Episode Construction Oddities in TOS

[Joe_Atari]

"When I came aboard!"

 

[Myko]

Speaking as someone who as meticulously studied the sets: there are a great many instances in the second and third season when they cut to a scene of the bridge (typically the viewscreen) and it's the first season configuration on the helm. I know; I'm a freak!

They really like that season 1 stock footage of William Blackburn at the navigation. I think it was filmed around Galileo Seven or so.

 

[Maurice]

The film editor would flip the film when the director screwed-up the shot and the actor should have been facing the other way. They typically correct this problem by flipping the film but since the insignia and hairstyle make it obvious; what solution is better?

Yep. Sadly almost every show and movie screws up directional continuity and eyelines now and again. There's a hideous example in Glengarry Glen Ross. And there's at least one Game of Thrones scene where all efforts at directional continuity were left out entirely.

I discussed the whys of these shot-flops a few years ago in this post [LINK].

 

[alensatemybuick1]

The most obvious change to the helm station after season 1 was the removal of the panel to the far left (which looked like one of the perimeter bridge displays) to make room for the targeting scope. That I had noticed on my own. But the really amazing detailed analysis of the many changes to the helm and navigation console Feek61 has made can be found here:

http://tosgraphics.yuku.com/topic/467/The-Bridge-Helm-amp-Navigation-Station

 

[scotpens]

My number one offender on this list is when Scotty's hands are shown energizing the transporter beam, complete with his lieutenant commander rank braids, and that footage is used when any redshirt energizes the transporter, and they're never a lieutenant commander.

Was that even Doohan's hands in that closeup?

Did you count the fingers?

 

[Mytran]

He keeps his hands curled in that scene, as Doohan often did in TOS to avoid showing the missing finger. I guess that kind of gritty realism was too much for 1960s audiences...

 

[Lord Other]

Here is a head scratcher for you folks.. In "Mirror, Mirror" Scotty and Bones knock out a security guard in front of the door to the ladder way to Emergency Manual Monitor.

If we take the scene as given then the corridor is one or two decks below the EMM.

Either way it leads to some interesting plumbing problems with the "goggles" as the corridor would either pass through Main Engineering or directly under.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Either way it leads to some interesting plumbing problems with the "goggles" as the corridor would either pass through Main Engineering or directly under.

Why not directly under?

 

[Lord Other]

Why not directly under?

It is my understanding that the M/AM integrator is connected to the goggles in some manner or fashion as the dilithium crystal would seem to be raised/lowered into the plasma stream via the goggles. As the M/AM integrator has the ability to be ejected from the ship per "That Which Survives", having a corridor running below it would be just about as useful as having a corridor running through where Main Engineering would be.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The sign on the door and seeing the same yellow ladder makes it inescapable that they meant the corridor to be directly underneath the Emergency Manual Monitor. It's hard to reconcile.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah, I don't see why there can't be a service corridor snaking around underneath main engineering.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Yeah, I don't see why there can't be a service corridor snaking around underneath main engineering.

For casual fan viewing, there can be. But for blueprint fans, that corridor would be in the Engine room or else below it (two levels below the EMM), and that's hard to figure. Main Engineering on Deck 7 is at the aft end of the saucer, and you don't have much structure beneath it, just the hull.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

For casual fan viewing, there can be. But for blueprint fans, that corridor would be in the Engine room or else below it (two levels below the EMM), and that's hard to figure. Main Engineering on Deck 7 is at the aft end of the saucer, and you don't have much structure beneath it, just the hull.

It can be in the secondary hull just fine.

 

[feek61]

Here is a head scratcher for you folks.. In "Mirror, Mirror" Scotty and Bones knock out a security guard in front of the door to the ladder way to Emergency Manual Monitor.

If we take the scene as given then the corridor is one or two decks below the EMM.

Either way it leads to some interesting plumbing problems with the "goggles" as the corridor would either pass through Main Engineering or directly under.

This obviously was filmed from the opposite direction so the corridor is on the other side of engineering under the core.

 

[Lord Other]

This obviously was filmed from the opposite direction so the corridor is on the other side of engineering under the core.

Yep. My thinking is the same, hence the issue with the M/AM integrator. If they had just put the ladder on the wall facing the corridor, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Lol.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Mirror Universe Enterprise. Just because McCoy had a duplicate acid stain, doesn't mean the entire layout was identical. Blueprints, shmuprints. All unofficial anyway.

 

[scotpens]

Main Engineering on Deck 7 is at the aft end of the saucer, and you don't have much structure beneath it, just the hull.

Only if you take the Franz Joseph plans as canon, which many fans don't. It was always Matt Jefferies' intention that Main Engineering was in, well, the Engineering hull.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah, I don't see the problem, either. But then I've never understood why some people seem to think that Engineering is in the saucer instead of the lower section. They're consistently referred to as being "the lower decks" on the show. And AFAIK, the show never indicated what might be on the deck directly below Engineering.

I also have no idea Lord Other is talking about when he refers to "goggles."

 

[Lord Other]

Mirror Universe Enterprise. Just because McCoy had a duplicate acid stain, doesn't mean the entire layout was identical. Blueprints, shmuprints. All unofficial anyway.

Actually, my original post had nothing to do with blueprints- its more a logic puzzle. Think of it this way- if the M/AM integrator is ejectable and it is connected to the "goggles" then if there is a corridor directly below that, how in the name of Jefferies do you get that to work? Answer- you don't. As for the layout as Scotty said it was mostly variations in instrumentation, not design.

Only if you take the Franz Joseph plans as canon, which many fans don't. It was always Matt Jefferies' intention that Main Engineering was in, well, the Engineering hull.

Exactly. I would make the assumption that one of hatch markings on the Engineering hull would be the cover hatch for the ejection of the M/AM integrator.

 

[Lord Other]

Yeah, I don't see the problem, either. But then I've never understood why some people seem to think that Engineering is in the saucer instead of the lower section. They're consistently referred to as being "the lower decks" on the show. And AFAIK, the show never indicated what might be on the deck directly below Engineering.

I also have no idea Lord Other is talking about when he refers to "goggles."

Kirk and Kryton are standing in front of the "goggles" in this shot.
It has the dilithium crystal "articulation frame" which is the centerpiece of this episode during the climax of the battle.