Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

[Donny]

It's easy to see where TNG got their ideas for the isolinear chips from

Well, I for one don't have any reference that shows that the original prop had any of these chips inside of them, and I doubt they did. These may have been created specifically for the Rodenberry.com prop replica, and were drawing from TNG's isolinear chips as design inspiration. I like their inclusion into the prop replica, so I'm mirroring that here to add some cool functionality to an otherwise limited screen-used prop.

 

[Christopher]

If anything, the isolinear chips may have been inspired by the circuit modules (or whatever those were called) in HAL's brain room in 2001. Or just by real-life circuit boards, extrapolated forward to be more compact and optically based, thus transparent.

 

[FormerLurker]

That would work. Each chip has an opaque end that is probably intended to be the data storage, while the rest of the chip is how the various computer access points access and use said data. Different configurations of the optical parts makes for chips with different uses; conversely, the clear parts could be configurable, and are tailored for the data stored.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Datachips modeled and in place! I'll take some final renders tonight.

Very nice! It looks like you could almost reach into the screen and touch it.

Touching on something Nightowl said upthread, how big is this tricorder compared to the ones we saw on TNG? I suspect that red button is much smaller than the TNG tricorder's display screen, but haven't been able to find dimensions for either prop.

 

[Mysterion]

Based on the film credits:

• J.R. Jennings = Joseph R. Jennings, production designer
• M.C. Minor = Michael Minor, art director
• L. Cole = Lee Cole, graphic designer
• D. Gluck = Daniel Gluck, set designer
• D. Maltese = Daniel Maltese, set designer
• T. Grodnick = ??? (IMDb lists a Todd Grodnick who was working as a production assistant and video coordinator in the early '80s, but he doesn't have credited work in TWOK or any other ST production)
• D. Gabrielle = ???
• C. Graffeo = Charles Graffeo, set decorator
• J. Longo = Joe Longo, property master
• G. Rescher = Gayne Rescher, cinematographer
• D. Arakelian = Deborah Arakelian, assistant to producers

And the you've got Lt. Cmdr. Gort, a reference to Klaatu's robot guardian in The Day The Earth Stood Still; and Capt. Xon a reference to the character of Lt. Xon from the never-made Star Trek Phase II series of the 1970's - nice to see he's doing well, and getting promoted in good order.

 

[Donny]

Touching on something Nightowl said upthread, how big is this tricorder compared to the ones we saw on TNG? I suspect that red button is much smaller than the TNG tricorder's display screen, but haven't been able to find dimensions for either prop.

Luckily, there is this pic which had a ruler in the scene for scale:


Based on that, my tricorder model ended up being 4 inches wide, 5.8 inches tall, 3.14 inches deep.

 

[cardinal biggles]

This auction for a TNG medical tricorder prop gives dimensions for the folded-up tricorder as 8" x 3" x 2", so while somewhat narrower than the TMP version, it's not narrow enough that you could really take that red square as anything other than an input button or an indicator light; certainly not a display screen.

 

[Donny]

Final renders of the TMP Tricorder. It's not my favorite tricorder (nothing beats the classic), but I quite like it and I've wanted to model it for years.

 

[Donny]

So, apparently, there was at least one hero prop that had a hinged head:




However, this was given to me far too late and I'm just going to stick with the version I've already modeled, which was the version that Spock and Decker carried with them during the film's climax.

 

[Maurice]

The ones at the end don't have the hinge? I guess the idea was they should look flush when open?

 

[Donny]

The ones at the end don't have the hinge? I guess the idea was they should look flush when open?

Nope, no hinge.

 

[Mytran]

So, apparently, there was at least one hero prop that had a hinged head:




However, this was given to me far too late and I'm just going to stick with the version I've already modeled, which was the version that Spock and Decker carried with them during the film's climax.

Fascinating! I wonder how neatly it would have folded up though? There doesn't seem to be enough clearance for the lower section to move over the top part of the console and create the "compact" version seen in the second screencap.
Maybe the hinged prop was a prototype that just didn't work as well as planned?

 

[TOMFAN]

I know it wasn't designed for close scrutiny, and was only intended to be seen on screen briefly, but I think the main problem with those tricorders (the props that is, not your excellent models), is that there needs to be a screen for the characters to look at, instead of just a few lights and buttons.

 

[Henoch]

I know it wasn't designed for close scrutiny, and was only intended to be seen on screen briefly, but I think the main problem with those tricorders (the props that is, not your excellent models), is that there needs to be a screen for the characters to look at, instead of just a few lights and buttons.

Agree. Or...maybe the tricorder has a laser emitter to project images directly onto the user's retina?

 

[BK613]

So, apparently, there was at least one hero prop that had a hinged head:

.

And a fold-down tray for the chips, although the chips are in the counter direction.

 

[Commodore Miles]

Here it is albeit broken:

 

[Workbee]

So, apparently, there was at least one hero prop that had a hinged head:




However, this was given to me far too late and I'm just going to stick with the version I've already modeled, which was the version that Spock and Decker carried with them during the film's climax.

The second picture looks like part of the head was sawed off- not folded in. Perhaps this is meant to be a variant for a specific function - much like how the TNG medical tricorder is a variant of the “standard” tricorder. Or a different instrument altogether as we never see it actually used (prop-repurposing was definitely a thing in Star Trek). I don’t think it is meant to imply that the head of the TMP tricorder folds in.

 

[Christopher]

I don’t think it is meant to imply that the head of the TMP tricorder folds in.

No, I believe it was. It looks like the top part was supposed to flip open, but they made dummy models that were permanently open and permanently closed, plus the flip model to show the transition. Maybe the idea was that it was some futuristic construction where the seams and hinges were invisible.

You see this sort of cheat used a lot in TV and movies. For instance, look at TNG: "Ensign Ro," the scene at the refugee camp where Ro takes off her uniform tunic to give to a shivering child. She opens it in the front, even though there's no seam there. Similarly, movie Spider-Man costumes tend to have the masks fully attached at the neck, except in shots where the mask comes off and it's magically a separate piece. The Netflix Daredevil costume and the current Arrowverse Flash costume do the same thing.

From that perspective, the top portion does resemble the design of TNG-era tricorders.

 

[cardinal biggles]

This could have been an early version of the prop used for the engine room scene, and later they decided that the folding head and fold-out tray just overly complicated things, and switched to the non-folding hero version we see on the bridge, in Ilia's quarters, and when they go to meet V'Ger.

 

[Christopher]

If we assume the in-universe tricorder was meant to flip open in a way that was never built into the actual props, it'd be interesting to see a redesign of Donny's digital tricorder that incorporated the flip function. Presumably the prop depicted in comment #2737 represents the closed configuration, so that could be a guide.