Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

[Sibyl]

It looks like they cut out the light that was present in the TMP version and lowered the height on it. Maybe it was damaged when they were doing the conversions over for WoK and that was their solution?

I wouldn't doubt that the overall look with the reduced height in TWOK was a stylistic choice by Mr. Meyers but the dropping I feel like I'm seeing could be shadows, warpage, lens distortion...any number of things. Looking at other shots I'm beginning to believe that Donny is right.

 

[Donny]

I wouldn't doubt that the overall look with the reduced height in TWOK was a stylistic choice by Mr. Meyers but the dropping I feel like I'm seeing could be shadows, warpage, lens distortion...any number of things. Looking at other shots I'm beginning to believe that Donny is right.

I surmise that dropping the height made it easier to pull that module in and out for filming purposes.

 

[ashleytinger]

I surmise that dropping the height made it easier to pull that module in and out for filming purposes.

Yeah, cause if it went all the way to the ceiling it'd grind along it when they pulled it out. *twitches* can you imagine that plastic screeching sound?

 

[Norsehound]

Now...what to do with that extra long viewer? A re-imagined NX Excelsior bridge perhaps?

I while ago I did ask you and Rekkert what your thoughts were for a revamped NX Excelsior bridge I'm still curious to see such a result.

 

[Donny]

I while ago I did ask you and Rekkert what your thoughts were for a revamped NX Excelsior bridge I'm still curious to see such a result.

One day I’ll take a stab at it. I don’t like focusing solely on bridges, so after I finish the Enterprise/Reliant/Grissom bridges, I’ll be moving on to doing more of the Enterprise interiors. Perhaps sometime down the road when I get in the mood to devote a ton of time to another bridge I’ll do a reimagined Excelsior bridge.

 

[Bill Thompson]

I am in total awe of your mad skillz in the rendering department, Donny! My amateur Sketchuppery looks cartoonish in comparison. I love seeing your photorealistic screen accuracy.

 

[Donny]

I am in total awe of your mad skillz in the rendering department, Donny! My amateur Sketchuppery looks cartoonish in comparison. I love seeing your photorealistic screen accuracy.

Keep going on yours! I can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Love seeing it being “constructed”. And just because something is more stylized rather than realistic doesn’t mean it’s bad! The style of your renderings services your project perfectly!

 

[Donny]

I took the night off from making console panels to go ahead and mock up the forward and aft pie slices that would allow an oval shape for the Grissom bridge. I did a very quick and dirty job, as I still have to create the smaller viewscreen as well as figure out what I'll put on that aft station. I moved the helm and captain's chair forward to more closely match their positions in TSFS, although I think I'll move them both back just a hair to better balance the room. I did away with the command pit completely, bringing the entire floor up to the same level as the rest of the stations. I'll also have to create a small pedestal to put the captain's chair on, and do something with where the helm meets the floor, since it looks odd just sitting straight on top of the floor like that. I'll also have to do some adjustment of the ceiling structure as well. I gutted the second turbolift, leaving just the one to port of where the viewscreen will be (as evidenced by this image, you'll see the unmistakable doorway alcove just to the right of the science station)



All in all, I'm feeling much better about the space, but there will be tons of refinement to come! Now, back to the console control panels!

 

[JoeRalat]

 

[Norsehound]

One day I’ll take a stab at it. I don’t like focusing solely on bridges, so after I finish the Enterprise/Reliant/Grissom bridges, I’ll be moving on to doing more of the Enterprise interiors. Perhaps sometime down the road when I get in the mood to devote a ton of time to another bridge I’ll do a reimagined Excelsior bridge.

Oh yeah, I'd rather see you finish up the refit interiors... still especially looking forward to your interpretation of the Trek 4 refit. Still, you and Rekkert are known for fantastic interiors, so it's still a valid wonder ​

 

[Maurice]

Innnnteresting. The Center Seat looks here like it's supposed to be on a riser relative to the helm, but, looking at the screenshots, it's obvious that the helm is lower than the side consoles, so I suspect they just "tucked" the edges of the command module under the lip of the encircling floor. Also, in TVH (pic link) it looks like the Center Seat is bolted to an extension of the encircling floor whereas the helm is set further down.

