TOS Travel Pod?

[Wingsley]

I was just going over MGagen's "Space Station Jefferies" thread in this forum from 2013; a link to it was posted in my own recent "Starbase" thread in the TOS forum.

Looking at MGagen's 3D artwork, I had to wonder: were there travel pods in the TOS era? And did they differ in appearance from TMP's travel pods? If so, how?

Does anyone know if Matt Jefferies or any other TOS artist ever drew anything like a travel pod? Do any drawings like that exist?

Has anyone in fan 3D art ever designed a TOS travel pod from scratch?

 

[Redfern]

As a starting point, I recommend this gallery of Matt Jefferies sketches located at TrekCore.

http://www.trekcore.com/specials/thumbnails.php?album=3

Most of the drawings depict interiors, personal equipment and large craft like the evolving Enterprise designs and the Klingon ship. However, Jefferies does present "concepts" for smaller vehicles that never reached construction for various reasons. the problem is that none of them are really the equivalent of an "inspection" vehicle. Instead, they appear to "utility" craft like one man "tugs" "flat bed" transports, serving similar functions to that of the Motion Picture "work bee". They also don't really "mesh" with the designs that finally made it to production. The doodles depict "bubble" and "fishbowl" type cockpits argueably better suited for "The Jetsons".

I once suggested Lazarus' "time ship" from "The Alternative Factor" could have, in theory, been redressed to serve as a StarFleet ultility vehicle, but that would have posed its own issues. Given it had a transparent dome, any miniature work would have created problems with optical matting. They'd probably film a single series of shots that could be endlessly reused and then not bother with any more. that would mean any live action shots would have to match. the actor involved would have to be dressed to match the doll inside the model. The alternative might have the canopy painted a gloss opaque color.

But I suspect that set piece would "fail" one important criteria. I gather you're postulating a vehicle that could transport 2 or 3 people. The "time ship" was obviously designed as a "one man" craft.

At this point I don't have any decent ideas, but this post may hopefully inspire others with better concepts.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[B.J.]

As Redfern said, the only Jefferies concepts I'm aware of that would be close are the bubble style concepts. ENT did have an inspection pod, but that's over 100 years before TOS, so can be safely discounted for any design influence. At this point, your best bet would probably be to take the TMP travel pod and work backwards to a TOS asthetic. Of course, you'd have to make the assumption either for or against the Enterprise having any hidden docking ports for it to attach to.

These two basic concepts I did in a few minutes, just for some ideas to throw out. I went for more of a basic travel pod than anything that would be classified as an inspection pod, i.e. the small window. Matches the shuttlecraft better this way IMO.

I just realized, we didn't have anything like the travel pod for TNG & later, did we? Be interesting to see that as well, if it was even needed in that era.

 

[GSchnitzer]

As Redfern said, the only Jefferies concepts I'm aware of that would be close are the bubble style concepts. ENT did have an inspection pod, but that's over 100 years before TOS, so can be safely discounted for any design influence. At this point, your best bet would probably be to take the TMP travel pod and work backwards to a TOS asthetic. Of course, you'd have to make the assumption either for or against the Enterprise having any hidden docking ports for it to attach to.

These two basic concepts I did in a few minutes, just for some ideas to throw out. I went for more of a basic travel pod than anything that would be classified as an inspection pod, i.e. the small window. Matches the shuttlecraft better this way IMO.

I just realized, we didn't have anything like the travel pod for TNG & later, did we? Be interesting to see that as well, if it was even needed in that era.

Looks like my kitties' litter box.

 

[Redfern]

B.J., those are very credible concepts! The one on the viewer's right leans a bit more towards the Galileo shuttle by having that extruded edge wrapped around the midsection. Whereas the on our left, lacking any extrusion, has a silhouette a bit more like the TMP pod. Of course, given this is the TOS era, neither should be "festooned" with "greeblies", but even the shuttle had "some" surface detailing, so elements like spotlight mountings would not be out of place.

BTW, what tool did you employ to model these?

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Redfern]

Looks like my kitties' litter box.

Or, in keeping with the venue, Caitian hygeine facilities?

Seriously, B.J. I DO like what you've presented. They match the design ethics and appear to be something the production could have reasonably built as full scale set pieces.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[cardinal biggles]

Looks like my kitties' litter box.

Oh, God, I can't unsee that now.

 

[B.J.]

Looks like my kitties' litter box.

BTW, what tool did you employ to model these?

I used NX 8, just a quick 5 minute model over lunch. (For those not familiar, this is professional CAD software, not rendering software.)

 

[David cgc]

John Eaves sketched some travel-pod style shuttles for Star Trek '09, which eventually became the one-man escape pod as the script developed. Depending on detailing and paint-job, they could work for TOS-era, Kelvin-era, or JJ-era versions of the pod.

 

[Patrin-Zero]

The Travel Pods would be a nice fit as bits of the yet-seen TOS setting, that said just one thing.

Where might the 'docking-ports' be located on the Constitution Class vessels if the deckplans or blueprints of Franz Josef or the FASA 15mm may be used as reference ?

 

[Nightowl1701]

Simplest answer being the most likely: The Constitution-class's designers simply didn't include docking ports. "C'mon, those have been around since the days of Gemini! We can just beam people over now, or use the shuttlecraft! Why rely on obsolete tech?"

The Constitution-class refit's designers, 25 years later: "Better to have it and not need it than to one day maybe need it and not have it."

 

[Maurice]

John Eaves sketched some travel-pod style shuttles for Star Trek '09, which eventually became the one-man escape pod as the script developed. Depending on detailing and paint-job, they could work for TOS-era, Kelvin-era, or JJ-era versions of the pod.

Typical of his stuff...too many different levels of surface for no good reason.

 

[Unicron]

Looks like my kitties' litter box.

Oh, God, I can't unsee that now.

Or a Big Mac container. The special sauce is made of redshirts!

 

[Klaus]

...the litterbox look was the first thing I saw too lol.

 

[Tallguy]

I started this one many many moons ago: http://www.trekcore.com/specials/albums/sketches/STTOS_Sketch_SpaceTug1.jpg



It's in my vast "I'll get back to it someday" bucket. This is about ten years old now.

 

[Richard Baker]

I figured since the TOS-E had most of it's hardware behind flush panels (phaser turrets, photorp launchers, tractor beams, transporter emitters, etc..,) the docking ports would be also.
With the old Phoenix cockpit being repurposed as a inspection pod as used in ST-Enterprise, perhaps a bridge to the TOS version would be a cylinder with a beveled front, half of which would be a window and some clear panels on top.

 

[B.J.]

^Unless it's done just right, a cylinder with beveled front doesn't look too good. And would look a lot like Stargate Atlantis' shuttle. (Always thought that thing was ugly.)