Hello! My name is Mark Delgado, & I am a member of Bernd Schneider�s Wolf 359 research team. With the help of Michael Okuda, Ed Miarecki, Rick Sternbach and others, we�ve been able to solve the mysteries surrounding the lost kitbashed ship models used in the battle scene in �Best of Both Worlds.�
Now we are trying to solve another ship model mystery, and I was wondering if you could help. The DS9 Tech Manual, which you did the artwork for, showed six kitbashed ship designs in the Appendix. Three of the designs had actually been shown in the show, namely these:
U.S.S. Centaur U.S.S. Curry U.S.S. Yeager (with a link to Bernd's page for each diagram)
However, the last three designs have not been spotted so far in any episode:
Both Okuda & Sternbach gave us some good info. Okuda stated that these kitbashes were built by the VFX department, and that some of them were printed with names & registry numbers. He also said that some ships were given joke names because they knew that they wouldn�t be legible on a TV screen. Sternbach told us that you were given reference photos on which to base your drawings.
My questions to you are: 1. Were the last three ship designs also based on actual models built? 2. If so, were there any more models built besides these six? 3. Do you still have the reference photos to any of the models? 4. If you have the photos, but are unable to show them, could you at least tell us what names and/or registry numbers were printed on each?
Thank you for any helpful information you can provide.
Here's his reply:
Hi Mark!
All of the ships in the back of the DS9 Tech Manual were actually built by the VFX department from old kits. None of them were created for the book.
I think I do have some shots backed up somewhere. I will look for them this weekend.
Doug
OK, here's what I don't want. I don't want anyone else trying to get in touch with Drexler, asking him the same things I did. There's a good possibility that he will send me some of the reference photos, but I don't want everyone else & their brother pestering him about it, a la Ed Miarecki. The LAST thing I want to do right now is piss this guy off.
-------------------- "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
Well, when ever I talk about 'Mark', I mean you, M.N.
This is great news Dukkie! I'm going to be very happy if we get new info from this. I wonder if it will turn out that the Intrepid/Constitution really wasn't the Voyager-prototype...
And the prospect of new names/regs...I think I'm going to have some kind of heart attack.
BTW, though, I'm confused about something you said in your e-mail. I didn't know we had EVER heard that the Intrepid/Ju'day kitbash was actually the U.S.S. Yeager. Only that the design was known as the "Yeager-class" by the Ds9 Art Dept. Was there something I missed?
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Oops, you're right. I did mean to say the Yeager class, not the U.S.S. Yeager. Oh well. I'm sure he knew what I was talking about.
-------------------- "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
Here's hoping that the ships look better live than drawn... (And it's not a completely unrealistic hope, since so much of the BoBW stuff turned out to be quite palatable in the end.)
Three Qua'plas to Drexler in any case! I wonder if it were possible to pester somebody else to find out where those models were actually used? All in "A Time to Stand", or sprinkled elsewhere as well?
posted
Thats brilliant news. I always liked the Constitution Class and i would like to see a variant of that class in the 24th century. Will this means the classes will be canon then?
-------------------- "We set sail on this new sea because their is new knowledge to be gained and new rights to be won" John F Kennedy
posted
Umm, that's a matter of opinion. Sure, they were on-screen - but then again, so were a couple of microphone booms...
Personally, I've got nothing against a ship shaped like the Constitution-sans-secondary-hull (as long as the specs are corrected from their DS9 TM appearance). The three-nacelled, two-tops-saucered Excelsior could also be salvageable. But an Intrepid with Constitution nacelles is a monstrosity whose canonicity I will deny if given the slightest opportunity!
posted
Hey this sounds like great news, and remember to thank him whole-heartedly from all of us!
Did you... ahem... maybe let drop about Flare... he might like to come and have a squiz. Either 1. be entertained as a fan or 2. disgusted and repulsed at our complete obsession! ;o)
Heh.
Andrew
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
Would be great if he followed Mojo's example. It's always nice to get first hand info straight from the source.
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I figure that I'll try to get the photos first, and then ask him questions later. I think it's a little more important to just wait until I hear from him again instead of trying to pester him about Flare.
Anyway, we can at least get some questions answered already. Namely, if all the ships depicted were actually built (yes), or did Drexler just make them up (no). As to where they are in shots, IMHO if they weren't in "A Time To Stand" then they weren't anywhere. I think we at Flare have the best eyes anywhere for finding obscure ships in shots or on displays, and we haven't found those last three ships yet. Since all the models (with the exception of the Yeager) were exclusively built for "A Time To Stand," then that's where they should be.
-------------------- "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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Amasov Prime
lensfare-induced epileptic shock
Member # 742
posted
quote:Originally posted by Dukhat: As to where they are in shots, IMHO if they weren't in "A Time To Stand" then they weren't anywhere. I think we at Flare have the best eyes anywhere for finding obscure ships in shots or on displays, and we haven't found those last three ships yet. Since all the models (with the exception of the Yeager) were exclusively built for "A Time To Stand," then that's where they should be.
I think it's strange they built several kitbashes just to include them somwhere in the background where no one is able to see them. Where's the sense behind this? They could have used standard-CG Miranda or Akira instead.
-------------------- "This is great. Usually it's just cardboard walls in a garage."
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
Perhaps they were thinking of reusing them in later episodes - which of course they didn't.
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
They built the kitbashes because, like in BoBW, they needed cheaply-priced battle-damaged ships, & didn't want to damage their expensive studio models just for one scene. Plus, when you build a ship model out of a plastic model kit, you don't want to show it up close because it will look fake. Hence the reasoning for showing the models in the far background.
-------------------- "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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