Spacecraft in Star Trek
The Star Trek franchise features many spacecraft. Various space vessels make up the primary settings of the Star Trek television series, films, and expanded universe; others help advance the franchise's stories. Throughout the franchise's production, spacecraft have been depicted by numerous physical and computer-generated models. Producers worked to balance often tight budgets with the need to depict convincing, futuristic vessels.
Beyond their media appearances, Star Trek spacecraft have been marketed as models, books, and rides. Filming models have sold for thousands of dollars at public auction.
Development and production
Establishing basic designs (1966–1969)
The original Star Trek television series (1966–1969) established key tenets of the Star Trek franchise: an intrepid, diverse crew traveling through space and encountering the unknown.[2] Matt Jefferies designed the crew's spaceship, the USS Enterprise. Jefferies' experience with aviation led to his Enterprise designs being imbued with what he called "aircraft logic".[3] Series creator Gene Roddenberry wanted the ship's design to convey speed, power, a "shirt sleeve" working environment, and readiness for a multiyear mission.[4] Roddenberry insisted the ship not have fins or rockets;[4] Jefferies also avoided repeating fictional designs from Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, along with the real-world space exploration work done by Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Company, Lockheed Corporation, NACA, NASA, and Northrop.[5] With Roddenberry's speed requirement, Jefferies decided the ship needed to be instantly recognizable from a distance, and that speed could be conveyed by the ship starting small in the background and growing as it accelerates toward the camera.[4] Jefferies imagined the ship's engines were so powerful they would be dangerous to be near, hence the pair of external warp nacelles.[6] Jefferies initially designed the habitable portion of the ship as a sphere, but it conflicted with the need to suggest the ship's speed.[4] Although Jefferies wanted to avoid the cliche of a "flying saucer", the saucer-shaped upper portion of the hull eventually became part of the final design.[4] Jefferies kept the exterior as plain as possible, both to allow light to play across the model and to suggest that the ship's vital equipment was on the interior, where it could be more readily maintained and repaired.[7] Looking at an early balsa and birchwood model of the Enterprise, Roddenberry thought the vessel would look better upside down, and a TV Guide cover once depicted it as such; ultimately, however, the show used Jefferies' arrangement.[8] The saucer module, engineering hull, and twin warp nacelle design influenced producers' designs of Starfleet vessels throughout the franchise's spin-offs and films.[1]
The filming model's constituent parts cost under $600.
Initial films (1979–1984)
Several years after Star Trek was canceled, Roddenberry and other producers began work for a new series,
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) introduce models—Klingon bird-of-prey, Federation starbase, merchant ship, USS Excelsior, USS Grissom, and USS Reliant—that would be reused in at least one Star Trek television spin-off.[14] These models were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), which would continue to generate models and assist with special effects for subsequent films and spin-offs. Producers still used some cost-saving measures when depicting some spacecraft, such as reusing footage from previous films. William Shatner's and Leonard Nimoy's demands for "sky-high salaries" for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) caused the studio to plan for a new television series.[18] The seven-year production of Star Trek: The Next Generation overlapped with those of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)—and while those two films made heavy use of Next Generation sets, few spacecraft model assets were shared between the television and film projects.[19]
Return to television (1987–1994)
Among the first to join the design team of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1986–1994) were Probert, Rick Sternbach, and Michael Okuda.[20] The three had not only worked on the Star Trek films, but also had experiences working in science and aerospace.
