Shuttle bay interior....

[Dar70]

......the shots of the original shuttle bay always fascinated me as a kid. Loved whenever it showed up in an episode. Before DVDS or the Internet I would do my best to soak up the detail. I wish they had left it in the remastered versions.with maybe just a clean up and upscale. It was such a nicely detailed miniature. Here's an interesting article on it. Apparently the miniature no longer exists....

https://www.startrek.com/news/forgotten-trek-creating-the-original-enterprises-shuttlebay

 

[Denise]

I was watching "Journey to Babel" night before last on Pluto TV, and noticed that there's a longish trip on the shuttlecraft for the Vulcan party. The shuttlecraft approaches the Enterprise, enters the hangar deck, lands, and is re-oriented on the turntable. We see the Columbus in the background.

Was all this in the original episode? My memory of the entrance of the Vulcan party begins with Security (now called an "honor guard"--don't remember them being called that, either) assembling to enter the hangar deck to welcome Sarek and his party.

 

[Dar70]

I don't remember seeing another shuttle parked in there. I think they used the same scene for all the shuttle bay shots back then.

 

[feek61]

No, the remastered takes a lot of liberties, including size. Since there was only 1 shuttlecraft miniature and they were filmed WITH the physical model of the hangar bay; there was never a scene in TOS that showed more than one shuttlecraft. Its hard for me to believe that people actually watch the remastered effects. Thank God on the BluRays they have both the original and remastered; the later which I never watch.


The Hangar Bay miniature was huge, I think (from memory) something like 10-12 feet long and 5-6 feet high. I was destroyed at some point, maybe before the series ended.

 

[Denise]

I don't remember seeing another shuttle parked in there. I think they used the same scene for all the shuttle bay shots back then.

I was watching the episode on Pluto, so I imagine it was the remastered version. It's cool to see, even if it adds absolutely nothing to the plot.

It was clearly the Columbus. There was a highlight to draw your eye to it.

 

[blssdwlf]

Feek61 is right - the episode on Pluto is the remastered version. IIRC, there usually are two shots that are used in the original FX. One where the shuttle is on the rectangular pad and rotating and one where the camera is moved up so you are seeing the shuttle leaving or exiting through the clamshell doors. FWIW, I imagine that in the original FX version that the shuttle is lowered into a bay below and that is where the honor guard met Sarek and co.

 

[Dar70]

No, the remastered takes a lot of liberties, including size. Since there was only 1 shuttlecraft miniature and they were filmed WITH the physical model of the hangar bay; there was never a scene in TOS that showed more than one shuttlecraft. Its hard for me to believe that people actually watch the remastered effects. Thank God on the BluRays they have both the original and remastered; the later which I never watch.


The Hangar Bay miniature was huge, I think (from memory) something like 10-12 feet long and 5-6 feet high. I was destroyed at some point, maybe before the series ended.

Never saw that picture. So dang cool....

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Its hard for me to believe that people actually watch the remastered effects. Thank God on the BluRays they have both the original and remastered; the later which I never watch.

Same here.

The Hangar Bay miniature was huge, I think (from memory) something like 10-12 feet long and 5-6 feet high. I was destroyed at some point, maybe before the series ended.

Wonderful craftsmanship.

 

[Denise]

Feek61 is right - the episode on Pluto is the remastered version. IIRC, there usually are two shots that are used in the original FX. One where the shuttle is on the rectangular pad and rotating and one where the camera is moved up so you are seeing the shuttle leaving or exiting through the clamshell doors. FWIW, I imagine that in the original FX version that the shuttle is lowered into a bay below and that is where the honor guard met Sarek and co.

I told my husband that after they rotate the shuttlecraft and cut away to the reception of Sarek, it just seems like the orientation is wrong (that is, the honor guard, etc. are on the wrong side of the hangar deck. But that's probably just me.

 

[David cgc]

FWIW, I imagine that in the original FX version that the shuttle is lowered into a bay below and that is where the honor guard met Sarek and co.

It's a good thought, but the ceiling is so high, it's hard to imagine fitting a shuttle garage that tall in there, with the fantail cutting out so much area.

I told my husband that after they rotate the shuttlecraft and cut away to the reception of Sarek, it just seems like the orientation is wrong (that is, the honor guard, etc. are on the wrong side of the hangar deck. But that's probably just me.

