Star Trek Phase II test footage?

[Trekwatcher]

I have long been fascinated with anything connected to the making of the aborted "Star Trek Phase II" series that eventually became subsumed by plans for STTMP.

On the STTMP Director's Cut on Disk 2 there are a few fleeting seconds of David Gautreaux's test footage as Xon, Persis Khambatta as Ilia in a TOS-style uniform, and a few seconds of engineering test footage. In the book on the series by the Reeve-Stevens', there are a few frames from the test footage as well.

Does anyone know if the screen tests or the engineering test footage is available from any other source? I would love to see what else was shot, or at least the full versions of the scenes that have been excerpted.

Thoughts?

 

[Plum]

hmmm... nothing on Youtjube sadly.

 

[Tino]

Trekwatcher said:
and a few seconds of engineering test footage

I remember that - it looked totally rediculous IMO.
It's funny what they came up with two years later for TMP.
Totally new design and totally believable.

 

[Christopher]

^^Well, I bet the Phase II engine core would've looked somewhat better in the finished production, with the proper lenses and lighting effects and sound effects and whatnot to make it impressive, than it did in that brief snippet of screen-test footage. The TMP version of the engine core probably wouldn't have looked that impressive if you saw it just sitting there without the lighting effects and stuff. It would've just been a big plastic tube.

And the TMP sets essentially were the Phase II sets, just with a few modifications made for the big screen. The change in engine core design was one of the main modifications, but the overall set was pretty much the same otherwise.

 

[Maurice]

Not entirely true. The corridors were massively overhauled, the engine room not only had the core replaced, but had the forced-perspective extension added, the transporter got overhauled to include the booth, and the airlocks, cargo and Rec Decks were all new sets. What we got most unchanged from Phase II was the bridge, sickbay, and Kirk's quarters.

 

[Christopher]

I was speaking only of the engineering set in that last sentence, not the whole soundstage. And aside from the engine core and forced-perspective extension it was still basically the same set, just as the TNG and VGR engine rooms were essentially the same set (built within the same infrastructure on the soundstage).

After all, the only reason those sets lasted that long is because they were built for a TV show and then repurposed for a movie. Movie sets are flimsy, built to stand for a couple of weeks and then be quickly torn down to make room for the next sets. TV-series standing sets are built to last for years. So yes, the engineering set in TMP was a modification of the Phase II set, not a separate successor to it.

 

[Kryton]

Which, apparently, is why they held up enough to be redressed for several movie and TV series appearances.

 

[toonloon]

Great post! I've wondered about this for a while. Thanks for posing the question.

 

[Christopher]

Kryton said:
Which, apparently, is why they held up enough to be redressed for several movie and TV series appearances.

I believe I said that, Doctor.

 

[Kryton]

Dammit, you green-blooded logic machine...I offer you a WORD of support and you cast it down like so much...plomeek soup! Well I NEVER! <storms off>

 

[Christopher]

You must learn to govern your passions, or they will be your undoing.

 

[SmoothieX]

Admiral, sensors indicate a thread hijacking in our area, closing fast.

 

[Trekwatcher]

SmoothieX said:
Admiral, sensors indicate a thread hijacking in our area, closing fast.

I agree, Number One. Helmsman, take us back on a course to find and discuss the missing Phase II test footage. Maximum warp; engage!

 

[Shatmandu]

Other than the Xon and Kojakie footage, all I've seen are the few seconds in engineering.

The actors' costumes make them look like they're strolling through a mall in Petaluma.

Joe, actually in a mall in Indiana

 

[johnwarfn]

If that's what Star Trek Phase II would have looked like, let's be glad it was never produced. The actors had really goofy costumes and hairstyles, the lighting was bad, the set didn't look that great (yet), it just struck me as being very much of it's time. Being the late 70's it could have been called Disco Trek!

 

[Mallory]

I've never seen any actual footage, just a lot of concept artwork. It would be nice to have some footage available just to get an idea of the direction they were taking.

 

[SmoothieX]

The whole Phase II has always been the proverbial "mystery wrapped in an enigma."

Isn't there a book out there that covers the timeline from the idea of a new series through TMP?

 

[Trekwatcher]

I assume there is a at least a modest amount of footage, given the amount of sets, costumes, props, screen tests, and models that were made. The few scraps of footage that are available suggest, to me at least, that there is more out there.

 

[Trekwatcher]

SmoothieX said:


Isn't there a book out there that covers the timeline from the idea of a new series through TMP?

Yes, called "Star Trek Phase II" by Judith and Garfield Reeve-Stevens (published in 1997).

 

[Vance]

They didn't get very far into actual footage and design before the project was changed into a movie. Only a few scripts were even completed, most of the costumes weren't shipped... etc... etc..