posted
I had a two hour phone chat with Andy Probert tonight, and while a lot of it was consumed with personal chitchat and a project he's going to help me on, I did remember to ask him some questions about the TMP ship. Here's some of what he told me:
1. Most of the little squares around the perimeter of top of the saucer section were intended to be inspection hatches, not lifeboats.
2. The lifeboat seen in the cargo deck was one of many that he intended to be along both sides of the engineering hull. He said he wanted there to be rows of hatch markings down either side, but that was nixed.
3. The botantical deck windows origjnated because he and Richard Taylor were picturing the ship like a majestic ocean liner, and one key feature of such ships are large windows in the dining rooms. The windows ended up where they are because it was one of the few places on the not hull already spoken for. A miniature room was built, but scrapped when someone go the idea that if people saw a room through the windows, they'd want to go into it. Later the trees were put in.
3. Some preproduction drawings of the ship featire red pinstriping (some of which ended up being copied onto the Reliant), and he says that a whole set of red pinstripe decals were produced for the model, and were intended to be the final touch on the model. They were to go around the edge of the saucer and outline the manuevering thrusters, and outline those bluish areas on the edges of the dorsal and pylons, around the grills on the front of the nacelles, and then along the tops of the nacelles, etc. He said a set of the decals were tested and looked great, then peeled off when the painters went to work doing the pearlescent paintjob. Afterwards, some of them convinced Trumbull not to use the pinstripes, so they were left off.
4. Andy said he hated the original bubble-like superstructure and the lower dome of the saucer that he carried over from the Joe Jennings plans for the Phase II ship, and jumped on the chance to redesign those then Trumbull wanted to add the external spotlights.
5. On the ST:TMP Blueprints, the reason the docking port on the secondary hull is lebeled "engineering" because it's the main docking port of the engineering hull, so it's not a mislabel.
6. In the same blueprint set, the klingon ship has "bolognium engine shields" as a joke about "bologne", because kids have a lot of energy from bologne sandwiches. Now we know the secret of Klingon strength!
So there you go.
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Does that mean that Voyager ran on Starbucks then?
-------------------- "It speaks to some basic human needs: that there is a tomorrow, it's not all going to be over with a big splash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans." -Gene Roddenberry about Star Trek
Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by MrNeutron: I had a two hour phone chat with Andy Probert tonight, and while a lot of it was consumed with personal chitchat and a project he's going to help me on, I did remember to ask him some questions about the TMP ship. Here's some of what he told me:
Kewelness! You DaMan!
quote:1. Most of the little squares around the perimeter of top of the saucer section were intended to be inspection hatches, not lifeboats.
Which goes along w/what I recall reading or hearing somewhere: that the three outer most set of hatches are personnel hatches as labeled on the Kimball TMP prints and the inner is inspection hatches. I don't really like the idea of them serving that purpose, but if that was the original intent....
quote:2. The lifeboat seen in the cargo deck was one of many that he intended to be along both sides of the engineering hull. He said he wanted there to be rows of hatch markings down either side, but that was nixed.
Hmmm... I think I'm glad the secondary hull wasn't "littered" like that. Of course, I've also had the relatively spartan exterior growing on me for nearly a quarter of a century, so that's prolly why.
quote:3. The botantical deck windows origjnated because he and Richard Taylor were picturing the ship like a majestic ocean liner, and one key feature of such ships are large windows in the dining rooms. The windows ended up where they are because it was one of the few places on the not hull already spoken for. A miniature room was built, but scrapped when someone go the idea that if people saw a room through the windows, they'd want to go into it. Later the trees were put in.
This is another that I'm glad was changed. I actually like the idea of the botanical gardens as opposed to the dining room.
quote:3. Some preproduction drawings of the ship featire red pinstriping (some of which ended up being copied onto the Reliant), and he says that a whole set of red pinstripe decals were produced for the model, and were intended to be the final touch on the model. They were to go around the edge of the saucer and outline the manuevering thrusters, and outline those bluish areas on the edges of the dorsal and pylons, around the grills on the front of the nacelles, and then along the tops of the nacelles, etc. He said a set of the decals were tested and looked great, then peeled off when the painters went to work doing the pearlescent paintjob. Afterwards, some of them convinced Trumbull not to use the pinstripes, so they were left off.
While I think a few more of the warning strips used sparingly would have looked good, what it sounds like was proposed would have been rather garish. "Less is more" and all that.
quote:4. Andy said he hated the original bubble-like superstructure and the lower dome of the saucer that he carried over from the Joe Jennings plans for the Phase II ship, and jumped on the chance to redesign those then Trumbull wanted to add the external spotlights.
