Favourite Enterprise...

[RAMA]

^^ One flattering shot (and I don't think it's that flattering) doesn't create screen presence. It's an accumulation of things over time that does it.

Well for me the very first shot was better than any other in the TOS series, and more memorable. There are certainly more, but it was a beauty.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y200/MadMan1701A/Wallpapers/TheseAreTheVoyages_HD.jpg

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=141144

 

[BillJ]

^^ One flattering shot (and I don't think it's that flattering) doesn't create screen presence. It's an accumulation of things over time that does it.

Well for me the very first shot was better than any other in the TOS series, and more memorable. There are certainly more, but it was a beauty.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y200/MadMan1701A/Wallpapers/TheseAreTheVoyages_HD.jpg

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=141144

That picture perfectly illustrates my biggest issue with the Abramsverse Enterprise. The nacelles are far too close together... looks like it has crossed-eyes.

 

[MacLeod]

I would have to go with the refit version from TMP

 

[Sadara]

I went with Kirk era cuz I'm sentimental that way and that ship has a cozy feeling to it. That said I also liked jjprise too.

 

[Nero's Shadow]

My favorite enterprise is TMP 1st 2nd TOS era 3rd JJprise I've always loved the TMP enterprise it always and still does look futuristic and she has some great lines curves and views I especially love where they put the torp bays and the bridge dome. One of my favorite moments is when the TMP enterprise powers up and leaves drydock watching her power up her running lights still sends a shudder down my spine !!!!

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

Can I vote for TMP Enterprise exterior with TOS interior?

I really hated the TMP interiors when I first saw them - after all these years I have got used to them, but still dislike them, expecially the engine room.

 

[Galileo7]

...I've always loved the TMP enterprise it always and still does look futuristic and she has some great lines curves and views I especially love where they put the torp bays and the bridge dome. One of my favorite moments is when the TMP enterprise powers up and leaves drydock watching her power up her running lights still sends a shudder down my spine !!!!

Agreed.

 

[GNDN]

No Enterprise has been presented on screen so beautifully as the refit in TMP, and no spacedock scene in any ST has captured the majesty of that launch in scale or appearance.

 

[Galileo7]

No Enterprise has been presented on screen so beautifully as the refit in TMP, and no spacedock scene in any ST has captured the majesty of that launch in scale or appearance.

Agreed. The 1701-B in drydock scene in GENERATIONS and the 1701-E in drydock scene in NEMESIS did not even come close to capturing the majesty of a starship.

 

[Anika Hanson]

TMP refit.

 

[QuasarVM]

TMP refit as designed by Richard Taylor and Andy Probert. In my opinion, the most beautiful ship ever!! The only thing to make it better would have been to give the nacelle caps a glow or something. I missed the effect of TOS Enterprise...the black caps were boring.

 

[QuasarVM]

TMP Refit/NCC 1701-A (Was there any difference?)

Although few might notice it the filming miniature was painted differently and the interiors were different. The most obvious was the bridge (TFF $ TUC), but the other big difference was the hangar facilities (TFF). The 1701A was also never as well photographed as the TMP refit. I think the 1701A also lost the pearlescent hull finish in the repainting.

ILM ruined the paint job when they took over effects. The sprayed the perfect and gorgeous Trumbull - Apogee paint with matte coating. THey say becuase there would have been too much reflection in the Nebula scenes. The relections would have been gorgeous just like in the Vger cloud. Basically ILM dumbed it down and ruined it (a-holes)

This is incorrect. Since the nebula effects were shot in a cloud tank and were composited with the independently shot motion control footage of the Enterprise model, the nebula had nothing to do with the alteration of the miniature.

The miniature's paint job was dulled (not repainted, if memory serves) because ILM uses (at that time, anyway) bluescreen and Trumbull used a black screen for doing matte work. When ILM tried to shoot the model against a blue screen, the blue was reflected by the pearlescent finish -- creating "holes" in the matte. To resolve the problem, they sprayed dullcote on the miniature to make it less reflective. It's not clear to me why ILM chose blue screen over black, preserving the original paint job...

Also, if memory serves, all the Enterprise footage was shot by Trumbull and the Klingon ships and V'Ger were all shot by Apogee/Dykstra...

 

[CoveTom]

Also, if memory serves, all the Enterprise footage was shot by Trumbull and the Klingon ships and V'Ger were all shot by Apogee/Dykstra...

I believe that's correct. However, I believe the actual V'Ger cloud was done by Trumbull, while the V'Ger model itself was shot by Dykstra.

As for the choice of blue screen vs. black background, I don't know why ILM would have chosen one over the other. But, regardless, I still think it is a shame that they had to ruin the beautiful paint job to accommodate their chosen method of filming.

