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Why Not Copy The Look of the Original Series More Closely?

This is sort of like the nutjobs who say only Ray Liotta can play Pike, isn't it?

I don't know about that. He could have been a good choice, I really like him as an actor, but in the end I am glad they didn't. Bruce Greenwood was an excellent choice.
 
According to Chambliss, they did three versions of the Enterprise bridge design - one that was vastly different from the original, one that was much closer and this one. They decided that they were bored by the one that most closely mimicked the TOS design.

Forgive my ignorance, but what's TOS? I know I should know this, but I just can't figure it out. Thanks.
 
According to Chambliss, they did three versions of the Enterprise bridge design - one that was vastly different from the original, one that was much closer and this one. They decided that they were bored by the one that most closely mimicked the TOS design.

Forgive my ignorance, but what's TOS? I know I should know this, but I just can't figure it out. Thanks.

The Original Series
 
Because the original look wouldn't sell.

Once again.

HOW DO YOU KNOW?

Well, I may not have the clearest memoy of it, but Roddenberry and the others decided they needed to update the look of the Enterprise, inside and out, to reflect both the budget they had to work with and the need to create a look that worked on the big screen (details and style).
But Roddenberry insisted that these changes be explained in-story by saying that the Enterprise was "refitted," when it's obvious to anyone that in reality, it's an entirely new ship. Nothing on it is even remotely like the TOS ship except the basic shape and the layout of the bridge. Engineering was completely different.
The funny thing to me is in making TMP, they decided not to go with the gold, blue, and red uniforms because they were afraid they'd appear comic-bookish on the big screen. Yet Abrams used a variation of them in his movie.
 
According to Chambliss, they did three versions of the Enterprise bridge design - one that was vastly different from the original, one that was much closer and this one. They decided that they were bored by the one that most closely mimicked the TOS design.

I'd like to see these 3 designs -- if that's possible. I will say that the bridge design that they chose looks very "antiseptic" ...I really think that's the perfect adjective to describe the "new" bridge....
 
According to Chambliss, they did three versions of the Enterprise bridge design - one that was vastly different from the original, one that was much closer and this one. They decided that they were bored by the one that most closely mimicked the TOS design.

Forgive my ignorance, but what's TOS? I know I should know this, but I just can't figure it out. Thanks.

The Original Series

Thank you. I'm still fairly new to this board and I'm not use to using the short hand version.

Thanks again,
Steven
 
According to Chambliss, they did three versions of the Enterprise bridge design - one that was vastly different from the original, one that was much closer and this one. They decided that they were bored by the one that most closely mimicked the TOS design.

Sounds like Brannon Braga's comments regarding destroying the Enterprise-D in Star Trek:Generations.
 
This is sort of like the nutjobs who say only Ray Liotta can play Pike, isn't it?

I didn't know there was such strong feeling in favor of Liotta. He does look Hunter a little bit.

I think the reason the TOS look worked on Mirror and Trials was because it was 1. on TV and 2. more than a little tongue-in-cheek the whole time.

It made for a funny inside joke for the Trekkies watching the show, but I don't think the look would translate well to a cinematic scope.

Honestly, the original look was all about suspension of disbelief. Those unmarked controls really do make sense. Spock isn't just looking into a blue light. Those matte paintings on the wall are actually viewscreens.

One trend in films is to minimize the gap between imagination and reality. Even though I'm sure the current films will look as dated in thirty years as TMP does now, TMP still seems cinematic and big.

Don't you ever have the experience watching DS9 like "wow, I had a sweater like that in 1992. Reality bites, man" or when you watch TMP, doesn't that hairstyle just say 1979?

The fantasy has to be updated for every current generation, no matter when in the future the story is set.
 
I haven't seen it yet, but I'm glad they didn't make it look like the original; I think it would have looked campy if they had.

You have proof of that?

I didn't say it had to be flat out identical to the Original.

No one expects plywood sets that shake when the ship takes a hit.

Or background monitors that display nothing but vague nebula (because the original series couldn't afford to have a unique and dynamic display for each monitor).

But the general looks and design I think could've looked good on a modern screen.

At least based on what we say in the Enterprise episode.
 
Also, I think the TOS look has been parodied so much on TV in various sketches, that the look itself has just lent itself to so much ridicule that if it indeed came home to where it started, it could never be taken seriously.

Plus, the styles at that time made for those uniforms and those sets to look futuristic for its time.

Personally, I look at Trek, any of it, as the vehicle to tell some good stories mainly. The look is secondary to me.

(OK, except for how Zoe Saldana looks in her uni...)
 
The funny thing to me is in making TMP, they decided not to go with the gold, blue, and red uniforms because they were afraid they'd appear comic-bookish on the big screen. Yet Abrams used a variation of them in his movie.
The uniforms in TMP were definitely bland, but I think the ones in the new movie look silly, especially given how everything else has been redesigned. The material with the delta woven in looks like an unfortunate result of the fascination with such materials ever since they redesigned Spidey's costume, and the colors and cuts of the new uniforms look, to me, like pajamas. Sorry - of all the things they redesigned for the big screen, I can't for the life of me understand why they kept these!
 
I didn't know there was such strong feeling in favor of Liotta. He does look Hunter a little bit.

He looks a little like Hunter. That's the only reason they can give, since it is from the same people freaking out over every change and violation of "continuity." So it's not exactly a strong movement -- just a bunch of meaningless yaking that's part of the same tired song and dance.
 
Bruce Greenwood is so good as Pike, I have no idea why anyone would even consider having Liotta in this...
 
Liotta looked a little like Hunter, before all Liotta's bad plastic surgery - although Hunter was northern European whitebread all the way and Liotta is more mediterranean. Aside from that general physical resemblance there has never been any case made for casting Liotta as Pike, at all.
 
Yeah I have to admit, I'm not crazy about this whole fascination with putting little logos into the uniforms - like they did with spider-man and Superman (with all the little S shields all over the place - why? - when its so much simpler to just change the color a tad, I like the switch to the biker like combat boots and while the women's uniforms are kinda funny, short sleeves and skirts, while the guys are wearing sweaters over under shirts... unless in nuTrek era there are two kinds of officers "support staff" and "multitaskers" . I suppose if we get another movie and we see Uhura in an away mission, she might have pants or something right?
 
I was surprised.

The look of the original series worked extremely well on the modern television screen.

Given that, why doesn't this Trek movie more closely copy the look of the original?
I disagree with the premise. The look of the original series didn't worked well on modern tv. It was corny and laughable. Don't misunderstand me: I loved it, and I loved the episodes. Just like I loved Trial and Tribble-action. But they were homages to the old series, directed to a target audience of devoted fans. On that basis, they were cool. But the whole point of this movie is to attract new fans. So the older look would not have worked.

Say as you wish about the new look (love it, hate it, don't care), but using the old would have been a bad marketing idea.
 
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