Unseen TOS....

Discussion in 'Fan Art' started by Warped9, Feb 5, 2021.

  1. UssGlenn

    UssGlenn Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2003
    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I am surprised they didn't have Jefferies draw up a basic diagram. Since they were set up for a whole slide show segment in the episode anyway, showing some kind of a picture of the ship when running the memory banks would have been a natural inclusion.
     
    Warped9 and aridas sofia like this.
  2. Kahloke

    Kahloke Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2005
    Commercial ships in the real world are registered as belonging to specific home ports, with that port being shown in addition to the vessel name on the stern. I wonder if something similar might work for your Astral Queen? As opposed to Navy ships, which usually just sport official numbers like CVN-65, & the like...
     
  3. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    Considering the impulse engines are directly at the stern I’m challenged to see where I could put that prominently. I was thinking of putting the name on either side of the main hull forward, which real world commercial ships have been known to do as well.

    I looked it up. Apparently Arial is a font often used in commercial shipping.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
  4. BK613

    BK613 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2008
    Does it have docking ports for embarking/disembarking passengers? Would the name be visible from any concourse that is attached to said ports?
     
  5. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    There are docking ports on both sides of the ship where the name could be put on either side of the doors or right on the doors. If there were windows along the docking gangway then they should be able to see the ship’s name along the side of the hull.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
    BK613 likes this.
  6. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    I like the suggestion of including the specific home port. A nice touch of world building, too.
     
  7. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2007
    Location:
    Aloha Quadrant
    Certainly not in the 60s, though. Arial was designed in 1982. Maybe you are thinking Helvetica, which was what inspired Arial.
     
  8. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    Yep. And I don’t care for the Arial anyway. I like the Helvetica better and I’m going with that.
     
  9. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
  10. Kahloke

    Kahloke Lieutenant Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2005
    You may not be the hero we deserve, but by god you’re the hero we need.

    Bravo. I love how you kept the nacelle caps covered. I love the commercial registry number. It’s perfect.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2021
  11. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
  12. tesral

    tesral Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2021
    Location:
    My Desk
  13. Dukhat

    Dukhat Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2007
    Location:
    Maryland, USA
    I like how the nacelles evoke the space cruiser Aurora.
     
    Warped9 likes this.
  14. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    Yep. Particularly given my take on the Aurora will not be a reused Tholian ship.
     
    StarCruiser, DEWLine and Kahloke like this.
  15. Michael

    Michael Good Bad Influence Moderator

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2007
    Location:
    Aloha Quadrant
    That one turned out really cool, @Warped9! Could totally see that as a physical model on the original show. :techman:
     
    Gepard and Scott Kellogg like this.
  16. Scott Kellogg

    Scott Kellogg Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2021
    Location:
    USA
    This is going to be a weird post, but for a moment, I'd like to defend the original Matt Jeffries design of the Space Cruiser Aurora.

    Yes, it's very true, that in 2021, 50+ years after "The Tholian Web" was first broadcast, we all know that the Aurora was a reused Tholian model with AMT nacelles tacked on with parts from an AMT Klingon model. But, back in the days when there was no internet, no DVRs, no Blu-Rays, DVDs, VHS, Beta, photos, or even drawings available things were a bit different.

    Going strictly from memory, I recall the original show before the redone CGI versions. And if I recall, in the Tholian Web, there were no shots where they showed the ship turning, and you only saw the ship in 3/4 for a fraction of a second. As a result, nearly all of the shots of the ship were head on and 90 degrees side on. I think there was one shot where it was being hit by phasers where you saw the thing from an angle.

    And basically, when you only see the ship bow on and side on, it doesn't make sense. You see a three bladed propeller and a diamond with virtually no tweening. I tried to view that as the same ship and I really couldn't. Basically, until someone told me in the 1980s, I had no idea that the model was reused.

