posted
So I've been chatting with a guy over at the TrekBBS who used to own the Enterprise-C filming model, and he dropped a little starship bomb: The Yamaguchi/Zhukov/Excalibur model is actually a separate and distinct model from the Enterprise-C!
He posted some pics of when he owned the C, taken in 2016:
For years it was understood that Greg Jein refurbished the Ent-C model to turn it into the Yamaguchi/Zhukov/Excalibur, with even Trek production staff confirming this. Turns out they were all a bunch of filthy ol' liars.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
How about that! That’s really weird, considering how little we saw the non-damaged model. With only a quick skim of Memory Alpha, I think they only showed new footage of an Ambassador in Data’s Day, Redemption Part II, and Emissary. I wonder what the story is, and why everyone thought there was only one model for so many years.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Maybe they meant Greg redid the original mold model & recast new pieces to get the refit?
Also, I checked the date on this post first. Just to make sure.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Shik: Maybe they meant Greg redid the original mold model & recast new pieces to get the refit?
From Memory Alpha:
“The relatively radical redesign has actually led to some fan speculation that a second Ambassador-class model was built by Jein, but that notion was conclusively dispelled by several production staffers, who affirmed that Jein had indeed extensively modified the existing Enterprise-C model.”
So, as you say, I'm assuming that Jein either made minute changes to the mold before casting the Yamaguchi, or he started with an exact copy of the Enterprise-C post-mold and made the changes then. I would guess the latter.
quote:Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: How about that! That’s really weird, considering how little we saw the non-damaged model. With only a quick skim of Memory Alpha, I think they only showed new footage of an Ambassador in Data’s Day, Redemption Part II, and Emissary. I wonder what the story is, and why everyone thought there was only one model for so many years.
Data's Day: One shot of the Zhukov and the Enterprise flying away from the camera. Funny how a literally brand-new filming model was barely seen in its first appearance.
Redemption: The Excalibur footage was a mix of both new footage of the ship labeled 'Excalibur' and footage of the Ent-C from "Yesterday's Enterprise. The new footage was, again, the Excalibur flying away from the camera in Picard's fleet, but not the same footage as the Zhukov.
Emissary: Probably the best use of the model, as it's zipping around the scene firing phasers at the Borg cube.
After Emissary, the model got damaged and was crated away for the rest of the Berman Trek era. I did hear a rumor that ILM was going to refurbish the model for the final scene in Generations, but it cost too much to refurbish just the Nebula model, so they dropped that idea.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Bernd just messaged me on Twitter, he’s having problems logging into his account here. Could Krenim help with with that or would we have to summon the Capps somehow?
posted
The guy from the TrekBBS who owned the model doesn’t own it anymore, and he wouldn’t tell me who owns it now. As far as I know, those four photos were the only ones the guy took of the model. But honestly, four photos is far better than no photos.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
I just chatted with Search4 again. He has more photos of the Enterprise-C which he’ll be putting in a Dropbox link.
-------------------- "A film made in 2008 isn't going to look like a TV series from 1966 if it wants to make any money. As long as the characters act the same way, and the spirit of the story remains the same then it's "real" Star Trek. Everything else is window dressing." -StCoop
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
This raises a few big questions. How did the Enterprise C model get into private hands, and why did they build a new one for the production rather than reuse this one?
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Wasn't there an auction in New York a couple of years ago? I remember that they sold all the physical models they build for TNG, DS9 and the movies.
Registered: Oct 2002
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