Did Roddenberry try to claim the Enterprise design?

[ChallengerHK]

I was perusing an article on Memory Alpha and I came across this:

"Astonishingly, and even while the concept for the famed starship was without a shadow of a doubt his, Roddenberry (of whom not a single verified piece of artwork is known to exist) had even been brazen enough to forge a "Eugene W. Roddenberry" signature in Jefferies' writing style on several pieces of them, in order for him to claim credit as the Enterprise designer as well in the Star Trek convention circuit of the late 1970s. ([18]; Star Trek: The True Story) Unfortunately for Roddenberry, this did not fly, as Jefferies was already too well known as the ship's designer even by then (as was his art style), but fortunately for him, Jefferies either never seemed to mind or had not been aware of the fraud. A contemporary ad that ran in the Lincoln Enterprises catalog read,"​

I don't recall ever hearing of this one before. Is it verified? Is this common knowledge that I've missed?

 

[LAFR]

He would have tried to claim Shatner's vocal mannerisms had he been allowed to.

 

[TIN_MAN]

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that the signed color renders were done relatively recently -after GR death- so he had nothing to do with that. However, the color renders of the "Enterprise evolution" -without being signed- did appear for sale in the Lincoln Enterprises catalog in the 70's and early 80's.

 

[ChallengerHK]

Thanks for the info. Enterprise Evolution was definitely for sale in the 70s; I have a copy from back then. Also, confirm no signature. Very interesting re: the signature being after Roddenberry's death. Would Rod be behind that, I wonder? If so, it sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

 

[TIN_MAN]

It probably was Rod's doing, but not so much as to claim credit, but as an attempt to increase the value of the product to justify the much inflated prices they were asking afterwards.

 

[publiusr]

Print in question?
https://forgottentrek.com/the-origi...terprise/images/Enterprise-concept-art-22.jpg

 

[TIN_MAN]

Print in question?
https://forgottentrek.com/the-origi...terprise/images/Enterprise-concept-art-22.jpg

Yes, that's one of the prints. But there were eleven total, showing different concept configurations. The one you posted seems to be implying that GR "OK'd" this as the chosen design, but this is probably bogus, since the design, when first approved, wasn't anywhere near the final finished details that are shown here. This color rendering must have been done at some later date, after the details had been finalized. Maybe that's what the "OK" actually refers to, just the final details, assuming its authentic?

 

[publiusr]

one of those may have made it the Delta Triangle

I want Warped9 to do his version.