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Donny's TOS Enterprise Interiors

As I get older it amazes me that FJ thought of "Starliner" (which has the deck plans of a pleasure cruise ship) as a Star Fleet vessel!
I dunno. I figure if Starfleet (or Star Fleet ;)) is gonna transport some people, they’d opt to do so in the most comfortable way possible for the passengers. Also, the Constitution he depicted in the deck plans had the same amenities as the Starliner, with its pool and fake Earth exterior, etc. There was a playground on the Starliner, however, which the Consitution didn’t have due to no children being on starships in that era.
 
My only issue with all those amenities FJ showed is 1) they left no room for structure supporting the dish or nacelles and pylons. And 2) I would think they would have been multi-use spaces- proto-holodecks like TAS showed. So you could have a swimming pool OR bowling alley OR parkland, but not all three at the same time in the same space. After all, it makes little sense to lug around a bowling alley and swimming pool across interstellar space for the hours they are going unused. The matter used for the holodecks could in off time be the raw material for consumibles. Then a fun space on off time is basically a storage tank.
 
My only issue with all those amenities FJ showed is 1) they left no room for structure supporting the dish or nacelles and pylons. And 2) I would think they would have been multi-use spaces- proto-holodecks like TAS showed. So you could have a swimming pool OR bowling alley OR parkland, but not all three at the same time in the same space. After all, it makes little sense to lug around a bowling alley and swimming pool across interstellar space for the hours they are going unused. The matter used for the holodecks could in off time be the raw material for consumibles. Then a fun space on off time is basically a storage tank.
While I agree that there should've been support structure supporting those exterior details (I assume we're talking about the FJ Constitution and not the Starliner, correct?), I personally don't like the idea of holodeck technology existing on 2260s starships and would in turn disagree that having space for a bowling alley, pool, and parkland is a waste of space and would go unused for the most part. Assuming an 8-hour duty shift, two-thirds of the crew would be off-duty during any given work shift, so having these recreational areas available for off-duty personnel to unwind, relax, and socialize seems crucial to the mental well-being of the crew during deep-space assignments without frequent shore leave. But yes, holodecks are a more efficient use of space for this purpose, I just don't personally believe they existed on starships at this time.

HOWEVER, I don't necessarily agree with the idea of a parkland as FJ included in his Connie deck plans either as that's pure conjecture and I think the third-season herbarium fills that role already (even though the Connie Refit did have a botanical garden/park). The idea of a bowling alley I really like, and I admit I've been jonesing for years to model it for years. And I'd like to add a pool for that matter too ;)

On this note, placing the bowling alley, pool, and theater in the secondary hull would also mean that these areas are a luxury that smaller vessels (like the Saladin and Ptolemy) don't have, again making a Constitution class the more coveted vessel to command and serve on. You'd still have the gymnasium and the main mess halls and lounges in the all the primary ships of this era, providing some recreation for the smaller crews of the smaller classes.

But anyway, I know not everyone would agree and this is all conjecture and speculation. I understand that we all have our unique vision of what fills out the unseen spaces of the starships we love. That's part of what makes this so fun!
 
I realize it doesn't exactly "jibe" with what was presented in "The Practical Joker", but I imagine that "recreation room" employed nothing more than wall mounted and some free standing holograms, nothing so sophisticated as transported and reconstituted matter or selectively shaped "forcefields" to simulate solid surfaces. Walk into a "tree" and a crewmember would pass through it like a ghost. There's no adequate way to explain the "pit trap" unless the room were at least two decks tall and the system employed something akin to "memory" materials to reshape the deck. The trio are tricked into walking up an incline until it is tall enough to form a hole deep enough that it proves a struggle to escape. But personally, I would have done away with that "trick". Instead, I would have had the ship's computer play a bit more with the environmental controls, introducing extreme heat with a desert backdrop in addition to the arctic conditions we saw in the cartoon. Maybe project a hologram of one of the trapped crew, fooling the others until it changed into a monster to "jump scare" them.

A "rec deck" like that I could accept upon Kirk's "5 year mission" Enterprise, knowing what we do about the holodecks upon the Enterprise-D.
 
On this note, placing the bowling alley, pool, and theater in the secondary hull would also mean that these areas are a luxury that smaller vessels (like the Saladin and Ptolemy) don't have, again making a Constitution class the more coveted vessel to command and serve on. You'd still have the gymnasium and the main mess halls and lounges in the all the primary ships of this era, providing some recreation for the smaller crews of the smaller classes.
I've always been attracted to this idea as well. After all, there are no mentions in the series to an "Engineering Hull" (the closest we get is the "Engineering Section") and there really are a lot of windows on the secondary hull!
In addition, the apparently publicly available area of the Observation Deck (seen in Conscience Of The King and referenced by Sarek in Journey To Babel) is most definitely in the secondary hull, so it would make sense to include this in the same location as other common areas that the ambassadors and the Coridian players would utilise during their stay.
 
