Props Re-used
- Thread starter Neroon
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In the case of TOS, it must have been frustrating for them to have added a level of realism that wasn't even really discernable to the camera. So I can understand why they would stop bothering to add such things: no one would ever really see them. And they are a distraction anyway evrn if you can see them. People end up trying to read what's on the side of the card rather than actually listening to the dialog and following the story. So as cool as these props might be, they really need to not draw your attention. And for that matter, whenever you see books on the shelves (like in Kirk's or McCoy's quarters), the spines are always facing up, not facing out. So no one is tempted to try and read the spines since they aren't positioned at an angle where they can be read. The props and set decorations are like a musical soundrack: if you notice it, i's not doing it's job right.
All that being said, we shoot in HD now, so we are tempted (and often need) to add a level of detail that wasn't there originally. There's clearly some point at which too much detail becomes a distraction, but we now live in an era where not enough detail becomes a distraction to the viewer. So we need to find a new middle ground that TOS didn't have to find.
All that being said, once I get all my data cards done, I may double back and generate labels for them somehow. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
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What are these tape cards made of, Greg? I remember hearing them make a sound like hard plastic when tossed on a desk. Are you actually mixing up the stuff like a colored batter and setting it? Or is it in some other kind of material and you paint them after the cutting?
Funny... it looks like she's thinking to herself "Now what am I supposed to do with this contraption again? Hmmm... there's a mirror. I guess my hair looks alright."Sciences Lady carries it around (and you can just barely make out the blue and red jumpers stuck to the top):
I don't know what the originals were made out of. You're right: they do have a high-pitched click/clatter when tossed on the table--like plastic or resin. But I've seen reproductions made out of wood with really, really hard, sturdy paintjobs, and the hard paintjobs seem to impart the same kind of click/clatter sound.
The few original data cards that are in the hands of collectors, no one wants to cut open to see what's inside.
Mine are made of MDF wood (medium density fiberboard), primed and painted.
The originals were made of wood. High resolution scans of original press transparencies show the paint chips and scratches on them, and the wood below, of course.
One might say that the text became visible when the cards were pressed. Really, with storage media like that, a readable label of some sort is a must.. And it would make more sense for it to be a mutable and scrolling display rather than a line of immutable printed text.
Timo Saloniemi
Yes, if we ever have to show a computer card label in our production, we will probably do some CGI thing on the edge that makes it look like some futuristically-designed, dynamically generated scrolling LCD-type readout along the edge rather than, say, an adhesive paper label from Avery. (Actually, since we do want it to look like a 1960s production, we might try to do some odd technology that does justice to both design aesthetics.)
I'm sure it could be done - just as a lot of the other TOS props and displays could be given new "life" while retaining the general aesthetic of the "lifeless" originals.
A display consisting of white letters on some 1960s stencil font, perhaps? Minimal motion; if a scrolling motion is needed, then something resembling the rolling chronometer of the helm console. (I do like how they redid that one for TOS-R.)
Timo Saloniemi
A display consisting of white letters on some 1960s stencil font, perhaps? Minimal motion; if a scrolling motion is needed, then something resembling the rolling chronometer of the helm console. (I do like how they redid that one for TOS-R.)
Timo Saloniemi
As the Co-Executive Producer (and property master), I would have some input generally as to how I would want the effect realized--to the degree that it might lock us in somewhat for future episodes. But if we ever had to do some kind of futuristic label, mostly I would leave it to the episode's director, writer, our art director and our visual effects team to decide how the effect should be rendered. They seem to work best when they are freed of my meddling. I just work to provide whatever it is they want.
And, of course, we currently have no scenes planned in any upcoming script. So I have plenty of other fish to fry in the meantime.
Well, this next little goodie was only in one episode--and it was the pilot episode at that: "Where No Man Has Gone Before." In the very first scene of "Where No Man Has Gone Before," in the Recreation Lounge, Captain Kirk and Mister Spock are playing three dimensional chess. In the background, some extras are engaged in a variety of recreational activities. In some shots, you can see some books on the tabletop. (Reading will always be a pleasant way to pass some leisurely hours.) You can see a three dimensional checker board (which I'll get into in some other post). But you also see a translucent cube-thing over Kirk's shoulder. Here's the best shot of it from the actual episode:
There's actually another picture of it in a publicity shot that was taken during the filming of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" that appears in the book The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. It's a little better, but not much:
So what is this translucent cube-thing that is probably recreational in nature? (It was just seen in this one episode.) Well, it's a Milton Bradley game/toy called "Try-it." It's a three dimensional, clear plastic cube-like maze. You place a marble in the hole on one side and you hold the cube in your hands and you keep flipping the thing around ninety degrees and rattling it, hoping to maneuver the marble through the maze, and ultimately at some point to extricate the marble and get it to come out the hole on the other side eventually. The game of the future is here--today! Such 23rd Century fun! Here are some shots of my 1959 vintage "Try-it" maze:
You can also find a web page that analyzes the maze pattern of the "Try-it" maze here: http://www.roarbush.com/mb3dmaze/index.htm So, it's not one of the more spectacular Star Trek props, but then, not all of them are. Slide show is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/sets/72157605018953115/show/
Remember when Worf approached Geordi playing badly on the mandolin, grabs it from him and smashes it against a nearby tree?
{snip}
You'd think that Spock would do that with anyone playing this "Try-It" for the annoying plastic clunking sound it must make every time you rotate it.
EDIT: Darn, he changed his avatar (it showed an animation of Worf smashing the mandolin). :P
{snip}
You'd think that Spock would do that with anyone playing this "Try-It" for the annoying plastic clunking sound it must make every time you rotate it.
EDIT: Darn, he changed his avatar (it showed an animation of Worf smashing the mandolin). :P
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Homage to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9JYq-mXprwRemember when Worf approached Geordi playing badly on the mandolin, grabs it from him and smashes it against a nearby tree?
You'd think that Spock would do that with anyone playing this "Try-It" for the annoying plastic clunking sound it must make every time you rotate it.
I suspect they knew.
There is a lovely leaded crystal decanter that we just saw once in The Original Series. It shows up at the small get together that Captain Kirk and Mister Spock had with Commissioner Bele in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield." As is typically the case, this get together involves drinking.
There is a variety of glasses and bottles on the table and over on the nearby credenza. Specifically, there's a bottle of yellow stuff, a bottle of green stuff and a tall bottle of blue stuff. There are three tall glasses (that were probably bud vases) and three more traditional brandy glasses. The large leaded crystal decanter with the yellow stuff has a kind of a stair-step pyramidal top with a pointy stopper and sits on the table in front of Mister Spock, near his right elbow. It's filled with some unidentified golden-colored fluid:
Here's my leaded crystal decanter. (It's really heavy!)
Not much commentary on this item. It just has the one appearance, so there's not much to say.
There is a variety of glasses and bottles on the table and over on the nearby credenza. Specifically, there's a bottle of yellow stuff, a bottle of green stuff and a tall bottle of blue stuff. There are three tall glasses (that were probably bud vases) and three more traditional brandy glasses. The large leaded crystal decanter with the yellow stuff has a kind of a stair-step pyramidal top with a pointy stopper and sits on the table in front of Mister Spock, near his right elbow. It's filled with some unidentified golden-colored fluid:
Here's my leaded crystal decanter. (It's really heavy!)
Not much commentary on this item. It just has the one appearance, so there's not much to say.
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