TMP Enterprise Pearlescent Paint

[CuttingEdge100]

One thing that I liked about TMP was that the ship had that nice pearlescent sheen that was done away with by in large (it did appear Star Trek V didn't dull the coat down as much for one reason or another) owing to blue-screen effects.

I remember being told that the type of pearlescent paint that was used was first available in automotive paint, and was relatively new at the time. I'm curious when that paint first became available.

 

[Kaelef]

That TMP original version is the one I consider the best design ever.

Richard Taylor is quoted here:
https://forgottentrek.com/the-motion-picture/interview-with-richard-taylor
I had this idea of giving the surface of the Enterprise a patterned, plated look and we made masks for the surface to create that surface effect. We did experiments with Crescent Metal Powders and other iridescent and pearlescent paints. So, in the end we made pearlescent body panels that varied from each other by minute differences in color and reflectivity. There were multiple masks that were used to give the surface the complex texture you see on the screen. The painting was phenomenal.

And Memory Alpha quotes "Star Trek: Creating the Enterprise":
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Constitution_class_model_(refit)#Designing_a_refit_Enterprise_for_The_Motion_Picture
"As we worked up the Enterprise it became apparent to me that we needed a special paint technique to give the surface of the ship scale. Literally the different spectral qualities of paint and the thickness of one coat of paint could make the surface detail of the Enterprise believable. I had done some tests with different paints as a painter and knew of the Crescent Metal Powder paints and their pearlescent pigments. Jim Dow and I looked into them as he had used them as well on his 1935 Ford, did a little test and decided some combination of those pigments would work. Designing the pattern and doing the actual painting, now that was going to be one hell of a job for someone to tackle..." (Star Trek: Creating the Enterprise, 1st ed, p. 106)

There are a bunch more interesting quotes on that Memory Alpha page.

 

[Kor]

It was beautiful. And then in the very next movie the ship was changed to a boring flat white because the iridescence was causing holes in the ship with the blue screen process. There seem to be conflicting accounts on how the sheen was reduced for TWOK... either the model was repainted in flatter whites and grays, or dull-coat was applied on top of the pearlescent paint to reduce the reflectiveness of the surface.

Kor

 

[Kaelef]

I've never seen a better recreation of the original paint job than Daren Dochterman's absolutely stunning version:

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Still the prettiest paint job in all of Starfleet.

 

[McCoy's Disco Collar]

It's gorgeous. So much better than the whitewash they would later slap on it.

 

[Kaelef]

One of the things that I particularly dislike about the 'flattened' paint post-TMP is the blue/blue-grey highlights they added. I don't know why, but it somehow makes it feel cheap and more like a toy. I'd prefer it without that.

SOURCE

SOURCE

 

[Vger23]

I understand why they felt they needed to do it, but the dull-job ILM did to the original TMP paint scheme is an absolute tragedy in the model-making world. That model was absolutely amazing, in no small part due to the original paint scheme. In the later movies, it looked so much less interesting.

By the time of Star Trek III, it just looked like it was a dull grey-white. The opening fly-by of the Enterprise, just as Kirk is starting his personal log, is one of the most disappointing shots in the film series...and it should have been a great one. The ship just looks so bland and lacking in the scale it had in TMP.

 

[Smellmet]

I understand why they felt they needed to do it, but the dull-job ILM did to the original TMP paint scheme is an absolute tragedy in the model-making world. That model was absolutely amazing, in no small part due to the original paint scheme. In the later movies, it looked so much less interesting.

By the time of Star Trek III, it just looked like it was a dull grey-white. The opening fly-by of the Enterprise, just as Kirk is starting his personal log, is one of the most disappointing shots in the film series...and it should have been a great one. The ship just looks so bland and lacking in the scale it had in TMP.

I thought that shot was bordering on TFF bad. It baffles me because most of the other FX work in TSFS are excellent.

I think one of the few post TMP shots they got right was the enterprise A leaving space dock at the end of TVH (but not the going to warp effect). That shot holds up extremely well even today and is better than pretty much all the shots of the Enterprise in the films that followed. Hell I might even argue that it's one of the best shots of the ship in the entire series.