In this image (link) you can see the very blank wall section seen past the woman at the Nav station, and it and the console to its screen right matches up with Donny's original version of this set, but it doesn't seem to match the sketch (or I am misreading it), so did they turn the helm for the Navigator's closeups to further "cheat" that this isn't the Enterprise bridge?

Captain Esteban's eyeline to the guy at the communications station's suggests it's at its normal position. But other stations don't necessarily seem like they're where this sketch indicates. Also notice the heavy black line which suggests perhaps all the units without it were pulled out for filming this sequence and maybe only those segments were redressed/repainted, but then again, communications was repainted, so maybe IT is between the lifts but they cheated the Captain's eyelines over to where it normally would be?

 

[Donny]

Innnnteresting. The Center Seat is, as I suspected, still on a riser relative to the helm, but, looking at the screenshots, it's obvious that the helm is lower than the side consoles, so I suspect they just "tucked" the edges of the command module under the lip of the encircling floor.

In this image (link) you can see the very blank wall section seen past the woman at the Nav station, and it and the console to its screen right matches up with Donny's original version of this set, but it doesn't seem to match the sketch (or I am misreading it), so did they turn the helm for the Navigator's closeups to further "cheat" that this isn't the Enterprise bridge?

Captain Esteban's eyeline to the guy at the communications station's suggests it's at its normal position. But other stations don't necessarily seem like they're where this sketch indicates. Also notice the heavy black line which suggests perhaps all the units without it were pulled out for filming this sequence and maybe only those segments were redressed/repainted, but then again, communications was repainted, so maybe IT is between the lifts but they cheated the Captain's eyelines over to where it normally would be?

The sketch is a bit misleading. According to screenshot evidence, none of the console stations were moved from their positions seen earlier in the TSFS Enterprise setup. They simply turned the helm and captain's chair orientation to roughly match its position in the sketch. So, viewing the scenes knowing that the stations are in the same spot, but the captain and helmsmen are facing essential backwards, you can make better sense of the layout. The communications station is still in the same spot as on the Enterprise, and the engineering station is still next to it as evidenced by the view of the engineering greebles in this shot. This proves that the communications station (or engineering station) was not moved in between the two turbolifts as the sketch would suggest, since it wouldn't allow room for the other station to still be beside it.

Funny, @Maurice, the shot you referenced of the navigator I hadn't caught during my research, and confirms that the Artifical Gravity station is seen on-screen as behind the captain. Even though I knew it was there, because I didn't catch it on-screen I figured I didn't necessarily have to have it there. But now that you've pointed out that evidence, it looks like I'll be fitting the gravity station onto that aft oval bridge module I mocked up tonight

 

[JoeRalat]

I am just sharing the only known production sketch of the bridge to help.. I will say this..I find it hard to believe that they would make such drastic changes to make the set oval...what do I know..I just own a ton of trek blueprints from the movies and tv series.

 

[Donny]

I am just sharing the only known production sketch of the bridge to help.. I will say this..I find it hard to believe that they would make such drastic changes to make the set oval...what do I know..I just own a ton of trek blueprints from the movies and tv series.

Oh, there's no one in this discussion that thinks the set was actually oval. But it's implied in the way they filmed the bridge that it was meant to represent a smaller bridge, and one way to solve this and keep the rest of the major bridge stations' dimensions intact is by making the bridge oval by creating two special pieces for the front and aft stations, as I have done above. Fans have interpreted the Grissom bridge as being oval for decades now. It's simply an interpretation, NOT a representation of how the set was actually constructed. If I was making this set as it existed on the soundstage, the main viewer would have to be behind everyone and would feature an aft-facing weapon's console. I'm definitely not going that route. But I do appreciate you providing the sketch.

 

[Maurice]

I am just sharing the only known production sketch of the bridge to help.. I will say this..I find it hard to believe that they would make such drastic changes to make the set oval...what do I know..I just own a ton of trek blueprints from the movies and tv series.

