So you're all familiar with the concept of themed restaurants like Medieval Times, correct?
Suppose there was a Sci Fi themed restaurant.
What would you want it to be like?
Would it lean toward Star Wars or Star Trek?
Hard sci fi (like what if NASA discovered thisorthat...) or more outlandish (like some kind of alien conquest)?
How could it appeal to a spectrum of sci fi fans? Young and old, and so on...
How serious would it be? Campy or self-reflexivly campy?
Could it somehow be educational?
Here's a few I've found on the internet:
Mars 2112 - Some of us have been to this place... It's not that great, and it might have closed.
Captains Table - I can't tell if this is a real restaurant or not.
Medieval Times is built around a performance. It's not just a weird place to have dinner or a place where there's two guys that look like Star Trek captains that have a lot of memorabilia. Medieval Times has a plot of its own. I think it works off of a script and has characters and turns the customers into characters through the course of the meal. So it's interactive. There could be a Sci Fi dinner experience set up like this.
You could imagine 'boarding' the 'ship' on its inaugural flight. Maybe just a quick trip to Pluto and back while the new crew and visiting dignitaries enjoy a three course meal together. But what's this! A distress call from a nearby star system. Turns out we're the only starship in... Alright you get the picture.
Anyway, I think there's probably a market for this, but I don't think anyone's hit on the right formula.
So what do you think?
I picture an ALIEN themed restaurant!
ReplyDeleteYou need to arrive at a schedualed time and are ushered into a cargo bay themed like the inside of the Sulaco ( http://www.mspencer.net/kitsune/cargobay1.jpg )Everyone is given loose blue jumpsuits to wear over their clothes. the lights dim and a face comes one screen... 'Hey guys! Great job planetside today! We called you all to dinner early cause ash managed to bring back some freeze dried groceries from the colony and he's whipped up an honest to goodness earth meal to fill us up before we go back to cryo sleep.' the lights come up and the doors open to reveal a cafeteria liek space similar to the messhall on the Nostromo.there is a floor to ceiling window in the back where SPACE can be seen doin it's thing. Actors serve the food pretending to be crew members sharing a meal. they bring out an appetizer and all is well for about 20 minutes... music stops as one of the guests starts to cough violently... he stand ups.. clutching at his chest.... he then turns arund to face the wall and spits a crimson stream of blood in an arch across it... (we wouldnt want him to spit at the food!) when he turns around crew members have turned bright flashlights on him as his chest bursts open and an alien climbs out. (Puppetry!) things go on... the crew freaks out and closes all the doors, 'we gotta stay in here, etc' dinner comes out as the crew talks trying to figure out what to do about the chest burster. ...lights go out... mood light comes on 'it destroyed th epower generator!' etc.
helmet cam projected on screen of guy who goes to generator.. sees slime all over it...gets fucked up by the alien.. Desert! yay! an actor initiates desert saying shit liek 'fukkit! if im gonna die im goin down with a stomach full of cake and icecream!' Alien comes into the space and lifts her up into the high cieling. mist sprays, lights flash, the whole deal. the alien (using ropes like de la guarda) climbs all over the walls....crew member gets an idea as alien climbs down onto the floro and begins walking slowly among the guests, eyeing them up and hissing... crew member tells every one to HOLD ONTO SOMETHING! as he smashes the SPACE window with a chair. FANS ROAR as steam and confetti and shit get sucked into the SPACE window. the alien struggles, but its pulled into the window ( de la guarda magic ropes!) just as they go through the crew member hit s abutton and a safety shield comes down. (to hide the fact that the alien doesn't float off into infinite space) fans stop.. lights come on.. all evil is vanquished. drink a coffe and gtfo.
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That sounds awesome! I didn't think of Alien. One thing I think would be cool is if there was a restaurant concept with a consistent sci fi world that was flexible enough so that each season could be a new show that worked off of these very different sci fi tropes. So the Alien could be like a red shirt construction team that was loosely associated with a exploration service (Star Trek) that was occasionally in contact with a political intrigue, space opera-type society (Star Wars/Dune) that supported a thriving population of space-trader scoundrels (Firefly) and so on and so on...
DeleteI actually had an idea for this last night that I thought could be fun - a time traveling restaurant! Every course of your meal is served in a different room and each room is in a different time period.
ReplyDeleteThe draw for foodies would be that each dish is prepared in the exact manner of the period, meaning the chefs would use things, like lard, that have gone out of style. For instance the bar while you are waiting for your table could be prohibition-era speakeasy, with beer and whiskey specially brewed to the standards of the time. (People would have to sign a waiver or something.)
As far as the time travel effects, I think they should be subtle, just like a slight atmosperic change between rooms. And then of course all the period decorations in each room.
Eventually you could get to a cave man room where you just pick off the carcass of a gazzelle.
Ha, that is so awesome and classy! I would def go.
DeleteThis restaurant sounds like it could be a real thing...
DeleteThere could be a Roman room where people eat roasted mice like they were buffalo wings.