Star Trek: TMP questions and observations

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies I-X' started by Gotham Central, Oct 7, 2013.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    But it's kind of an anticlimax for a story about searching for God. Although the original proposed version of seemingly angelic beings turning into demonic gargoyles could've had some merit.
     
  2. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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    That sounds like a variation on the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark to me.
     
  3. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    None of the drafts of William Shatner's valentine to James T. Kirk had any merit.
     
  4. Peach Wookiee

    Peach Wookiee Cuddly Mod of Doom Moderator

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    Depends on where you were. They've been in the Seattle area since 1901.
     
  5. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    Considering that the club included people experienced in putting on SCA feasts, it wasn't luck. It was knowing what would basically work and getting creative from there. The idea was to have a fun Christmas party, not make anyone sick.
     
  6. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Timewalker, I'm glad your Cooking Party was a Smashing Success. You know, I am, unreservedly, a fan of Billy Shakes, myself. I only have a mild interest in the SCA, but I did try E-mailing the Pennsylvania Chapter for information on joining. I got no response - nothing!!! Is this unusual, or is this just how they roll ... trying to find out how much shit I'll take?
     
  7. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    I have no idea how they do things in that part of the Knowne World, but you certainly wouldn't have gotten that (non)response here in Avacal. And it's entirely possible that the contact information you used was outdated. Sometimes people leave their positions rather suddenly and the new person might not update the information in a timely way. It boggles my mind to think that record-keeping was generally more accurate before everything went online.

    The people you need to contact are called Chatelaines. Those are the people responsible for helping new people who want to join and giving general information (or directing you to the person who has the specific information you want).

    Since I don't know where you live, I can't advise you on where your nearest branch is.

    You can try http://sca.org/geography/findsca.html, which has this to say if you have trouble:

    There's also a lookup tool to help you find your local branch (or as local as possible).
     
  8. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    Taking the thread in a different direction, I've been wondering about a few things:

    • What's the rationale behind having the science station directly behind the captain's chair as opposed to having it to Kirk's right as it appeared during the TV series and would again appear in subsequent films (Nick Meyer changed it for TWOK because he liked the idea of shooting Kirk and Spock together up close and thought it would be easier if the science console were off to the side)?
    • Was it the intention of the writers/producers to give Scotty much less of a bridge presence in the films as a result of TMP? He appeared on the bridge frequently in TOS but was rarely there during the films. Was this done entirely for plot reasons or was there an in-universe reason that wasn't expanded upon?
    --Sran
     
  9. 2takesfrakes

    2takesfrakes Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Thank you, Timewalker, for that most thorough and thoughtful answer. The small favour is greatly received.
     
  10. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, Scotty's default location in TOS was engineering. With only, really, four movies set aboard the Enterprise when it had a full complement (I, II, V, and VI), there weren't that many opportunities to vary the pattern.

    Besides, maybe part of the reason he was often on the bridge in TOS was because it was cheaper to shoot a dialogue exchange on one set than it would be to shoot both the bridge and engineering sets for a conversation over the intercom.
     
  11. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    ^I guess the other factor is that he wasn't really part of the chain of command during the films like he'd been during the TV series. He was second-officer during the five-year mission but didn't seem to have any responsibilities outside of engineering during the films.

    There wasn't a need for Scotty to be in command during TMP, as Kirk, Decker, and Spock (and perhaps Sulu) would have commanded the ship before he would have. In TWOK and TSFS, Kirk defers to Saavik (for teaching purposes) and Sulu (in Spock's absence), so there's no reason for him to take the conn in either of those situations. By the time TUC rolled around, Chekov had risen to second-officer, so Scotty wasn't needed then, either.

    --Sran
     
  12. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    You're welcome - hope it helps. :)


    (just a note: Bjo Trimble was one of the original SCA members back in 1966, so this small derailment does have a little bit of a Trek connection ;))
     
  13. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    The decision to rearrange the stations originates with Phase 2 and I'm not aware of any documents as to why this decision was made.
     
  14. The Old Mixer

    The Old Mixer Mih ssim, mih ssim, nam, daed si Xim. Moderator

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    So that Xon could more easily photobomb Kirk?
     
  15. trevanian

    trevanian Rear Admiral

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    I never realized that till now. The obvious one is that on a 4:3 frame it is hard to get a side station in view unless shooting the capt at an angle, so straight on (i.e., boring) views would always have your principals in frame, but you'd figure they'd happily abandon that for the feature with its 2.35:1 ratio.
     
  16. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    This doesn't answer the question of why it was done, but one observation I have is that the station behind the captain's chair is the one closest to the captain, due to the way the captain's chair is off-center [linky].

    Generally speaking, in TMP, I think that they made excellent use of that space behind Kirk, for the four principles (Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Decker) to confer [another].
     
  17. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    That they did, but the film also showed the shortcomings of the science station's position: The viewscreen is at your back and during the everybody-is-in-awe-of-V'ger scene Spock joins the "stagazers", thus stops looking at his instruments and just gives them a passing glance once in a while. ;)

    Maybe Nick Meyer noticed that and thus put it back to its "original" location in TWOK?

    Bob
     
  18. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    IIRC, Meyer wanted to be able to shoot Kirk and Spock together while on the bridge and thought having the science station to the right of the captain's chair was the easiest way to go about it. The in-universe explanation was actually provided by Christopher in Ex Machina as he included text where Kirk wonders about putting the science station in a position similar to what it occupied during the five-year mission.

    --Sran
     
  19. Gotham Central

    Gotham Central Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I suspect that the reason it was put behind the captain was special and gave the bridge balance. Remember, unlike the other stations, the science station had those two moving consoles on hydrolics. It was probably easier to keep the hydrolics mechanisms stored between the two turbolifts out of the way. For TWOK the hydrolics were removed and they were just on rollers so the station could just be placed anywhere.

    Specially there is also more room behind the captains chair than there is on the sides due to the railings. I think when fully extended the two consoles are slightly in the way on the side. I think in TWOK and TSFS you only ever see one panel extended at a time instead of both.
     
  20. Search4

    Search4 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    The backflip guy is a guy - he's on an enlarged "beam" from the Drydock. I've seen the pictures.

    And he's really good, he keeps showing off in the next movie!