That Spacedock "shuttle" is actually a Tug

Discussion in 'Trek Tech' started by Maurice, Aug 5, 2011.

  1. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    ^^^Be fair. We saw ONE tug heading in, but it could have just been the first to arrive.
     
  2. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Fair enough.

    It's a bit funny that the first response to crashes on this supposedly heavily traveled area is one of 'em tugboats, though. Would there have been more proper SAR gear available on most days, and the global storm prevented those from maintaining readiness?

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  3. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Well, if Trek has a lot of field manip, perhaps these can be civilian versions of weapons pods. Instead of a starship beaming power to fighters to boost their ability, perhaps this little tug had power beamed to it from spacedock, allowing it to pull larger objects than it could by itself when out of spacedocks tractor range, it could still receive power via subspace--but that might be too noisy for comm...
     
  4. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    The Probe's effects were neutralizing everything. That little tug was probably the first thing they could power up and shoot out there, since we saw they were parked on the tarmac in Marin.
     
  5. NSTrekfan

    NSTrekfan Lieutenant Commander

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    Ship in the water, sinking. Let's keep it from sinking. How about we put a tractor beam on it? Sounds like a plan to me.
     
  6. Starship Freak

    Starship Freak Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Ask Bill George about the mystery "ship" with oberth-like qualities that´s "hanging" to one of the main central walls in spacedock!
     
  7. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Thanks, DS9Sega.

    It's always nice to see that thought went into things.

    It was pretty obvious what the role of the craft was at the end, when it leads the crew to the Enterprise-A, if one thinks in terms of today's harbors.
     
  8. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Could have been a pilot boat, too, though. Apparently, Starfleet has no need for pilots any more, not in that sense of the word. (Except perhaps for Tom Paris in "Caretaker"...)

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  9. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    I do recall Bill told me that he neglected to get detail photos of the Merchantman in its original configuration, which makes it a problem to recreate it exactly. Oh well.

    I'll ask him these other questions next time I see him. I'll also ask him if I can document his "tug" model.

    Course, the model that I loved seeing most at his place is the 6-foot Space: 1999 Eagle he built. It's HUGE!
     
  10. bryce

    bryce Rear Admiral Rear Admiral


    What ship was that?

    Pics anyone..? (Pretty Please!)
     
  11. Starship Freak

    Starship Freak Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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  12. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    According to http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Planet_of_the_Titans and http://www.ralphmcquarrie.com/gallery_1/films/star_trek/index.html, the ship on the left of this screenshot is Ralph McQuarrie's design of the Enterprise for Planet of the Titans. Is this the ship you are referring to?
     
  13. B.J.

    B.J. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think he's talking about the one closer to the center of the picture, very dark but in full view near the bottom of the angled pylon. Even if it wasn't, I'd still like info on that one!
     
  14. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah - it's the almost black (due to the shadows), boxy thing sitting to the bottom right of the Enterprise, almost directly between the two tug-shuttles. Go to five o'clock from the secondary hull of the hero ship, approximately by one width of the secondary hull. Look below the two pitch black rectangles on the central structure of the dock, the square one and the narrow slit one.

    The mystery ship (or barge, or module, or whatever) is attached to the central structure of the dock , possibly being just part of the matte painting but more probably not because that part of the dock appeared to be a real physical model.

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  15. Starship Freak

    Starship Freak Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Yup, that´s the one, the one B.J. and Timo mentions. We have discussed it earlier in another forum, and if you brighten and contrast the "ship", you can definitely see nacelles there in my opinion. But there is no official info anywhere, so if Bill George can help...
     
  16. Basill

    Basill Captain Captain

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    Oh, it was definitely a model...

    [​IMG]

    but did they ever use a matte painting for any of those Spacedock shots, other than Andrew Proberts TNG version from "11001001" (which somehow utilized miniature work as well if I recall)?
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2011
  17. MatthiasRussell

    MatthiasRussell Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I haven't been following this thread so don't know if it was mentioned, but the shuttle appeared in TNG: Conspiracy.
     
  18. SonicRanger

    SonicRanger Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    In stock footage from TVH, yes.
     
  19. Dukhat

    Dukhat Admiral Admiral

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    What's amazing is that they had all that interior space, and there's only two ship models in the station besides the shuttles (and I'm not talking about the Enterprise and the Excelsior, which are clearly matted into the shot). You'd think they could have bought a few TMP Enterprise model kits and did some kitbashing for extra Spacedock background ships...
     
  20. David cgc

    David cgc Admiral Premium Member

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    They did a better job filling it out in TVH (at the end, especially), but you're right. Maybe it was the weekend when the Enterprise got home.

    Actually, wait, I know why they did that. If there had been other Starfleet ships docked, there would've been a plot hole about why none of them pursued the Enterprise when it was stolen. Even if we assumed that Excelsior was closest to the right door and the dockmaster or whoever was in charge thought she'd be enough to stop Kirk, one of the other ships could've still begun a pursuit when Excelsior broke down outside.