    Now, if you actually disconnect the Aurora from the Tholian model, the Aurora is a Very Interesting Design!
    Nowadays, we're all used to the rather boring fact that all Starfleet ships have a cookie cutter look to them. But, frankly, until we got to the USS Bonaventure in TAS "Time Trap" the cookie cutter look of Saucer, Nacelles and 2ndary hull had not been established. We could see the Enterprise, her 12 sister ships and that was it, EXCEPT for the Aurora.

    I was fascinated by the fact that the Enterprise and the Aurora looked completely different. They're as different as an SR-71 is from a Sopwith Camel.

    To my mind the fact that both represented Earth ships was kind of exciting design wise. I was one of those kids who spent time pouring over the beautiful 3 view drawings of airplanes in 1960s hard cover pocket books, so the notion that all Fed ships would look the same was just weird. It would be like they came up with the B-17 and every plane for the next hundred years looked like a kitbash of the old Flying Fortress. No F-104 Starfighters, No B-70 Valkyries, just B-17s now, B-17s tomorrow and B-17s forever!

    So, when the Reliant came out, and then the Excelsior, and the Ent-D, I thought it was... well... boring.
    TAS's "Huron" and the robot cargo ships were much a more visually interesting departure.

    That's why I like imaginative designs like Warped9's "Astral Queen" and "Valiant" They use the same elements with nacelles and deflector domes that show we're in the same shipyard, but they're as different as Kelly Johnson's "Lockheed Electra" is from his "SR-71."

    And that's why I like the Aurora. It's completely different, but it fits.
     
    Kahloke likes this.
  17. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Location:
    Brockville, Ontario, Canada
    For many of us the reuse of the Tholian ship was immediately obvious from pretty much the beginning. Same for the reuse of the Botany Bay as an old ore freighter. I started watching TOS in 1970 and I noticed the reuses right off. Both instances were an obvious case of cost cutting which, if given the choice and opportunity, we can be reasonably certain they would not have done.

    The TAS designs were largely quite refreshing and helped flesh out the TOS universe. In another thread, presently on hold, I am exploring what some of those designs could have looked like in TOS’ “reality.” But the TAS designs were not done with same kind of thinking Matt Jefferies would have had if he had been doing the work, particularly the way oversized shuttlecraft.

    Without getting ahead of myself the space cruiser Aurora could still be something of a triangular shape, but not a pretty much exact copy of the Tholian webspinner.


    All aircraft, regardless of purpose, share somewhat similar forms given how they need to operate. They all have wings and a fuselage. All watercraft have a hull to float on the water. Beyond those basics there is a variety of form.

    It could well be fans were kitbashing Trek designs before Franz Joseph’s work came along in the early to mid 1970s. But his designs became something of an official guide, being professionally published, to how major Starfleet designs would look for years on. I, too, was fascinated by them. But it soon became apparent FJ’s designs were limited in scope and not fully fleshed out. The basics were there, but they weren’t really thought through. But his work did inspire generations of fans, myself included, and here we are today still trying to fill in the holes we saw all those decades ago.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2021
    Scott Kellogg likes this.
  18. BK613

    BK613 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2008
    I've dinked around with the Aurora over the years, coming from the perspective of spending a few more dollars on modifying the dart. This is where I was when I last lost interest:
    [​IMG]
     
  19. Professor Moriarty

    Professor Moriarty Rice Admiral Premium Member

    Joined:
    Sep 7, 2001
    Location:
    System L-374
    @Warped9, no notes. The orbital shots of the Astral Queen comped with the Enterprise look like they came straight out of the Roddenberry Vault. Perfect.
     
    Warped9 likes this.
  20. ashleytinger

    ashleytinger Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    May 1, 2016
    Location:
    Big Four Bridge
    Seeing it in shot with the Enterprise I think you might have over-detailed this one. I do like it as a standalone though and it definitely fits with what you're trying to do. Nice compositing either way.
     
    Warped9 likes this.