quote:We should make inqiries to find out what the Centaur model was named.
No, you should. If you're the one who really cares about this, then you should make the effort to contact people, just like I did.
The names on those ships were jokes. They were never meant to be seen or taken seriously. The script said "Centaur." One of these ships was randomly chosen to represent the Centaur. Didn't matter what label was on it, they could just as easily have chosen the Elkins or the unnamed Connie variant. It's no differnt from TPTB reusing the Excelsior stock footage to represent other ships.
And The_Tom is right. Bothering people about little piddly things like this is how Trekkies like us get a bad reputation. I'm just happy I got what I got. It was much, much more than I thought I'd get, & I'm satisfied. If you're not, then you should deal with it.
[ March 25, 2002, 12:29: Message edited by: Dukhat ]
-------------------- "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
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[ March 25, 2002, 12:12: Message edited by: Dukhat ]
-------------------- "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
You should never, ever be happy with what you've got. Seek out alternative sources. Learn the names of everyone working on Star Trek -- maybe someone else can provide more specific information? Wade through age-old magazines and newsgroup postings for that one little elusive detail. You'd be surprised how many answers lie dormant, yet are easily accessible.
"Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle." -- Michelangelo.
In this case, my question is whether the Centaur's registry has been identified onscreen? I found an old post by Mark Nguyen saying he did such an examination. Some people think it hasn't been seen -- Mark, can you clarify? If yes, then the Centaur NCC-42043 is canon and the other name is irrelevant (I personally think it's Duckats).
Otherwise, there's still the slight possibility that the model was relabeled after the episode was shot, and that the Fact Files simply took whatever registry was there. In this case I suggest NOT assuming that the Centaur had this registry. Assuming this will only spread the info throughout the Internet and make it more difficult to correct later.
[ March 25, 2002, 15:45: Message edited by: Boris ]
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posted
Dukkie, I would very much like to do it myself, but I have no access to anyone-of-consequence's e-mail addresses, and wouldn't know the first thing about finding them out. That's the reason why I posted, in order to find out if anyone else does. I'm asking for help.
And I agree totally with you about how the ship "became" the Centaur. They just used the model without oparticularly caring what was written on it. Which is why I say the model was built to represent one ship, and then just happened to be used for the Centaur as well. SO there are two ships. The first is whatever ship the model was labeled as, and the other is the Centaur.
BTW, I am not ashamed or embarressed to seek answers to whatever questions I may have, no matter how pointless they might seem to you. I'm not asking them because I'm trying to be annoying, I'm asking them because I want to know. It's obvious that the name can't be deciphered by peering and squinting at the photo, so we/I/whoever-wants-to-know should simply ask. It's a simple, direct, ordinary method of obtaining information.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
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posted
...except if every time anyone who had an inane question emailed it to DD, he'd quickly throw his hands in the air, begin screaming, start intentionally designing starships for Enterprise with 24th century markings, and never answer any questions of general interest to the fanbase ever again.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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I suspect they probably picked the Centaur because it's the most reasonable/best painted/lit, and generally more filmable than the others.
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quote:Originally posted by Sol System: I suspect they probably picked the Centaur because it's the most reasonable/best painted/lit, and generally more filmable than the others.
Obviously since the script called for a ship called Centaur.
I assume you mean they picked the Mirandized Excelsior plastic model for the reasons you stated.
-------------------- Is it Friday yet?
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quote:Which is why I say the model was built to represent one ship, and then just happened to be used for the Centaur as well. SO there are two ships. The first is whatever ship the model was labeled as, and the other is the Centaur.
I understand what you're saying, & I apologize if I came off as a bit harsh. But here's my point: What if Drexler comes back saying that the ship's name reads "U.S.S. Assfuck"? Are we really supposed to take this seriously? In a word, no. The purpose of naming & building these ships was in no way similar to what was done for BoBW. In that case, those ships were indeed supposed to represent what was written in the script, and also to represent "real" Starfleet ships. That's why Okuda labeled them as such, & put them in the Encyclopedia shiplist. These DS9 kitbashes were not supposed to have been taken seriously at all, names or designs. That's why it's not a big deal to me that a ship with an advanced Intrepid primary hull has old-fashioned Connie nacelles. That's also why it's not a big deal for me to know what was really written on the Centaur's hull.
-------------------- "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
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posted
Mike Okuda said it was on one of the Excelsior-prototype-models when they arrived from ILM. It's in the interview section of Bernd's article.
quote:I didn't do numbers on the McQuarrie or the George models. Bill [George] and/or his cohorts at ILM did some simple lettering on their models; I remember one of them was labeled the "Alka-selsior."
Note that he does NOT say it was labeled as such by any of his colleagues, (as frequently stated) but rather by the people at ILM.
posted
Alka-selsior came from one of the Excelsior study models originally made for ST3. There is no U.S.S. in front of it and the name only came to light when we began recieving info on the models used for the Wolf 359 effects shots.
-------------------- Is it Friday yet?
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posted
They still could've relabeled it, but didn't. Actually, I wonder why they went to such pains to label the classes at all?
Anyway, it's not a big deal. I was looking at some possibilities in Google, and the name here could be Rugrats (most likely, made by Paramount), Duckats (gold coins, but it's not a proper name, so I don't know...), Rockats (a rockabilly band from the 50s), Cockats (a Scottish family name), etc.
Boris
[ March 26, 2002, 18:28: Message edited by: Boris ]
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quote:U.S.S. Alka-selsior is a serious name from the script?
I was referring to the five study models Ed Miarecki was contracted to build, not the extraneous other old models thrown in just for effect.
-------------------- "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
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