OT - Doing Some Forbidden Planet Research

[Albertese]

Try the_forbidden_planet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Hey... wait a minute! I own that Forbidden Planet group. So this is where the sudden interest is stemming from. All of a sudden, I'm getting request in my e-mail to join a group that I put on ice in Sept 2008, for lack of any members posting any discussions.

...

Hey there Larryman! I want to join too but I think I'm doing it wrong! If you have to send me an e-mail, I'm at albertese @ gmail . com. If you have to do it through yahoo, it's the same, just @yahoo instead of gmail.

Thanks!
--Alex

 

[Albertese]

Ok guys, thanks for the various screen cap suggestions. I'm the biggest loser when it comes to making my computer do new things so I've tried a couple of them (Anything that claims to run on Mac 10.4) but no dice. Oh well. Thanks anyways.

Axeman, You do mean 160 feet right? 160 Meters seems way too big.

Dennis, thanks again for the PM.

So if anyone wants to talk about the C-57D itself, here's some things I've been pondering: Is there only one tractor? Do you need to stand in the Deceleration tubes for acceleration too? Where would there be more such tubes (more than the 9 we see would be needed for the crew of 19 or 20 plus Adams wanted to take Morbius and Altara so +2 at least)? What sort of mechanism would work the ship's exterior guns? and where are such guns located? What is the range of the United Planets influence? And so on.

--Alex

 

[The Axeman]

Ah, yes, 160 feet is the correct answer. Still far too small for my liking,considering the size of the crew, the spacious interior, the tractor, the guns, the fencing, let alone the power and drive systems. Even the three staircases eat into the disc considerably, and where's their stores if they've been in space for months? A flat disc is not the ideal shape for storing stuff, although I'm willing to believe it's housing the field generators for whatever FTL system they may be using.

 

[larryman]

Try the_forbidden_planet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Hey... wait a minute! I own that Forbidden Planet group. So this is where the sudden interest is stemming from. All of a sudden, I'm getting request in my e-mail to join a group that I put on ice in Sept 2008, for lack of any members posting any discussions.

...

Hey there Larryman! I want to join too but I think I'm doing it wrong! If you have to send me an e-mail, I'm at albertese @ gmail . com. If you have to do it through yahoo, it's the same, just @yahoo instead of gmail.

Thanks!
--Alex

Ok Alex. If I'm doing this correct, I just sent you an 'invite to join'. I think it will have a link to take you to a group member application request page to fill in. It may be another day before I get it to approve. I think that's how it works.

 

[scotpens]

Ah, yes, 160 feet is the correct answer. Still far too small for my liking,considering the size of the crew, the spacious interior, the tractor, the guns, the fencing, let alone the power and drive systems. Even the three staircases eat into the disc considerably, and where's their stores if they've been in space for months?

Looks like everything fits.

A flat disc is not the ideal shape for storing stuff, although I'm willing to believe it's housing the field generators for whatever FTL system they may be using.

Maybe not the ideal shape, but it looks cool!

 

[Patrickivan]

Ah, yes, 160 feet is the correct answer. Still far too small for my liking,considering the size of the crew, the spacious interior, the tractor, the guns, the fencing, let alone the power and drive systems. Even the three staircases eat into the disc considerably, and where's their stores if they've been in space for months?

Looks like everything fits.

A flat disc is not the ideal shape for storing stuff, although I'm willing to believe it's housing the field generators for whatever FTL system they may be using.

Maybe not the ideal shape, but it looks cool!

Nice!

I've always liked Forbidden Planet. A great little flick. Every once and a while I draw some ships inspired from it.

 

[larryman]

Ah, yes, 160 feet is the correct answer. Still far too small for my liking,considering the size of the crew, the spacious interior, the tractor, the guns, the fencing, let alone the power and drive systems. Even the three staircases eat into the disc considerably, and where's their stores if they've been in space for months? A flat disc is not the ideal shape for storing stuff, although I'm willing to believe it's housing the field generators for whatever FTL system they may be using.

I think that if the C-57-D were about 50-percent larger, it would be about right. I think it could then have 4 (plus the balcony) occupiable decks, and the engine deck. And room to carry a Battlestar Galactica (TOS) Landram vehicle, instead of that dumb Tractor vehicle.

