(Above) My new cover for David Mack’s novel “Vanguard: Precipice”. Should be out there now. Pick it up from Simon & Schuster\Pocket Books. Thanks for everything, Margaret!
(Below) I usually give Margaret a few roughs to choose from. Here are some of the runner ups. Lookit how the juxtaposition of the hangar door and the Enterprise conspire to suggest the Starfleet delta (far left).
Click for a better look.
The Bud Light cans are a nice touch… also an explanation.
Thanks Maria, for sending this one! http://www.wagreflex.com/2009/08/to-boldy-wear-what-no-dog-wants-to-wear.html
Read the comments column- worth the price of admission.
Resistance is futile…you will be refrigerated! The Arctic Explorer from “Regeneration”, getaway car for a gang of Borg who thought they had it all thawed out.
A spin on Howard Hawks classic “The Thing From Another Wold”, Starfleet discovers the remains of the Borg ship from “First Contact” flash frozen in the Arctic Circle. We’ve seen people assimilated before, but this was the first time we actually watched a vessel gradually become more and more “borgified”. Here now is professor Jörg, with a little history –
Three versions of the ship were seen in “Regeneration”, the episode the model was created for. The unborgified version was only seen in a snow storm at the beginning of the episode and then parked to the research buildings. Two borgified versions were seen, one still showed the greenish hull colour of the original ship, the other was fully borgified. Interestingly, the lower section of the fully borgified ship includes the forward section of the Tarkalean transport seen being pillaged by the Borg ship earlier in the episode.
The unborgified ship reappeared in “Twilight” as part of the rag-tag fleet of Earth vessels as it approaches Ceti Alpha V. The model remained unchanged and still sported the skids. Three ships of this type were seen among the fleet of Earth ships that welcomed Enterprise home at the end of “Storm front II”. Again, the model was unchanged. For “Demon”, the model was modified to appear as a moon transport. The hull colour was changed to grey and the skids were removed.
Below, the final stage “Borgification” -
An early concept sketch I did for Gary Hutzel of a Cylon resurrection pod. They grew like sausages in a butcher’s case at the meat market, and could be perceived through the glass walls of the Resurrection Ship.
One more study model image unexpectedly turns up this morning as I root through my files. McCoy’s sickbay… a masterpiece of economy. Built like a three camera sitcom set, it was designed for speed. Not surprising, as the original Star Trek was one of Desilu’s first dramas, and it’s “I Love Lucy” geneology is apparent.
If you haven’t seen the rest of these study models, here they are -
Note I saved from John telling me that Pierre Drolet had called.
Dea kept on me until I finally watched Joss Wedon’s “Firefly”. I admit, I kicked and screamed, and squirmed all the way! Cowboys and horses! Bah! Now I am hopelessly hooked. One of the funnest episodes is “Jaynestown”. Here, Adam Baldwin (Jayne) sings the Ballad of “A Man Called Jayne”. Note the “cunning” hat.
From the “Enterprise episode “The Crossing”, a gigantic spacefaring cross between Moby Dick and a Manta Ray.
The joke with this one is that all my files are labelled “NBS”. That would be for the producers request for something “Never Before Seen”. I had to laugh right up front because I knew that that’s really not what they wanted. Anything too different ran the risk of ”confusing the audience”. Since they asked, I’d start out at the far end of the weirdness scale.
In the script, Enterprise is described as “caught” by a very alien looking spacecraft. I visualized the Enterprise being attacked by an insect. I had once watched a spider jump on it’s prey and devour it, so that’s what I was thinking. (Below) Pretty NBS.
Welcome to the future
When I discovered that L.M. Oliver, a frequent visitor to the Drex Files, was on his way to Tokyo to tour the amazing architecture of Takematsu, I became excited. When L.M. offered to put together an article on his adventure, I was beside myself. Takematsu is one of the leading futurist architects of our time. L.M not only wrote a very personal account, but took some extraordinary pictures of Takamatsu’s structures. We are fortunate that L.M has taken the time to share this remarkable experience…
“Ask if I can take pictures.” My brother rephrased my question in Japanese, prefacing it with the now familiar “Eto…” The secretary whom he addressed was sheathed in concrete grey like the edifice in which she worked and which we had somehow, by a leap of dream logic, entered. She answered my brother, who repackaged her words for foreign consumption. “Yes, but only for personal use; you can’t show them to anyone.” Then that was the condition put on our visit: we should have no proof of it.
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