Welcome to the forums, Lora! I'm so glad you're here and well! I've been working, for the last few years, on a re-creation of the Refit Enterprise interiors in 3D, and have used your guide immensely as reference. It's been a favorite book of mine since childhood. I invite you to see what I've done by going to the following links: Bridge: Here Corridors: Here Transporter Room: Here Sickbay: Here Engineering: Here Torpedo Bay:Here and the SUPER LONG THREAD about my TOS and Refit Enterprise Projects: Here None of this would have been possible for me to do had it not been your book! And this project recently lead me to get a job making Star Trek environment art for the game Star Trek: Online at Cryptic Studios. Kudos to you, your books, and your courage!
Oh! Before I forget. I'm actually making a 3D rendition of Kirk's quarters right now, and am about to tackle the circular booth in the corner, which has never been seen. Any chance you can post some photos soon?? Pretty please?
You're very kind...thank you. Your work is wonderful. Just beautiful...very realistic. I'm honored that you found inspiration in something of mine I've done a few virtual builds...rather an eclectic selection, things and places from history, movies and TV. You can take a peek at some of them here. I will try to get some of my Stage 9 photos scanned, if I can sort out a method. I'd like to help if I can. Blessings, Lora
Brilliant explanation for the deck levels. Makes sense to me! And welcome aboard Lora. Your book remains on my bookshelf as well and was certainly a great part of making Star Trek seem real to me.
Another question for you, Lora, again regarding your work for Mr Scott's Guide Was wondering how you approached the Rec Deck. Were you given schematics of the actual set? I've never been able to find blueprints of this particular set outside of your schematic in your book. Any images you could share, or stories of how you approached that particular set?
Yes, I referenced set drawings I chose from the art department's files, including many I'm sure no one else outside of production has ever seen. The originals (bluelines) are quite large on average. That set poses huge problems and, as I'm sure you know, doesn't fit into the ship as designed. Andy Probert had designed versions that did fit, but those went unused in favor of Harold Michelson's concept. I added the peripheral rooms (snack bar, restrooms, etc) behind the set's side walls because it seemed to me that such facilities needed to be there. They occupied spaces that would never be seen on-screen. Lora
A note of interest, maybe...the 1:350 Polar Lights refit model kit originally included in its proposed design a rec deck, with the room's ceiling and floor molded into the inner surfaces of the top and bottom saucer parts. Three simplified wall parts would be glued into place. I helped with the kit's design and was a bit disappointed that this detail didn't make it into the final kit as released. Not that you'd be able to see it very well in the finished model, I guess, but it would have been nice having it there. *edit* - I was wrong on the floor of the room...it was a separate piece glued into the saucer rim interior. The ceiling was, however, molded into the saucer itself Lora
Lora - I'm going to echo the others that have posted how much Mr. Scott's Guide. I was 15 when the book was released and it opened the whole Star Trek universe to me. To this day, I still have it on my nightstand for quick reference. I love the explanation of the NCC 1701-A turbolift "issue". Another thing that always bothered me about how the Enterprise in ST V was portrayed was the shuttlebay. It went from this, in my opinion, a beautiful large complex of landing areas and cargo storage to a small, two shuttle parking area. How do you rationalize the in-universe change and in your later deck plans did you have cargo storage beyond the doors at the end of the bay?
^^^ In a similar vein as this, did you ever have any thoughts regarding the sudden appearance of the TOS ship's underbelly markings on the 1701-A? I always preferred to think these were hatches, but they weren't on the refit, yet they were on the -A. Thoughts? --Alex
Thank you for the kind words The shuttlebay in ST V was a throwback to the one in the original series, and they are quite similar. I understand that was the director's idea. I think it worked fine. Had the doors not been there, I would have had a problem with it. Yes, in our deck plans those large doors lead to a cargo area very much like the one in the refit, including the shuttle elevators and cargo module pockets on the walls. Lora
There has been a lot of speculation about those markings. I had taken them to be something like cut-through indicators, marking the locations of sensitive equipment, hard points or emergency access areas. We never saw an umbilical attached to the original Enterprise but one would assume there had to be some, so maybe they had something to do with that too. They were added to the 1701-A out of fondness for the original Enterprise and were simply meant to be reminiscent of her. Lora
Lora, thanks for participating in this thread! One section of Mr. Scott's Guide that has confused me a bit has been the airlock/docking port areas on the lower saucer. The plans don't seem to jibe 100% with what little we saw of the facility in ST:TMP. Did you rework that area a bit for the book?
Nowhere near 100%. The whole side of the room to screen left is completely different. But I wonder If pan and scan might not be the culprit for that. At the time of the book the only videos of TMP were pan and scan 4:3 crops and it's possible the side of the room simply wasn't visible.
That may well be. I can't recall...it was thirty years ago. The best views of that wall appear only in the widescreen deleted scenes where Kirk follows Spock outside, and those were unavailable to me at the time the book was done. The ABC airing that included the airlock scenes (minus mattes) was not widescreen and didn't show much of that wall. No set drawings of the room were present among the ones I sorted through. Sometimes you have to forge ahead with the info you have and do the best you can I added the side personnel hatch to the bay because it made sense to me to have a way in and out while something was docked at the main port. Lora
I, for one, think you did a great job with the airlock room based on what you had. You took what little we saw on screen and turned it into a functional space. I loved your version so much that I was disappointed when I saw the deleted scenes that showed us something different. I may end up rendering both version in my project I showed you above. Thanks, Lora, for sharing with us. It's so great, finally having a chance to talk to the author of one of my favorite books.