What color is your Enterprise?

[ZapBrannigan]

What's your favorite color of the Enterprise? Apparently it varies so much due to the vagaries of film processing ("color timing") and generational loss during the construction of fx shots.

White

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x07/dayofdove_001.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x19/requiemformethuselah_002.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x18/thelightsofzetar_139.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x15/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield_190.JPG


Blue

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x04/thenakedtime081.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x06/doomsdaymachine_146.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x09/thetholianweb239.jpg


Silver-gray

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x01/themantrap000.jpg


Light gray

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x15/Let_That_Be_Your_Last_Battlefield_185.JPG


Medium gray

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/2x10/Journey_to_Babel_279.JPG

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x09/thetholianweb000.jpg

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x09/thetholianweb020.jpg


I think the medium gray shots came out the best and look the most like a "serious" military finish.

The ship varies just as much in TOS-R, but that's due to deliberately subjecting the digital model to a wide range of lighting conditions. TOS-R varies from a very light silver-gray to a very dark (and semi-glossy) gray. And in "The Immunity Syndrome" it heads for black:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x18hd/theimmunitysyndromehd0446.jpg

 

[omnirad]

Don't forget 'invisible' from "The Enterprise Incident", courtesy of the Romulan cloaking devise.

 

[Tosk]

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/3x09/thetholianweb239.jpg

That's probably the closest to how I picture her in my mind.

 

[Samuel]

I always figured the colors varied slightly due to the shield settings.

 

[Orac]

The white version's my favourite.

 

[F. King Daniel]

White is how I picture it. Also how it's described in loads of old novels.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

Silver grey is my preferred color.

 

[Search4]

My black and white TV was clear. It was white!

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

This looks

about perfect,

for me

that is.

 

[Qonundrum]

You forgot the best one:

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x18hd/theimmunitysyndromehd1030.jpg

"Jefferson Airplane Hallowed Haloed Black'n'Blue"



(TOS's effects were incredible for the time and TBH, when I rewatch "The Immunity Syndrome" as it's one of my all-time faves, I still watch it only with the original f/x (but appreciate what was done with the new f/x)...

 

[alensatemybuick1]

My black and white TV was clear. It was white!

I’m very glad you did not succeed in convincing the other members of the restoration team of that.

 

[Forbin]

Well, ya know this is mostly settled over the last few years by the model-building community. The original paint was a "concrete gray." The exact color was pinned down (within a hair) by Gary Kerr for the instruction sheet for the 1/350 scale Polar Lights model a few years ago. The Smithsonian staff has nailed it down in an LAB color pallette just last year, during the restoration - which is great for CGI modelers, but useless for painting a plastic kit. I've been using "light ghost gray" as a close-enough match, but not quite perfect.

Smithsonian article:
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/revealing-colors-star-trek-enterprise

There's also Paul Newitt's classic research:
https://culttvman.com/main/what-color-is-the-classic-enterprise-by-paul-m-newitt/

And all SORTS of info from Gary Kerr during his work on the Smithsonian refurb:
http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/99-sc...-original-nacelle-domes-11-ft-enterprise.html

Of course the way we saw it on the TV screen was the result of blazing studio lights, blue screen spill, and multiple degrading passes on the optical printer.

 

[spockboy]

It's amazing how much color and contrast degradation there was from processing the effects.

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[Search4]

I’m very glad you did not succeed in convincing the other members of the restoration team of that.

We had a serious conversation about that. Of course it wasn’t white and we went with the original color.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Well, I'd heard you say it a couple times before (on the phone with me once, and on the "Building Star Trek" Smithsonian documentary) so figured you either lost that argument or your tongue was planted firmly in cheek.

 

[MacLeod]

The colour that springs to mind is a silver-grey.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

Finally...definitive proof of the colors used on the Enterprise (from 1967); I really don't see how this can be argued with:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-Hasbr...aint-set-original-BOX-Kirk-SPOCK/351839478096

 

[Captain of the USS Averof]

There you have it! The Enterprise is mostly orchid and purple!

 

[BillJ]

All!

 

[Shawnster]

Finally...definitive proof of the colors used on the Enterprise (from 1967); I really don't see how this can be argued with:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1967-Hasbr...aint-set-original-BOX-Kirk-SPOCK/351839478096

Yeah.... I'm not feeling it...