Tuesday 16 March 2010

Interview with Rick Sternbach

In July/August 2005, Forgotten Trek contacted Mr Sternbach with several questions concerning the design of the USS Voyager for the fourth Star Trek series. He was kind enough to provide us with his insight which has been transcribed on this page.

Interview

On the Voyager model, two types of windows appear: the standard small viewports and several larger windows. On the Enterprise-D model, a similar arrangement appeared, in line with Andrew Probert’s idea that the larger windows would accommodate public spaces such as restaurants, bars, lounges, etc. We know the large windows directly underneath the bridge module service Voyager’s officers’ mess hall. Underneath those, a row of five windows appears. Did you assign these to a specific area?

“The row of five is Janeway’s quarters. You see four of the five from inside the set; presumabaly #5 is the bathroom.”

Other large windows appear on several locations on the saucer section, both on top and on the underside, including a row of windows directly in front of where the Aeroshuttle is supposed to be located. What areas did you assign to these windows?

“The similarly-sized windows on the other decks are other officers’ quarters; we used the same interior set (Janeway's) with different numbers of windows. We used removable wall segments to make a three-window quarters, two-window, etc. We did similar things on The Next Generation in exactly the same basic area on Stage 8.”

Similar windows to the latter (directly forward of the Aeroshuttle on the underside of Voyager’s saucer section) appear on the Enterprise-D model, where Andrew Probert allocated this area for additional lounges. However, these “windows” are laballed as “Secondary Deflector Dish” in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual. How come?

“It became clear to Mike Okuda and me that during separated flight, the saucer required a deflector of some kind, though in recent years some explanations have been offered to deal with ships that have no obvious deflector dish, like the Reliant. Those underside windows on the Ent[erprise]-D were so large that we were certain they’d never be made into a real set, so that area seemed perfect for becoming a deflector for the purpose of the T[echnical] M[anual].”

On the front of the Voyager model, a prominent sensor strip is located. There are, however, also sensor strips on the rim of the saucer. Why did you include an additional sensor area on top of the primary hull?

“The big sensor pallet acreage was put there just to break up the otherwise featureless surface, and to give another scale cue that Voyager was a smaller ship. Individual surface features, like the windows, appeared larger compared to the overall size of the ship.”

On the Voyager MSD, an observation lounge appears in the far aft section of the ship, right underneath the Main Shuttlebay. What was your intention for this area?

“Pretty much that: an obseration lounge or similar function.”

 

N. Ottens
12 September 2005

We thank Mr. Sternbach for answering these questions over email in July/August 2005. For further information about Mr. Sternbach’s work and career, visit his website, Space Model Systems.