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PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL
315
(ii) Since at present the Omnimax Theatre of the Space Museum does not have a seat allocation system, some citizens may have no choice but to sit in the front row. As such, will the Museum consider establishing a seat allocation system in order to allow citizens to choose their own seats at the time of buying tickets? If not, what are the reasons?
(iii) Also, some citizens also complained that the dilapidated facilities of the Museum and the seats having soaked up human perspiration etc emitted a foul smell. How long has it been since the last replacement of seats? Does the Council have a series of plan to renew the Museum's facilities? If yes, what are the details?'
MR. MOK YING-FAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE MUSEUMS SELECT COMMITTEE, REPLIED (in Cantonese):--Regarding the complaint about the facilities and seating arrangement in the Omnimax Theatre of the Space Museum, I will now give my reply as follows:
The Space Museum was opened in 1980. The structure and seating, etc of the Omnimax Theatre were designed and constructed by experts who had made reference to renowned constructions of similar nature in the world. The Omnimax Theatre is not designed solely for showing omnimax films. It mainly serves as a planetarium where members of the public may learn to observe the heavenly bodies in a quasi-space environment created by means of a celestial globe. In this regard, the design of the Theatre has practically served the purpose. Regarding the complaint about arrangements for watching omnimax films, it is the design of the Theatre to surround the audience with images of the film being shown to give them the feeling of being personally at the scene. As the motional effect of such films is particularly strong, the audience will feel the sensory excitement when the camera moves quickly. This has an even greater impact on those sitting in the front row. At present, for each show staged at the Theatre, there are 316 seats for which tickets can be sold. We can make considered reductions in the number of tickets to be sold if front-row seating is to be avoided. But this is likely to affect the proceeds from ticket sales and may lead to cost increase.
In the first year of its operation, the Omnimax Theatre did adopt a seat allocation system. However, it changed to free seating since the second year for the following reasons:
(i) The Omnimax Theatre has very tight schedules. During the interval between 2 shows, a lot of work has to be done, such as cleaning, tidying up of the seating areas and recovery and preparation of headphones etc. Therefore, the time left for admitting the audience is less than 8 minutes. There is a certain degree of technical difficulty if the audience is to be seated according to the number of their ticket within such a short time, especially when the house is full.
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