And we appreciate you sharing.

Now, do you have any blueprints of the ST3 Excelsior bridge?

 

[Tallguy]

Face it, Donny what we really want from the Excelsior is engineering! But you seem to be finding enough rabbit holes on your own. (Grissom? Wow!)

I guess it was eye candy for the super duper eagle eyed. But I'm an above average attentive fan and all these years I just assumed that the Grissom and Saratoga bridges were pretty standard Enterprise re-dresses. You'd think they could have saved their very strapped resources.

Also, for some reason it bugs the daylights out of me when people use oval to mean elliptical. (ALL of my kids' shapes stuff does this. I think it's because ellipses are so much easier to draw on computers now.) Not that the Grissom bridge is really either. I'll see myself out.

 

[Rusty0918]

I'm not crazy about the ST3 Excelsior bridge, maybe with the exception of those chairs.

I wonder what station Donny will be working on next? The Science station which he did is probably one of the, if not THE hardest ones to do (especially with those accordion button arrangements). I can imagine the helm/nav might be almost as difficult.

 

[Norsehound]

I'm not crazy about the ST3 Excelsior bridge, maybe with the exception of those chairs.

I wonder what station Donny will be working on next? The Science station which he did is probably one of the, if not THE hardest ones to do (especially with those accordion button arrangements). I can imagine the helm/nav might be almost as difficult.

I dunno, I like it. But there's a lot I like about the NX Excelsior, particularly due to it's rarity. I always imagined the NX bridge also having a very prototypical LCARS setup that was being tested for implementation in future starships. I think if you're willing to concede Kirk's reassignment to 1701-A being more than three months after the original's destruction, 1701-A probably had a 2.0 version of the system installed.

 

[Norsehound]

Face it, Donny what we really want from the Excelsior is engineering! But you seem to be finding enough rabbit holes on your own. (Grissom? Wow!)

I mean, NX Excelsior has only something like three interior sets: Styles Quarters (Which might as well be kirk's with a new lighting arrangement?), Engineering (Revamped TMP set with new walls) and the bridge. I think the reason Donny's doing Grissom this easily is because it has fewer sets- just the bridge. Technically Reliant has a few more, but they're indistinguishable from the refit Enterprise (Unless Donny, you want to do Reliant's engineering? Technically we see it when Khan's followers take a hit).

 

[Donny]

I

I'm not crazy about the ST3 Excelsior bridge, maybe with the exception of those chairs.

I wonder what station Donny will be working on next? The Science station which he did is probably one of the, if not THE hardest ones to do (especially with those accordion button arrangements). I can imagine the helm/nav might be almost as difficult.

Ive finished the Gravity Control, Internal Security, Damage & Repair, and Envirobmental Enginneering consoles up the last few days. Starting the helm today, followed by the Weapons & Defense controls. I’m off for my 35th birthday today, , and hoping to knock out both before the day’s through!

I mean, NX Excelsior has only something like three interior sets: Styles Quarters (Which might as well be kirk's with a new lighting arrangement?), Engineering (Revamped TMP set with new walls) and the bridge. I think the reason Donny's doing Grissom this easily is because it has fewer sets- just the bridge. Technically Reliant has a few more, but they're indistinguishable from the refit Enterprise (Unless Donny, you want to do Reliant's engineering? Technically we see it when Khan's followers take a hit).

At this point I don’t plan on doing more than just the bridges of the Reliant and Grissom. Maybe one day, but I’ll definitely have my hands full with the Enterprise interiors for a while ;-)

Also, the Excelsior engineering set didn’t have new walls. They just filmed that one corner of the set we saw little of in the other films. It looks like they may have erected something behind and to the left of the engineer there to cover up the dilithium chamber (perhaps because that part of the set was partially deconstructed?) I've heard the lighting of the intermix chamber was so expensive and time-consuming, which is one of the reasons they opted not to show it in this scene.



[EDIT] You know what, screw it! I will be doing some Reliant and Grissom interiors! Redressing the Enterprise sets will be fun and short work!