Spinrad’s Doodle of Doom

(Above) Dammit Jim! I’m a writer, not an artist! Norman Spinrad’s off the cuff doodle of his take on the Doomsday Machine. Lovely nevertheless.

Another goody by way of John Ellis, who ran into brilliant “Doomsday Machine” author Norman Spinrad in NYC  in the 70s. I too had run  into Spinrad while managing The Federation Trading Post back in the day. We had a spirited discussion about  Trek,  and he related to me his overall dissatisfaction for the design of the iconic planet killer. Last week when John told me of his encounter with Spinrad, and that Norman had actually dashed off a rough sketch for him, I was beside myself. “Don’t get too excited, Doug. It’s rather on the primitive side.” John, it’s a fantastic artifact! Thank you for sharing it!

(Left) “Doomsday Machine” Author, and science fiction icon Norman Spinrad.

TOS Audio Bloopers – Saved From The Dumpster

Our good pal John Ellis of “Steve Canyon” fame sent along these rare TOS bloopers along for us to enjoy. John recommends not drinking milk while listening. Thanks John for preserving these morsels of Trek history!

http://homepage.mac.com/twonky/.Music/tosedsalad/01-Track-01.mp3

http://homepage.mac.com/twonky/.Music/tosedsalad/05-Track-05.mp3

http://homepage.mac.com/twonky/.Music/tosedsalad/08-Track-08.mp3

http://homepage.mac.com/twonky/.Music/tosedsalad/10-Track-10.mp3

http://homepage.mac.com/twonky/.Music/tosedsalad/11-Track-11.mp3

http://homepage.mac.com/twonky/.Music/tosedsalad/15-Track-15.mp3

Reflections From The Mirror Universe.

Lightening captured in a bottle.

When we finished DS9’s  “Trial and Tribble-ations”, we figured that was it. There is no chance that we will ever get to play in that universe again! Well, when you live in a sci-fi world like we do, you eventually know better! When Manny Coto and Mike Sussman got their hands on the NX wheel, Enterprise made an abrupt course change, and we returned home yet again.

Since this was the USS Defiant, and the footage we shot did not need to intercut with an original series episode as was the case with Tribble-ations, our beloved production designer Herman Zimmerman decided it would be fair to sleek the classic designs up a bit, as if Matt Jefferies had some money back in the day. The vertical access tube pictured above is a fine example of that. Updated, but not likely to raise the ire of the most hardened purist.

(Below) I recall that when I first saw Marvin Rush’s lighting design for “Through a Mirror Darkly”, I was a little disappointed. Where were the colors and the wild lighting cookies? But looking back at these images now, I am just wowed by the beautiful lighting design.

SOTL Flashback

“Shoreleave” – SOTL – 2008

SOTL 2010 – On Sale Now – From Simon & Schuster

Jörg’s LA Away Mission – Part 3

The Chronowerx building from “Future’s End.

LA trip – day three

I had a hard time sleeping the second night in LA, I guess I was still suffering from jetlag and a little nervous because of the upcoming day, so I got up really early and changed my plans for the day a little (I’m glad I did in retrospect!). I had originally planned to visit the MTA building (Henry Starling’s Chronowerx building in “Future’s end I+II”) and the square in front of Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (again Future’s end II, the Doctor meets Paris, Tuvok and Rain Robinson here) early Monday morning, before I had to get on the plane at 2.30 PM. I decided to go Sunday morning instead, which left me half a day on Monday to visit another location.

So, I set off at 6.30 AM to visit two locations from “Future’s end” on my own.

Whereas LA had been intimidatingly crowded Friday night at the Walk of Fame, downtown was eerily quiet and deserted Sunday morning shortly after sunrise. I got to see a completely different side of the city that morning. I took the empty Red line subway to Union Station and got off to see my first downtown shooting location: the MTA building. It was funny seeing the building without the Chronowerx signs added in post production but visiting this place before the morning rush was really something. There was nobody except for me on the long plaza, so I took countless photos from all angles. I had forgotten my sheet with screenshots of the building, so I tried to remember the few camera angles that were used. Funny how I expected the Aeon to smash through some upper windows any second! After getting my shots, I went down to Union Station again to cross over (under?) to the other site of the highway. I could have taken the subway to Civic Center to quickly get to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but I wanted to take the scenic route, past the famous LA City Hall. I had used google Earth to memorize the trip from Union Station past the City Hall to Dorothy Chandler Pavilion so it was easy finding my way around. I passed some interesting sights, especially The Times building seemed really spooky and Hollywood-like.

(Below) The MTA building which doubled as the “Future’s End” landmark.

Arriving at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, I realized that not much had changed since Future’s end was shot in 1996. I was able to recreate many of the shots from my screenshot worksheet and it took several attempts until the fountain on the square was sputtering water in the same formation as it had on my screenshot of the Doctor in front of the fountain (it annoyed me that I had forgotten the screenshots of the MTA building so I had to do this as accurately as possible )

(Below) The good Doctor at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion from “Future’s End”.

