Friday 10 February 2012

28 November 2008 | ROMULAN COMMANDER’S DRESS

William Ware Theiss is best remembered as the designer of every costume worn in the 79 episodes that comprise the first Star Trek series. From Captain Kirk’s tunic, to Edith Keeler’s dowdy dress, to the now-infamous daring attire of almost all other female guest stars, Bill dressed them all.

On display here is the Romulan Commander’s dress from the episode “The Enterprise Incident,” on display at the Smithsonian Institute. For more of Theiss’s work, see our latestarticle about him.

27 November 2008 | THE JOY MACHINE

Science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon wrote the Star Trek episode “The Joy Machine” in which the Enterprise is sent to investigate a planet where the population is enslaved by a heinous computer!

James Gunn adapted the script into a novel in 1996. The book features scenes far too complicted for the special effects then at Star Trek’s disposal, so it is no surprise that the episode was never produced. Forgotten Trek is now able to present exclusively the full story of “The Joy Machine.”

26 November 2008 | THE OLD SPOCK

Trekmovie posted yesterday our very first look of Leonard Nimoy as Spock in the upcoming Star Trek feature.

This image of Nimoy comes apparently from a scene in which the older Spock meets with Kirk on a frozen world after the latter has been ejected off the Enterprise by the younger Spock. (We have already seen an image of Kirk crawling out of a lifeboat in the snow.) With the help of Scotty’s ingenuity, Kirk is beamed back on board, but not before Nimoy gives him the “live long and prosper” salute.

25 November 2008 | THE RINGSHIP ENTERPRISE

Ever since it appeared on display in the Enterprise Recreation Room of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, fans have wondered about the mysterious “ring ship” which was supposed to be a predecessor to the familiar Enterprise.

The painting that appeared in The Motion Picture was actually based upon an early Matt Jefferies design for the original Enterprise. Gene Roddenberry rejected that design, but you can see all of Jefferies’ sketches in our article “The Ringship Enterprise”.

24 November 2008 | ROCKABYE BABY, OR DIE

“Rockabye Baby, Or Die” is an episode outline written by science fiction author George Clayton Johnson, completed on August 2, 1966. Johnson previously wrote the Star Trek episode that would be the series’ aired premiere, “The Man Trap”. “Rockabye Baby, Or Die” featured an alien entity entering the Enterprise computers to growing to adulthood while considering Kirk as father-figure.

Forgotten Trek is now able to present exclusively the full story of “Rockabye Baby, Or Die.”

23 November 2008 | PHASE II BRIDGE

The Enterprise bridge was described in the Star Trek II Writers/Directors Guide as “[a] circular, platformed set where Captain Kirk presides over the whole ship’s complex. [...] In the outer circular elevation of the set are various positions for Communications Officer and various Technical Crewmen [...]” This rare photograph shows one of those consoles under construction for Phase II!

Read more in our article “Phase II interior design.”

22 November 2008 | JOANNA

If Dorothy Fontana had her way, Nancy Sinatra might have featured on Star Trek! Her episode outline, “Joanna” introduced McCoy’s long lost daughter and she suggested Nancy Sinatra as well as Bobbie Gentry for the role.

Forgotten Trek is now able to present exclusively the full story of “Joanna.” The episode was never produced however the character of Joanna went on to live in Star Trek fandom and featured or was referred to in several novels and even a comic book!

21 November 2008 | A NEW SPACE STATION

This screencapture of the newest trailer for the upcoming Star Trek film also comes from TrekCore’s.

The space station depicted may not be exactly “new” for it rather resembles Franz Joseph’s Starfleet orbital headquarters from his Technical Manual as well as Andrew Probert’s space office from The Motion Picture. It seems too small to serve as spacedock, so this is probably indeed a space office of some sorts that fits in perfectly with the established design lineage.

20 November 2008 | INSIDE V’GER

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Art Director Richard Taylor and his team were responsible for the design of the mysterious entity known as V’Ger. Many artists contributed to the design, including Tom Cranham, Robert T. McCall, Syd Mead, David Negron, and Tony Smith. It was Smith who produced this drawing of the inside of V’Ger.