 

[A.V.I.A.F.]

I went with the Abrams' version just because it stayed true to the original but with the level of tech that the series version would have had if they had had more money to play with.

 

[QuasarVM]

Also, if memory serves, all the Enterprise footage was shot by Trumbull and the Klingon ships and V'Ger were all shot by Apogee/Dykstra...

I believe that's correct. However, I believe the actual V'Ger cloud was done by Trumbull, while the V'Ger model itself was shot by Dykstra.

As for the choice of blue screen vs. black background, I don't know why ILM would have chosen one over the other. But, regardless, I still think it is a shame that they had to ruin the beautiful paint job to accommodate their chosen method of filming.

I agree wholeheartedly!! For a long time I really did not care for what ILM did to the model -- and I still don't. Even before Trumbull came on TMP as a Visual Effects Director, he admired the job that Magicam did on that model. But regardless, nothing is as bad as what Bran Ferren did. The Enterprise never looked worse than it did in Star Trek V. Zoom lens warp drive effect anyone? LOL!!!

 

[CoveTom]

^ To this day, I cannot understand the logic that went into play in choosing Associates & Ferren to do the effects work on TFF. This was supposed to be one of Paramount's big summer blockbuster films of the year, and they're coming off the massive mainstream success of TVH, so they obviously had high expectations for the film. And yet they give it to a company with absolutely no major feature film work on its resume on the basis that Ferren did some cool things with a cloud tank in test footage???

Yes, I know all the stories about how ILM's "A team" and "B team" were both busy with other films. But even ILM's "C team" would have been far superior to what was churned out by Ferren. And even if they didn't want that, are you telling me that there was no third choice besides ILM and Ferren? I find that hard to believe.

But, then again, the logic of just about everything Paramount decided with regards to that film escapes me, so I suppose the choice of Ferren should be no surprise...

 

[QuasarVM]

^ To this day, I cannot understand the logic that went into play in choosing Associates & Ferren to do the effects work on TFF. This was supposed to be one of Paramount's big summer blockbuster films of the year, and they're coming off the massive mainstream success of TVH, so they obviously had high expectations for the film. And yet they give it to a company with absolutely no major feature film work on its resume on the basis that Ferren did some cool things with a cloud tank in test footage???

Yes, I know all the stories about how ILM's "A team" and "B team" were both busy with other films. But even ILM's "C team" would have been far superior to what was churned out by Ferren. And even if they didn't want that, are you telling me that there was no third choice besides ILM and Ferren? I find that hard to believe.

But, then again, the logic of just about everything Paramount decided with regards to that film escapes me, so I suppose the choice of Ferren should be no surprise...

There actually was another option at that time -- Richard Edlund's Boss Films FX house that had worked on Ghostbusters and 2010. Apogee was still around too (if memory serves) -- since they had worked on the films Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars and others.

But -- remember too the heads of the actors began to swell after Star Trek IV and their cut of the films budget began to inflate. With a contractual stipulation that Nimoy made as much as Shatner (and Shatner got Directors pay of course), you have to figure those bloated salaries hurt the film. They probably couldn't afford ILM or anyone better than Ferren's outfit.

It's because of this that Harve Bennett began developing the Starfleet Academy film...I apologize for taking the thread off topic. I'll shut up now...lol!

 

[CoveTom]

Yeah, my apologies for diverting the thread too. To get back to topic... I prefer the TMP Enterprise exteriors. And I actually like most of its interior sets. But although I know it's the minority viewpoint around here, my favorite bridge is actually the TFF bridge.

 

[QuasarVM]

Yeah, my apologies for diverting the thread too. To get back to topic... I prefer the TMP Enterprise exteriors. And I actually like most of its interior sets. But although I know it's the minority viewpoint around here, my favorite bridge is actually the TFF bridge.

I prefer the STVI bridge. The FF bridge was too bright. As a matter of fact, I don't like any bridge that is too brightly lit. The TOS bridge was always sort of dark...that's the way (uh huh uh huh) I like it! :-)

 

[CoveTom]

Yeah, again, I'm completely in the minority and I understand it. But, for example, I really like the lighting that they used on TNG and could never stand the revised, darker lighting scheme of Generations. Or even Voyager for that matter. I know people generally think the TNG lighting was way too bright, and deride it's production design as well ("hotel lobby," anyone?) but I still like it.

That's actually why I like the TFF bridge. To me, it combines the functionality and efficiency of the TOS and TMP bridges with the elegance and warmth of the TNG bridge.

Now, if only TFF hadn't re-used so many TNG sets...