(Above) The Chandler pavilion as it appears today, in downtown LA.

After that, I took the still deserted subway back to my hotel and waited for Jeff to pick me up to see the two biggest shooting locations: the Tillman water reclamation plant (actually the Japanese Garden in front of it) and Vasquez Rocks.

1701 Cutaway

A cutaway I created of the original Enterprise. From our Mirror Universe episode of  Star Trek: Enterprise. Bright and colorful, just like TOS. Give it a click.

T(OS) Party

I hope I’m not boring you with yet more of these DS9 Tribble-ations set shots. I know I can’t get enough of them.

While pawing through the archeological dig that is Castle Drexler, I came across another batch of temporal crossover shots on the Paramount backlot. I’ve got to admit that these are a few of my favs… family shots of the gang doing that voodoo that they do so well.

(Above) From left to right: Set decorator Laura Richarz, Denise Okuda on the ladder adding the detailing we all love so much, me spotting the ladder for Neezee,  one of our hardworking Marathon Mill foremen (who is going to kill me if he runs across this article because his name is eluding me for the moment), the amazing Mike Okuda, and Anthony Fredrickson.

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(Above) The ever mischievous Fritz Zimmerman attempts to bomb fleet of foot lighting technician Phil Jacobson, as Mr. Mike and ARF look on. Anthony is at work on the panel Sisko and Dax diddle with when they first spot Kirk and Spock making a phone call to Mr. Lurry on K-7.

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(Above) We were having such a ball, that even Production Designer Herman Zimmerman was on a ladder giving Neezee a helping hand. Looking at these pictures again makes me wistful for the old gang. We had one of the greatest times ever, this episode being a high water mark.

The Smithsonian Report – Poster Book Flashback – 1977

Way back in the dim dark days of fandom, we created Trek’s first mainstream magazine: The Star Trek Giant Poster Book. We published 12 issues of this little gem before moving on.

It was the first publication of it’s type, predating Starlog. All of the content came from our personal collections. We were running the Federation Trading Post on 57th Street in midtown Manhattan, and Fiona Press  was right across the street. Somehow they ended up with Trek publishing rights. What did they know about Star Trek? Nothing! In those days if you wanted Trek info we were the only game in town and they fell right  into our gravity well. The next thing we knew, we had our own magazine!

My single favorite issue is this one…” The Smithsonian Report – A Pictorial Inspection of Star Trek’s Miniatures Today”. The Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. let us in before the doors opened, and even gave us a ladder to get up close and personal with the TOS Enterprise filming miniature. I was in heaven. I climbed the ladder with anticipation, and planted one on the leading edge of the saucer.

So here it is, Poster Book issue 10 – ” The Smithsonian Report”. I’ve scanned it at extra hi rez, give it a click and enjoy the slingshot!

Bonus! I’ve dug up a few of the original slides, scanned them, and reproduced them here as well. So what are you waitin’ for, Spock!? You and Dr. Wallace get crackin’!

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SOTL Flashback – 02

“Uneasy Truce”  – Rob Bonchune – SOTL – 2009

SOTL 2010 – On Sale Now – From Simon & Schuster

Decker Lives!

We actually shot William Windom’s scenes for the New Voyages episode “In Harm’s way in our living room.

I loved the whole idea that Decker never died in the Doomsday Machine incident, and that he ended up alive, happy, and living with Captain’s woman BarBara Luna. When Dorothy was a kid, she had a crushed on Windom from watching him in a television show called “The Farmer’s Daughter”. When Bill arrived in his well worn jeep at our house in North Hollywood, I snitched, telling him my wife had a crush on him from the 60’s. He replied, “WELL, we’ll fix THAT!” Everyone agrees that William Windom stole the show in “The Doomsday Machine”, and Windom knows it, too…. “That was MY show” he chortles with devilish satisfaction.

We also had a huge ginormous amount of fun with all-time great Malachi Throne. The man was a bundle of high spirited humor. I had some of my most favorite moments watching episodes of  “Lancelot Link” with him. It was Malachi who taught me that there were “Actors, and then there were performers” , and that “the best all around attitude, was gratitude.”

What Color Is The TOS Enterprise?

In our previous post, “Eyecandy 27″, Sir Rickover felt that the Enterprise was a tad too gray. Well, what color IS the TOS Enterprise? My friend Paul Newitt, is probably one of the hippist cats in the ‘verse on this subject. Here is his report. Thank you Paul!

What Color IS the TOS Enterprise? – By Paul Newitt

Here are the much anticipated paint specs for the  “The Original Series” Enterprise, based on research provided by Richard C. Datin, the original builder of the 3′ (33in) and 11ft. (4x) filming miniatures, in late 1964.

Eye Candy 27

The Enterprise

There was a time when we thought we might be doing the new VFX for the remastered TOS episodes. This was our ship.

Click for a better look