Donny’s Late TOS Movie Era Interiors

[STEPhon IT]

This CGI artist put the windows in that same location as well in his redo of some TFF effect shots.

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Yes! That is a huge improvement, All Paramount should hire this person to do it.

Worked on the compass rose on the floor (with super secret hidden transmitter!) over the last week rather slowly while I indulged in some much needed video game time.







The forward facing side of the transmitter is pure conjecture; I thought a CRT would be fitting.

Absolutely fantastic. Feeling the love for The Final Frontier and its about time.

 

[Workbee]

Very fitting! Looks fantastic, as usual.

The transmitter itself is such a strange addition, but makes sense for the film to use that location again.

It kind of makes sense that there would be transmitters like this tucked away throughout the ship for emergencies. This area could probably serve as a makeshift shelter or gathering site in the event of a shipwide disaster, having an emergency transmitter probably isn't a bad idea. If this was meant to run independent of the ships systems and/or power, it probably needed to be somewhere close to the exterior hull of the ship. Being in what was essentially the ship's banquet hall made it the only such transmitter that Kirk and co. could risk using without being seen by a crewmember. And as we saw earlier when Spock was having his moment of reflection, this room is pretty much dead when there isn't an event taking place.

 

[danellis]

This gave me visions of this room (and similarly 10-Forward) being detachable as a large lifeboat should circumstances demand.

dJE

 

[Transaction Declined]

It kind of makes sense that there would be transmitters like this tucked away throughout the ship for emergencies.

If such is the case then why didn’t Kirk use a transmitter that was closer to his location near the brig after Scotty busted them out? At the very least we may have been spared the turboshaft scene.

 

[Vale]

If such is the case then why didn’t Kirk use a transmitter that was closer to his location near the brig after Scotty busted them out? At the very least we may have been spared the turboshaft scene.

Off the top of my head, the possible explanations are:

• It is indeed the only emergency transmitter aboard ship, which would be odd;
• The officer's lounge has security lockouts to function as a "shelter in place" location, meaning that essentially only Kirk (and possibly Spock) had access to that room once the ship was taken over;
• There's more than one emergency transmitter, but it's the one that only Kirk (and possibly Spock) know about. Perhaps aboard every starship there's an emergency transmitter located secretly at the behest of the captain (and first officer) that only they know of, and therefore the only one they could be sure wasn't being monitored/guarded.

 

[cardinal biggles]

It's also possible that it was the only emergency transmitter that wasn't in an area of the ship held by Sybok's people or Enterprise crew who'd been swayed to his side. The lounge seems to be a pretty low-traffic area when there isn't a function going on. (Then again, TFF is probably a poor example, since you get the impression that the ship is undermanned, and those aboard are probably preoccupied with fixing everything that's malfunctioning.)

 

[Lt. Washburn]

That was always my sense. It was a quiet, out of the way part of the ship that doesn't have any obvious importance so they could slip in and get a message out relatively easily.

 

[FormerLurker]

Then again, TFF is probably a poor example, since you get the impression that the ship is undermanned, and those aboard are probably preoccupied with fixing everything that's malfunctioning.)

The main reason you get that impression is because they said so in dialog.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The officer's lounge has security lockouts to function as a "shelter in place" location, meaning that essentially only Kirk (and possibly Spock) had access to that room once the ship was taken over;

You know where it might be a good idea to also have that feature? The bridge.

 

[Vale]

You know where it might be a good idea to also have that feature? The bridge.

Given how often bridges are taken over by people simply walking onto them with a weapon there must be some deliberate decision on behalf of Starfleet to keep the bloody things insecure for some reason. Take SeaQuest DSV, for example. Not only did the SeaQuest's bridge have enormous blast-proof security doors that were sealed as standard, but when they had an episode where people actually were trying to gain access to the bridge for nefarious purposes they needed heavy industrial equipment to do it.

 

[jfttf276]

I haven't seen SeaQuest in a long time but I thought the doors were because the ship partly floods when changing depths. Did they drip water when they were opened?

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I haven't seen SeaQuest in a long time but I thought the doors were because the ship partly floods when changing depths. Did they drip water when they were opened?

Yeah. They were flood doors, as well as security doors, and they did drip occasionally when opened. At least in the first season.

But back to the topic... I like the speculation of the CRT on the side of the transmitter we didn't see. Spock had to have some controls and readouts to tell Kirk the channel was open.

 

[STEPhon IT]

I'm in a very TFF mood right now, so I decided to start on an exclusive set to TFF: The Enterprise-A Observation Lounge.