Ship | Appearance | Designed by | Production notes |
---|---|---|---|
Borg cube
|
"Q Who" (1989) | Richard James and Rick Sternbach | Nominated for an Emmy Award[21]
|
Borg variant | "Descent" (1993) | Dan Curry[22] | |
Cardassian Galor class | "The Wounded" (1991) | Sternbach | Reminiscent of an ankh,[23] a symbol chosen because the Cardassians are like pharaohs to the enslaved Bajorans.[24] |
USS Enterprise-C | "Yesterday's Enterprise" (1990) | Andrew Probert and Sternbach | First appearance of an Ambassador-class ship[14] |
USS Enterprise-D | "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) | Probert | First appearance of a Galaxy-class ship[14] |
Ferengi marauder | "The Last Outpost" (1987) | Jein and Probert | Inspired by the shape of a horseshoe crab[25] |
Gomtuu | "Tin Man" (1990) | Jein and Sternbach | Inspired by the thermal pods in Buckaroo Bonzai[26]
|
Husnock ship | "The Survivors" (1989) | Tony Meininger | Reused as a Promellian derelict[27] |
Klingon Vor'cha class | "Reunion" (1990) | Jein and Sternbach | Follows original Star Trek design while reflecting Klingon-Federation alliance[28] |
USS Kyushu | "The Best of Both Worlds" (1990) | Ed Miarecki | Created by combining an Enterprise-D model with custom parts.[14] First appearance of a New Orleans-class ship. |
USS Pasteur | "All Good Things..." (1994) | Bill George | Based on a camera-ready "Olympic-class" model George created.[29] Ultimately labeled as a Hope-class starship.[14] |
USS Phoenix | "The Wounded" | Jein | Based on a desktop model created by Ed Miarecki.[30] First appearance of a Nebula-class ship. |
Romulan warbird | "The Neutral Zone" (1988) | Jein and Probert[31] | |
USS Stargazer | "The Battle" (1987) | Probert and Sternbach | Based on a kitbash and created as an alternative to reusing movie-era Enterprise model.[32] First appearance of a Constellation-class ship. |
Vulcan starship | "Unification" (1991) | Jein and Sternbach[33] |
Roddenberry envisioned the new series occurring in an era when people were preoccupied with improving the quality of life, and he emphasized this point in calling for a larger, brighter, and less-sterile USS Enterprise than the ship in the original Star Trek.[20] Probert's design of the new Enterprise was based on a "what if?" painting he created after designing the refit Enterprise for The Motion Picture.[34] It suggested a merging of technology and design into a sleeker ship, yet retained the overall shape of a saucer section, engineering hull, and warp engine nacelles from the original television show.[34] The final Enterprise-D design was revealed to the public in a July 1987 column in Starlog.[34] After rejecting the idea of using CGI for special effects and shooting miniatures, the producers hired ILM—which worked extensively on the Star Trek films—to build a pair of Enterprise models. Six modelmakers, led by Star Trek film veteran Greg Jein, built the models for $75,000.[35] Another model was created midway through the third season.[36] ILM also created the distinct "rubberband" effect of the Enterprise going to warp speed—an effect initially created for The Motion Picture.[17][37]
The new series' creators were concerned that budget constraints for The Next Generation could be even more of a problem for them as they had been for the original Star Trek.[38] To help avoid them, the producers reused and recycled sets, models, props, and footage created for the movie franchise;[19] the development of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine also saw resources being shared across the two television series.[39][40][41] ILM created a catalog of effects shots, which they thought would help the show save money.[35] In practice, however, the catalog was insufficient to meet the show's needs, and using catalog footage as an element in a shot placed constraints on the movement of shooting models added to the shot. By the end of the first season, the producers moved away from that catalog. Robert Legato, who supervised the show's in-house visual effects, was eventually able to enhance the appearance of shooting models by using a moving camera for its effects shots, allowing objects in a shot to move in relation to each other.[42] When The Next Generation depicts combat between spacecraft, it is usually single ship-on-ship; however, there are exceptions, such as a "Star Wars-like" battle in "Preemptive Strike" (1994) between numerous Maquis fighters and a Cardassian ship.[41] According to Sternbach, there usually wasn't enough time to create and make a new ship each week;[43] nevertheless, producers created numerous new spacecraft for The Next Generation. Dan Curry said that to conserve the budget for use on ships to be seen in close-up, small "worker bee" vessels not requiring significant detail were made out of cheap, everyday objects.[44] Additionally, the Next Generation team used models from the first three Star Trek films; the Excelsior, Grissom, and Reliant models were redressed to become various Excelsior-, Oberth-, and Miranda-class starships, respectively.[14]
The visual effects shot of the "USS Pegasus" spacecraft was a re-dress of the Oberth class model.[45] The VFX model auctioned off in 2006 by Christie's.[45] The Oberth-class was designed by David Carson, and built at Industrial Light & Magic.[46] The model was made for the 1984 theatrical film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, where it depicted a ship called the "USS Grissom".[46]
