Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

[Harvey]

Huh. Did they go back and shoot more Enterprise shots after shooting Reliant? Curious.

They did pick-ups and reshoots during the last four of principal photography (January 26-29, 1982).

There's only one scene on the bridge indicated on the schedule for those reshoots, though, and Spock isn't on the cast list for it (note that all of the scene descriptions for these pick-ups are deliberately wrong -- e.g. ""Spock comes back to life, really pissed-off. Swears revenge on Kirk."):

INT. ENTERPRISE BRIDGE - DAY

Sc. 247AA (ADDED)

Honeycombs explode. Cast & crew scatter for cover.

EFFECTS
spraying honey
ritter fans
handi-wipes

CAST
1. KIRK
2. BONES
7. SAAVIK
8. SCOTTY
9. UHURA
10. SULU

I don't have the movie's full schedule or script, so not sure where this scene lands in context.

 

[Workbee]

Based in the cast list, the only scene I can think of is when Kirk orders a course to the mutara nebula. I think that is the only time Scotty is ever on the bridge. Though McCoy isn’t on the bridge in that scene so who knows? Maybe they did a couple different bridge scenes with different cast members dempending in the shot needed?

 

[STEPhon IT]

Finally! After three (or was it four?) nights, I've finished the helm console.

There are actually more differences between the TMP console and the TWOK console. See if you can spot them all!



Here's a closer look at the TMP console:


There's painfully little reference for Sulu's TMP throttle, but I think I got it as close as I could:


Closeup of the navigator's side in it's TWOK configuration:

And a the helmsman's side:

What would TVH 1701-A look like, Donny? It would be pretty bright I would assume.

 

[Workbee]

I think Donny mentioned upthread that he still needs to get better reference pictures / diagrams just to be able to model the TVH helm. That and he is eager to move on to other sets first.

But basically it is all flat “23rd century LCARS” style. The helm from TFF is probably the closest on screen representation of what the TVH helm controls looked like.

 

[Donny]

What would TVH 1701-A look like, Donny? It would be pretty bright I would assume.

The helm console? I imagine it would look like this:
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=44720&fullsize=1
All the control surfaces of the TVH Ent-A bridge seem to be pretty standardized, with elliptical touch-screen buttons in frames of white:


But yes, Workbee is correct. I will be doing the TVH bridge at a later date, in hopes that better reference for the control panels comes to light, and after I take a break from bridge-land.

 

[David cgc]

I always thought that the throttle in TMP, was one of the best, and funniest, and cleverest, and most absurd thing, all rolled into one!

I loved how he was so deliberate with it, like if he twitched wrong the engines would jump and slam them into an asteroid. A related favorite subtle bit is how in the first warp-drive scene, everyone but Sulu is sort of relaxed about the whole thing, but the second time, after the wormhole, they're all strapped in, feet flat on the floor, like the way you tense up driving after you hit a surprise puddle and lose traction for a split-second.

 

[Maurice]

I wonder why they pulled the metal grating off the floor of the command module after TMP.

 

[Donny]

I wonder why they pulled the metal grating off the floor of the command module after TMP.

Not only did they do that, they modified the remaining platform completely. They added extensions to the sides of both levels of the platform, lowered the helm platform about 6 inches and moved the entire helm console forward a bit as well. The helm console was much closer to the captain in TMP.

Funny, the helm was lowered a bit from TFF to TUC as well.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Was it lowered, or did it just seem that way because the captain's chair was raised? In TFF, the command platform looks to have a pretty similar (if not the same) shape as the one from TWOK-TVH. in TUC, Kirk's chair is on the same level as the main deck, and the railing that was behind his chair is gone.

TFF: http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tffhd/tffhd0309.jpg

TUC: http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tuchd/tuchd0291.jpg

 

[Donny]

Was it lowered, or did it just seem that way because the captain's chair was raised? In TFF, the command platform looks to have a pretty similar (if not the same) shape as the one from TWOK-TVH. in TUC, Kirk's chair is on the same level as the main deck, and the railing that was behind his chair is gone.

