Never seen that before. Looks very different to the Klingon guns from ST3 onwards. I'm surprised they built gun props for the Klingons in TMP.
Just another way to drive the budget even higher ... the more one reads about TMP, the more obvious that a lot of the excess was deliberate (a friend of mine who is more into TMP than I is convinced one reason Paramount made it as a feature was to revitalize a lot of Paramount subsidiaries, such as Magicam, with a lot of dollars that could be charged to a production -- practically the only major Paramount project of the period that was made on that lot and relied on in-house facilities to that degree -- and then written off.)
Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by kmart: (a friend of mine who is more into TMP than I is convinced one reason Paramount made it as a feature was to revitalize a lot of Paramount subsidiaries, such as Magicam, with a lot of dollars that could be charged to a production -- practically the only major Paramount project of the period that was made on that lot and relied on in-house facilities to that degree -- and then written off.)
Except that, as you know, tons of the work went off the lot. Sounds a little "conspiracy theory" to me. My personal guess is it was more a "too many cooks" situation.
-------------------- "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
The theory supporting the 'let's rejuvenate paramount" notion gains some credence if you buy into the idea that originally, Par was looking to buy up Abel and incorporate them as THE in-house vfx house for future paramount shows. That was the emerging model, with Universal trying to do that with Dykstra and then succeeding (for awhile) with their Hartland facility, and when Par had first acquired Magicam, it wasn't just a model shop, but a new fx technology provider(chromakey liveaction with model stages, developed by Trumbull.)
So you have a potential Par sub in Abel doing opticals, you have a failing Par sub -- Magicam -- doing lots of miniatures (many of which are underdetailed, and at least one is structurally misbuilt if you go with Probert's report), plus you've got a huge cut going to Paramount's costume shop, for reusing all these ancient fabrics Fletcher dug into for all those background aliens. Places like Brick Price that were not Paramount shops got more stuff as time went on, AFTER the original places didn't always deliver the goods and time got tight.
Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by kmart: The theory supporting the 'let's rejuvenate paramount" notion gains some credence if you buy into the idea that originally, Par was looking to buy up Abel and incorporate them as THE in-house vfx house for future paramount shows. That was the emerging model...
That I can buy. Just the way you phrased it the earlier message sounded like they intended to lose money. It's quite another thing to use a project as an impeutus to restore/acquire facilities, etc. And sometimes you do a project for reasons not always associated with the short-term bottom line. On the other hand, you know Paramount was hoping for Star Wars box office...or at least CLose Encounters.
-------------------- "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
Considering the fancy T'Pau->Tosk revamp, it appears that the white shining parts added above the drive system ring are supposed to represent the cockpit windows of the ship, establishing the scale. The modifications are actually rather cute...
My VHS copy of "For the Cause" is so crappy that I cannot ascertain the presence or absence of the sickle-like add-ons on the forward hull. The lump above and aft of the drive ring is definitely still there, though. But the glowing windows aren't. Apparently, the model was at least repainted for the later episode. Any good online pics? The usual suspects don't seem to have any.
-------------------- "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity´s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
Registered: Jan 2000
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quote: I�m sorry Timo, aren�t I on your suspect-list any more?
By bad! Must have been a dark monitor or something when I browsed through your pics... This one certainly is clear enough to show the sickle-things are gone!
-------------------- "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity´s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Earth*Star Voyager was a 4-hour miniseries that Disney hoped to turn into a show that would compete in a way with TNG. Set a hundred years in the future, an overpopulated, ozone-depleted Earth equips a starship to explore a newly-discovered planet to colonize. Since it's a 26-year round-trip, the crew is mostly youths aged 14-24... Soon after launch, the captain is killed in an act of sabotage, and the kids press on. Before long they run into the captain of a previous explorer vessel, the Vanguard Explorer, and events start happening.
It ended up that ol' Admiral Beasley of the TRITON Corsair (yes, I'm sure!) had some big plan for domination of said planet, and wanted to use Voyager as the centerpiece of a much larger and eviler ship crewed by cyborg slaves. Eventually, the kids and Captain guy (now XO) devise a bunch of weapons for their unarmed ship (including a nifty solar laser and rail gun), destroy the evil ship, cripple the Triton Corsair, and make off into the unknown.
Here's what IMDB has to say. Lookie! The old captain was eventually tapped as Ronin and Shakaar, and the new captain was the hapless lieutenant Seven tried to romance on Voyager!
posted
What I remember about EarthStar was a fun little conceit they had of getting through the debris storm of lost gloves and ship parts that encircled the Earth.
That, and the fact that Edlund's old company, Boss, was doing the vfx. The ship stuff looked good, but there were an awful lot of reused shots, more than I'd expected.
The show was a colossal disappointment entertainment wise -- I think the couple of CAPTAIN POWER I caught around that same time were far superior, even given the miniscule production values.
-------------------- Achievement is its own reward; pride obscures it.
Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Aban Rune: Captain Power was sweet! I still remember the last episode where the chick died... it was sad.
POWER ON!!!!
I've always wondered if that actress was cast as a shuttle pilot in ARMAGEDDON on the basis of her performance in CAPT POWER. She WAS called Pilot in the series, right?
Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Balaam Xumucane: Nice spoilers, dick.
Oh, come on. We're not going to start complaining about spoilers for 20 year old shows that hardly anyone watched now, are we?
Besides, you might make Aban cry. And a face that sexy should never be sad. Never.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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