped to win over more than a
few journalists present!
After the official presentation, and after everyone had enjoyed their
free lunches (!), we managed to spend a short while grabbing some of
the guests for brief interviews, and we had a chance to chat with
Robert about the overall success of the day itself. Then, while we
were interviewing Don Henderson, I encountered a problem... Craig
Charles!
It transpires that Craig Charles REALLY liked the press pack that was
being given out... so much that he decided to take an extra couple
home with him. Now, the supplies that CIC had to give away were
deliberately limited to one per person - anyone who has ever seen how
much Star Trek press kits tend to be worth would see why. That being
the case, what Craig Charles did was inexcusable. He obviously
decided that it would be a great idea to grab as many press kits as
he could to take with him and he proceeded to walk around the bar,
picking up any press pack that wasn't being guarded. If anyone went
to the toilet or left their pack alone for a few seconds, he was
there grabbing it. Eventually, according to eyewitness reports, he
left the bar with at least six.
How do I know all this? Well, he ended up taking MY pack while we
were busy with Don Henderson. This would have been bad enough in
itself, but because I was already carrying a tape recorder and other
items, I had stored some personal items in the pack for safe storage.
Fortunately, CIC provided me with a replacement pack, and after
chasing Craig Charles, they managed to get my personal items
returned. But why did he take it in the first place? And why didn't
he return the WHOLE pack instead of just the personal contents?
That really was the only thing I didn't enjoy about the day, and
overall everyone there seemed to be very impressed with Voyager. It
certainly gained a few new fans on the day! I just can't wait now for
the next Star Trek series... and the next CIC launch to accompany
it!!