 

[somebuddyX]

I grew up with the TWOK look so I always liked it looking like that. Just straight up functional, not decorative, and fitted the more militaristic tone of those films.

 

[Vger23]

I thought that shot was bordering on TFF bad. It baffles me because most of the other FX work in TSFS are excellent.

I think one of the few post TMP shots they got right was the enterprise A leaving space dock at the end of TVH (but not the going to warp effect). That shot holds up extremely well even today and is better than pretty much all the shots of the Enterprise in the films that followed. Hell I might even argue that it's one of the best shots of the ship in the entire series.

The shot of the Enterprise leaving Spacedock in TUC is equally beautiful...but I agree with you. I also think the shot of the Enterprise leaving orbit of Regula I in TWOK is very nice (just after Spock says "The odds will be evened." It almost looks like the TMP Enterprise in that shot...like maybe it was early in ILM"s shooting schedule and it was before they added too much powder and dull coat to the model.

 

[Smellmet]

The shot of the Enterprise leaving Spacedock in TUC is equally beautiful...but I agree with you. I also think the shot of the Enterprise leaving orbit of Regula I in TWOK is very nice (just after Spock says "The odds will be evened." It almost looks like the TMP Enterprise in that shot...like maybe it was early in ILM"s shooting schedule and it was before they added too much powder and dull coat to the model.

Yes they are two other really good ones. I do love the TUC one in particular, it's a nice slick piece of effects work. I think I just prefer the TVH one though as it shows the ship closer up, but they are both very good.

 

[publiusr]

By the time of Star Trek III, it just looked like it was a dull grey-white. The opening fly-by of the Enterprise, just as Kirk is starting his personal log, is one of the most disappointing shots in the film series...and it should have been a great one. The ship just looks so bland.

That was just as well however. Spock was dead and Enterprise all but gutted by Reliant.
We saw TMP footage early at least…before the dust up.

The Dash-A didn’t deserve the pearls

 

[Therin of Andor]

It was beautiful. And then in the very next movie the ship was changed to a boring flat white because the iridescence was causing holes in the ship with the blue screen process. There seem to be conflicting accounts on how the sheen was reduced for TWOK... either the model was repainted in flatter whites and grays, or dull-coat was applied on top of the pearlescent paint to reduce the reflectiveness of the surface.

"Cinefantastique" did a double issue on "Star Trek II" and I recall the FX guys saying something like, "We just don't know how they filmed the model successfully in TMP." And I was amazed, because TMP's FX guys went into quite a bit of detail about how they did it in "Cinefex" issues #1 and #2.

I was surprised that the ST II guys from ILM weren't regularly reading "Cinefex".

 

[Maurice]

They knew how it was done. They just weren't going to use that method since they were set up for bluescreen.

 

[Therin of Andor]

They knew how it was done. They just weren't going to use that method since they were set up for bluescreen.

Yes, I know, but they claimed not to know in their interview. Like it was some big mystery.

 

[McCoy's Disco Collar]

I only vaguely remember that issue, but my recollection of their reaction was more "how did they make that complicated process look so good on screen?" than "we literally don't understand the process they used."

 

[Kor]

I'm skimming through Cinefantastique Volume 12 No. 5-6 (1981) but so far I can't find the comments in question. I do see where visual effects supervisor Kenneth Ralston is talking about how the Enterprise model was really heavy and unwieldly, making it difficult to physically move the thing to arrange for shots. It also says Ralston dulled the TMP finish and added some surface detailing.

Kor

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I only vaguely remember that issue, but my recollection of their reaction was more "how did they make that complicated process look so good on screen?" than "we literally don't understand the process they used."

This seems much more likely to me. There's a difference between saying "I don't know why they choose to shoot the ship using that process. How do you make that decision when this other way is so much better/easier?" and "How did they do this, anyway? I guess it's a mystery."

Different special effects teams are going to do things in different ways.

 

[publiusr]

I'm skimming through Cinefantastique Volume 12 No. 5-6 (1981)

Kor

I miss that magazine