Read all about the design of V’Ger in our article “Designing the Living Machine.”

19 November 2008 | THE NEW CORRIDORS

This screencapture of the newest trailer for the upcoming Star Trek film also comes from TrekCore’s.

It shows a scene in the corridors of the new Enterprise. The corridor design does not resemble that from The Original Series much; actually, someone pointed out that they look more like the corridors in the film adaption of Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain which, incidently, was directed by Robert Wise, who also directed Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

18 November 2008 | THE NEW BRIDGE

Now that the new trailer for the upcoming feature is available in high-definition at the Official Website, we can begin scrutinizing every segment of it!

TrekCore already has a series of screencaps of the trailer and this image is taken from that collection. It shows the bridge from a wider angle than the last image we got of it, and in spite of the many additional stations, it seems to resemble the original at least somewhat more than initially apparent.

17 November 2008 | DESIGNING ENGINEERING

The details of how warp drive operated were not yet fully devised even at the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was not until Rick Sternbach began work on The Next Generation that it was decided Main Engineering would be where a matter/anti-matter reaction would form.

Sternbach deviced the mechanics of warp drive, including the now-familiar combination of the horizontal and vertical intermix chambers. See our article for Sternbach’s sketches and to read how the Engineering set was built.

16 November 2008 | STAR TREK TRAILER

After being shown in the theaters this weekend, the new trailer for the upcoming Star Trek film should be available tomorrow at the Official Website.

Some “pirate” version are already available online however, at TrailerSpy and Vimeo. (The videos currently available at YouTube may be removed until Monday.) Over at the Subspace Comms Network forum, screencaps of the trailer have also been posted. This image, of the new Enterprise, is among those.

15 November 2008 | MORE KELVIN

Back in July, Intel launched a partnership website with Paramount to promote their products and the upcoming Star Trek film. Yesterday the site was updated with some new animations as well as two wallpaper images of the USS Kelvin.

One of the images in question is on display here. For a larger view, as well as the other wallpaper, visit the “Starfleet Database” of the Website. Another section of note is labeled “Technology” and pitches Intel products.

14 November 2008 | BUILDING THE EARTH SPACEDOCK

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock called for a gargantuan spacedock in orbit over Earth; the first such space-fixed installation shown on Star Trek!

The Spacedock model was built by Industrial Light and Magic. The interior was represented by a large set which was destroyed after filming, so for The Voyage Home, the production crew had to rebuild the entire set from scratch. In our article, “Building the Earth Spacedock” we offer several photographs of the model under construction.

13 November 2008 | STAR TREK TRAILER

The trailer for the upcoming Star Trek feature will not be released till later this week, yet several descriptions of it are already available online, and just yesterday, director J.J. Abrams was in London to show several scenes from the film to the press!

Trekmovie has the scoop, along with links to places where you can read detailed descriptions of the trailer. Depicted is the second film poster which we are supposed to be seeing in the theaters this weekend.

12 November 2008 | THE NEW ENTERPRISE

There she is! PopWatch allows us a first, full look at the Enterprise as it will appear in the new Star Trek film.

About the redesign of the Enterprise, director J.J. Abrams notes, “If you’re going to do Star Trek there are many things you cannot change. [...] So if you’re going to do the Enterprise, it better look like the Enterprise, because otherwise, what are you doing?” This new design certainly looks like the original. Nonetheless, there are some, obvious, alterations. Judge for yourself!

11 November 2008 | STAR TREK THEATER POSTER

Together with the trailer for the upcoming Star Trek feature, the first official film posters will be visible in the theaters this weekend. Trekmovie posted an exclusive preview of these yesterday.

The first poster, also depicted here, is a close-up of Chris Pine as Kirk; the second, of Zachary Quinto as Spock—both with the film’s release date and address of its official website. Neither are original photos, unfortunately; both were previously used for teasers posters.

10 November 2008 | SPACE TUGS

Our article, “Building the Galileo shuttlecraft” has been supplemented with many Matt Jefferies sketches, not only for the first Star Trek shuttlecraft, but for a “Space Tug” design also.

