Franz Joseph's Star Trek
- Thread starter Lt. Tyler
- Start date
Back in the 70s, the 'big 3' for me included the tech manual, blueprints, and Bjo's Concordance (the one with the saucer index wheel....years later I purchased the older two-volume version).
In 1979, when I was 12, in art class I 'blew up' one of the Enterprise blueprints (port side full-length profile) to a length of 4 feet. The art teacher was nothing but critical, saying that was not art. This was the same woman who took my drawing of a Galactica viper and taped it up out in the hallway....upside down. When I told her about it, she said it was flying upside down. I was the artist and I didn't want it that way, but she refused to change it.
I put together an image of Charlie Brown swinging his baseball bat at a tomato the size of a house. "That's not art! That's meaningless!" Funny, but you see exaggerations of size in art all the time.
In 1983, she had a car just like this except that the interior was white instead of black:
She got rid of it and got a newer one like this, except in darker brown:
I found out where she got rid of the blue one and I could have bought it for only $1500, but my parents had 2 cars and no room for a third car.
Sorry for the digression, but that's a slice of my life in the late 70s and early 80s. Star Trek and '71-'73 Mustangs.
In 1979, when I was 12, in art class I 'blew up' one of the Enterprise blueprints (port side full-length profile) to a length of 4 feet. The art teacher was nothing but critical, saying that was not art. This was the same woman who took my drawing of a Galactica viper and taped it up out in the hallway....upside down. When I told her about it, she said it was flying upside down. I was the artist and I didn't want it that way, but she refused to change it.
I put together an image of Charlie Brown swinging his baseball bat at a tomato the size of a house. "That's not art! That's meaningless!" Funny, but you see exaggerations of size in art all the time.
In 1983, she had a car just like this except that the interior was white instead of black:
She got rid of it and got a newer one like this, except in darker brown:
I found out where she got rid of the blue one and I could have bought it for only $1500, but my parents had 2 cars and no room for a third car.
Sorry for the digression, but that's a slice of my life in the late 70s and early 80s. Star Trek and '71-'73 Mustangs.
Are those regular Mustangs or Mustang IIs ? The blue one I'm not sure but the brown one certainly looks it.
A Mustang II was a Pinto that was uplifted a bit.
As much as I hate what passes for "art" sometimes, that's a really poor attitude for an art teacher.
I concur, if there was no paycheck then it didn't register, IMO.
A Mustang II was a Pinto that was uplifted a bit.
As much as I hate what passes for "art" sometimes, that's a really poor attitude for an art teacher.
I concur, if there was no paycheck then it didn't register, IMO.
Last edited:
The blue one is a 1971 Mustang Mach 1.
The brown one is from the next generation after the Mustang II....it's a 'Fox' platform car, as begun in 1979.
The Mustang II was manufactured from 1974 through 1978.
given that Roddenberry used FJ for some design work on his PAX projects, I've wondered if he wouldn't have employed him on Phase II had production proceeded, seeing that MJ had declined to sign on.
Need!! I must place my order!!
I totally agree. I wish we could go,back to that brand of Star Trek. I believe it can only truly happen these days in either a new animated series or a CGI series. Because the Star Trek we get these days is dark action adventure and it all looks the same. DS9, Enterprise, The 3 Kelvin Universe movies, and the worse of the bunch Star Trek Discovery! So i think those are the only 2 formats where we can go back to the 70s Roddenberry/FJ Star Trek.
I found the Goldstein's Star Trek: Spaceflight Chronology to be much in the same style. Lots of beautiful Trek-themed art with some fun text to contextualize it.
He and Roddenberry had a falling out around the time of The Motion Picture, regarding the royalties of the ST:TM, Star Fleet Battles and more. Details via his daughter here: http://www.trekplace.com/fj-kdint01.html
The following quote from that interview really strikes a nerve in this aging Trek fan:
"Kirk and Spock in the original series started out as men old enough to be my father, later became my peers, and now are "those nice young men." Times--and perspectives!-- change"
Funny how as we age, we keep revising up what it means to be old; intellectually I understand that, but it can still be hard to wrap my head around it (or for example that Ann-Margret is approaching 80).
The FJ manual and plans, The McMaster (?) bridge dreawings, Mastercom Datacenter's glorious Starfleet Tech manuals, Jackills books and plan sets... I have (almost) all of them on a shelf handy to my computer at home. They're ALL the inspiration for my own book. Took me till I was 60 to finish it, but I couldn't go thru life without creating a tribute to all those folks.
I've never heard of that. Can you point me to any info on them? Are they in the Cygnus blueprints website?
Here it is (link).
Thanks so much!!
Who's to say it's not art? And who's to say whether it means anything (or whether it even needs to)?
I wonder what your teacher thought of pop art that achieved so much critical acclaim.
Kor
I said it wrong - "Ships of the Star Fleet" by Todd Gunther and Aridas Sophia.
I don't see it on Cygnus, but, holy shit, I just found they have a section of MY blueprints!! :O
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/in-payne.php
Well, to be fair to art teachers it can be a thankless job. I had an art teacher who would tell me to stick to the assignment if I wandered off and drew something else, because he was trying to teach me a technique or whatever. And I knew when I was doing something that wasn't part of the curriculum. But then, some teachers, like anyone, can be terrible at their jobs.
