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TMP Myths Debunked via Return to Tomorrow and Beyond

BTW, sorry for the thread drift, but this essay has a neat rationale for how the Jim Phelps plot twist could've occurred. The author uses a lot of M:I continuity to support his argument:

http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Phelps.pdf

Wow. That's a fascinating and plausible, if dark, analysis.

And there's a little joke about another Peter Graves role buried in there, too.

On topic: Does this book mention if there was anything filmed regarding Admiral Nogura?
 
BTW, sorry for the thread drift, but this essay has a neat rationale for how the Jim Phelps plot twist could've occurred. The author uses a lot of M:I continuity to support his argument:

http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Phelps.pdf

Wow. That's a fascinating and plausible, if dark, analysis.

And there's a little joke about another Peter Graves role buried in there, too.

On topic: Does this book mention if there was anything filmed regarding Admiral Nogura?

The Nogura scene was cut from the script after its May 17, 1978 draft, and wasn't in the shooting script completed a month later. It was never shot.
 
And there's a little joke about another Peter Graves role buried in there, too.

If you mean the bit about Phelps being a former Pan Am pilot (which I also thought was an Airplane! nod at first), endnote 22 says that was actually part of the backstory that Peter Graves devised for Phelps when he was originally cast back in 1967.
 
And there's a little joke about another Peter Graves role buried in there, too.

If you mean the bit about Phelps being a former Pan Am pilot (which I also thought was an Airplane! nod at first), endnote 22 says that was actually part of the backstory that Peter Graves devised for Phelps when he was originally cast back in 1967.

I made that post before I got to the endnotes.
 
I was chatting with Rick Sternbach earlier and he says the corridors still looked like this when he interviewed for the show/movie, but it quickly changed once Joe Jennings left to do Shogun and Harold Michaelson came on board. He also confirmed that the wall panels were "curved aluminum" and not painted.

Originally those curved panels were exposed brushed aluminum, but over time, they were a pain to keep looking pretty and unscratched, and eventually were painted, though I could not say precisely when the change happened.

Rick
 
That'd be my guess. And were the corridors at the attraction in Vegas back in the day to scale? I remember walking through them and feeling a little claustrophobic.
 
I'm curious about why there was a decision to go with smaller corridors in TMP than there were in the series. I've always wanted to know that.
 
I'm curious about why there was a decision to go with smaller corridors in TMP than there were in the series. I've always wanted to know that.

If they had to fit the movie corridors inside the framework of the Phase 2 ones, that would certainly leave less room, especially with the C shaped walls of the movies.
 
Basically, yes, they added the K beams and angled walls inside the existing corridors, plus the relatively low ceilings. When TNG came around they pulled the K beams and angled walls out of the circular corridors but left them in the radial ones.
 
Basically, yes, they added the K beams and angled walls inside the existing corridors, plus the relatively low ceilings. When TNG came around they pulled the K beams and angled walls out of the circular corridors but left them in the radial ones.

But, I mean, why use the angled walls at all, since it meant less space in the corridors? Did someone in production like it better with angled walls than with vertical walls? Are you saying that that decision in conjunction with the existing stage layout necessitated smaller corridors? Or, was the argument made that there wasn't really enough space in-universe inside the saucer for larger corridors?

It seems like less space meant it would be harder for the crew to move things around inside the ship. I always thought that the smaller corridors would be something that the designers in-universe wouldn't have considered an improvement, when upgrading from the TOS layout, unless there was no other way to fit everything they needed to inside the saucer. :shrug:
 
- On the bridge, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura beg Spock to help Kirk (not sure if actually shot or not)

Sorry to bring this back briefly, but I can confirm now the Bridge scenes for the Memory Wall sequence were shot. On November 7, 1978, in fact, according to the book Chekov's Enterprise. (Had to go dig it up.)
 
- On the bridge, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura beg Spock to help Kirk (not sure if actually shot or not)

Sorry to bring this back briefly, but I can confirm now the Bridge scenes for the Memory Wall sequence were shot. On November 7, 1978, in fact, according to the book Chekov's Enterprise. (Had to go dig it up.)

Interesting. So going back to your list:

Going by what we've seen in stills, here's what was (regular text) and probably wasn't (in bold) shot:

- Spock exiting the Enterprise, making his first report
- On the bridge, Kirk learns Spock has left
- Spock concentrates, then jets himself down to the trench (model/miniature work to be provided by Robert Abel)
- Kirk argues with McCoy in the airlock
- Kirk exits the Enterprise
- The original longer 'Ilia at the mirror' scene goes here
- Kirk follows Spock down to the trench (model/miniature work to be provided by Robert Abel)
- Kirk attacked by 'sensor swarm' (using wire footage shot in reverse)
- On the bridge, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura beg Spock to help Kirk
- Spock shoots the sensors off Kirk, the two have it out
- Kirk and Spock fly to the inner wall, watch the sensors fly in
- Spock catches a sensor, lets it go
- Kirk and Spock follow the sensors inside

- Kirk and Spock enter the Memory Wall chamber, fly to the newest memory crystals
- Spock tries to mind-meld with a 'Meditator Ball,' with predictable results

As I previously noted the "Spock catches a sensor, lets it go" scene must have been shot as well, since there is at least one picture with Spock holding a sensor in his hand. Also I believe the scenes where "Kirk and Spock fly to the inner wall" were shot, there are several pictures of Kirk and Spock together in the trench set.