Sorry, I was referring to the fact that the helm console structure itself was shortened. The pedestal the helm sits on appears to have been shortened from the bottom. Take this screenshot as a demonstration:

You'll see the light strip is considerably shorter in TUC than it is in TFF, and the bottom of the pedestal doesn't have as pronounced a forward swoop at the bottom anymore. The actors are sitting much higher above the helm console as a result. At first I thought it was just perspective, but I confirmed all this when modeling my TUC helm console. There are other angles in screencaps that confirm this as well.

As far as the TMP/TWOK helm, check out these comparison shots:

You'll see that the helm platform is higher off the floor in TMP, and is closer in height to the captain's chair platform (look right under Ilia's chair).
In TWOK, the helm platform appears to be lowered just a tad (~6 inches from my calculations) to perfectly provide three equidistant steps down into the command pit.

In this shot, you'll see that the helm console/astrogator is indeed a little lower and a little more forward as well (compare the relation of the helm panels to the forward bridge rail supports).

Again, perspective keeps one guessing, but modeling it all in 3D I've confirmed all of these facts to the best of my ability. Also, I admit any of this could be wrong, as this is guesswork based soley on observation ofscreencaps and available schematics (of which there are few) and modeling it all in 3D. I have no written evidence to back up any of these observations.

[EDIT]
Here's a shot of my renders which demonstrates the structural differences between the two conn platforms:

 

[Maurice]

Scene 247AA would be a double-alphabet, which implies an extra scene wedged between Scene 247A and 248, but there's nothing at that point in the story which requires Scott on the Bridge, as he's watching Spock get nuked in Engineering at that moment.

The only scenes with Scotty on the bridge are

• 102 Scotty brings toasted nephew to the bridge
• 156 Kirk orders the ship into the nebula

Neither calls for any pyrotechnics.

It can't be 102 since Peter Preston's not called for

It could be 156 if the funny description is just that and doesn't refer to actual pyro on the set. But...

Former BBS member @trevanian suggested to me that—Scotty aside—it could be scene 84, which includes the shot when the the torpedo hits the Enterprise right after Kirk yells "Hang on!" But Spock is not in the listed characters but is seen to screen left and immediately obscured by the explosion. So maybe it's a mistake where they listed Scott instead of Spock. That’s a shot Meyer claims he threatened to pay for himself until Paramount caved. This seems like the most likely answer to me at the moment.

 

[Workbee]

Scene 247AA would be a double-alphabet, which implies an extra scene wedged between Scene 247A and 248, but there's nothing at that point in the story which requires Scott on the Bridge, as he's watching Spock get nuked in Engineering at that moment.

The only scenes with Scotty on the bridge are

• 102 Scotty brings toasted nephew to the bridge
• 156 Kirk orders the ship into the nebula

Neither calls for any pyrotechnics.

It can't be 102 since Peter Preston's not called for

It could be 156 if the funny description is just that and doesn't refer to actual pyro on the set. But...

Former BBS member @trevanian suggested to me that—Scotty aside—it could be scene 84, which includes the shot when the the torpedo hits the Enterprise right after Kirk yells "Hang on!" But Spock is not in the listed characters but is seen to screen left and immediately obscured by the explosion. So maybe it's a mistake where they listed Scott instead of Spock. That’s a shot Meyer claims he threatened to pay for himself until Paramount caved. This seems like the most likely answer to me at the moment.

According to an older draft of the script on imsdb (dated march 82), scene 247 is the final scene on the bridge when Kirk says "Young, I feel young." Perhaps it might be an edit adding in McCoy's line that "He's not really dead. As long as we remember him." That line isn't in the March 82 script. I always felt like that line was a little too on the nose for the manner they brought Spock back. Considering how Bennett overrode Meyer on the ending and had some footage of the planet and torpedo tube shot, could Bennett have also added that line in, as a little wink to the audience? Harve Bennett was a TV producer after all -- maybe that was his way of saying to the viewers "Tune in next time to see what our enterprising crew does next!

