Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine - Special Edition Screencaps

[Maurice]

Maurice, the link you posted is blocked... what evidence are you trying to show for your assertion? This is the first time I've heard anyone say that the ST:TMP workbee was modified for one of the TV series.

I never recall seeing the zebra stripes in TMP, and the reference photos I used back in 1986 to build a 3D model didn't have them either. I don't see them in TMP or in screenshots from that film, and various models people have made of the workbee since then don't feature them, either. Heck, even the Drex Files had diagrams of them minus the stripes. You don't see them anywhere else in TMP, and knowing how Andy Probert designs stuff with functionality in mind, such markings are unlikely to have been applied where they are on the model for TMP, because they make no sense there: caution, waistline? I might be wrong, but I can't find any TMP era images in which the stripes can be seen.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

You know what? You're right! I just went to Trekcore.com and examined the HD screencaps of scenes where the Workbee was seen. It's hard to tell, but in at least one or two shots the caution stripes were not visible. Someone must have altered the studio model at some point after 1978.

("Caution: waistline!")

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Without its zerba stripes it's no longer a workbee​

Yeah, the white hull definitely looks better without the zebra stripes.

 

[Redfern]

Amazing what a simple color change makes!

In the original yellow, the craft just didn't look like something we might have seen during the series '66 to '69 run. But in "white", it suddenly appears like something that could have been built as both a miniature and a full scale mock-up. Well, maybe without a few of the surface panels and the reaction thrusters (since we didn't see anything like them upon the Galileo or the "E" itself). No, I'm not suggesting you change anything; these are simply my personal biases.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[TheSeeker]

I really like the white look as well. As usual, great work!

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Well, maybe without ... the reaction thrusters (since we didn't see anything like them upon the Galileo or the "E" itself).

My own personal in-universe trexplanation for RCS thrusters on ships like the NX-01 and the refit Enterprise (which bracket the original NCC-1701 and Galileo-class shuttlecraft, which didn't have them): Constitution-class starships and Galileo-type shuttles used flywheels or gravity generators or something else besides RCS thrusters for fine adjustments to course and position. As it turned out though, field experience showed that this mystery technology was inferior in performance to good ol' tried-and-true thrusters. By the time that Cargo Management Units were designed (perhaps only a few years before ST:TMP), RCS thrusters were back in vogue. (And by the ST:TMP era, CMUs were usually painted yellow.)

 

[B.J.]

You know, I'd love to see that in a two-tone gray like the Galileo shuttlecraft.

(And as I mentioned before, for the longest time I thought the TMP workbee *was* white! )

 

[STRenegade]

I always thought the RCS thrusters on the Constitution were well hidden on the hull. Would make sense as they designed the ship to have most of the components unexposed, like phaser and torpedo banks.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

^^^ I alternate between that theory and the one I mentioned above, depending on the current suite of meds I'm on.

 

[STRenegade]

^^^ I alternate between that theory and the one I mentioned above, depending on the current suite of meds I'm on.

lol

 

[Psion]

Without its zerba stripes it's no longer a workbee​

Yeah, the white hull definitely looks better without the zebra stripes.

White/putty/FedHullGray also goes better with that orange console. Like B.J., I didn't realize the workbees were yellow all along. A slight gold tint, perhaps, but otherwise neutral.

The only place the workbees were ever seen in DS9, to my recollection, was in the season 4+ opening titles, when they jazzed the sequence up. There's a workbee weaving between the pylons, but it's too small to tell if it sports these markings.

I kind of like the splash of color they bring to the exterior, but, as myself and others have noted, they aren't very logically placed on that updated model. Perhaps if they surrounded one of the panel details? Or ... why not a yellow and red racing stripe like we see on the side of the secondary hull?

 

[BillJ]

Without its zerba stripes it's no longer a workbee​

Yeah, the white hull definitely looks better without the zebra stripes.

I like the yellow hull better.

 

[Redfern]

Constitution-class starships and Galileo-type shuttles used flywheels or gravity generators or something else besides RCS thrusters for fine adjustments to course and position. As it turned out though, field experience showed that this mystery technology was inferior in performance to good ol' tried-and-true thrusters.

Hmm, yeah, I'll buy that for a dollar (to steal a phrase from "RoboCop").

Seriously, that's not a bad idea. Kinda' meshes with my own thoughts about different contractors getting the job and pushing their own designs and technologies. Who knows, maybe the TOS "E" had a fairly heavy Andorian or Tellarite influence that lost and went back to Earth based industries by the time of TMP.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Praetor]

Oh, very nice... I like the white version a lot.

 

[Maurice]

Andy Probert always balks that every spaceship should be gray, and I agree with him. The workbee is yellow because it's construction equipment, like a bulldozer, steamroller or steamshovel.

 

[Albertese]

Andy Probert always balks that every spaceship should be gray, and I agree with him. The workbee is yellow because it's construction equipment, like a bulldozer, steamroller or steamshovel.

+1

--Alex

 

[USS Mariner]

Andy Probert always balks that every spaceship should be gray, and I agree with him. The workbee is yellow because it's construction equipment, like a bulldozer, steamroller or steamshovel.

Agreed. There's no reason why Starfleet or anyone else couldn't have leaped out of a Chris Foss painting, especially since that would make visual ID a bit easier.

The NX's bronze color scheme goes a long way in selling the ship as something at least a little different from familiar Starfleet, which is why I'm kind of sad that the ENT Netflix campaign seems to already be dropping it for the newer Earth ships.

Heck, as much as I may question the aesthetics of Doug's refit design, it's definitely better in bronze than silver or grey.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. The CMU is staying white.

Time to put the CMU in the hangar bay to see how it looks. Even though I know it's basically a wearable spaceship and its interior is dominated by its single pilot seat, it's easy to forget how small it is until you see it next to some much larger objects, not to mention things that have real-world analogues (e.g., the elevator doors, the control console, etc.)

That's one thing this test scene made me realize. The other is that the Jefferies shuttle model is in dire need of a facelift... it looks positively flat compared to the CMU (probably because it only has baseline color and no textures).

Someone needs the plastic surgeon​

 

[Maurice]

Following up on the TMP workbees, I did find some photos from Trumbull's studio [EDIT: domain lapsed, so I removed the link] (via Trumbull's website) where you can see the zebra stripes, and then closer examination of the high def screenshots makes it plain they were, in fact, there, though in most cases it appears the sleds disguised many of them from view.

 

[Taranis]

Stunning work Professor Moriarty, its great to see your still working on these.. the bay looks excellent