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Probert's design evolution
The long range shuttle was designed by Andrew Probert, who recounted, "The script called for a shuttlecraft with warp-drive capability. Gene [Roddenberry] wanted the craft to have large warp-drive nacelles, designed to recall the old Starfleet technology. For personnel transfer, the shuttle was required to hard-dock with the USS Enterprise. As was brought out in the TV series, intraship beaming was extremely hazardous. My original sketches included the configuration–almost exactly–that we finally settled on, after many tests, which Gene liked even though it did not confirm to his original idea. I reasoned that the size of the warpo engines made a hard-docking impossible, so we needed a warp-drive sled and basic shuttlecraft. I did a quick sketch to show how it would operate." (Starlog, issue 32, p. 29) Elaborating on this last notion, Probert has remarked, "In working out the design, though, I couldn't create a configuration with which I was really comfortable with until finally coming up with the idea of a large shuttle with removable warp engines, which quickly evolved into a "warp sled". The shuttle could now park its sled at some distance from a destination and simply maneuver the remaining distance to dock. I never would have imagined, however, the Trumbull–inspired "half gainer" that the ship and its Vulcan pilots performed during the docking approach." (Starlog photo guidebook Special Effects, vol. 5, p. 94)
According to later Probert interviews:
"In the script, this was a shuttle with "long-range" capabilities. Gene wanted it to have (relatively) huge warp engines to indicate how it could reach the Enterprise quickly. Starting with the original TOS shuttlecraft design, I visually peeled it down to its basic cabin and then started updating that, adding (at first) large TOS-style warp engines. The problem I was fighting was how to hard-dock with the Enterprise (an unexplained requirement overriding the transporters) while keeping those large engines out of the way. Sketching extended warp engine pylons, to help solve that problem, it occurred to me that those extensions and warp engines could be detachable during the docking process and the idea of a separate Warp Sled soon came to mind. From that point, it was a matter of refining the details and, since this was to be a Vulcan Shuttle, many of those details were derived from the Vulcan society itself. I observed, in the TOS episode #30: "Amok Time", a six-sided-diamond shape as part of their motif, especially in the ceremonial gong at the center of the featured arena. I applied this motif to various parts of the shuttle as well as using it as a cross section for the new warp engines. [1]
"The Vulcan shuttle is actually a Starfleet shuttle, co-designed with Vulcan engineers. That's why it has subtle repetitions of that ceremonial 'gong' shape we saw in "Amok Time". Anyway, my thinking was those new ships would have the same warm gray tonalities that the Galileo-type shuttles had and they would be the new standard shuttle. They would be more squat and smaller because they had to fit within the decks of the starships, but yeah, those were hopeful replacements. That long-range shuttle, though, is actually my favorite design in the movie." [2]
While designing the long range shuttle, Probert did not envision the craft having any secondary entrances or exits. He later noted, "I would change that today." The circular door on the rear of the craft had to be of the same proportions as the docking collar of the Enterprise, since that fitting was intended to be a universal connection. [3]
Probert referred to only the upper part of the craft's two sections as being the shuttle, calling the lower section the "warp sled"; he conceived the latter as having warp capability, equipped with both warp and impulse engines. However, this distinction is not made on screen and both portions of the craft are only ever shown traveling at slower than warp speeds (though the shuttle's name implies that the craft was capable of regularly sustaining warp to traverse long distances). Probert did not imagine the cabin section as having the ability to travel at warp or even near-light velocities, with that compartment's only intended method of travel being reaction control thrusters, which Probert included on the section's corners. Despite the slowness of the upper module, Probert envisioned it – in accordance with his wishes that the long range shuttle become the new standard shuttlecraft for Star Trek – as being capable of traveling between space and the surfaces of planets. To this end, the Surak's landing pads were marked with reddish coloring meant to be from Vulcan soil. "But when you're rushed through production to do stuff, you overlook a few things, and the problem there would have been how do you get it off the planet with only RCS thrusters...." explained Probert. "It's conceivable that it would have its own primary power system in addition to the RCS system, but I hadn't been able to think that far, and it was simply a proposal." [4]
Probert planned for long range shuttles to be included in a matte painting of the cargo bay, though this plan went unrealized, as shuttles were entirely excluded from the final painting. [5]
Pahk examining the warp-sled part of his model
Richard Taylor (l) and Jim Dow discussing the Surak studio model at Magicam
The studio model of the Surak was eventually built at Astra Image Corporation/Magicam. Its primary builder was Magicam's Tom Pahk (American Cinematographer, February 1980, pp. 152, 179) The model was filmed on one of Douglas Trumbull's stages at Future General Corporation. (The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, p. 206) The model of the long range shuttle was reported to have been on the set for the Starfleet Officer's Lounge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, though it does not appear on screen in that film. (text commentary, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Special Edition) DVD)
The display model
The display model that appeared as set dressing in the episodes TNG: "Too Short a Season", "The Dauphin", "Symbiosis", was an unmodified AMT model kit no. S972.
External link
- Template:Brokenlink at probertdesigns.com