Looks very nice good job.Been watching a lot of 50's tv sci-fi lately like Space Patrol and Rocky Jones, the latter of which had some pretty remarkable FX for the time. While they may look low budget to our eyes, the budget for the FX actually killed the show. Anyway, was tinkering around with some retro spaceships, when I built one that could've been a retro Klingon ship, which in turn got me to thinking about how the Enterprise might've looked if Trek was produced in the early to mid 1950's. I've always wanted to build one, so I did. I tried to emulate the smooth hull of the Orbit Jet and Terra V, but couldn't resist adding a bit more to the saucer section as it seemed to need something more, thought that might change again.
This ship is another modification of the Gagarin. I removed the back funnels (or whatever you call them) and made the engines a little more 50's rocket style. Also, scaled down the ship to be more inline with the rough size of the rockets seen on the aforementioned shows. As all the shows of this period used rockets (with Space Patrol being the last to portray a horizontally landing rocket ala Flash Gordon) I imagine some big wig would've been demanding a retooling of the ship into something more inline with what was popular at the time aka a rocket.
I'm always amazed at how the original Enterprise can be reinterpreted and still be instantly recognizable as the Enterprise. Not sure that applies to other Trek ships, though I'm sure some creative mind will prove me wrong.
I won't be fleshing out this "universe" much, but I'll probably post a few more pics soon, as well as a phaser and communicator. Thinking about using this ship on some UESPA covers in the future. Anyway.....Enjoy!
Star Trek 55
- Thread starter The Lensman
- Start date
How do you tell what rank someone is? kind of strange having a patch on just one sideBetter picture for everyone's benefit:
This is so damn clever. What strikes me, though, is how close your K-7 is to the "real" thing... or mebee how the K-7 from "Tribbles" is so close to yours. In any event, love it!
Taking a short break from working on the Dunsany, I threw this together real quick. I don't normally envision much from the real show translated into this version, but I do love that Romeulan ship. Probably one of my favorite works. Now....I'm gonna go do some gaming.
Good work The Lensman. I always found that shot to be iconic, they kinda ruined it in the Remaster by having the Enterprise facing straight forward (making the scene look flat and not as tense) and replacing one of the D-7s with a BOP.
"look look, we win!" 
Reposting this since Photobucket crapped on the last one.
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C57D
Guest
Lensman - your designs are amazing and inspirational. I run role playing games for a hobby, and a 50's style Trek certainly sounds like it has potential.
One major thing needed for any RP game is to draw up deckplans (investigating derelict ships & boarding parties etc) for all the ships involved.
Taking your Enterprise as a starter, I am presuming (from your figure scaled drawing) that the saucer is about 100' diameter with four 10' high decks? And the "secondary hull" is some 60' long with two 10' high decks?
Working on those dimensions I should be able to plan out some interior details.
One major thing needed for any RP game is to draw up deckplans (investigating derelict ships & boarding parties etc) for all the ships involved.
Taking your Enterprise as a starter, I am presuming (from your figure scaled drawing) that the saucer is about 100' diameter with four 10' high decks? And the "secondary hull" is some 60' long with two 10' high decks?
Working on those dimensions I should be able to plan out some interior details.
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Thanks! As for the numbers and dimensions.....Don't really know. Sounds about right. I've got a cutaway that I use to remember what's what and how big the crew is relative to the ship. I'd always intended to try to model a few of the more prominent areas, but haven't gotten around to it.
The biggest sticking point for me is the control room (the bridge). When I try to imagine it, all I can think of is the control room of the Orbit Jet as it works perfectly. There is no captains chair as in the actual show. The captain assists in flying the ship as the crew compliment is pretty low. Like I've not made up my mind whether it's six or twelve. Typically because I'm not trying to visualize an actual 50's universe so much as a show in the 50's. So you'd probably have screen time for the star, the sidekick, maybe the engineer and the tech who operates the transporter device. So when it comes to the control room, I'm not imagining more than three crewmembers *at best*.
At the moment I'm pressed for time, so can't offer much more than a few quick details. The center of the saucer houses the transporter room, the lower dome of the saucer is all machinery dedicated to the transporter. There are no turbo lifts, decks are traversed by ladders. The neck is primarily an access way, housing the airlock and spacesuit storage. The secondary hull is 90% rocket engine, with a small two level engine room. Right behind the laser cannon (what would be the sensor dish on the actual ship) is the weapon control room.
