The space station in "The Ultimate Computer", reamstered

[CorporalCaptain]

However, the Botany Bay was a 200 year old sublight sleeper ship and in no way a contemporary to a warp powered robot freighter.

It would be neat if behind-the-scenes material could shed light on exactly why the model was reused, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't simply an artifact of making TV shows on a budget.

On the other hand, reuse of K-7 was something that I always considered far more appropriate. Not only is the starbase contemporary with K-7, using the same model for both establishes commonality of space station architecture in a believable way.

I'm not at all happy with the new Starbase 6. Even on its own merits, it's fugly.

 

[Wingsley]

The thing that struck me is that Kirk and Uhura consistently refer to it as either "the space station" or "the station". Never any mention of it as a starbase.

 

[Melakon]

Maybe a space station is like taking your car to the local garage, and a starbase is like taking it to the dealer's repair shop.

 

[MarsWeeps]

It would be neat if behind-the-scenes material could shed light on exactly why the model was reused, but I'd be surprised if this wasn't simply an artifact of making TV shows on a budget.

Of course it was, I think it's obvious. Another example - remember the following dialogue in The Enterprise Incident:

SCOTT: That's a Klingon ship! But it couldn't be, not in this area.
SPOCK: Intelligence reports Romulans now using Klingon design.

The reason that the Romulan Bird of Prey model wasn't used was because it was accidentally damaged/destroyed and they didn't have the budget to build another, so they used a Klingon ship. At least, that's the story I heard.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Everytime I see "In A Mirror, Darkly" and marvel at the wonder of A CGI Constitution-class starship done properly, my appraisal of TOS-R sinks even further.

True; but if I didn't know better and were told it was a lighted miniature I could believe it. Which is something, anyway.

I have to agree with plynch here. I loved that rendition of the ship. It definitely has a 'real' quality that's lacking, from what I've seen, of the original series remastered version.

 

[Warped9]

Except the TOS E didn't have all that plating and aztec-ing.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

Except the TOS E didn't have all that plating and aztec-ing.

Well, that's true. I just chalk that up to the new guys thinking modern audiences wouldn't "accept" it otherwise. I don't happen to agree, but...gotta let the kids have their fun, I guess.

I guess since it's actually the "TOS D", maybe that ship did...naah, I don't get into those kinds rationalizations.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Except the TOS E didn't have all that plating and aztec-ing.

I'll concede that, however my basic point is that the Defiant looked 'real' in "In A Mirror, Darkly." The starships in essentially EVERY episode of TOS-R looked, well... fakey.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Another example - remember the following dialogue in The Enterprise Incident:

SCOTT: That's a Klingon ship! But it couldn't be, not in this area.
SPOCK: Intelligence reports Romulans now using Klingon design.

The reason that the Romulan Bird of Prey model wasn't used was because it was accidentally damaged/destroyed and they didn't have the budget to build another, so they used a Klingon ship. At least, that's the story I heard.

Wah Chang is said to have destroyed the Romulan ship after a union rule prevented him from getting paid for it.

"The Enterprise Incident" could have gotten by with Romulan ship stock footage. For the "we are surrounded" shot, they could have printed three different still images of the Romulan ship onto a shot of the Enterprise.

A still photo of the 11-footer was printed in front of Space Station K-7, and even put in motion:

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x15hd/thetroublewithtribbleshd0760.jpg

There was no reason Romulan stills from "Balance of Terror" could not have been used in "The Enterprise Incident." I think they used the Klingon ship because they wanted to get the new model in front of the camera. Actual Klingons were going to show up only once in a while, and this script was a golden opportunity to showcase the cool new miniature.

It also gave a boost to AMT's deal with the show, whereby AMT paid for the Klingon studio miniature in exchange for the attendant model kit rights. The resulting kit was the most accurate sci-fi model ever, up to that point, and far more accurate than their Enterprise model.

 

[HarryM]

In the original original series, the space station seen in "The Ultimate Computer" used the same image as Space Station K-7 from "The Trouble with Tribbles". I liked this; is was a nice, economical re-use of the K-7 image that probably cost little or nothing. It was also nice to see the K-7 image used again so we can see it wasn't unique in the TOS Universe. It was also interesting to see the image of the S.S. Botany Bay from "Space Seed" re-used as the "freighter" Woden. I wasn't a huge fan of this recycling, but it worked.