But, I also like upgrading the C-57-D with the TOS Enterprise: helm, main viewscreen, bridge work stations, lower-deck crew quarters, matter transporter, etc.; the pulsed-plasma cannon turrets from the TOS Battlestar Galactica; and a few components from Lost In Space TOS... and calling it the C-57-G "Enterprise".

 

[larryman]

Ron has showed up as a new member of the_forbidden_Planet yahoo group. Whatever he went through worked.

 

[TowerPower]

Where did those blueprints originate?

 

[scotpens]

One very original idea was the central helm-navigation station with the big clear bubble and the miniature saucer showing the ship's attitude. Its attitude relative to what? Space? It didn't matter. It looked cool and futuristic, sort of a three-dimensional chart table. The same idea was picked up for the Jupiter 2 in Lost in Space, though in a much simplified form.

 

[larryman]

^ The blueprints were created by Shane Johnson in 1983.

 

[larryman]

One very original idea was the central helm-navigation station with the big clear bubble and the miniature saucer showing the ship's attitude. Its attitude relative to what? Space? It didn't matter. It looked cool and futuristic, sort of a three-dimensional chart table. The same idea was picked up for the Jupiter 2 in Lost in Space, though in a much simplified form.

I think that C-57-D navigation (astrogator) would have been great in the TOS Enterprise's auxilary control bridge, to replace that cheap one-man desk helm they used there. It would be like a carry-over of older technology for use as an emergency back-up function.

The transparent bubble was calibrated with lattitude and longitude lines. Porbably relative to the galactic plane. Thus you get the relationship of the saucer to the galactic plane.

 

[scotpens]

Where did those blueprints originate?

The blueprints were created by Shane Johnson in 1983.

As I mentioned upthread in post #9.

 

[TIN_MAN]

I suppose the C-57-D's astrogator would be oriented to the plane of the galaxy as a prime referance, with the attitude of the ship and every thing else relevant to that?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

There are Johnson's blueprints and there are also studio blueprints on display at larryman's site.

The C57-D astrogator is probably my favorite science fiction set piece ever - if it wouldn't have driven my director of photography nuts we'd probably have had something like it on Polaris.

 

[larryman]

Dennis... what is Polaris? It sounds like a movie.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Dennis... what is Polaris? It sounds like a movie.

Yeah, it's a low-budget sf movie with more than a bit of inspiration from Forbidden Planet behind it:

http://www.starshippolaris.com

http://www.starshippolaris.com/wordpress/?p=720

 

[scotpens]

The C57-D astrogator is probably my favorite science fiction set piece ever - if it wouldn't have driven my director of photography nuts we'd probably have had something like it on Polaris.

The astrogator looked fantastic, but mechanically, it must have been a bitch. And it probably made a lot of noise whenever parts of it were moving. I've noticed that some of the lines had to be looped (dubbed over in postproduction) when the actors were standing near that thing. That's not normally required when shooting in the very controlled environment of a studio soundstage.

The C-57D has one of the most believable fictional spacecraft interiors ever designed, along with the Enterprise bridge, the sets from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the Valley Forge interiors from Silent Running (which were the dressed-up compartments and passageways of a real aircraft carrier).

 

[larryman]

I know there was dialog dubbed over due to the noise from the Robby robot. But I'm not sure about noise from the astrogator. I think it was all driven by only one electric motor.

I like the way the 2 swivel seats were attached by a seat support arm to the base of the astrogator. I think the Enterprise bridge should have used seats like that, rather than just free-standing (and often flopping ) chairs.

 

[larryman]

When Dr. Morbius was telling Commander Adams of the death of his crewmates and the destruction of the Bellerophon ship... I would have liked to have seen a fade to memory, showing the use of the Metaluna saucer from 1955 "This Island Earth" used as the Bellerophon lifting off, and then being vaporized in the sky. That would have established the Metaluna class of saucer as a civilian exploration ship in the FP universe.

The Metaluna saucer is a good size for civilian space exploration.

It is... length: 198 feet, width: 171 feet, height: 41 feet.
It contains 4 decks. The topside command deck is 38 feet wide, 56 feet long, 16 feet high, and teardrop shaped. Of course the original 'airplane capture' hatch and bay would not be used here.

Information source: the 2009 "The Saucer Fleet" book, by Jack Hagerty and Jon Rogers.