I'm quite sad. I knew the Drexfiles Wordpress blog wasn't getting updated, but it is now gone completely, and along with it a great resource.
Anyone heard anything? I've keyed up the Wayback Machine and see that someone made a post in March in Doug's stead, but then soon after it was poof! gone.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Ah, just looked at a topic I'd skipped and see that Jason has already got the scoop on the backup:
It was something about complaints from other artists not getting credited or somesuch- which seems crazy to me as Drexler always seemedso keen on highlighting other's work.
hmmm...now that i've got an extra two TB of storage for my home machine, I should really just start saving all the cool stuff from Drexfiles- you never know whaen it will be unavailable.
People ask why I'm so down on Abrams' Trek and this kind of thing is what I find to be missing most- the sense that creative people got together and started with the idea of "lets make it makes sense[/i]" instead of "I know a guy with an unused brewery we can film in" or instead of someone designing a set for function. with no design, the final result is...well, it's an obvious fucking brewery and no something where the audience says "ohhh...that's how I bet a starship in the future will look!".
[/rant]
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
You know, you are exactly correct in every aspect of your post. The complainers sucked (I certainly didn't feel like Drexler was making claims to the work of or ganking from others without attribution), you should make a backup, and JJ-Trek is generally thoughtless overall.
I recently asked on Twitter whether there was any reference to classic literature whatsoever in JJ-Trek . . . the answer is no, unless you count the Beastie Boys (hat tip to Pablo Hidalgo).
This sort of thing extends into the design work. Just earlier I was thumbing through Rick Sternbach's collected tech memos from TNG (go get them from eBay, they're awesome). There's one in there from Probert and Sternbach from well before the TNG pilot aired which is basically a little miniature version of the Technical Manual, and this from the art department! These guys weren't dicking around, they were trying to be certain of form and function. But with JJ-Trek, you get stuff like the ship being upscaled at a whim, phasers with little rotating bits, and so on . . . in other words, gee-whiz-aintitcool has replaced the thoughtful worrying of Joe Johnston and the like.
Not to mention the registry lettering on the flat part of the saucer. I *hate* that. That was always always always the mark of a cheap toy or poorly made model, and was consistently avoided for like 40 years, and then they went and screwed it up.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
What do you mean? I thought the JJ-Enterprise didn't have the registry on the bottom of the saucer? Do you mean on the lip?
Posted by Fabrux (Member # 71) on :
I noticed something that could explain some of this: IN the SOTL 2013 calendar, the picture for the month of May is credited to Doug Drexler but there is very clearly a watermark embedded in the image that is very clearly NOT Drexler...
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: What do you mean? I thought the JJ-Enterprise didn't have the registry on the bottom of the saucer? Do you mean on the lip?
What? I was referring to the registry position on the dorsal saucer. Compare:
^You're SalvorHardin over at the TrekBBS? I never knew that Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
quote:Originally posted by Fabrux: I noticed something that could explain some of this: IN the SOTL 2013 calendar, the picture for the month of May is credited to Doug Drexler but there is very clearly a watermark embedded in the image that is very clearly NOT Drexler...
But that might have nothing to do with drexler himself- some printer's fuckup or whoever did the actual layout of the calender. When they made that hardcover collection of stuff from the SOTL calenders, each artist got a nice highlight and of course, credit.
I dont know the particulars of what went down, only that a great and entertaining resource is gone. And that sucks bigtime. Just the replies and questions from fans was great- this guy went out of his way- for years!- to answer soooo many questions and to post pics of stuff we would never have seen without that blogsite.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dukhat: ^You're SalvorHardin over at the TrekBBS? I never knew that
I am blissfully ignorant of the goings-on at TrekBBS, so no. :-)
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Well...it looks like that blog that is linked is private. I've requested access but does anyone know if the owner is active?
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Guardian 2000:
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: What do you mean? I thought the JJ-Enterprise didn't have the registry on the bottom of the saucer? Do you mean on the lip?
What? I was referring to the registry position on the dorsal saucer. Compare:
One reason why I think TNG-HD has worked is because the guys cared. They came up with a system for labelling all the doors on the Enterprise, even though you could hardly ever read them. They put relevent event-of-the-week graphics on the rear workstations on the bridge even when the camera never focussed on them (and I've only just realised how often they did that. Completely passed me by twenty years ago). They labelled most of the panels even though only the actors would ever read them. As a result, a lot of the time TNG-HD doesn't need to add in extra detail, because that detail was already there. We can now just see it clearly.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by akb1979: Well...it looks like that blog that is linked is private. I've requested access but does anyone know if the owner is active?
I second this emotion.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I have a email address for Doug Drexler. I don't know if he still checks it though.
Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
He posts all his "Drexfiles" stuff on Facebook now. A mixture of reblogging the old posts, and adding new stuff. You just have to add him as a friend to see it.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)