Lego J

The Enterprise J from “Azati Prime”.

When Chris Gay sent me these images of his Enterprise J, I just about fell off my chair. I have to admit an oddball feeling of having “arrived”, after all, this honor is usually reserved for the Capitol Building, Statue of Liberty and the Loch Ness Monster. Chris admits to being obsessed by the design, “You did a wonderful job with the Enterprise J. It’s beautiful to look at. It’s like a Starfleet take on Noah’s ark.” Chris! Not only is your Leggo sculpture of the J amazingly cool, I bet it hurts like hell to step on in your bare feet!

For more of the Lego J – http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=377756

For more on the Enterprise J – http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/category/ent/enterprise-j/

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I guess I can pretty much retire now, ’cause I’ve seen it all: an Enterprise J made of Lego blocks!

Altair Class – Space Trials

done

My art department generated test of the Altair class starship. This sequence was generated as one of several designs being considered for the Enterprise J. It’s a design concept which originated with Mike, and that I developed during the Voyager search.

Backstory – http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed/

Special thanks to Matt Wright for nudging me to make the drex files video clip capable!  Note – it may take a moment for the clip to show up, so give it a second!

Congo Class

Another shot just turned up of the “Congo class” starship. A runner up for the Enterprise J, discussed in an earlier blog. This is the approved J saucer mated with the Altair wingship.

Enterprise J Search Redux

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/

Enterprise J Search

One of the J configurations sent to the front office for consideration. The secondary hull by itself became known as the Altair-class featured an entry or so back. The primary hull went on to become part of the approved J ship, as seen below. You know how the Enterprise was described to Charlie X as “a whole city in space”? The 1701 was really a village compared to the J, which even dwarfed the D ship. I saw this concept as a multi-generational vessel, that had large parks, entertainment zones, and entire universities on board. The ship is so large that turbo lifts would be  replaced with site to site transporters.

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

The starship concept that never took wing.

Voyager was in pre-production, and a ship search was in progress. “So Mike,” I asked, “is there a pet idea of yours you’d like to see developed that we could pitch to the Killer B’s?” Killer B’s being out pet name for Berman and Braga. Mike rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You know those V shaped television antennaes you see on automobiles? That.” So I went back to my desk, opened Adobe Illustrator, a vector based 2D program, and developed the above black and white sketch.

The design, which we all thought was a cool departure, never made it to first base. Very different, but still had that “starfleet” look. Oh well.  A few years later on Enterprise, the design was submitted once again as an idea for the NX. No dice, Chicago. Two years after that for the Enterprise J. I would sleek it  somewhat, and rebuilt it in Lightwave. No luck that time either ( although the engines would end up on the approved J ship). Phooey! Well dang it! I edit the Ships of the Line Calendar (with Margaret!), and by Crom, people would get to see this cool design.

(Above) The Altair class wing ship makes it into space for “Ships of the Line”. I was taken by the way it contrasted and complemented the shape of Any Probert’s magnificent Enterprise D. The was also something vaguely IDIC-like about the juxtaposition.