Fan Visions Before Hollywood (Re)Visions

[seigezunt]

a question for the historians, or fellow old farts like myself.

Any material out there about what fans speculated ST:TMP would look like before it came out?

I'm asking in this forum because, what with all the speculation about the uniforms, and the Enterpise, and who would appear in the new flick, I thought it would be interesting to compare to when they did the very first "revisioning."

When I was 13 and waiting for the first movie to come out, I assumed that the Ship was going to look the same, and the same uniforms. But I got over it when I saw the movie.

I'm wondering if other wrinkly folks remember what they thought it was going to be like, or if there are any record or pix out there of fan speculations in the days way before Internet.

and then compare that to what's going on now. My contention is, maybe the world won't come to a screeching halt if the Enterprise looks different, or the uniforms.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There was a fair amount of complaint in the fan press about the "cold sterility" of the new Enterprise interiors, and the drabness of the uniforms.

 

[Dale]

I was 14... I remember being really mad that they changed the ship and hating the rainbow streaks when the ship went into warp. I was mad they changed Chekov's job, and didn't like the new bald girl. I hated the new pajamas. I hated the new transporter effect. I did think wrist communicators were a good idea, though.

I guess I was a traditionalist even then... I hated almost everything that was different. By the time Khan came out though, I was over it. I liked the next set of uniforms and had gotten over the ship changes.

 

[Franklin]

I do remember checking out "Starlog" magazine every month for any information about STMP.

I think the big difference between then and now is time had passed between the last time we saw our heroes in "Turnabout Intruder" and STMP. So changes were to be expected and could be more easily accepted. You didn't have to like them, but it's how things looked in the STMP period. There was nothing to compare them to. You liked the changes or you didn't. That was about it.

At least part of XI appears to be about a time period where we have a good idea of what the ship and crew looked like. I think that makes some folks more senstive to any changes because of that. It makes what should and shouldn't change a subject of debate.

For example, everyone wanted to see what the refit Enterprise looked like in STMP. But the refit and new look themselves were a given. Now, everyone wants to see the big screen adaptation of the original design.
I don't think it's a coincidence that one of the hottest threads on the BBS right now is about what the redesigned Enterprise should look like. That debate wouldn't have existed in the same form in 1978.

This movie is a whole new animal.

 

[WillsBabe]

I was 13 when I was waiting for the new film (TMP) to hit the theatres and I'm not sure what I speculated it would look like. I think that I might have seen the artwork somewhere and couldn't really wrap my head around that. In those days, though, in the UK it was pretty impossible to find out anything about anything ahead of time if you were a 13 year old kid!

 

[Mysterion]

Starship Polaris said:
There was a fair amount of complaint in the fan press about the "cold sterility" of the new Enterprise interiors, and the drabness of the uniforms.

Indeed. I was recently looking through a a bunch of issues of the fanzine "Enterprise Incidents" the other day. The issues around the time of TMP's release are alomost totally unflattering in their views of that movie (which seems to be more well regarded by many these days).

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Mysterion said:

Starship Polaris said:
There was a fair amount of complaint in the fan press about the "cold sterility" of the new Enterprise interiors, and the drabness of the uniforms.

Indeed. I was recently looking through a a bunch of issues of the fanzine "Enterprise Incidents" the other day. The issues around the time of TMP's release are alomost totally unflattering in their views of that movie (which seems to be more well regarded by many these days).

I think McCoy's line pretty much summed up the "feel" of the Enterprise in ST-TMP.

"It's like working in a damned computer center."

While they kept the same sets for the next movie, they redressed them pretty significantly. Mainly to give it a more "liveable" feel, and to bring it LITTLE more in-line with the original design's sensibilities.

 

[Mysterion]

^^^^^^^
This aspect can be (and maybe has in one of the novels, but I don't remember) explained as an aspect of the Enterprise being rushed back into sefvice in TMP. They didn't have time to do any interior decorating or such. I mean they're rushing just to get the thing into service and out of the dry-dock. The black-light posters and lava-lamps can wait for later (it WAS the 70's, you know). By the time we see the Enterprise in TWoK, they've had the time to do that sort of thing.

 

[xortex]

ST is Gene's vision, if not it would be called Forbidden Planet- the tv. series. Don't fix what's not broken. It's not real. That's what makes the future the future. It's not supposed to all make sense.

 

[23skidoo]

I remember reading about speculation about what the Enterprise might look like, as it wasn't certain that the familiar lines would be followed. I also recall seeing some stuff pertaining to the TV series that was cancelled in order to produce TMP. As the clips included on the Directors Edition DVD revealed they weren't planning to change an awful lot in terms of uniforms, etc (there are even test pictures of Persis Khambatta as Ilia wearing the TOS miniskirt). So I'm sure there were folks who expected TMP to be pretty much the same as TOS.

I don't remember ever hearing any complaints about the external appearance of the new Enterprise, probably because the change was acknowledged in dialogue - it wasn't just a case of the ship being rejigged for the big screen without explanation.

Cheers

Alex

 

[Balthier the Great]

xortex said:
ST is Gene's vision, if not it would be called Forbidden Planet- the tv. series. Don't fix what's not broken. It's not real. That's what makes the future the future. It's not supposed to all make sense.

So the slashdot wunderkind were right? Now I 've seen everything.

 

[xortex]

TMP was not a prequil.

 

[xortex]

BalthierTheGreat said:

xortex said:
ST is Gene's vision, if not it would be called Forbidden Planet- the tv. series. Don't fix what's not broken. It's not real. That's what makes the future the future. It's not supposed to all make sense.

So the slashdot wunderkind were right? Now I 've seen everything.

Unreality can be quite real.

 

[Balthier the Great]

Wait 'til you get a load of me.

 

[Jack Bauer]

xortex said:
TMP was not a prequil.

But it was Nightquil.