40 years ago: When recreation turned into art

[c5maier]

Today we can commemorate the 40th anniversary of the filming on the large rec room set, especially built for the third season of Star Trek.
http://www.startrekhistory.com/restoration/lost.html
Of course, the scene was never used and therefore we saw the rec room only in the abysmal "And the Children Shall Lead" and, slightly changed, in "Is There in Truth no Beauty".
I guess it is because of the "quality" of these shows, that I have yet to see any reverence shown to the design. While there are tons of renderings of the bridge, the transporter, the briefing room etc., no one - to my knowledge - has ever rendered the large rec room or even put him in the deck plans (I may be wrong there).
I think this is a shame and this setting has earned better. At least, it should get featured in a re-animation of "Time Trap" as the place for the reception. I can just about see the orion counsellor do a pole dance on those pillars.
Besides a small sketch in "The Art of Star Trek" there seems to be no source material other than the screen shots. But we are quite lucky: Although it was only shown so shortly, it is actually very well covered. I have arranged all available screen shots and we get to see the floor, the ceiling and about three quarters of all walls (the rest had probably been left open and would have to be extended).
Unfortunately, I don't have neither the tools, nor the expertise to recreate this location (I could add: "nor the time", but I am actually often amazed about how quickly some on this board can put something beautiful together with the neccessary know-how).
So I hope, somebody accepts the challenge to go where no Star Trek fan has gone before.

 

[Ptrope]

A pole dance, eh? Not sure about that, but she does need a more interesting dance - and a longer one, if it can be done without adversely affecting the soundtrack ...

An interesting thought to change the setting of the reception; I haven't noticed in the ep whether there is anything other than the background itself that ties the reception to a specific location, so it's always possible - I'd like to see if it's possible to recreate the correct layout for the room. At the very least, it could be a fun model to build as one of the 'lost sets.'

 

[Redfern]

I was going to ask, "Are we sure that reception took place on the Enterprise?", but I think Commander Kor said as much when handing the "tiny time capsule" bomb to Kala, plus she ducked from the party to hide the bomb within Engineering. I doubt Kala would have had the opportunity to beam to the Big "E" had the reception been held within one of the "resident" ships.

So, never mind.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Ptrope]

^^

Good point! Well, then, it looks like we have another set to explore - I honestly hadn't thought the logic out on where the reception was, and assumed it was on the ship where the council convened.

 

[c5maier]

Funny - I had never doubted the reception being held on the Enterprise.

From http://www.chakoteya.net/index.htm :


[Klothos Bridge]
KOR: You have the device, Kaz?
KAZ: By my calculations, the capsule will be triggered the exact moment our dual ship reaches warp eight. Approximately three minutes after the time barrier is pierced and we have disengaged, the Enterprise will disintegrate.
KOR: Excellent! Kali, you know what to do. Tonight they entertain us, but the gift they will receive in return will be their destruction. [Emphasis added.]
[Rec room] (Devna has danced for the guests)
KIRK: Beautifully done.

 

[Ptrope]

I guess I never really paid attention to that detail - "tonight they entertain us" could be the crew of Enterprise, or "they" could be the inhabitants of the Triangle, depending upon how loosely one defines "they," but, yeah, it does make sense that it was onboard Enterprise herself.

Any hint as to where the sketch may be in The Art of Star Trek? I looked through mine last night and nothing jumped out at me.

 

[FalTorPan]

^ Perhaps the poster meant the Star Trek Sketchbook, which is full of set design sketches by Matt Jefferies.

 

[c5maier]

^ Perhaps the poster meant the Star Trek Sketchbook, which is full of set design sketches by Matt Jefferies.

You are quite right. Sorry, my mistake. I really should have looked on the cover once again before posting.

 

[TIN_MAN]

check out the trekcore website, they just put up a new gallery full of Jeffries sketches from TOS (& some phase II)! Lots of neat stuff including the rec room (or 'herbarium') but also bridge construction plans too, and cool concept art of the Batony Bay and the Klingon cruiser.

 

[Ptrope]

Thanks for the heads-up, TIN_MAN! Some great stuff there, and the one sketch of the rec room could be very useful. I think I'll track a copy of the actual book down - I'd love to see more!

EDIT: Just bought it like new (never opened) on Amazon for $1.45!! Happy birthday to me!

 

[USS Mariner]

check out the trekcore website, they just put up a new gallery full of Jeffries sketches from TOS (& some phase II)! Lots of neat stuff including the rec room (or 'herbarium') but also bridge construction plans too, and cool concept art of the Batony Bay and the Klingon cruiser.

The need to "remaster" Rossi's face. Dear lord, he must take up half of the segment (and the screen!)

Oh yeah, did anyone notice the original effect shots used in Blackburn's Chest looked fairly good in HD (considering they just threw some in there for show, as far as I can tell,) but the ones used for the TOS-R segment were terrible?

"If the target was only three feet to the left..."

 

[USS Mariner]

Thanks for the heads-up, TIN_MAN! Some great stuff there, and the one sketch of the rec room could be very useful. I think I'll track a copy of the actual book down - I'd love to see more!

EDIT: Just bought it like new (never opened) on Amazon for $1.45!! Happy birthday to me!

It's a fantastic book. Happy Not-Quite-Birthday!

 

[Ptrope]

Okay - weirdness! I got my book (and it's in GREAT condition! What a deal!), and I cannot find anywhere in it the drawing of the recreation room! I don't know where Trekcore got it, but I'm glad they did, because I'm sure not seeing it, and I've been through that book a dozen times already, page by page. Still, worth the $1.45!

 

[TIN_MAN]

The drawing to which you are refering isn't in that book, but there are some rough skeches of the floor plan and elevations of the same set and it's ajoining area, as well as the free standing tables that would eventually be seen in 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?' (parts of which would later be used as set decoration in Flints lab in 'Requiem For Methuselah').

 

[c5maier]

The book is really excellent. But for this purpose, IMHO the floorplan (of the "Arboretum") is actually the only useful bit for all it's worth, being rather rough and unscaled. The other sketches are quite different from what was eventually built and in any case refer to "ItiTNB" rather than to the set as seen in "EoT" and "AtCSL", which would be the basis for the use in "Time Trap".
I am trying to scale the floor plan. Do we know exactly, how wide the standard side wall panels were as well as the size of the tables and benches with "Z"-shaped legs that show up in many episodes besides these?
BTW, it is clear from the dialogue, that those that entertain are those that receive the "gift" (i.e. the bomb), therefore it must be the Enterprise crew.