Doesn't really look like the Enterprise, unless the angle and perspective throw it off....
Anyone recognize this image?
- Thread starter TrickyDickie
- Start date
Doesn't really look like the Enterprise, unless the angle and perspective throw it off....
Maybe a test shot of the Planet of the Titans model that we see in The Voyage Home?
All the info that I have at the moment is that it's a film clip from the original series....
Knight Templar
Commodore
It immediately looked like the Enterprise to me.
Starboard profile view with the saucer angled slightly away from the viewer and the angle showing some of both warp nacelles.
Starboard profile view with the saucer angled slightly away from the viewer and the angle showing some of both warp nacelles.
Looks like everything that's in shadow is invisible.
Probably created for the SPFX scene where Enterprise is mistaken as a UFO - or is leaving Earth orbit - in "Tomorrow is Yesterday", perhaps, or "Assignment: Earth".
The strip of film is very red, so it's badly oxidised (or whatever film suffers when it turns red) and has probably lost some crucial detail. There's a TOS clip restoration project online where fans are colour-correcting old, damaged Lincoln Enterprises film clips for posterity.
Typically, though, a clip from Lincoln Enterprises contains a full frame image in the centre and half a frame above and below it. When Lincoln first started selling TOS clips, they were admonished that they had to do it this way; ie. the "correct" way to archive a clip from a piece of film. Previously, amateurs had been trying to cut each length into single, tiny frames, but this gives little leeway for mounting the slide into a cardboard or plastic slide frame.
Well, there's definitely a Constitution Class warp drive nacelle there. It could be the Enterprise, or a portion thereof. But what's strange is that the nacelle pylon is "ghosted" through the secondary hull. So, this might be the consequence of a double exposure. If we were to take the nacelle and secondary hull relative positions as correct, then the primary (saucer) section should be tilted to reveal more of the top surface. It's possible that a shadow was cast over this, hiding portions of the ship.
I suspect this was some test footage that had very bad lighting. I'll bet they kept it for reference and then forgot about it, to later end up sold through Lincoln Enterprises or some other channel as cutting room floor footage.
I suspect this was some test footage that had very bad lighting. I'll bet they kept it for reference and then forgot about it, to later end up sold through Lincoln Enterprises or some other channel as cutting room floor footage.
It does look like the Enterprise at a first glance. I'm not so sure whether it holds up to scrutiny, however.... the more I look at it, the less it actually looks like the Enterprise.
That's not the secondary hull. It took me a moment to see it, but it's the port nacelle. What we're seeing is the top/rear portion of an image of the Enterprise photographed from slightly below and forward, so that only the nacelles, the nearer pylon, and the rear/upper portion of the saucer are visible. Most of the image is missing.
Glad you caught that. Here's a quick composite of that clip layered with a pretty standard shot. Not an exact fit, but you can see what you don't see.
Glad you caught that. Here's a quick composite of that clip layered with a pretty standard shot. Not an exact fit, but you can see what you don't see.
Terrific work! That definitely solves the mystery.
Great stuff, guys! 
I am going to offer an additional theory here: Could this have been a test shot for the production of 'The Tholian Web'....for when the Defiant is winking in and out? Because one of the additional clips that go along with that first one is this one, and you can recognize the image as being from that episode:
I am going to offer an additional theory here: Could this have been a test shot for the production of 'The Tholian Web'....for when the Defiant is winking in and out? Because one of the additional clips that go along with that first one is this one, and you can recognize the image as being from that episode:
^Intriguing thought.
There's not really enough detail to be certain, but it almost looks like that's an image of the pilot version of the Enterprise as opposed to the series version (I say that mostly because of the dark nacelle caps, and I'll be the first to admit that is pretty thin). From the angle, it almost looks like it would fit in with the opening shot of the ship from "The Cage" right before the ship flips over and we see into the bridge.
That is definitely a consideration, because the following is another clip in the bunch. There are also a few other shots of the Cage era model, as well as the later Space Seed blue screen shot with the Enterprise and Botany Bay models.
If the clip I posted at the beginning of this thread is a shot from the Cage era efforts, I just wonder whether it was in fact a test shot, or some kind of an error.
NebulaClassGuy
Lieutenant Commander
I did a little bit of color correction with Photoshop, but didn't get too much out of it... I might fiddle with it some more later.
Well, I just secured this lot of clips. Had to pay through the nose, but I was very determined. When they arrive, I will send them off to startrekhistory.com....if I can get in touch with Curt. I haven't had an answer from him in email for a long time, for some reason. When the images are restored, then we will have a much better look. I will have to turn the originals right around and re-sell them, though, because at this point I just can't afford to keep them. But I really hope to get to the bottom of this mystery, or at least go further toward that and share the results. 