As with the original Star Trek, budget concerns delayed the construction of a full-scale shuttlecraft set until a script made the shuttle an important part of the story.[47] The first Next Generation story to use a shuttle is "Coming of Age" (1988); for this story, Probert designed a shooting model and set-designers built one-quarter of the interior space—additional sections were built as the budget allowed.[47] Because the angular interior did not match Probert's curved vessel, a more angular shuttlepod vessel was introduced in "Time Squared (Star Trek: The Next Generation)" (1989).[47] A full-scale shuttle that matched the angular interiors was introduced in "Darmok" (1991).[48] Writers had hoped to depict the designed-but-not-built captain's yacht for "Samaritan Snare" (1989), but the budget instead led to the use of a shuttlecraft (That specific craft type's appearance would eventually appear in Star Trek: Insurrection).[49] Several shuttlecraft names are in homage to figures from science, such as Marie Curie, Farouk El-Baz, Ferdinand Magellan, and Ellison Onizuka.[14]
A second spin-off, and introducing digital models (1993–1999)
Balancing digital and physical models in films (1994–2002)
Even as The Next Generation was ending, the actors and many of the production crew were preparing for their first film, Star Trek Generations (1994). This film saw the widening adoption of—but not sole reliance on—computer-generated vehicle models in the film franchise. The USS Enterprise-B in Generations is a reuse of the Excelsior model in Star Trek III, and its surrounding spacedock a reconstruction—with some flattening alterations—of the frame created for The Motion Picture. The Enterprise-D was filmed with one of the original 6-foot (1.8 m) models created by ILM, although it was stripped down, rewired, and resurfaced to depict the level of detail needed for film.[56] The antagonists' Klingon bird-of-prey previously appeared in Star Trek, as did the rescue shuttles and orbiting rescue ships at the film's end.[58] Producers created new models of a solar observatory, along with a 12-foot (3.7 m) model of the Enterprise's saucer section. Scenes involving the Enterprise-B and the Lakul in the Nexus energy ribbon were all computer-generated—in fact, no shooting model was ever made of the ill-fated El-Aurian refugee ship. Shots of the Enterprise-D going to warp were also computer-generated.[56]
The trend toward using digital models increased with subsequent films. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) introduces the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E, conceived by production designer Herman Zimmerman and illustrator John Eaves as a larger, sleeker, faster-looking ship.[60] Based on blueprints created by Sternbach, ILM's John Goodson created a 10.5-foot (3.2 m) shooting model.[61] Goodson also created a model of the Phoenix ship, and a physical Borg cube model was needed for close-up shots.[61][62] First Contact was the last Star Trek film to make heavy use of physical models, and many ships in the film are depicted by computer models.[63][64] In addition to the physical model, the Enterprise was also built as a computer model.[65] John Knoll worked with visual effects art director Alex Jaeger to design and create a variety of new ships to populate the opening battle against the Borg.[61] Knoll and Jaeger decided the new ships had to be consistent with Star Trek precedent, such as a saucer section and pair of warp nacelles,[62] but also could not look so similar as to be confused with the new Enterprise.[61] With these requirements in mind, Jaeger reduced 16 initial designs down to four, and created computer-generated models of the Akira-, Norway-, Saber-, and Steamrunner-class ships.[66]
ILM was not available to support the next two films,
Continuation on television (1995–2005)
By the time production began on Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001), advances in computing allowed designers to create rough digital three-dimensional models of starships.[50] Until that point, designers could submit only sketches to executive producer Rick Berman and other staffers, but "sketches can be deceiving"; the use of 3D modeling removed a degree of guesswork from the process.[69] Sternbach said the most important change in the process of creating spacecraft for the franchise was the increasing availability of CGI software and access to better-performing computers.[70] Digital Muse, Foundation Imaging, and Eden FX contributed toward Voyager's computer modeling; the latter two also worked on Enterprise.
Sternbach and Richard James, who designed the Borg cube for The Next Generation, collaborated over several months to design the Intrepid-class
Doug Drexler took four months to design the eponymous Enterprise for the fifth spinoff, Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005).[73] A predecessor to Jefferies' original Enterprise, some elements of this ship were inspired by the Akira class in First Contact, and its overall compactness was inspired by Deep Space Nine's Defiant.[73][74] Eden FX created computer-generated models for all four seasons of Enterprise.
Franchise reboot (2009)
Producers of the 2009
Film and television re-releases
The 2001 Director's Edition of The Motion Picture includes 90 new and redesigned computer-generated shots produced by Foundation Imaging, many of which include a computer-generated model of the Enterprise.[77] The new shots depict more dynamic lighting and clearer senses of scale than the original release.
