Undoubtedly one of the coolest sets ever built for any Star Trek series, the NX hangar bay.
Being on this set is an experience unto itself. I’ve spoken before about sets that are immersive. This is one of them. When you are here, you are on the ship. Cool is walking from the top level, down the gangway, and into the shuttle pod. Continue reading ‘NX Hangar Bay’
Enterprise "Class Picture" -- Click to enlarge
This is pretty much the family that brought you series Star Trek for nearly two decades. Behind us is the Bronson Gate Entrance, one of the most photographed studio entrances and where many movie stars took their first steps toward fame. If you have ever seen Sunset Blvd. (and if you haven’t, stop depriving youself of classic motion pictures), this is the gate Gloria Swanson entered the studio through. If you look straight back you will see stage 4, home of DS9’s OPs. Beyond that is what we referred to as Star Trek Blvd. At it’s peak, two series and one motion picture were in production there at the same time. You can see Dorth. She is the only one with a lime geen sweater. Behind her and to the right is Mike and Denise Okuda. Allllll the way in the back, on the right is me Vanover, and Eaves. Gee, I miss these guys!
Beautiful kit bash, Judy!
I’ve managed to pull together a modeler’s dream coverage of this well liked member of the “Frankenstein Fleet”. We have your coordinates, and are locked on to you. Energize!
Star Trek’s last gasp.
The episode warranted a TV Guide closeup only because of Belli’s brief appearance as Gorgan. When I pulled this out of my archive, I flipped it over and found a closeup for Trek’s competition that night, Judd for the Defense. ATCSL sounds like a pretty weak sauce next to Judd’s fare that night, and it truly was.
Trek’s bedfellow on Friday night at ten.
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I just came across this concept sketch for Enterprise, and cannot remember what the heck it was! But I’m not worried, because I have the topest of the top experts to help! Experts assemble!
Long missing images of the Enterprise J finally turn up showing the underside of the mysterious vessel.
I Opted for spindly nacelle struts because I felt it suggested a technology beyond what we were familiar with. Matt Jefferies used this same gag on the original series ship with it’s impossibly thin engine supports. It’s nacelles had a floaty appearance, defying the laws of physics. It was my opinion that the ever heavying up of engine struts over the years, took some of the magic out of the Enterprise.
(below) An aft view reveals a somewhat elegant starship, and for me, the design suggested a far-flung era.
More info on the search – http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/enterprise-j-search/
In Bob Justman and Herb Solow’s book, Inside Star Trek, they talk about Frank Oakden, a sound technician on the original series. It turned out that he was a talented characaturist. Bob and Herb include a couple of Frank’s drawings in their book, but there were more. Some of these folk will be obvious to you, some not so much. Either way, it is a supremely human look at the folks who made Star Trek for the first time. Enjoy…
This was just a topic of discussion on one of the threads, so here are a couple of nice shots of the runabout miniature with “roll bar” in place. Most of you know that the roll bar was added so that viewers could more easily differentiate between two runabouts.
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DS9’s weapons systems were upgraded with top of the line starfleet gear. This was a pop-up phaser bar which was deployed from when the station came under attack . Joltin’ Johnny Eaves designed it. Meinenger built it. You can see several different scales. The smaller bars went with the station model. The large “hero” bar was built for an oversized section of station.
A huge mural that Mike and I worked on together for the DS9 episode The Quickening. It depicted the ruined city where the story takes place, but in better days. This was probably one of the very first really large printouts made for us by the Paramount sign shop. Love the cracks in the wall. The episode was directed by Rene Auberjonois.
Johnny Hawk’s all too cool emblem for the Defiant Development Project.
In the DS9 Tech Manual I commisioned a couple of really cool emblems from Top Gun graphic designer Johnny Hawk. I don’t meant Top Gun the movie, I mean THE Top Gun, NAS Miramar.
Several entries back I mentioned The First Spaceship on Venus in reference to set design. Well I went to Amazon to order a new copy for myself and found out that the versions available can vary wildly in quality. If you plan to check it out, here is the one you want: http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Star-Yoko-Tani/dp/B0009PW3TC/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1238120734&sr=8-1
The quality is absolutely stunning, and it is subtitled, rather than the dreadful English dubbing that is available on the lesser quality versions. Includes background info, and image galleries!
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