Mike Okuda, doing that voodoo, that he do, so well.
There is nothing quite like putting the candy-coating, finishing touches on a spectacular filming miniature. The fact that it is a starship is enough to put you in orbit! I’m sure that most of you are aware that there is a lot of inter-office politics in film production. This can be especially true between two shows being produced by the same company. As observed by a Vulcan scientist of some reknown, “… it is not logical, but it often true.” Although I did work on both shows, I was “officially” on DS9, so when it came time to graphic the Voyager, Mike was forbidden to use crossover crew. There was no good reason for this that we could perceive.
One thing about Mike Okuda, is that all he cares about is doing the best job possible in the time available. When it came time to launch the Voyager, Mike wanted me with him, damn the decree.
Drexler on a covert operation under the command of scenic art supervisor Mike Okuda.
So in the dead of night, and under cover of darkness, Mike and I packed our gear, our graphic tape, and out custom INT’s, and headed into the San Fernando Valley, for Brazil Fabrications. To say that I was excited, was an understatement, and if I told you that I was not playing the Enterprise launch music from TMP in my head the entire time, I would be a big fat liar.
Tony Meinenger’s crew did a spectacular job under enormous time constraints. The variable pitch wing of the Voyager was a decision made by the producers, after the ship was mostly finished, and required a massive retrofit of the brand new model. Naturally, there was no additional time given to Tony to get it done. So here it was, zero hour, no time left, and Mike and I are working feverishly, and gleefully to the finish. “We’d tow her out with our bare hands if we had to…”
At one point. Mike and I had to lift the gorgeous model off of it’s stand, and turn it over, in order to work on the bottom. You feel like you are taking your life in your hands. One slip, and your career is over.
As the last phaser demarcation was rubbed down, a voice came from the open garage door of Brazil. “Good evening, gentlemen!” My heart froze. It was Voyager producer Wendy Neuss! BUSTED!
My heart was in my throat as Wendy surveyed our work. She did not make eye contact with me, and spoke only to Okuda. She seemed quite pleased, and Mike thanked her for coming out in the middle of the night to view the finished project. As Wendy headed for the door, she turned, looked at me, and said, “… and thank YOU, whoever you are,” and gave me a wink. With that, she dissapeared into the cool California night. Without a word, I looked at Mike wide eyed. ‘It’s ok,” he smiled, “she’s one of us.”
The master at work detailing the USS Defiant.
Haha…it’s like a scene from a spy novel. Also, don’t even front, Doug; you weren’t playing the music in your head–you played it in the car, didn’t you.
Nice story, I am glad it ended happily.
The okudagrams in “The Search” show a somewhat misshapen Defiant, so I’m curious about what reference exactly was used before you laid eyes on the finalized miniature, presumably during post-production (see the okudagram in the “Size Evidence” section of this article: http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/defiant-problems.htm). Do you know whether that okudagram was based on any particular sketch?
Hi Boris! The diagram from the search was drawn directly from dead flat images I took of this very filming minature. The image aspect ratio of the diagram in the playback was probably squeezed unintentionally. – Doug
Great photos, Doug! I remember that night, mainly the fact that those %^&*&(! INTs didn’t want to stick to the model, but there wasn’t time to have them redone. I think we got them to stick by sheer willpower. (And a little spray glue.)
Thanks Dough and Mike for the post and the work you did on the models.
lol sorry Doug Not Dough..Ok I need a nap.
I always love Doug’s use of trek dialogue in day to day situations.
he’s the only person I know who will get it when you quote trek…
Au.
Thanks for resolving one more little mystery. I also suppose that you had to interpret most of the miniature yourself, or did Gary Hutzel provide you with some basic information? I’ve always wondered exactly how much had been worked out by the time the miniature was completed, and exactly what came after. For instance, we can see that the shuttlepod launch bays are colored gray — by design or not? Were the two rows of holes originally supposed to represent windows?
(Unresolved questions like these are part of the reason why the Defiant is my favorite Star Trek ship.)
Boris-
>>I also suppose that you had to interpret most of the miniature yourself, or did Gary Hutzel provide you with some basic information? <<
Gary is a pal, so Mike and I always gabbed freely and with great gusto. We talked about what would be cool to us, and discussed what the expectations of our bosses were. We always did our best to give them what they wanted. That’s the job description. But we always had our own agenda, as long as it worked within the clients expectations.
When it came down to interpreting the ship, that was really came down to the production designer, and Herman put that in our court.
<<I’ve always wondered exactly how much had been worked out by the time the miniature was completed,<>For instance, we can see that the shuttlepod launch bays are colored gray — by design or not? Were the two rows of holes originally supposed to represent windows?<<
When we had to find a place for the shuttle pods, I studied the Defiant model and found a likely place based on what I knew about the ship. Not only that, those gray panels suggested doors. I talked it over with Mike and Herman, and that was that.
As for the rows of holes… which I believe were illuminated… if they are windows, they are very small. Like the view ports on a tank. Defiant IS a tank, so I can see that. – Doug
In that last picture, it looks as if the Defiant is being sexed*. That’s one ship that’s definitely more masculine than feminine.
*Don’t cry foul, unless you mean chickens! “To sex” is to determine the gender of an animal.
Gary Hutzel described it as a hotdog in a bun.
WooHOO!, Defiant picture!
When I work on my models at home I play all the star trek soundtracks on random, but the goosebumps only appear when the TMP theme comes on. Awesome story, love the ending!
Max, I pledge more Defiant. – Doug
Hey Doug remember the Defiant was only as good as its ability as a design of an internally protected armored turtle tank to blast enemy ships during the Dominion war when other Fed ships were being blown to smithereens. A story about the concept design and look of the cool enemy ships … the insectoid Jem Hadar ships, Cardassian etc. would be smashing! There is virtually little or no back story for hardcore enthusiasts to know how these ships were developed or what they look like (upclose and personal) outside of very few pics and what we have seen on the shows.