In September 2006,
Books and games
Several
Impact and critical reaction
Spacecraft model | Estimated winning bid | Actual winning bid |
---|---|---|
Enterprise-D | $25,000–30,000 | $500,000[84] |
Klingon bird-of-prey | $8,000–12,000 | $260,000[85] |
Enterprise-A | $15,000–25,000 | $240,000[86] |
USS Voyager | $10,000–15,000 | $110,000[87] |
Deep Space Nine | $8,000–12,000 | $110,000[88] |
USS Lakota (redressed USS Excelsior) | $3,000–5,000 | $110,000[89] |
USS Enterprise-E | $8,000–12,000 | $100,000[90] |
USS Defiant | $6,000–8,000 | $85,000[91] |
Klingon battlecruiser | $3,000–5,000 | $85,000[92] |
The basic design of the original Enterprise "formed the basis for one of sci-fi's most iconic images".[93] In 1992, the National Air and Space Museum curator said "there is no other fantasy more pervasive in the conceptualization of space flight than Star Trek".[94] The Next Generation was nominated for an Emmy for its depiction of the Borg cube in "Q Who".[21] Star Trek: The Experience included a shuttlecraft ride simulator.[95] Spacecraft filming models made up nine of the ten highest-bid items in Christie's Star Trek: The Collection auction.[96]
Merchandising
AMT's model of the original Enterprise's shuttlecraft sold over one million units.[12] In 1989, Ertl released a model kit that included The Next Generation's Ferengi marauder, Klingon bird-of-prey, and Romulan warbird.[31] AMT released a Vor'cha-class model in 1991.[97] Galoob created Micro Machines of various Star Trek starships from 1993 to 1997, and Hallmark created Christmas ornaments of the original series shuttlecraft, Romulan warbird, and Klingon bird-of-prey.
In 2011, Simon & Schuster published the Starship Spotter, a collection of images of various spacecraft in Star Trek.[98] Since 2002, Star Trek illustrator and designer Doug Drexler has led development of an annual Ship of the Line calendar featuring images and information about various spacecraft from the Star Trek franchise.[69]
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ a b "Rick Sternbach". trekplace.com. June 2001.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-671-79612-9.
- ISBN 9781451625264.
- ^ a b c d e "The original Enterprise brief". Interviews: Matt Jefferies. BBC. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Not a rocket ship". Interviews: Matt Jefferies. BBC. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Deep in the warp core". Interviews: Matt Jefferies. BBC. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Military modes for Starfleet". Interviews: Matt Jefferies. BBC. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Showing the Enterprise to Gene Roddenberry". Interviews: Matt Jefferies. BBC. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ ISBN 0-671-00219-8.
- ^ a b Information plaque at the National Air and Space Museum, Jan 14, 2012
- ^ "Interviews: Matt Jefferies: Why NCC-1701?". Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved December 31, 2006.
- ^ a b c Reeves-Stevens, 18
- ^ Whitfield
- ^ ISBN 0-671-53609-5.
- ^ Star Trek III DVD special features: "Star Trek Universe".
- ^ Tobias, Tracey (December 2001). "Redesigning the USS Enterprise NCC-1701". Star Trek: The Magazine. 2 (8). Fabbri Publishing: 85.
- ^ a b Nemecek, Larry (June 2010). Simpson, Paul (ed.). "The Long and Winding Road". Star Trek Magazine: 18.
- ^ Harmetz, Aljean (November 2, 1986). "New 'Star Trek' Plan Reflects Symbiosis of TV and Movies". The New York Times. p. 31.
- ^ a b Nemecek
- ^ a b Nemecek, 5
- ^ a b Nemecek, 86
- ^ Nemecek, 253
- ^ Nemecek, 153
- ^ "Interview with Rick Sternbach". July 25, 2007. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
- ^ Nemecek, 38
- ^ Nemecek, 123
- ^ Nemecek, 103, 106
- ^ Nemecek, 146-47
- ^ Nemecek, 303
- ^ Nemecek, 148, 153
- ^ a b Nemecek, 60
- ^ Nemecek, 41
- ^ Nemecek, 185
- ^ a b c Nemecek, 9
- ^ a b Nemecek, 11
- ^ Nemecek, 99
- ^ Nemecek, 12
- ^ Nemecek, 7
- ^ a b Nemecek, 251
- ^ Nemecek, 266
- ^ a b Nemecek, 298
- ^ Nemecek, 12, 60
- ^ Nemecek, 103
- ^ Prooth, Sebastian (August 28, 2006). "Star Trek TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT's Dan Curry Speaks to SebRT.com!". Retrieved January 16, 2012.