Link to script: https://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Trek-II-The-Wrath-of-Khan.html

 

[Maurice]

According to an older draft of the script on imsdb (dated march 82), scene 247 is the final scene on the bridge when Kirk says "Young, I feel young." Perhaps it might be an edit adding in McCoy's line that "He's not really dead. As long as we remember him." That line isn't in the March 82 script. I always felt like that line was a little too on the nose for the manner they brought Spock back. Considering how Bennett overrode Meyer on the ending and had some footage of the planet and torpedo tube shot, could Bennett have also added that line in, as a little wink to the audience? Harve Bennett was a TV producer after all -- maybe that was his way of saying to the viewers "Tune in next time to see what our enterprising crew does next!

Link to script: https://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Trek-II-The-Wrath-of-Khan.html

The script I was referencing was the REVISED FINAL DRAFT, May 24, 1982. The scene numbering in that is the same as in the one you cite thru scene 103, after that they diverge and never match up again.

As to a pickup shoot, the production would be using the numbering from the latest version of the script, not one months earlier. To those not in the know, it's very UNCOMMON to renumber a script unless it's a massive page-one rewrite. This is why Alpha pages and Alpha scenes (e.g. 156A) exist. You OMIT scenes removed but they keep their numbers, and you Alpha new scenes added, vitally important since all the production materials are assigned by scene #s, and if you change those it's chaos.

But even assuming you're right, and it's an AA scene shoved between 247 and 247A in the March 1982 numbering, the problem is the cast sheet doesn't call for all the actors in that ending scene, notably Carol and David, and Carol is right there with Bones. Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[Workbee]

Holy crap Donny! I am blown away by your ability to discover these details. I never noticed these subtle changes and just assumed it was only the more superficial changes that were made. Interesting they went to so much effort to make small changes like that but given that most of the film was shot on the set (and that it was one of the most difficult to film from a cinematic perspective) it makes sense that they would put the effort in to improving eyelines and blocking of the actors. Efforts that would generally go unnoticed by casual or even devoted viewers. At least until the day Donny walked onto the scene... ;-)

In this shot, you'll see that the helm console/astrogator is indeed a little lower and a little more forward as well (compare the relation of the helm panels to the forward bridge rail supports).

Again, perspective keeps one guessing, but modeling it all in 3D I've confirmed all of these facts to the best of my ability. Also, I admit any of this could be wrong, as this is guesswork based soley on observation ofscreencaps and available schematics (of which there are few) and modeling it all in 3D. I have no written evidence to back up any of these observations.

So you got me staring at some of these screenshots, and the two shots above are nearly the same perspective. Okay, I am in no way a cinematographer or even a photographer so what I am about to say could very well be wrong because I am just clueless... but.

In TWOK they jammed the camera into the turbolift (or at least put it behind the doors) so that it could see them open revealing the bridge. I think as a result, it had to be pretty close to the doors so it could get that wide of a view -- otherwise more would have been cut off by the doorway.

In TMP, they just pulled the wild section(s) that would have been in the way (the bottom left corner of the frame shows the side of the adjacent section I think). This means they probably pulled the camera further back and zoomed in. As a result, the TMP shot probably has a slight telescoping effect that is "flattening out" the foreground and background elements. To my eye, it looks like the room seems smaller than in the TWOK screencap. The TWOK screencap in comparison seems to have greater depth. This is possibly distorting the perception of how far or close the helm console is to the captain's chair. Of course, there are also differences between how the set was lit, filmstock used, darkness or lightness of the paint on the walls and possible split diopter in TMP that could be throwing the apparent perspective off as well.


[EDIT]

I just noticed that the round bump on the front bottom of the helm support column in TMP became a square bump in TWOK. Interesting.

And in the shot of the bridge in TWOK above, part of the guardrail is missing -- the right most part just in front of the viewscreen.