“The Making of Star Trek” mentioned the planned “holographic recreation deck” so what they showed in TAS was one instance of realizing something intended for TOS.
Well, note the underlined and see how much you believe this claim.


The primary hull's eighth deck level contains four major facilities: a large recreation area, the main food preparation area (similar to the galley aboard our ships today), ship's laundry, and a rather exotic entertainment center. Although this recreation area has never been shown in any past​


188 OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY OF A SHIP AND ITS CREW

Star Trek episodes. This set has now been built and will be seen in the third season. Gene describes it this way:

MEN AND WOMEN ON A STARSHIP, SO LONG OUT OF CONTACT WITH EARTH AND SO LONG AWAY FROM OTHER PLANETS, TOO, WILL REQUIRE A FEELING OF FRESH AIR AND SKY AND WIND AND SCENTS. BECAUSE WE ARE, IN MANY RESPECTS, STILL ANIMALS, OUR MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM WILL REQUIRE THE FAMILIARITY OF THIS. MAN HAS BEEN TOO LONG A PART OF EARTH TO BE TOO LONG SEPARATED. THEREFORE WE INTEND TO BUILD A SIMULATED "OUTDOOR" RECREATION AREA WHICH GIVES A REALISTIC FEELING OF SKY, BREEZES, PLANTS, FOUNTAINS, AND SO FORTH.

ONE OF THE REASONS FOR MAKING A STARSHIP SO LARGE WOULD BE TO HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS—IN FACT TO CREATE A WHOLE "COMMUNITY" SO NECESSARY TO A SOCIAL ANIMAL. AN AUTOMATED STARSHIP LIKE OURS COULD PROBABLY BE OPERATED BY TEN PEOPLE IF NECESSARY, BUT IT WOULD BE A TERRIBLY LIMITED, UNHEALTHY, MISERABLE LIFE.​
 
I presume the built (but unseen) set being referred to is this one?

https://dygtyjqp7pi0m.cloudfront.net/i/18485/20788632_1.jpg?v=8D1B5FAC1600EE0

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2455/3830157574_f6d5a704e4.jpg

And isn’t this the same idea rendered by Mike Minor for Phase II?

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XpwRhcetvgjw6b9uN2iA85.jpg

And here?

http://cinetropolis.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/star-trek-phase-ii-rec-room.png

My point being, it WAS built in season three - just not in the form described in that book (as a “holoroom” or whatever). Then for Phase II the idea re-emerged as a fusion of the exotic, holographic environment described, and the rec room that had been built. Only in TAS was it interpreted as a simulacrum like that shown later in TNG. I am simply putting forth the possibility that TAS (and later, TNG) is more indicative of what was wanted than what was built in season three of TOS.
 
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I have assumed the “large recreation area” to be seen in “Is there in Truth No Beauty?” and iirc, “Elaan of Troyius” was one and the same as the intended simulacrum. But when you read TMoST, it is pretty clear what was built in season three was the rec area, and the simulated environment was intended. The writing is a bit confusing, but the list of what is on Deck 8 makes it clear there are two different, large areas. Requoting from Maurice above-

The Making of Star Trek, page 187-8:

“The primary hull's eighth deck level contains four major facilities: a large recreation area, the main food preparation area (similar to the galley aboard our ships today), ship's laundry, and a rather exotic entertainment center. Although this recreation area has never been shown in any past STAR TREK episodes. This set has now been built and will be seen in the third season. Gene describes it this way:

“MEN AND WOMEN ON A STARSHIP, SO LONG OUT OF CONTACT WITH EARTH AND SO LONG AWAY FROM OTHER PLANETS, TOO, WILL REQUIRE A FEELING OF FRESH AIR AND SKY AND WIND AND SCENTS. BECAUSE WE ARE, IN MANY RESPECTS, STILL ANIMALS, OUR MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM WILL REQUIRE THE FAMILIARITY OF THIS. MAN HAS BEEN TOO LONG A PART OF EARTH TO BE TOO LONG SEPARATED. THEREFORE WE INTEND TO BUILD A SIMULATED "OUTDOOR" RECREATION AREA WHICH GIVES A REALISTIC FEELING OF SKY, BREEZES, PLANTS, FOUNTAINS AND SO FORTH.”
 
I don’t know... maybe they were meant to be the same area after all.

http://www.trekcore.com/specials/albums/sketches/STTOS_Sketch_ElaanofTroyuis_RecRoom.jpg

Is this a case of not having dreamed the holodeck yet? Was the intended area with plants and fountains and simulated breezes - this? If that is the case, it was re-imagined for TAS, not a fulfillment of something never done.

Of course, maybe their proto-holodeck IS the round space and what we are looking at inside is the simulation.
 
It's the '70s, more likely they were high on Space Cocaine™.

Not Space Cocaine™... Jewels of Sound (Copyright 1966, The Kilimanjaro Corporation).

C7kLxui.jpg
 
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