- ^ a b "U.S.S. PEGASUS MODEL". www.christies.com. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4516-4688-7.
- ^ a b c Nemecek, 51
- ^ Nemecek, 177
- ^ Nemecek, 87
- ^ Viacom. October 28, 2011. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
- ^ Deep Space Nine season 1 DVD feature: A Bold Beginning
- ^ "DEEP SPACE NINE MODEL". Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-671-01563-3.
- ^ Pierce, Scott D. (July 13, 1994). "New ship to defy constraints on 'DS9'". Deseret News. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Deep Space Nine". Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Nemecek, 319
- ^ Nemecek, 320
- ^ Nemecek, 319-20
- ^ a b c Nemecek, 352
- ^ a b Nemecek, 323
- ^ a b c d Nemecek, 330
- ^ a b Kaplan, Anna (December 1996). "The Next Generation goes Solo; Data; Writing the Script; Special Effects; Borg; Production Design; Zephram Cochrane". Cinefantastique. 28 (6): 23.
- ^ Leisner, William (June 2010). Simpson, Paul (ed.). "Assimilating a General Audience". Star Trek Magazine: 70.
- ^ Eaves, John (March 15, 2005). Star Trek: First Contact; The Art of First Contact (DVD; Disc 2/2). Paramount Pictures.
- ^ Nemecek, 331
- ISSN 0002-7928.
- ^ Nemecek, 342
- ^ Nemecek, 351
- ^ a b "Doug Drexler: From Makeup To Design - Part 1". CBS. December 13, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- ^ Vinšćak, Krešimir (May 19, 2006). "Interview with Rick Sternbach - English version". Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
- ^ Poe, 67
- ^ Poe, 70-71
- ^ a b Ruditis, Paul. "Behind the Scenes of Enterprise". Broken Bow.
- ^ Herman Zimmerman, Deep Space Nine season 3 commentary
- ^ a b c d e "How ILM came up with the new Enterprise for J.J. Abrams' Trek". Sci Fi Wire. April 17, 2009. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2009.
- ^ Plant, Bob (July 23, 2009). "Church of Trek". Round 2 Models. Archived from the original on September 6, 2009. Retrieved October 4, 2009.
- ^ Vinciguerra, Thomas (February 10, 2002). "Video; What's New for Trekkies". The New York Times. p. 26.
- ^ Sternbach, Rick (November 16, 2006). "Review of Mirror Mirror Remastered". TrekMovie.com.
- ^ Okuda, Michael (November 20, 2011). "The Next Level". Retrieved January 1, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Pascale, Anthony (January 24, 2012). "Interview: Mike & Denise Okuda Talk Star Trek – TNG The Next Level [Part 1]". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ Pascale, Anthony (January 25, 2012). "Interview: Mike & Denise Okuda Talk Star Trek – TNG The Next Level [Part 2]". TrekMovie.com. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
- ^ Stahl, Daniel (July 20, 2011). "Dev Diary: Design the Next Enterprise". startrek.com. CBS. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
- ^ a b Palmieri, Marco (September 9, 2005). "U.S.S. Titan Design Winner Announced". Slice of SciFi. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #712". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #983". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #1000". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #357". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #493". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #998". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #107". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #497". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "Christie's sale #1778, lot #996". Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ "The Enterprise Through The Ages". Empire. p. 3. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
- ISBN 0-86091-617-0.
- ISBN 978-1-58471-012-7.
- ^ "Highest-Priced Items from Christie's". Star Trek Auction Listings. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ Nemecek, 147
- ISBN 978-0-7434-3725-7.
- Bibliography
- Nemecek, Larry (2003). The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion: Revised Edition. ISBN 978-0-7434-7657-7.
- Poe, Stephen Edward (April 1, 1998). A Vision of the Future. ISBN 978-0-671-53481-3.
- ISBN 0-671-89804-3.
- Whitfield, Stephen E.; Gene Roddenberry (1968). The Making of Star Trek. Ballantine Books.
External links
- Individual lot listings for Christie's Star Trek: The Collection auction, with photos of numerous filming models
- Hop aboard the spaceships seen in Star Trek
- Category:Spacecraft at Memory Alpha
- Category:Spacecraft on Memory Beta, an external wiki