Magazine01(low).jpg


This would leave out only the initial scenes where Spock before and then Kirk enter the trench, and the scenes where they both follow the sensor bees inside the opening.
These would all be mostly long shots. Looking at pictures, my idea is that for the long shots they were using stuntmen, so it could be that all of the Shatner and Nimoy scenes were shot, while they still had to do most of the scenes with the stuntmen.
 
Basically, yes, they added the K beams and angled walls inside the existing corridors, plus the relatively low ceilings. When TNG came around they pulled the K beams and angled walls out of the circular corridors but left them in the radial ones.

But, I mean, why use the angled walls at all, since it meant less space in the corridors? Did someone in production like it better with angled walls than with vertical walls? Are you saying that that decision in conjunction with the existing stage layout necessitated smaller corridors? Or, was the argument made that there wasn't really enough space in-universe inside the saucer for larger corridors?

It seems like less space meant it would be harder for the crew to move things around inside the ship. I always thought that the smaller corridors would be something that the designers in-universe wouldn't have considered an improvement, when upgrading from the TOS layout, unless there was no other way to fit everything they needed to inside the saucer. :shrug:
It's a movie. The corridors were changed to be visually interesting and that's all. As the sets were largely built and the rigging for them already up they were modified in place, hence the fixed corridor width. As to in-universe... it's a drama, not a documentary. Harold Michelson didn't care if it fit, and—in his defense—most art directors don't. Most film sets don't actually fit in the buildings shown as their exteriors.
 
So, if I'm reading you correctly, the curved corridor set on TNG is in fact the Phase II corridor seen in the photo. The TNG curved corridor set would have been given details to unify it with the rest of the TNG sets but essentially the walls we see in the photo were the walls of the TNG set? If so, that's really incredible to consider that the "bones" of that set, constructed in 1978 were used throughout Trek's TV history.
 
Basically, yes, they added the K beams and angled walls inside the existing corridors, plus the relatively low ceilings. When TNG came around they pulled the K beams and angled walls out of the circular corridors but left them in the radial ones.

But, I mean, why use the angled walls at all, since it meant less space in the corridors? Did someone in production like it better with angled walls than with vertical walls? Are you saying that that decision in conjunction with the existing stage layout necessitated smaller corridors? Or, was the argument made that there wasn't really enough space in-universe inside the saucer for larger corridors?

It seems like less space meant it would be harder for the crew to move things around inside the ship. I always thought that the smaller corridors would be something that the designers in-universe wouldn't have considered an improvement, when upgrading from the TOS layout, unless there was no other way to fit everything they needed to inside the saucer. :shrug:
It's a movie. The corridors were changed to be visually interesting and that's all. As the sets were largely built and the rigging for them already up they were modified in place, hence the fixed corridor width. As to in-universe... it's a drama, not a documentary. Harold Michelson didn't care if it fit, and—in his defense—most art directors don't. Most film sets don't actually fit in the buildings shown as their exteriors.

OK, thanks, that completely answered the basic question about why they were made the way they were and different from the series.

So the theory was: flat surfaces have nothing going on, so that's not interesting, whereas with angled surfaces, there's something going on, ergo it's comparatively interesting?

Regarding the comment as to whether it fit, that was put in there just to outline the parameters of the basic question with respect to why they were changed.
 
So, if I'm reading you correctly, the curved corridor set on TNG is in fact the Phase II corridor seen in the photo. The TNG curved corridor set would have been given details to unify it with the rest of the TNG sets but essentially the walls we see in the photo were the walls of the TNG set? If so, that's really incredible to consider that the "bones" of that set, constructed in 1978 were used throughout Trek's TV history.

Yes, the underlying framework and set shapes were the same from Phase II through the movies through TNG through Voyager. They were all on Paramount Stage 9 (not to be confused with Desilu Stage 9 where TOS was shot, which is now Paramount Stage 31). I don't know if the actual visible surface of the walls was the same, though; after nearly a decade, they might've needed to be replaced.
 
When they pulled the K-beams and angled outboard walls out of the curved corridor they likely just nailed the new details up on the standing Phase II walls or just put up new walls inside the existing ones as TMP had.
 
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So the theory was: flat surfaces have nothing going on, so that's not interesting, whereas with angled surfaces, there's something going on, ergo it's comparatively interesting?

That's what I would expect. It's a bit more visually interesting and distinctive to the Star Trek production. Plus little things like that can ``Martian up'' the proceedings, adding a sprinkle of exotic-ness without being too demanding of attention.
 
That'd be my guess. And were the corridors at the attraction in Vegas back in the day to scale? I remember walking through them and feeling a little claustrophobic.

It's been like 20 years, but I recall the Vegas corridors being considerably wider, probably to move a large group of people through as quickly as possible.
 
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