Just about everyone that's seen them aren't in a very sharing mood. Not that it would matter, since the model never even matched up completely with the construction drawings.
USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)
- Thread starter Starlock
- Start date
It was never going to be a window. The first story outline, before they'd even come close to a final design for the ship, describes it as a electronic viewscreen.
Boys and girls... If the BolianAuthor may venture a speculation that might actually speak to both parties on this?
What if that etching is not a window but is actually the viewscreen itself? How can this be? Allow me to explain...
I am speculating that the etching is the entire bulk of the viewscreen and its mechanisms, or whatever... when the ship is built, the entire viewscreen "module" is slid into the bridge structure, and gamma-welded or whatever in place, hence the etching, so that when new viewscreen tech is avialable, the entire screen module can be pulled out and swapped with a new one.
Well... pooh. There goes that idea. :/
^
There ya go... good an answer as any.
There ya go... good an answer as any.
No, the script draft says that. The series pitch and the initial three scripts for approval were very retro, of which Gene himself was very aware. When NBC and Desilu showed interest, Gene then went to the USAF to get information on how to not be Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. But, and this is key, he was doing that as other elements of the show were coming together.
And handful of legacy elements remain in "The Cage", particularly in the set dressings and on the old girl herself. Most of these were removed or further altered by the time "Where No Man" would be approved.
When I look at the restored version of "The Cage" I see few remnants that date the show or rather things I think of as out of place even for the time.
- The Captain's cap or hat in Pike's quarters. We never see him wear it, but I recall reading something long ago describing him wearing it at some point. Fortunately they didn't go that route, but it still got onscreen and sits there making you wonder if it's a souvenir or whatever.
- Pike's reference to having a woman on the bridge in regard to Yeoman Colt. This early in the game it's a fumble in terms of depicting women more equally. After all we see Number One on the bridge, and she's second in command, as well as another female crewman or junior officer in a later scene.
- The spikes on the warp engine nacelle caps and the slightly oversized deflector dish. I don't mind them as they go well with the rest of the design, but they are small visual cues to an earlier sense of design aesthetics.
- The bridge's main viewscreen with it's oversized frame. This looks really dated to me and it would be kept for WNMHGB. It really screamed "rocketship" style tech. Fortunately the series production main viewer fixes that.
- And on that note there's a scene where Spock tries to order the ship away from Talos IV and orders the firing of retro rockets, or something to that effect.
- I love the colour scheme of "The Cage" bridge, but again it does kind of look a bit like a '50s era aesthetic. Interestingly, though, I think it resonates well with the way the bridge looks in TMP.
- The gooseneck viewers are very retro yet in an odd way I find them a neat and distinctive visual cue. It give the control panels some added visual texture. Mind you this small viewer concept would stay in vogue in SF for several more years and into the early '70s.
- The Captain's cap or hat in Pike's quarters. We never see him wear it, but I recall reading something long ago describing him wearing it at some point. Fortunately they didn't go that route, but it still got onscreen and sits there making you wonder if it's a souvenir or whatever.
- Pike's reference to having a woman on the bridge in regard to Yeoman Colt. This early in the game it's a fumble in terms of depicting women more equally. After all we see Number One on the bridge, and she's second in command, as well as another female crewman or junior officer in a later scene.
- The spikes on the warp engine nacelle caps and the slightly oversized deflector dish. I don't mind them as they go well with the rest of the design, but they are small visual cues to an earlier sense of design aesthetics.
- The bridge's main viewscreen with it's oversized frame. This looks really dated to me and it would be kept for WNMHGB. It really screamed "rocketship" style tech. Fortunately the series production main viewer fixes that.
- And on that note there's a scene where Spock tries to order the ship away from Talos IV and orders the firing of retro rockets, or something to that effect.
- I love the colour scheme of "The Cage" bridge, but again it does kind of look a bit like a '50s era aesthetic. Interestingly, though, I think it resonates well with the way the bridge looks in TMP.
- The gooseneck viewers are very retro yet in an odd way I find them a neat and distinctive visual cue. It give the control panels some added visual texture. Mind you this small viewer concept would stay in vogue in SF for several more years and into the early '70s.
How about it's a meaningless little black rectangle along with some other meaningless lines and rectangles meant to give some implied technical details on an otherwise featureless gray dome?
How about it's a meaningless little black rectangle along with some other meaningless lines and rectangles meant to give some implied technical details on an otherwise featureless gray dome?
Now now, that's the attitude with which the official Haynes manual was made.
It's also the attitude with which the original model was made.
Just because they put a lot more thought into the process than the average Irwin Allen production, it doesn't change the fact that more often than not, they were making this shit up as they went along.
Just because they put a lot more thought into the process than the average Irwin Allen production, it doesn't change the fact that more often than not, they were making this shit up as they went along.
There are a few references in the first season proper to "blasting out of orbit", which isn't something you associate with Star Trek ships.
It's designed for black and white television. The series, with the prominent primary colours in the sets and costumes, was used as a marketing tool to sell colour TVs. I don't know how successful it was in that regard!
I read an article once that Star Trek was for color TV what Avatar is for 3D.
So much to my shock the local Chapters FINALLY has copies of the book in. I am going to flip through it and see what it's like. Already made up my mind not to buy it but I do still want to check it out for myself.
I saw it in Waterstones today. Not sure what all the fuss is about, it seemed a perfectly decent book to me. Whatever it's lacking in precise treknical accuracy, it makes up for in lavish graphics and polished presentation. I think it does precisely what it's supposed to do.
I'd get it definitely.
I'd get it definitely.
Agree totally.
It was never made for the likes of those complaining, who would much rather immerse themselves in non commercial, lovingly created, fan material that goes way beyond canonical material.