U.S.S. Enterprise studio model visit

spaceagent-9

Right Hand Man and Confidant
Moderator
International "Your lights are off!" Hand signal is to hold up your hands and repeatably extend and clutch your fingers while yelling, " YOUR LIGHTS ARE OFF!" . It never works. The drivers don't know what the hell you are doing and can't hear you. The people signalling all know what they are doing and yelling, and that the drivers won't respond correctly.
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Kirk, "Yes. Scotty, why do we have such a damnfool system?"
Scotty,"I dunno sir, but if we reverse the flux capacitor through the bussards with negative polarity we might just recover Mr. Sulu's hand."


Wouldn't Scotty reply instead; "Because the more they complicate the plumbing, the easier it would be to stop up the drain..."
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Sorry!


Been busy with real life, and getting the build pic up this week, and haven't added to this with what few close up pics that I have left.


Here's an interesting detail: a close up of the deflector dish spool to accentuate the shape of to for builders and developers. Almost all market developed kits have this piece reflected as a single, simple point.


Deflector dish spool.JPG




The next pic was a close up of the stern from above. Interesting details to note:

-a red bacon, or lightbulb, sits between two red stripes that frame the upper hull.

These stripes fall back toward the hangar deck, stopping just before the upper hangar control beacon. Note that the opaque globe of the beacon rests within a housing that frames the beacon assembly.

This was shot from the undecorated side; which during the series run, never faced the camera. The angle does illustrate the sharp edge of the hangar bay and the textured lines of the bay doors.

Hangar deck control beacon.JPG



The last pic tonight shows the detail on the endocarps of the nacelles. That the caps are deeply engraved with ridges, but that at the bottom, these rows of ridges are uneven. The close up also shows how deeply the connection points are behind these caps; two rows of deep connection joints; again not depicted in most retail kits of this ship.

nacelle end-cap.JPG





A few (very few) more to come...
 

Cybergrinder

Member Extraordinaire
I remember reading that we never saw the port side of the Enterprise in TOS. Wonder if that's why Khan blasts the port side in ST2? (never mind the layout that was given in the movie ;)) Producer out to make a point? :)
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
I do not know about that but I do recall discussion of those thoughts prompting the STTMP fly arounds to illustrate just how advanced the fx were in 79. The crew wanted to demonstrate just how realistic that beautiful model was, and how it could be filmed from multiple angles.
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Which to say, we've piggybacked of Star Wars effects :)


Well, not exactly.

SW's was the champion of fast moving, blurring vessels. The Trek crew advanced the static ship that held up under still inspections...and scrutiny. That's why the 1701 movie model was so detailed. It had to hold up.
 

Cybergrinder

Member Extraordinaire
I can't argue that point, but they did use blue screen tech to film the ST movies :) Blue screen enabled the free-flowing style of filming that was pioneered with Star Wars, that's more what I was aluding to :)
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
I can't argue that point, but they did use blue screen tech to film the ST movies :) Blue screen enabled the free-flowing style of filming that was pioneered with Star Wars, that's more what I was aluding to :)



I know this may surprise you, but blue screen was actually used on the old 1966 series! Star Wars employed it well, with craft on sticks to simulate movement over blue screen, but it was an old, if not expensive technique.

Check this out:


1964 pilot

4a2cc5db89710bfa423ded2476a7830e--star-trek-ships-star-trek-tos.jpg




1966 series


trek_spaceseed1.jpg
Very nice to see the REAL Enterprise! Thank for share
 

Cybergrinder

Member Extraordinaire
Ok, I stand corrected :) honestly thought ILM pioneered that methodology.

So why did TOS only shoot the starboard side? It surely couldn't have cost that much more to match the sides? (having seen the model you would be able to cast more light on the practical side of it :)) I do realise we will never really know, just putting the question out there :)
 
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THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Ok, I stand corrected :) honestly thought ILM pioneered that methodology.

So why did TOS only shoot the starboard side? It surely couldn't have cost that much more to match the sides? (having seen the model you would be able to cast more light on the practical side of it :)) I do realise we will never really know, just putting the question out there :)



No, that's a very good and reasonable question. I'm glad to answer it.

We don't think about it today, but lighting systems were much larger and heat generating in '64 when the models were being used. They needed a way to have all the thick wires come out to power systems. The snake-like cables that existed would look over-sized today, but this was an era before LEDs and wheat bulbs, where the lights had to be very powerful to make an impression on an 11ft kit. Just think how large that is!

In addition to the lighting-cabling issue, the speed to finish the model, and, yes, the price to detail the other side, was an expense not deemed necessary. In model building of the period, such compromised were not only frequent, they were considered standard practice. The cost of this model heavily drained the new series and the expense was a sticking point to executives who didn't understand why Star Trek was paying so much for an 11ft kit when they had the 3ft one left over from the pilot. Consider, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea used a far less detailed 8ft. model and Lost in Space, the main competitor, had a much cheaper, smaller model. It was not easy to convince the executives to spend the money when the age of television, especially sci-fy was mostly I dream of Jennie (sorry Zathros), Lost in Space, and similar.

The level of detail on the model and props was reflective of the business sense of the producers. They wanted to stand out with a better product. It was risky, and by most standards, it failed. All that money was spent and yet they only got three seasons out of the investment.

Of course, history changed when the show went syndicated...




Smithsonian.jpg

ENTERPRISE 1701.jpg
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
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Of course, you have to realize that the guy filming the space scenes was always on that side on the ship, and moving around in space, with 1960's technology was rather difficult, let alone keeping up with the ship as it whizzed by!!:smoker::yesyes::drinksmile::biggrin::noteeth::Smartass::hide:
 

Cybergrinder

Member Extraordinaire
Or maybe he ran/drove/cycled past the model really fast? ;)

@THE DC ; thanks for the explaination, TOS was before my time :) I grew up with TMP era and TNG in my late teenage years.
 

THE DC

Highly Esteemed Member
Here's a couple of interesting detail pics.


The first details the upper saucer section, showing the upper decks and bridge:

- The red bulb on the side of the upper hull part is very clear in this pic.
- The milky-white color of the bridge dome is clear when unlit.
- The dark gray coloration of the turbo shaft hull at the aft of the bridge.
- The two decals on the back of the upper hull; both representing access bays.
- In the distance the green nav beacon (that lights up) on the edge of the saucer, and the small running light is detectible (but doesn't illuminate) from this angle.


bridge & upper decks detail.JPG

The second pic is another close up of the aft section, just from the other side.
- Note the window detailing on the filming side that wasn't present on the lighting-access side (that was never filmed).
- The red nav beacon, and the smaller running light, can be seen at the edge of the hull in the distance.
- The very slight grid effect and "weathering" is clear too.


Aft upper decks.JPG
 
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