posted
Well, it is connected to the support pylon. It doesn't look like it's moving and it is rather close to the pylon. It's either a docked ship or a structural projection.
If it is a part of the Spacedock, then it could serve several functions. It could be a traffic countrol system like I mentioned earlier. I mean, there are lots of shuttles, workbees, and technicians floating around in the docking bay and dodging the starships and each other.
It could also be a shuttle/workbee docking station for refueling and resupply. Those trapezoidal blocks underneath could be the fuel/water/whatever storage holds and the nacelle-like projections are the mooring clamps.
Or, it really could be a ship, in which case I stand behind my interplanetary waste barge theory.
posted
Regardng this "ship", I decided to do something a little radical...instead of relying on a single publicity photo, I looked at the movies.
Specifically, I looked at the spacedock scenes in ST3 and ST4 (widescreen) to see what I could see.
As it happens, in ST3 there are no shots that frame the spacedock hub where the you could see the object in question.
In ST4 you can see that part of the hub in the shot where the power goes out (you see the Excelsior off to screen left and a Miranda ass-end towards the camera). In this shot, the object in question is not present. Then again, the platorm seen above it in the photos posted here is also absent.
Its absense doesn't mean it's a ship. It's well established that ILM tore the spacedock model apart after ST3 and had to reassemble it for ST4, so no doubt some details would change.
Furthermore, if it was intended to be a ship, I think the photographers who made the publicity photo in question would have made the thing stand out from the wall instead of matching its color. If it is a "ship" I suspect it's something they had laying around the studio and stuck onto the spacedock model.
Regardless, the thing only appears in that publicity photo, so I would consider its existence apocryphal.
-------------------- "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
posted
Speaking of Spacedock, does anyone have pics of the Copernicus and the Miranda from ST4? (The Copernicus was that Oberth) I was never able to spot it.
posted
Veers, if you have the DVD of widescreen VHS copy of ST4, the Oberth is at the end of the movie. In the scene where Kirk and company go off to their new ship, the first interior shot shows the Oberth at the far left with only a small bit shown. It is however enough to be identified as an Oberth. Note that this will not be in the regular cropped versions on VHS as it's way to the left of the screen almost not in view.
-------------------- Is it Friday yet?
Registered: Feb 2000
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quote:As it happens, in ST3 there are no shots that frame the spacedock hub where the you could see the object in question.
That is incorrect. After seeing the photo, I checked my video (not widescreen) to see if it was really there, and it is indeed there. The lighting is not as illuminating in the movie, but I assure you it is there.
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
In which shot in ST3 can you see the "ship" in the spacedock?
-------------------- "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
posted
Here is a DVD capture from ST3 that someone made concerning the Spacedock interior. I just increased the gamma correction and circled both the freighter and the Phase 2 Enterprise.
posted
Ohhhh, can we have some nice screen caps like that of the dock in ST:IV and how about some wide screen caps of SF headquarters in TMP, someone said that there are TOS shuttles to be seen docked in that 'hanger area'.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
It is a freighter! Ha ha! Speculation for weeks has proved us right! My, my, that is a gem shot. We need a spacedock scene like that in Trek X. Excelsiors...Oberths...Mirandas...Akiras... The Works!
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