Glad this change was made, then. While I like the Phase II arrangement for these areas, I think that the "current" arrangement looks more as if it were advancements from TOS.
quote:5. On the ST:TMP Blueprints, the reason the docking port on the secondary hull is lebeled "engineering" because it's the main docking port of the engineering hull, so it's not a mislabel.
Kewel.
quote:6. In the same blueprint set, the klingon ship has "bolognium engine shields" as a joke about "bologne", because kids have a lot of energy from bologne sandwiches. Now we know the secret of Klingon strength!
I thought it was a combination of body order and them not cutting their hair....
quote:So there you go.
Thanks again. Appreciate your taking the time to ask those questions, as well as share your findings with us!
Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Spike: You didn't ask him about the TMP comm chatter by any chance, did you?
Not this time...I asked him a long time ago but he didn't know where it was. I know he wrote several versions and Trumbull picked the shortest one where Andy slipped his own name in.
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
That would explain the red pin striping in Rick Sternbach's painting of the refit Enterprise in Goldstein's Star Trek: Space Flight Chronology. I always wondered why he added that decorative touch, now I understand why.
Thanks for the information Mr. Neutron.
PS--
Were you ever able to locate the "Planet of Titans" script?
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
^ Yeah, there is ZERO on the net regarding that topic. In fact I think Google lead me back to Flare during my search! There was a little info on www.sciflicks.com under 'ST:TMP facts' but nothing new or enlightening that wasn't in the Phase II book. The only thing I can figure is to either find a way to get ahold of Chris Bryant, Allan Scott, or Philip Kaufman, OR invent a time machine...
-------------------- Hey, it only took 13 years for me to figure out my password...
Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Triton: Were you ever able to locate the "Planet of Titans" script?
Nope...but I didn't pursue it too far. I might go after it this fall for a project I want to do...but it'll mean making calls around Hollywood with my few contacts there and seeing if there's only Six Degrees of Separation between me and the script!
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Thank you very much for the personal response Mr. Neutron.
I just return from your Web site, it makes very interesting reading about the realities of developing software for a "property". Thanks for sharing this information on the web.
Also, I would like to extend best wishes to you and Mr. Probert on your project.
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
Any idea if AP is ever going to put together a book or add a page to his website with his obscure Star Trek designs?
Knowing that he's got a design on paper for the Yorktown and not being able to see it is damn frustrating.
File that fan flick in the same catagory as the Titans script - we know about it, we know someone must have some information about it, we just don't know who they are and how we can bring said info into the light of day.
-------------------- It's life Jim, but not as we know it...
Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Ultra Magnus: Neatest Flare Member, hands down.
Video Games! Hollywood!
You are what I want to be when I grow up.
Hahaha...I thought everyone here wanted to be Mojo!
I've been lucky enough to meet and or speak with a number of people involved in Treks of various sorts, being friends with Andy, having written one of (if not the first) first interviews with Ronald D. Moore (for the official ST:TNG Magazine back in 1989), having gotten a personal tour of the TNG art dept. by Mike Okuda, and having talked Rick Sternbach into coughing up actual DS9 production blueprints for the team doing the Sega DS9 game. I also had a really nice phone chat with Greg Jein back around 1996 or something where he told me of evil plans he had to slip one of his Flesh Gordon Flying Phalluses into a spaceship graveyeard scene in Trek (I suggested it be the USS John Thomas). I even had a long chat with Ron Roman, originator of what became the TNG episode, "Booby Trap", and heard his take on what he'd written and how it differed from the final episode.
As to Andy's stuff, as I said elsewhere, I'm talking to him about really grilling him over a series of conversations and emails to make a massive �ber interview in which we'd discuss all the stuff that gets left out of the typical interviews (that always ask the same ten questions). For instance, last night I asked him things like how he survived the transition from the Able group to Trumbull's, what he thought of Richard Taylor and Co.'s unused V'ger designs, who created the animated graphics created for TMP but not used until TWOK, and stuff like that. (Yes, I have answers to those, but I'm not tellin yet haha!) When I'm really ready to do this with him, I'll solicit additional questions from guys here to pose...but don't hold your breath...might not happen right away!
What I hope to do at some point is go over to his place and kinda go through all his stuff with him (this could take forever!) and see what was designed and not used that we're not aware of, or the stuff that was designed and built but never seen in detail (last night be told me he even created the warning labeling around the personnel hatch on top of the TMP ship and told me some of what it said).
Sorry, that went on a bit!
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
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