A concept sketch for the temporal conduit in “Storm Front”, my nod to Irwin Allen’s “Time Tunnel” series. Although Allen’s shows were often silly, they had some kick ass production design. When Herman gave me the beat sheet for the episode and I saw “temporal conduit”, and then I saw that Manny Coto wrote it… I knew, that Manny knew, that I knew what to do.
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(Below) Concept art for Irwin Allen’s Time Tunnel complex
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(Below) The temporal conduit as it appeared in the episode, polished at Eden Effects, and I believe it was versatile Eric Hance who saw it through. 
This episode took some fan heat for “space nazis”, but there were some genuinely chilling concepts here. Occupied Amerika for one, and Scott Bakula beaten like a circus monkey by the bad guys, yet again.
Another thing that sparked my interest was that it took place in New York City. I’m a City boy, born and bred. Visual effects supervisor, Dan Curry asked me to design the Brooklyn neighborhood the temporal project was based in. Time machines, and NYC, all in one show. Goody!
(Below) Note catapults for launching aircraft in a hurry.
(Below) Design for the facilties plasma cannon. Roof top doors roll back, as the device rises on a hydraulic lift.
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Very Cool, Thanks for the post!
That catapult would’ve been in Brooklyn, too, right? Brooklyn Heights, specifically?
Hi Dwight! Pretty close to Brooklyn Heights! Very good! – Doug
admittedly, probably one of the only STE episodes i never saw and would love to, just because of the design and model work involved. especially the time tunnel homage. something that comes as no surprise, actually… perhaps a little Krell influence thrown in?
Aurore
Au, Irwin Allen drew artistic talent from Forbidden Planet. The TT complex was based on the Krell. Other shots of the complex are dead on Forbidden Planet. The Robot from Lost In Space was based on Robbie, and in fact designed by the same artist… I may be wrong about this.. Al Nozaki? – Doug
Robbie himself even appeared on an episode of Lost In Space.
Thanks for posting the article. Admittedly, I was not a huge fan of the Space Nazis either, but I still enjoyed the visuals. I like the nod to Irwin Allen, whatever can be said of his projects, he still entertained.
Doug, I believe it was Robert Kinoshita who designed both Robbie and the histrionic, arm-flailing robot from “Lost in Space.”
LM… I knew you would know! I think Al Nozaki was the conceptual designer on Pal’s War of the World’s. Anybody? Am I wrong again? – Doug
Doug: I have to thank Marvel Comics for teaching me so much about metropolitan New York. And motivating me to research to learn the differences between their versions and the real thing.
Nozaki? Yeszaki! He did indeed design Pal’s amputee tripods. In an interesting coincidence, Pegasus Hobbies has just released a model kit of those copper-plated manta rays:
http://www.pegasushobbies.com/prod%20scifi%20wotw48.html
(I am in no way associated with Pegasus, though I would appreciate their money.)
It is indeed Al Nozaki – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0637575/ – Dug
Doug, love your work and this blog. You have given me an excuse to take programming breaks more often now.
Hehe, ‘circus monkey’.
That did tend to happen frequently on Enterprise, didn’t it?
Hey Will! Thanks for tuning in! I’m really having a good time writing it, and I get a giant kick when folks tell me they are diggin’ it! – Doug
Man, I wish I saw this episode now.
Doug! A friend of mine just sent me the link to your blog today and I am sad that I have missed so many great posts over the past months! This site is a gold mine! Thank you so much for sharing with us.
Being a WWII buff, I loved the concept of the so called “space Nazis” and the idea of a Nazi controlled “Amerika” was chilling!
How long did it take you to model the Brooklyn neighborhood?
And, if a humble Media Arts and Animation student wanted to contact you off the list, is there a way to do so?
Howdy Matt! I’m a WWI buff myself, and am fascinated by the fact that Roddenberry, and Jefferies were both B-17 crew. The 1701 is very influenced by the B-17, and I plan to illustrate that in an upcoming blog. – Doug
Yeah, I thought this was one of the coolest concept eps. And The Time Tunnel baby! I used to love that show! Pretty much dug ALL IA shows.
You might find this cool, a friend built an awesome mesh of TTT: http://www.iann.net/timetunnel
Seems they have TTT eps. up on Hulu as well, cool.
Excellent work Doug (as usual), thanks for sharin’. I look forward to seein’ this eps. again.
Circus monkey… they beat circus monkeys? Waaaaa.
LLP,
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I know I’m a bit late into this, but I just discovered the blog a couple of days ago, and you are posting faster than I can read!
Who’s idea was to use 1939 Stukas instead of 1945 Me-262′s against Enterprise?
I mean, not even the craziest pilot would have tried shooting anything down with a 350 kph plane…
Hi Diego! Glad you are enjoying the drex files! Your question:
Who’s idea was to use 1939 Stukas instead of 1945 Me-262’s against Enterprise?
A: Alien Nazis, natch!
Q: I mean, not even the craziest pilot would have tried shooting anything down with a 350 kph plane…
A: Then why did they put guns on them? ; )
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Time Tunnels-I like your concept.I actually think if somebody did that old right,as you did in illustration,Time Tunnel could as good as say Stargate series.Irwin Allen was like Mr.Kelso a talented theif-he did draw artistic talent from Forbidden Planet. The Time Tunnel complex was based on the Krell mechines. Other shots of the complex are dead on Forbidden Planet. The Robot from Lost In Space was based on Robbie, and in fact designed by the same artist.The Allen had great concepts with Lost In Space,Voyage to the Bottem of the Sea and Time Tunnel-often overlooked,but those concepts were as good Star Trek/Star Wars and Stargate.What Irwin Allen did get was the execution beyond the pilot.He didn’t character developement,story arches-rarely if ever done in 1960′s tv,done all the time theses days.I’ve working a similar concept myself called Project Time Stalkers,Inc.using elements from Time Tunnel,Stargate Sg1,Sliders,the Guardian of Forever-which make a neat Star Trek spinnof-if ever done for some years.You see some my notes on my blog,for that.
Joseph Thompson
Maveric Entertainment Group, Inc ™2009
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