“They were just noodling,” says Matt Jefferies in reference to the range of other designs he came up with after completing work on the Galileo; designs for potential shuttles and small vehicles—“daydreaming on my part. [...] They would have been fun to do.”

9 November 2008 | FRANZ JOSEPH’S BLUEPRINTS

Star Trek fans will remember Franz Joseph as the author of the original Star Fleet Technical Manual (1975) as well as the Star Trek Blueprints published that same year.

The Star Trek Blueprints allowed fans for the time time to discover how the ship they had come to adore looked like from the inside. They were originally sold in sets of 12 9”x30” sheets packaged in a soft plastic pocket—for just $5.00! Now you can see them at Forgotten Trek in our article, “Designing the Enterprise.”

8 November 2008 | MCQUARRIE ENTERPRISE REVISITED

We only ever got to see the Enterprise Ken Adams designed for the abandoned Planet of the Titans project in a handful of concepts drawn by Star Wars veteran Ralph McQuarrie.

Now one “Severus” from the United States has set himself the task of creating a 3D model of this Enterprise. You can see his works-in-progress in this Thread. (Registration is required to see the images in full, but they are definitely worth the effort!)

6 November 2008 | K’T’INGA BATTLE CRUISER

This illustration by Robert T. McCall depicts the Klingon battle cruiser that has come to be known as the K’t’inga class, introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The K’t’inga was a redesign of the Klingon vessel that had first appeared on the original Star Trek episode “The Enterprise Incident.” The model was built by Magicam and measured six feet in length. Read all about the original design as well as the upgraded version in our article, “Designing the K’t’inga battle cruiser.”

5 November 2008 | VOYAGER BRIDGE

In designing the interior sets of Star Trek: Voyager, Production Designer Richard James decided to push the boundaries of everything that had gone before e.g. did the bridge have to be dominated by a single large viewscreen? was it time to break the traditional bridge mould?

Jim Martin created a series of concept drawings, following the direction of Richard James to question everything that had gone before in Star Trek bridge design. Read it all in our article, “Voyager interior design.”

4 November 2008 | ANDREW PROBERT’S WARBIRD

Andrew Probert’s last contribution to The Next Generation came in the form of the Romulan Warbird introduced in the final episode of Season One, “The Neutral Zone”.

As Senior Illustrator, Probert was responsible for the design of every starship that appeared on the show’s first season. For the Warbird, he proposed a vertical configuration that would have stressed the impressive proportions of both vessels. His concept was flipped horizontally however, to produce the ship with which we are now familiar.

3 November 2008 | FRED PHILLIPS’ GREEN GIRL

Perhaps makeup artist Fred Phillips’ most memorable creation for Star Trek was the “green girl” played by Susan Oliver in the original pilot episode, “The Cage.”

In our article about “Fred Phillips,” we now present an excerpt from Stephen E. Whitfield’s The Making of Star Trek that describes how the “green girl” came to be. Apparently, it took several shots before the girl finally turned up green on film! Click here to read how they got it right eventually.

2 November 2008 | ENTERPRISE MODEL

Matt Jefferies’ sole guideline in designing the Starship Enterprise was Roddenberry’s firm list of what he did not want to see: not any rockets, nor jets, nor firestreams. The starship was not to look like a classic, and thus dated, science fiction rocketship, but neither could it resemble anything that would too quickly date the design.

Read all about Jefferies’ design process in our article, “Designing the Enterprise.” Now with new photographs of the Enterprise model!

1 November 2008 | ZOE SALDANA IS UHURA

Zoe Saldana plays Uhura in the upcoming Star Trek feature. Emprire recently released a picture of Saldana on the Enterprise bridge, “complete with retro sixties go-go dress.” Click here to read their article.

Hover over the image to see an old photograph of Nichelle Nichols in her legendary role. Notice that Miss Saldana’s makeup is quite similar to that of the original Uhura actress. As for hairstyle, Abrams and his team went for something slightly more modern though.