For "The Ultimate Computer" remastered, the "space station" was replaced with a "Vanguard" knockoff dubbed Starbase Six. The characters refer to the station as just that: a space station. If it were also a Federation Starbase, I would expect Kirk and Uhura to refer to it accordingly. I also noticed that the Woden became a TAS cargo drone knockoff ("The Trouble with Tribbles"). The new Woden I can sorta live with. (I'm not the biggest fan of the TAS freighter ships, but they are an interesting placeholder.) But where did that Vanguard idea come from?

I'm not asking out of any objection to it, I'm just curious as to how the decisions were made to replace both the station and the DYellow Submarine. Who gave the order? It's nothing personal; it's strictly business.

So in the original, when they used the same footage or model, it was a "economical re-use". In TOS-R using an existing design it becomes a "knock-off" (sounds like rip-off). Nice little slam.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

So in the original, when they used the same footage or model, it was a "economical re-use". In TOS-R using an existing design it becomes a "knock-off" (sounds like rip-off). Nice little slam.

Good point. I have nothing against creating some cross-over "design canon" with a novel series, if it's as non-invasive as this, i.e., it doesn't alter the TOS story content at all.

I just wish the CGI had been more photo-real. The original fx shot from Tribbles is mouthwatering. It looks like a real thing, its only drawback being that we'd seen it before.

 

[Warped9]

It's entirely conceivable that the Federation/Starfleet would have more stations of that design floating around. So reuse of the stock footage was not a problem particularly given onscreen dialogue referring to it as a station and not a starbase.

So, again, here is a change for change sake and "fixing" something that wasn't broken.

 

[Metryq]

So in the original, when they used the same footage or model, it was a "economical re-use". In TOS-R using an existing design it becomes a "knock-off" (sounds like rip-off). Nice little slam.

Not to endorse a double standard, but consider a few things. TV shows back in the '60s weren't made with a home video market in mind, where fans review the material over and over, pulling screen caps and making Internet forums to discuss the images in detail. At best, someone might catch a re-run.

The original re-use of K7 might be rationalized thus: starbases might follow a common plan, just as starships do. Perhaps starbases are even drydocked, rather than built on location, then flown out to their operational area.

As pointed out above, the re-use of Botany Bay was the use of a ship already established as extremely old. Building an entirely new "practical" model, staging and shooting it, then processing the shot (for such a simple shot) would have been impractical and expensive. With today's tools, a single artist could knock off the entire shot—from start to finish—with a desktop computer in an afternoon. And all without changing the computer's ability to play chess.

 

[Timo]

The titular station from the Vanguard novel series. It's one of those rare occasions where something from the tie-ins is later canonized.

Actually, that's not Vanguard, or SB 47. That's a markedly smaller installation, custom-made for the TOS-R episode, only using Masao's Vanguard as the starting point.

And no, it's not established to be anything else but a "space station", as befits the dialogue. Vanguard / SB47 was large enough to house four Constitution class internally; this shack-in-the-sky might accommodate a TOS runabout in the corresponding bays if that.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[FormerLurker]

The thread title gets me every time I see it. The last word looks like it's missing an 'H', though I know it's actually misspelled.

 

[Wingsley]

So in the original, when they used the same footage or model, it was a "economical re-use". In TOS-R using an existing design it becomes a "knock-off" (sounds like rip-off). Nice little slam.

^ No slam intended. You're imagining things.

 

[Metryq]

The thread title gets me every time I see it. The last word looks like it's missing an 'H', though I know it's actually misspelled.

Rehamstered. Yes, that occurred to me, too.
"Cap'n, the little beastie is runnin' as fast as e' can!"

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

The thread title gets me every time I see it. The last word looks like it's missing an 'H', though I know it's actually misspelled.

Rehamstered. Yes, that occurred to me, too.
"Cap'n, the little beastie is runnin' as fast as e' can!"

And just when I'd been inspired by the title to take my vacation in Reamsterdam this year!

 

[Nebusj]

The thread title gets me every time I see it. The last word looks like it's missing an 'H', though I know it's actually misspelled.

You're right. It ought to be 'rehamstered'.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Somebody should contact the reamsters union.