Donny's TOS Enterprise Interiors
- Thread starter Donny
- Start date
Given the heavy and rugged look of the TWoK communicator and industrial, bulky look to the "tricorder", they made the TMP "Sid Mead-esque" phasers seem rather out of place. I wonder if Meyer wanted something equally "robustly retro", heavily influenced by WWII sidearms? Do any conceptual illustrations exist, maybe even rejected prototype props?
Sincerely,
Bill
Sincerely,
Bill
MUCH better, Donny. That's the clean Trek aesthetic! 
And here's an in-game shot:
You know, I kind of wish I'd never found out that the TWOK torpedo room was a redressed Klingon bridge. Ever since I learned that bit of trivia, my eyes go right to the support beams and oddly-shaped walls. They really don't look like Starfleet designs, do they?
I've never come across anything, in all my research, that would suggest there is. It's an interesting idea though; matching the phaser design with the other TWOK props.
Anyway, there's a bulk of reference images of the props from movies II, IV, V, and VI at Richard Coyle's website: http://www.racprops.com/trekmovies/ One of the internet's hidden gems.
The tricorder was a rented prop, and the communicator was knocked up by the prop boys when Meyer had planned to use Vietnam-era radios, so he probably would have had Kirk packing a Colt 45 if someone hadn't stopped him.
It's a relief someone found the TMP phasers in time!
Yeah, Nick Meyer didn't really "get it" when it came to some of the props his first time around. And I say this as someone who likes the 'monster maroon' uniforms and his Red October-inspired revamp of the Enterprise-A's interior for TUC.
The bulky industrial-sized tricorder made sense for the harsh environment of Ceti Alpha V; not so much when Kirk & co. beam over to Regula One later on.
The bulky industrial-sized tricorder made sense for the harsh environment of Ceti Alpha V; not so much when Kirk & co. beam over to Regula One later on.
It might make more sense to think of it in these terms(which I grant is just speculation):
The Enterprise left port with a crew of students. The bulky, harsh environment tricorders may have been all the Enterprise was equipped with, as the goal was to teach the student-crew how to do survey work under harsh conditions. Once they "go on active duty" Kirk and co. make do with what they have. Such an explanation works for the bulky communicators as well.
Me, I like such in-universe explanations better than the BTS dirt. Don't you?
The Enterprise left port with a crew of students. The bulky, harsh environment tricorders may have been all the Enterprise was equipped with, as the goal was to teach the student-crew how to do survey work under harsh conditions. Once they "go on active duty" Kirk and co. make do with what they have. Such an explanation works for the bulky communicators as well.
Me, I like such in-universe explanations better than the BTS dirt. Don't you?
Not particularly, no. I find the behind the scenes stories of what the writers, produers, directors, and production designers were trying to accomplish — sometimes in a battle with the clock, as in TMP, or up against budgetary restrictions, as in TOS or TWOK — to be as fascinating as the stories they ultimately told onscreen.
But, you're forgetting Star Trek III. Sulu is using one of the more Trek-like standard tricorders when they beam down from the doomed Enterprise to the surface of the Genesis planet. The fact that he's got one handy means it's 100% canon that the Enterprise had at least two different models of tricorders for distribution to landing parties when it left port for Academy duty in The Wrath of Khan.
Starfleet wouldn't have put NEW tricorders onboard the Enterprise when they got back to Spacedock in TSFS because they were going to decommision the ship.
Plus, we know there were definitley two different phaser models on board as well, thanks to this scene.
Therefore, it would stand to reason that the Enterprise had at least had two different models of both phasers and tricorders on board when leaving spacedock in The Wrath of Khan.
By the time they got to the Genesis planet, Sulu may well have been using a tricorder he brought from home. Due to the decommissioning plans, Enterprise may have already been stripped of portable equipment. But you have a point about the phasers, at least in universe.
Personally, I have no problem believing that the Enterprise was resupplied between TWOK and TSFS, as I incorporate the first few issues of DC's Star Trek into my personal continuity. I much prefer the idea of Spock being dead for a few months instead of just a few days. And it also neatly explains the different amount of damage the Enterprise has in TSFS.
Man, those security helmets really look like 1920s football helmets, don't they?
Man, those security helmets really look like 1920s football helmets, don't they?
I'm not familiar with these storylines, but I myself have always wondered exactly how much time had passed between II and III, seeing that David, along with much of the trainee crew, had been reassigned to other posts.
http://www.trekbbs.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/
The Enterprise had gone through some apparent field repairs, so no telling how long they were out from the time of Genesis to when they arrived in Space Dock. I never had given it much consideration; I always thought that the two events were fairly close together, but thinking about it, it might well have been months, although they weren't all that far from Earth--TWOK didn't appear to last months, did it? Enterprise was the only ship close enough to intercept? Surely Regula 1 couldn't be that far away from Sol, and the Mutara Nebula, as well.
Well, at the end of TWOK they were off to Ceti Alpha to pick up Reliant's crew.
In the DC comics they went back to Earth, Kirk was given command of the Enterprise and they had wacky adventures for a few months (including a smackdown between the Excalbians and the Organians). Then something went down that put the ship and crew into exactly the same state as the end of TWOK. They did pretty much the same routine between III and IV
If you go by Vonda McIntyre's novel they were intercepted by another Fed ship, the trainees transferred off, and the Enterprise sent home. Somewhere in there they also went back to Regula and rendezvoused with Grissom. This was over a matter of days. The movie doesn't really start until about half way through the novel. I love it.
In the DC comics they went back to Earth, Kirk was given command of the Enterprise and they had wacky adventures for a few months (including a smackdown between the Excalbians and the Organians). Then something went down that put the ship and crew into exactly the same state as the end of TWOK. They did pretty much the same routine between III and IV
If you go by Vonda McIntyre's novel they were intercepted by another Fed ship, the trainees transferred off, and the Enterprise sent home. Somewhere in there they also went back to Regula and rendezvoused with Grissom. This was over a matter of days. The movie doesn't really start until about half way through the novel. I love it.
They're good reading. If you're a comic book guy, I'd recommend tracking them down. I don't think that the first few issues are all in a trade paperback, but you can read up on the storylines here:
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek_Vol_1
The first four issues concern a potential war with the Klingons (with Organians and Excalibians thrown in for good measure). The lead-in to TSFS concerns Saavik undergoing Pon Farr, a clash with the Romulans, and another trip to the Galactic Barrier.
Oh, and they had a Klingon join Starfleet three years before TNG.