 

[Donny]

Holy crap Donny! I am blown away by your ability to discover these details. I never noticed these subtle changes and just assumed it was only the more superficial changes that were made. Interesting they went to so much effort to make small changes like that but given that most of the film was shot on the set (and that it was one of the most difficult to film from a cinematic perspective) it makes sense that they would put the effort in to improving eyelines and blocking of the actors. Efforts that would generally go unnoticed by casual or even devoted viewers. At least until the day Donny walked onto the scene... ;-)





So you got me staring at some of these screenshots, and the two shots above are nearly the same perspective. Okay, I am in no way a cinematographer or even a photographer so what I am about to say could very well be wrong because I am just clueless... but.

In TWOK they jammed the camera into the turbolift (or at least put it behind the doors) so that it could see them open revealing the bridge. I think as a result, it had to be pretty close to the doors so it could get that wide of a view -- otherwise more would have been cut off by the doorway.

In TMP, they just pulled the wild section(s) that would have been in the way (the bottom left corner of the frame shows the side of the adjacent section I think). This means they probably pulled the camera further back and zoomed in. As a result, the TMP shot probably has a slight telescoping effect that is "flattening out" the foreground and background elements. To my eye, it looks like the room seems smaller than in the TWOK screencap. The TWOK screencap in comparison seems to have greater depth. This is possibly distorting the perception of how far or close the helm console is to the captain's chair. Of course, there are also differences between how the set was lit, filmstock used, darkness or lightness of the paint on the walls and possible split diopter in TMP that could be throwing the apparent perspective off as well.


[EDIT]

I just noticed that the round bump on the front bottom of the helm support column in TMP became a square bump in TWOK. Interesting.

And in the shot of the bridge in TWOK above, part of the guardrail is missing -- the right most part just in front of the viewscreen.

There are other screen caps which demonstrate that the helm is both lower and more forward other than the one I provided. I can provide them, if necessary. Or I can get back to modeling ;-)

And yes, in case you were wondering, I have taken into account that greeble on the lower front of the helm console, and it’s implemented in my renders

 

[cardinal biggles]

In TMP, they just pulled the wild section(s) that would have been in the way (the bottom left corner of the frame shows the side of the adjacent section I think).

Actually, Robert Wise had the bridge segments locked down, so the wild walls weren't utilized in TMP. What you're seeing in the bottom left corner is one of the roll-out consoles on the Science station.

And in the shot of the bridge in TWOK above, part of the guardrail is missing -- the right most part just in front of the viewscreen.

Because they took out the wild segment with the Gravity Control station -- if you look closely, you'll notice the floor is missing, too.

 

[Workbee]

Whoops... Clearly I was not thinking about all the hours you have spent pouring over every find detail in those screencaps when building these models. Sorry about that.

Honestly, I think most would agree you have earned the cred to make some assertions about these sets without having to post visual proof from every angle. I guess one could say that I feel "safer about your guesses than most other people's facts."

[EDIT] Whoops, I misspelled “whoops”

 

[Donny]

Whoop... Clearly I was not thinking about all the hours you have spent pouring over every find detail in those screencaps when building these models. Sorry about that.

Honestly, I think most would agree you have earned the cred to make some assertions about these sets without having to post visual proof from every angle. I guess one could say that I feel "safer about your guesses than most other people's facts."

Oh no worries at all. I don't mind people challenging my findings. I've been corrected quite a few times during the course of my projects, and for the better

 

[TOMFAN]

"The actors are sitting much higher above the helm console as a result."

I wonder if that's why they lowered it, so that you could get a better view of the actors? Maybe they thought that seeing them would make a better shot than just seeing the back of the console?

 

[Donny]

"The actors are sitting much higher above the helm console as a result."

I wonder if that's why they lowered it, so that you could get a better view of the actors? Maybe they thought that seeing them would make a better shot than just seeing the back of the console?

It looks like the actors are more comfortable too. The controls are in a much more natural position.