The Suliban Helix: Remarkable.
The more I dig through my Enterprise files, the more I realize that some of the most far out and science-fictiony stuff was created for this series. Enterprise was the first Trek series to have all the power of CG imagery available to it, and it was used to wild advantage. Keep in mind that these images do not illustrate the structure with it’s full complement of cell ships attached. With it’s enormous assemblage of cells in place, it would have been an impossibility to construct as a physical model, and we would have ended up with a design much more conventional.You’ll see what I mean when you get to Jörg’s screen caps at the end of the entry. The final build is a fragile, multitudinous assemblage of bubbles that defy gravity, possible only within the CG realm. John, how many dozens of drawings did you do before a final design was approved?
I’m awaiting more info on who actually built this model, and will post that here as soon as I have it.
Top
Bottom
Front
Back
Side
Screen caps courtesy of Jörg.
I always wondered, how would the Suliban get to the cell ships, would they have to go through each cell ship (pod) to get to the end one?
It looks cool tho.
Hi Paul! I’m not the last word on this, but transmitting people is fairly everyday. Not for humans yet, but everyone else does it pretty much with abandon!
Cheers Doug, I just assumed that Humans were the first and only to have transporters. . . and now I remember the future guy supplying them with Tech . . .
I thought they all just took a number and were very, very patient?
The DC
Cool stuff! Now we get a good idea of the relative sizes of the pods (and of the Helix as a whole). I wasn’t aware that there was a massive core in the Helix.
“multitudinous assemblage of bubbles” is my phrase of the day.
Mine, too…great verbage!
I can *so* see this as a chandelier.
This was one of the first things that told us that the design esthetic on “Enterprise” was going to be something very different than what had come before. An approach I applauded. “Strange New Worlds” indeed. Unfortunately, the stories didn’t always keep up with the possibilities. Great work here, Doug. thanks.
I’ve only seen this once when it first aired and didn’t really see the details very well…thanks for this close look, guys!
There was a lot of fun, interesting CG stuff, like the Tholians, that added to the strange newness of the first exploratory expedition. Then again it was a hoot to see good ol’ Jeffrey Combs in blue with antennae, too! I enjoyed so many things about this series that some of the story lines didn’t deter me from enjoying it at all.
I have always wonder how they got the Antennae to move on the actor head.
I hope it something old school like someone siting off screen using a remote control to move them by small water pumps. instead of them being adding post with CGI.
Doug can you shine some light on this?
I’m pretty sure it was a little remote control thing…
http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/3513.html
It’s so complicated looking! How on Earth did the CG-animators keep their heads together on this one? How many Cell-ships would a full complement be exactly?
Fab renders as always Doug! Cheers for posting!
Cool renders, thanks.
I have always love this. It was so out there when I first saw it.
another one of these awesome ENT ships and shuttles.
a really unique shape.
I really like it.
I thought the suliban were an interesting race aswell with some depth (bad modified foot soldiers or double agents and still camped in prisons)
shame we haven’t seen more of them instead of the lame xhindi.
This>/i> is where 24th Century Starfleet “lifeboats” got the “gaggle mode” idea from, isn’t it?
I love CG!! This is a fun piece and I’m glad that we got to see it in all its glory and splendor due to advancements in CG at that point!
I wish we’d been able to see more Suliban designs like these through out the early part of the series. I love how the pods are hap-hazzardly arranged across the core. Very contrast to the ordered appearance of a Starfleet structure.
The screen shot of all the pods scattering reminds me of when you blow the seeds off a dandelion!
Not sure about the model but i think it’s a David Morton shot, Dave Morton is the man!
Hi Brandon, Talked to Dave today. It’s his shot, but that was a while ago. He isn’t sure who built the Helix. Jose perez built the smaller cell ships.
Man, I loved that Helix! It’s gotta be one of the more original structures seen in sci-fi, even if underneath it kinda reminds me of Spacedock with a bad rash
Ever notice how it’s shape is similar to the Star Trek III Spacedock? It could be said that this was the “unseen” Suliban contribution to the Federation… Good work on the design and CGI by the way.
WOW, what a cool design and considering how massive it was compared to the “E”, it probably would have been nearly impossible to do a physical model and filming them next to each other. Speaking of “Enterprise”, I’ve seen that the Sci fi channel has been showing old episodes in the afternoons, with right now being in the Xindi story arc. I was curious, do you have any info about the other “E” in the episode “E²”? It seemed like a very important ship for the episode and we didn’t get to see a lot of the detail on the outside. Thanks for you updates!
Now. Where did I park my car?
Awesome stuff.