Interlude 3 (SUPER-GEEK edition)

Monday, November 2nd, 2009 • Horrorthon Posts

Jordan loves digital models
Of course everybody remembers that glorious moment when I, Jordan, posted frames from Alien selected for the purpose of showcasing the superb production design of that movie, and, specifically, the excellence of Ron Cobb’s and Martin Bower’s work in creating the U.S.C.S.S. Nostromo, interior and exterior.

Anyway, In my capacity as sci-fi/design/font/sfx/vehicle/movie geek, I’ve hated all Star Trek design post-1979, when they unveiled Matt Jeffries’ and Andrew Probert’s excellent original movie Enterprise, including the exterior model and those sparse, metallic sets (which picked up the vibe of the original show). Everything since has sucked, in my opinion; the gaudy 80s-movies costumes and sets; the vomitous Next Generation environments and spacecraft; and, to a lesser extent, Voyager and Deep Space Nine and all the rest. (And don’t tell me it’s all just “dated”—that cheese-fest Wrath of Khan was the same year as Blade Runner.) It’s just all been ug-LEE beyond words…which is why I’m so incredibly pleased with the new movie, which, in addition to being totally awesome in almost every other way, finally imbues Star Trek with some quality design work. Feast your eyes on my new gallery showcasing the beautiful exterior and interior of the 2009 U.S.S. Enterprise.

(BTW note that there is no physical model: all those exterior shots are 100% digital ILM compositions. It’s incredible how good they’ve gotten at it after three Star Wars prequels, the Pirates trilogy, etc.)

BONUS GEEK VIDEO: I put together the final shot of Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979) and the final shot of Star Trek (2009), since the two shots are close to identical in their basic description (the Enterprise flies past, right to left, and warps out) but illustrate the vast contrasts across thirty years of movie technology and design aesthetics. Take a look!