Star Trek fan transforms flat into space ship

A Brit man, obsessed with `Star Trek`, transformed his flat into a starship.

London, May 18: A Brit man is so obsessed with `Star Trek` that he has transformed his entire flat into a replica of the starship shown in the popular television series.

It took Tony Alleyne eight years to turn his one bedroom studio apartment into the deck of the Starship Enterprise. It all started as a therapeutic hobby for the 56-year-old devotee, following a painful divorce from his wife, and now he has decked the whole property as the Star Trek Voyager. The intricacies of Alleyne`s work could be seen in the life-size copy of the space ship`s command console, which forms the centrepiece of the one-bed flat and even controls the lights and sound effects. Every morning, a voice-activated computer system turns on fluorescent tubes that illuminate bleeping panels and a replica of the "beam me up" transporter. The windows of his home in Hinckley, Leicestershire, have been fitted with plexi-glass in-between layers of wood - creating dark space portals. In fact, the doorbell has been customised to play a sample of Patrick Stewart as captain Jean-Luc Picard. "Building this has been like a dream. I had a vision and I am really amazed at what I have managed to achieve with just hard work," a news daily quoted Alleyne as saying. He added, "It all started as therapy after I split with my wife - building every bit from scratch really helped me to deal with the stress of it all. I first started with the Transport Control Console, that took around two years to build- but it looks exactly like the one in the TV series. At the moment it controls all the lighting and sound effects and is one delicate piece of machinery, though it`s very durable on the outside." Alleyne, an interior designer by profession, said that he first got the idea to dedicate his flat to the sci-fi series when a friend gave him a Star Trek magazine. Originally, he designed it as a replica of the USS Enterprise from the 1979 film ``Star Trek: The Motion Picture``, but later went on to give it a more futuristic look. "My friend gave me a Star Trek mag and I became obsessed with having my own space ship. He laughed when I told him - I think he thought it was all a joke, but I knew I was going to achieve it one day," Alleyne said. "My whole life over the last few years has gone into this, I have given up absolutely everything. Some people might think I`m a bit of a sad individual but I`m not. I`m just really into Star Trek - it`s really my only vice in life. "I always wanted to live somewhere like this - for me it is utopia," he added. The impressive spectacle in Alleyne`s flat has been made on a shoestring budget of around 4,000 pounds after splitting from his wife Georgina, 50, who still owns the flat. ANI