Franz Joseph Blueprints Revisited

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by ZapBrannigan, Mar 8, 2013.

  1. Lenny Nurdbol

    Lenny Nurdbol Lieutenant Commander

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    Funny, I didn't see the ball and socket phasers in any of Matt Jefferies drawings, considering that not one was ever used on any Enterprise miniature from TOS (the beams were just haphazardly animated-in whenever required)... Though there was a throwaway phaser bank drawing glimpsed on a monitor Scotty was staring at in "The Trouble With Tribbles" but Jefferies probably didn't draw that, and it certainly didn't look like any phaser bank I'd seen...

    I'm not talking about the turbolift map but the outlines of the individual turbolift cars themselves depicted in the FJ blueprints (Specifically: Inboard Profile Sheet 5 of 12) and they've more or less been of that design ever since... The original U.S.S. Enterprise Officers Manual (the Original, as in black spiral bound, not one of the later bastardized ripoffs) blueprints one specifically... They're cylinders with top and bottom bubbles (respectively housing parachute and descent engines for when they're deployed as escape pods--the Real "life boats" in use on the pre-refit Enterprise)...
     
  2. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Ball-and-socket phaser banks are clearly visible in the port and forward elevations of the Enterprise printed in The Making of Star Trek, although not in the same places that FJ put them. They're on the front underside of the saucer, but higher up and more widely spaced. Are these drawings by Jefferies?
     
  3. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    Image. They are very widely spaced, however.
     
  4. Lenny Nurdbol

    Lenny Nurdbol Lieutenant Commander

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    Sorry, I just don't see it.
     
  5. bbailey861

    bbailey861 Admiral Admiral

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    To everyone who has posted links to various interviews, fanzines, etc. etc., thank you. They are a great look at the past and offer a good amount of insight. Thanks again.
     
  6. CrazyMatt

    CrazyMatt Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The thing I remember most about FJ's effort was his attempt to assign registry numbers for all the Constitution-class ships... and to suggest that all except the Constellation and Republic fell into line nicely with NCC-1701 just seemed ridiculous to me... What would be the odds that all the other starships were numbered sequentially when the two besides the Enterprise discussed or seen in TOS weren't? That in itself invalidated the whole concept of him as "authoritative" regarding Star Trek concepts... in my mind he was just an interloper.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2013
  7. DCR

    DCR Commander Red Shirt

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    One thing I wonder is if the age and time at which one first encountered FJ might have something to do with how a person thinks of his work now.

    For me it was a shining light in the wasteland after TAS was cancelled and before TMP.
     
  8. Lenny Nurdbol

    Lenny Nurdbol Lieutenant Commander

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    You can get any hardcore Treknical guru to answer this one, but I'd might as well step in...

    Real ships that float on oceans are produced this way with serial registry numbers and, yes, that includes our famous Space Shuttle which takes to space, or is that Took to space...

    As for FJ being authoritative, Gene approved of his work and the amount of work FJ--an aerospace engineer/draftsman--put into it is absolutely astounding, especially by todays standards when any computer nerd with CAD software can churn out stuff... FJ was the first and the greatest... He Made Treknical Fandom! No other science fiction vehicle can make this claim! There are even some Tech fans who reportedly have built shrines to the memory of Franz Joseph... You don't get that kind of respect doing half-assed work and not knowing what you're doing...

    But let me hit that on the head regarding Registry numbers and those oddball ships... According to Treknical Fandom manuals, the Constellation and Republic were originally older starships of the Horizon and Archon classes... They were upgraded and served as testbed vessels for the soon-to-be-produced Constitution class...
    The USS Constitution was the lead ship, the first new-build starship, and thus carried the NCC-1700 number and nominal class name... The sister ships which followed were laid down, launched, and commissioned sequentially... I'd go into discussing the next generation of heavy cruiser classes--how they are interpreted in Tech Fandom--and how the Constitutions were refitted to incorporate the newer technologies (Bonhomme Richard and Achernar classes), but you've already made your mind up about this, uh, fan-drivel so it would be a waste of my typing skills...

    What pisses us first-generation Treknical fans off most is the amount of respect given to that wall chart in "Court Martial" which consists of nothing more than random numbers of ships apparently being serviced at that moment at Starbase 11...
     
  9. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, these are the drawings I was also talking about. Thanks for the link, Maurice. Nice to know that these are by Jefferies. The phaser banks are clearly visible, as described; they always were.

     
  10. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Regarding the info-packed Karen Dick interview, I'd like to say I agree with her regarding Gene Roddenberry's Rules for Starships, listed here:

    http://www.trekplace.com/article15.html

    It seems clear these arbitrary and unnecessary rules were made to delegitimize FJ's Technical Manual.

    I prefer the FJ concept of each nacelle as a self-sufficient engine, and you can get home on one, but not as fast, if the other is damaged.
     
  11. Unicron

    Unicron Boss Monster Mod Moderator

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    Does anyone recall whether sources like The Making of Star Trek mentioned the concept of needing "paired" nacelles for balance? I don't doubt there's some truth to the view that Roddenberry may have contrived the rules as stab against FJ, but I also keep thinking I'd heard this concept before.
     
  12. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    I don't recall ever reading anything like that in TMoST. In fact I'm pretty sure it's not in there. Those "rules" came out quite sometime later.
     
  13. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    FJ devoured TMOST as his handiest source of research. If it was in there, he of all people would have known it.
     
  14. Lenny Nurdbol

    Lenny Nurdbol Lieutenant Commander

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    All that crap came in the 90s from Okuda et al...
    Up to that point there were hundreds of starship classes with 1, 3, or even more nacelles scattered throughout fandom, including previously-Licensed publishers like FASA... And let's not forget SFB...

    The fact that the USS Columbia, Revere, and Entente are all mentioned early in ST-TMP at Epsilon 9, alone, justifies not only their existence but their existence as odd-numbered nacelle ships! As always: IMHO!

    TPTB literally are The Powers That Be and they can do whatever the hell they want to with the Trek Universe, and fans must fall to their knees and accept it... Don't believe me? Watch this Trek film that came out in 2009...
    It's ALL Gone Now!

    They might've gained many new young fans, but they've Lost a number of Old fans!
     
  15. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    No it's not. My DVDs are all still there, as are my hundreds of novels and books. They're still putting out new TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager novels, one per month. New fanfiction and even fan films are being made based on the old continuity. The novel Department of Temportal Investigations: Watching the Clock goes into detail about how both Trek timelines coexist.
     
  16. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    There's an arrow pointing RIGHT at it.
     
  17. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I always figured this shot from "Arena" was meant to be those higher-up, wider-spaced phaser banks firing:
    [​IMG]
     
  18. Lenny Nurdbol

    Lenny Nurdbol Lieutenant Commander

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    You must have better eyes than me... All I see is the 3-view exteriors...with "main phaser" pointing to an oversized black lumpy dot... I don't know how you can make a "ball and socket" out of that...
     
  19. Lenny Nurdbol

    Lenny Nurdbol Lieutenant Commander

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    I read it... It's technobabble bunk of the highest order...
    "Forgotten History" is just as bad, if not more so...
    I also love how the author quotes all these science books at the end to lend credibility to it all, too!
    I know a snowjob when I see a snowjob...
     
  20. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    You might want to read THIS to get a vague idea how much research and effort went into that "technobabble bunk." I'd think you of all people would appreciate an author doing his research - but it seems that unless they reach the exact same conclusions you do, it's all for naught:sigh: