'Helper method for to and to_value.'

def _to_value(self, unit, equivalencies=[]):

    array_view = self.view(self._array_dtype, np.ndarray)
    if (equivalencies == []):
        equivalencies = self._equivalencies
    new_array = self.unit.to(unit, array_view, equivalencies=equivalencies)
    return new_array.view(self.dtype).reshape(self.shape)