When they were doing the remasters, I believe they talked about how, if they'd had a bit more time and money, they would've replaced the gray wall behind the shuttle with the shuttlebay doors, but that much rotoscoping was out-of-scope, so they compromised on adding the upper gallery to the top edge of frame, even if it made the shuttlebay seem much wider than it should be.

This video comparison of the original and remastered versions of the episode is probably helpful. It also illustrates how much more cramped the shuttlebay is in the remaster, where it was shrunk down to correspond to the official size of the ship.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Henoch]

I told my husband that after they rotate the shuttlecraft and cut away to the reception of Sarek, it just seems like the orientation is wrong (that is, the honor guard, etc. are on the wrong side of the hangar deck. But that's probably just me.

The continuity of the model rotating on the turntable followed by the reception scene using the blueish wall behind the Shuttlecraft does us no favors. I see two options: 1. they needed to put a matte painting of the hangar bay looking aft with the clamshell doors behind the shuttlecraft, or 2. as @blssdwlf said, the shuttlecraft is lowered into a bay below the flight deck for the reception scene. The Immunity Syndrome has the reverse case where the shuttlecraft boarded by Spock, and with better continuity, the switch to the model shows the shuttlecraft rotating (from the 90 degree facing) into the launch position. In the past, several site members have recreated both scenarios. For what's it worth, here's a very crude attempt on my part for the flight deck scenario:

 

[blssdwlf]

@David cgc - it depends on whether you're willing to have the flight deck extend under the warp pylons. If you allow for that then a hangar deck below the flight deck can have a rather tall ceiling plus it would fit the corridors that lead up to it. @Henoch's layout will work also as the door is facing the clamshell.
The Remastered FX suffers from corridors that extend outside of the hull as the door faces the side of the flight deck.

Also, the shuttle rotation could be the start of a continuous rotation as the elevator lowers the shuttle. Kinda like how the elevator rotates the car as it lowers it down in this robotic garage video but with extra rotation...

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Warped9]

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years reconciling the actual size of a real shuttlecraft and a real hangar area fitting inside a 947ft. ship.

Suffice to say the cool stuff we saw on television were a collection of production compromises. The fullsize exterior mockup of the shuttlecraft was undersized to make it easier to transport as well as manhandle around the studio set. The shuttlecraft miniature was scaled from that undersized fullsize mockup.

The hangar mockup is oversized to sell the idea of a vast space—it’s stretched out longer than it needs to be. Yes, you could extend it under the support pylons except thats not how Jefferies drew it on his starship cutaway drawings where he clearly shows the flight deck only peeks under the pylons . Jefferies clearly knew the hangar miniature was an exaggerated size for production reasons.

To get the familiar view we see of the flight deck looking aft toward the clamshell doors you would have to be standing directly under the support pylons well forward of where the hangar’s forward bulkhead would be. It’s photographic trickery to sell an idea.

I worked this all out with actual 3D models of shuttlecraft and hangar deck.








There is a flaw in my 3D model and that is the clamshell doors. I made them as perfect spheres when in fact they’re not. This wouldn’t make much difference in my model or in the grand scheme of things, but it would lengthen the flight deck a few feet.

 

[BK613]

Psh, on screen trumps behind the scenes in my book, for the most part.

 

[blssdwlf]

@Warped9 - Yeah, there are a lot of differences from Jefferies drawings and to what was filmed. In his drawings the shuttle is smaller than your modeled version when placed inside his hanger deck drawings which funny enough his smaller shuttle version is closer to what is filmed.

You've taken a similar approach as TOS-R and modeled the flight deck to fit within the hull and enlarged the shuttle but at least you have your corridor exit/airlock facing the clamshell doors like @Henoch's so that is a plus.

We all just choose which attributes take priority when recreating our models, YMMV

TOS-R version below...

 

[Warped9]

The thing is we have the luxury of time to figure out how everything should fit together seamlessly. Working within the hectic schedules of weekly television production you’ll inevitably have to wing it to varying degrees.

 

[PCz911]

The designers sure give a lot of space for observation …. I’m sure it’s interesting to see, but given the size of the various viewing galleries it seems like half the crew will come and watch a shuttle launch.

 

[Dar70]

The designers sure give a lot of space for observation …. I’m sure it’s interesting to see, but given the size of the various viewing galleries it seems like half the crew will come and watch a shuttle launch.

Looks like the Remastered versions doubled the amount of windows ...

 

[Warped9]

The TOS-R version looks like hell. It’s a travesty.

 

[Dar70]

The TOS-R version looks like hell. It’s a travesty.

Haha. I agree. I prefer the original much more.