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Guest
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your design to me. I will get some deckplans drawn up, and see if I can amend some game rulesets to fit this fascinsting era.
I forgot to add that the saucer is two decks, not four.
Ever think about releasing Orthos of your starships, Lensman?
To be honest, I haven't. Mainly because I associate orthos with a completed project and I'm always tweaking something. Also, I don't really design with numbers and dimensions in mind so much as the image I want to end up with. I wouldn't even know how to calculate dimensions for these....maybe see if my program can do that for me. If so, I'm sure I could probably whip some up if people are interested.
Felt like making an old fashion gadget, figured the communicator was as good a thing as any. The Tele-Radio is cigarette pack size. The lid is spring activated by two buttons, one on each side, and then slid back into place when done. On the fictional show this would've been on, I imagine the lid would often become an accidental projectile. XD
Seems weird to be posting something for this in color though......
Seems weird to be posting something for this in color though......
This is a great nod to the description in the Writer's Guide and your design is a very believable 1950s interpretation. I love all the extra switches and dials!
That made me laugh a bit louder than I should!!
Aww, who am I kidding? I guffawed!Such a blooper reminds me of a surviving clip from arguably one of the earliest televised space operas, "Captain Video". In the sequence, a character is at a desk, maybe "Video" himself,speaking into a futuristic microphone. He bumps the mic which topples forward, revealing it to be just a 2 dimensional "standee" prop, the back surface possessing no (painted) details at all! The thing is, it didn't look that much different from existing real microphones! Obviously, I have no idea what was happening behind the scenes, but it seems to me it would have been easier (maybe even cheaper) to use a real mic and simply tack on a "doodad" or two rather than cutting out and painting a "billboard" type prop.
This seems a little familiar. A lot like sketches I did 26 years ago for a game proposal and shared in a thread a dozen years ago (link). Great minds and all that.
[...]
I even did sketches of equipment. I wanted to have communicators that felt related to those seen on TOS, but without literally repeating their flip-top gag. I quickly hit on keeping the grille as an antenna, but, instead of flipping it open, you'd pull it up like a radio antenna, revealing the controls underneath. I quickly moved on to a spring-loaded version where the antenna grille would snap up if you squeezed the device, and you'd push it shut to "hang up". I toyed with the idea of making them clear like The Cage communicators, but decided that looked dorky, so I compromised and made the face of the device clear, but the body black.
Found some more uniform sketches. [...] There's another communicator, and a Jefferies-proportioned Daedalus doodle as well.
Thanks! Yeah, I've never forgotten that description. The dimensions of this thing literally use the dimensions of a pack of Marlboro gold shorts. Apparently you can google and get the dimensions of just about every different pack of cigs. LOL!
Looks really '50's SF
Thanks!!
That made me laugh a bit louder than I should!!
Such a blooper reminds me of a surviving clip from arguably one of the earliest televised space operas, "Captain Video". In the sequence, a character is at a desk, maybe "Video" himself,speaking into a futuristic microphone. He bumps the mic which topples forward, revealing it to be just a 2 dimensional "standee" prop, the back surface possessing no (painted) details at all! The thing is, it didn't look that much different from existing real microphones! Obviously, I have no idea what was happening behind the scenes, but it seems to me it would have been easier (maybe even cheaper) to use a real mic and simply tack on a "doodad" or two rather than cutting out and painting a "billboard" type prop.
Nice! Yeah, when I come up with this stuff, it's always a dual reality kind of thing. It's not just an alternate Trek universe, but an alternate universe where this "fill in the blank" Trek was made instead of the one we got. From there, I just couldn't stop thinking about that lid shooting out. Probably because I'm not mechanically inclined enough to be able to devise the mechanism that operates such a thing. I just know you push the two buttons to pop it up, then use your hand to push it back into place.
That Captain Video story is awesome! I'd love to see that episode just for that moment! I've watched plenty of Space Patrol and Rocky Jones, but not much of Captain Video.
This seems a little familiar. A lot like sketches I did 26 years ago for a game proposal and shared in a thread a dozen years ago (link). Great minds and all that.
And here I thought I'd come up with a novel new idea. Well, I guess there's only so many ways to do something different with the lid while keeping the familiar and iconic grilled lid. The only other way was to make it open like a book.
At any rate, I love your design, certainly looks more polished and professional than mine. I especially love the "Cage" style bits. Nice update to that design!