Hi Pacal, I have quite a few shots of the Cardassian warship designed by Rick Sternbach. I’ll ask Rick to fill in the blanks. Got questions?
As for The Jem ship… I have a few. I’m still digging. – Doug
Doug: thanks for the answers; as always, they’re much appreciated.
Rick Sternbach’s designs — even ships of the week — tend to be well worked out and documented, and he has been online so long that there are mostly specific questions left (as in, was the Galor supposed to be 480m or 370m long? I have sources for both.), but I must agree with Pacal that the development of the Jem’Hadar attack ship is a huge unknown, along with that of the Hideki-class Cardassian ship, which appeared in “Profit and Loss”, “Tribunal”, and then became a staple of fleet battles starting with the fifth season. (I suspect Gary Hutzel knows the most about these two designs.) We also know practically nothing about the development of John Eaves’s Dominion battlecruiser.
That’s my contribution to the blog suggestion box for today.
Boris – Are images of the Cardassian Galor scarce? if so I will run some. I believe I have a load of Dominion Battleship shots.
Ships of the week can be worked ou to your hearts content. The producers don’t fret about those, because chances are we will never see them again. – Doug
What are INTs?
Dry transfers are basically “rub-on” graphics or images which can easily be applied to most any surface or product’s substrate. They are also commonly referred to throughout the industry as INT’s or Cromatecs. Dry transfers are available in single or multi-color, including metallics, customs and foils. A simple rubbing or burnishing process is all it takes and the dry transfer will adhere to metal, paper, and glass or plastic, to name a few. Dry transfers are great for enhancing the look of your prototype model or packaging comp and can even help you in marketing presentations. Dry transfers give the apperance of a screen printed image because they are edgeless, unlike a decal or sticker. Another great option to our 100% solid color transfers are high-resolution CMYK. These are ideal when you have photo-graphic images or gradations of color within your art.
Thanks; that was my guess.
^Boris – thanks for the nod; I did try to nail things in orthographic form and clean perspectives so that a more detailed analysis could be done, even years later. Oh, right; it’s been years already.
I’m not entirely dead certain how long the Galor is, even with the data dropped into the DS9TM, but it wouldn’t take too long with the drawings to get a reasonable figure, which folks will continue to debate anyhow. With some threat vessels, Rick Berman usually said something like “Make it 3/4 the length of the Enterprise (D).” There’s a lot of leeway in there, of course, and I never made any ship exactly 3/4, but did a lot of plus/minus randomizing. Scales in blueprints, scales in finished models, and scales in finished episode comps are all very different animals. Which is “correct”? Hard to know, since some vfx bits made ships look different sizes from ep to ep. In the end, I usually adhere to some personal internal scale and leave it at that, though it’s still fun to read up on the discussions.
If it helps defuse any fisticuffs entering such debates, I wouldn’t be at all surprised at there being Galor variants of each of the lengths described above, in Cardassian service over the decades.
Doug: I knew that some companies still make dry-transfer sheets, and I remember the days when Letraset – the only firm I knew of in the lettering game back in high school – was king of the hill, or at least seen to be such.
Doug Drexler: sorry, I don’t know if the images are scarce. I suppose it also depends on the consumer — modelmakers probably need everything they can get their hands on. I’m mostly interested in sketches, blueprints, and okudagrams, which help clarify designs.
Everyone: sizes are important because one can’t really begin to determine a lot of other properties until one is sure about the size. The idea is to fix a number that explains most of the onscreen evidence, which often ends up being the designer’s intended size (sometimes adjusted for the differences between the blueprints/sketches and the final model), regardless of VFX manipulations, because for ships with obvious scale-defining features, even the shots which show a ship alone in space become perfectly valid size comparisons — between the ship and its own windows, kitbashed nacelles, shuttlebay doors or other features. And of course, such shots tend to vastly outnumber those which actually show size comparisons with other ships, often manipulated for dramatic purposes.
Naturally, there are always exceptions. For example, if the interior set is permanently inconsistent with the exterior (as with the Galileo), it may actually override the originally intended scale. If the ship has no scale-defining features, other recurring evidence comes into play (for example, even though the Defiant miniature was designed to be 560 feet long — 1.5 times the 360-foot length of a Bird of Prey + 20 feet so it looks better on paper
, says Gary Hutzel — it was Doug Drexler’s MSD based on Ira Behr’s scale and a few VFX manipulations that ultimately weighed in favor of about 120m). However, the goal remains the same — find a size that fits most of the onscreen evidence, while the remainder can be explained in any number of ways (or dismissed as outliers).
The idea that there are identical designs with different sizes violates everything we know about scaling in the real world and is also an example of reading too much into the source material. Such cases were either supposed to represent different designs (which we may see in an eventual Remastering), and thus should not be grouped together with the original design, or they may represent one-off adjustments for dramatic purposes, in which case there’s no real explanation and we must dismiss the evidence (unless we want to go into subspace XYZ explanations).
Hmm yeah, no better feeling than when youthink you’re busted, only to get told by the other “she’s one of us…”; good times
Ha! That’s awesome Doug. I can almost imagine Captain Sulu standing there in the background nodding in approval and saying his famous line; “Let the regulations be damned”!
Very cool, and what a story! And thanks for the INT lesson Doug!
PLL,
deg
“… and thank YOU, whoever you are”
Stephen E. Poe also tells this story in his book, “A Vision of the Future — Star Trek Voyager”, on page 325. Nice to finally find out who the mystery man was.
At your service, Heller!