I was looking for a good picture of the top of the VFX model we first saw in TMP. Instead I found this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/actor_photog/2322322449/in/photostream/ (apparently from Star Trek: The Tour) What's up with the booster or whatever that is in the back? In which film did they add it and how does it inhibit performance of the docking mechanism? Bob P.S. Found what looks a decent CGI reproduction of the top side: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fesarius2271/8007906721/in/photostream/ (Beware, there are other TMP and Enterprise renderings that made me just go )
A much as I dearly love ILM, it often seems that their spaceships are made to look kewl rather than make sense. --Alex
Not once you put that booster on it along with the "corrugated" parts. I'll admit this is the first time in a long time that there's something new for me to learn about the various ships!
Different type of pod? There's no way it would have socketed onto the ships with the booster unit, so maybe it's a variant on the design meant as a ferry for use inside the spacedock? You could still put a smaller door in roughly the same location without the docking ability.
Top and bottom both look to have the same "hatch". But leaves either climbing in from the top or up from the bottom to board and and exit the thing.
Other than this screencap and a publicity shot of the travel pod (where even less of the top is visible) there's not much I've seen. All views of the travel pod were featured in The Official TMP Blueprints - except the top view. The shape suggests a top hatch, but it would seem rather redundant considering the bottom hatch is official. Then we have this screencap of the dry dock (it even says "DRY DOCK" on the facility ) where a travel pod is parked on the upper right. Doesn't look like it's connected to a docking port but it could be attached to tube connecting from below (unless it's used as an EVA pod like in "2001" by an engineer in a space suit). @ SeerSGB Thanks for the production anecdote from ST IV. Since it never showed up in the footage, I tend to ignore this "thing". I mean where would have Captain Kirk and party boarded their new ship most likely - through Docking Port 3 at the stern of the bridge. To paraphrase HAL from "2001": With that booster thing at the butt they would have found this rather difficult. @ SchwEnt At first I thought "very nice TMP renderings" until I got to all these renderings exploring the stern hangar section in outrageous detail. Bob Update: Finally, I found this top view shot of the original model where the top side at the stern doesn't match the artist's CGI rendering I linked to in my opening post. But the CGI Artist is not too blame, if you look carfully they did not only add the booster at the back for ST IV but made the whole travel pod longer... Here is another shot of the ST IV version, basically because we can see the size of the added-on engine pack in the reflection of the glass case on the left (!). Would love to see the back view of this version. So what now? We do have the short travel pod in ST I and II and its longer and different cousin in ST IV? It still doesn't show up in the actual footage but I could start to believe that what we saw in TMP on the dry dock's upper parking could have been (in-universe!) the longer travel or - maybe more correctly - EVA pod.
Found this image that has a better side view. Unfortunately, the way these things were mounted in the display, I don't think we'll get a better view of the aft, at least not from pictures of the tour.
Looks like the booster is split (could just be distortion from the reflection). If you get rid of docking with the side of the ship, you could put a hatch there. Only other (overly complicated, IMO) option is to have a extendable docking collar on either the pod or the ship.
I forwarded Mr. Probert the link to these TMP CGI images I recommended (hmm...someone here beat me to that ), stating that I found these accidentally while looking for a top view of the Travel Pod VFX model. In return I got this: Also enabled me to appreciate the correct and passionate CGI reproduction this CGI artist did (see first post of this thread). The two, thin black areas right next to the center stripe (above the "05" to the right) are text labels, but only the "Danger" on top of each is discernible. Bob
Here is another interesting detail overlooked in the past three decades, and B.J. just spotted it. My latest favorite CGI artist, however, got it correctly "sloped": http://www.flickr.com/photos/fesarius2271/8007906853/in/photostream/ A clever design by Mr. Probert which should have made it impossible that the pod would look "boring" when viewed from the side. Here is a reprint of Mr. Kimble's original drawing for the offcial TMP blueprints (and IMHO the basic source for everything that came after). He hints the slope but it's rather "conservative". Bob P.S. Courtesy of Mr. Probert he sent me some more rare pictures I could / should share with everyone interested in the travel pod. First, here we have an interesting beauty shot of the original VFX model: Next is a very unusual picture of the actual travel pod studio set which I've never seen before. Notice the empty but ready-to-be-filled/finished rim below the "windshield". It looks like they might have intended to do actual close-ups of the studio set exterior but then decided to use only VFX model shots, instead (a "windshield" would have probably shown some nasty reflections of the studio lights). Bob
Good find, Bob. This is a good thread overall. The booster is just... odd. It's almost like the travel pod in TVH wasn't meant to be the same craft. And where does the notion that the shuttle flying ahead of it was towing it come from? I always just thought they were just leading them.