I happened upon some schematics of the room (unfortunately I'm unable to share) which have been a great help, but there were a lot of question marks the schematics didn't answer, or the set was built differently than depicted (for instance, the doorway on the schematic was shaped rectangular whereas it was built trapezoidal). There are also a few things the schematics don't really cover in detail at all, like the exact shape/dimensions of the wooden portion of the floor. I originally thought the entire floor was wooden, but careful examination of screen frames show that carpet surrounds it on all sides. I'm going to further refine the shape of the wooden floor section a bit later, but I'll be conjecturing it quite a bit.

Something of note: the room itself is a whopping 14 feet high, including the light soffit at the top, The doorway is also larger than other doorways on the ship, necessitating a taller hallway. The saucer being roughly 20 feet thick at is outermost perimeter, this means that the room can't fit on one deck and has to be positioned lower than the rest of Deck 6. The windows actually meet up at about the midpoint of the height of the saucer edge. I surmise that the corridor near this room on Deck 6 has a ramp that drops about 4 feet to give room for the taller room and hallway. Really clunky stuff

Anyway, these screenshots are very very WIP, as there are a lot of details to add and little things to clean up, but the basic structure of the room is now intact.


The schematics and the screen frames show that there are light panels above the windows, but we never see them lit in the film. I've chosen to illuminate them here so you can see the window wall with more clarity:


More to come soon! If anyone has any references not widely available or behind the scenes photos of this set, please send them my way!

I was wondering whether the production should've gave the lounge some thought and reconfigure this version of the lounge to be structured in the aft section like in TMP? Not sure if this set matched well with the Enterprise (TFF) as like the version appropriately done from TNG.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I was wondering whether the production should've gave the lounge some thought and reconfigure this version of the lounge to be structured in the aft section like in TMP? Not sure if this set matched well with the Enterprise (TFF) as like the version appropriately done from TNG.

If you mean Ten-Forward, Enterprise-D designer Andrew Probert didn't think that set matched well, since he intended the rim of the saucer section to be only one deck in height.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Still wondering if the lounge, as to what Donny is wonderfully replicating from TFF, could've been set in the aft section like what was seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture. https://forgottentrek.com/designing-the-motion-pictures-officers-lounge/

 

[Donny]

Still wondering if the lounge, as to what Donny is wonderfully replicating from TFF, could've been set in the aft section like what was seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture. https://forgottentrek.com/designing-the-motion-pictures-officers-lounge/

It could’ve been, but the structure/shape of the lounge would’ve had to been modified greatly. Anyway, I have plans for a TFF version of the TMP lounge I’ll get to one of these days.

 

[Vale]

If you mean Ten-Forward, Enterprise-D designer Andrew Probert didn't think that set matched well, since he intended the rim of the saucer section to be only one deck in height.

To be fair it matched better when they made the saucer rim thicker with the four-foot model

 

[Workbee]

Still wondering if the lounge, as to what Donny is wonderfully replicating from TFF, could've been set in the aft section like what was seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture. https://forgottentrek.com/designing-the-motion-pictures-officers-lounge/

Couldn't do it. Well technically I suppose they could but it would have ruined an important scene. Kirk, Spock and McCoy needed to be able to look into the Great Barrier as the ship passed through. It was a dramatic moment that said a lot without any words spoken. Its actually one of the few times we see a character see the destination they are approaching from an "actual" window. The only other way would have been to do some technical handwaving with windows being viewscreens which would have spoiled the moment. As much as I wish we could have seen that lounge realized properly and hate when the interiors don't match the continuity of the exterior, in this case I think they made the right call.

If anything, this was one of the few areas that design of the refit falls short - the lack of any directly forward facing windows. Even the original Enterprise had some windows on the front of the saucer. Imagine the observation lounge scene in TMP if we saw the this ominous cloud appear and grow larger until it filled the field of view during their conversation. Maybe that kind of shot wouldn't have been possible in 1979, but since the lounge was rear facing that kind of shot couldn't even be considered.

Sometimes you just have to break the internal logic for the sake of the story.

 

[Vale]

Even the original Enterprise had some windows on the front of the saucer.

Well, it had three big glowing circles. The jury is out on whether they were windows, sensors, or auxiliary deflectors... or possibly just headlights!

 

[STEPhon IT]

Couldn't do it. Well technically I suppose they could but it would have ruined an important scene. Kirk, Spock and McCoy needed to be able to look into the Great Barrier as the ship passed through. It was a dramatic moment that said a lot without any words spoken. Its actually one of the few times we see a character see the destination they are approaching from an "actual" window. The only other way would have been to do some technical handwaving with windows being viewscreens which would have spoiled the moment. As much as I wish we could have seen that lounge realized properly and hate when the interiors don't match the continuity of the exterior, in this case I think they made the right call.

SFX was dreadful and the passage through the barrier was one of the most disappointing moments in the movie; the scene never captured my imagination. Not sure if it was the right call if the scene failed to have any gravitas in a pinnacle point in the movie.