takahash@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Alan Takahashi) (05/31/90)
[Comments from the Chronicler...
- These are comments made from the slideshow presentation at Baycon '90.
The panel was conducted by Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda.
- I will not include comments that were made in previous Baycons since
they've been listed before. If you want to look at them, check out
my previous postings on Baycon '88 and '89. You'll find them in
the STTNG Guide put together by the Vidiot...Appendix G. (Thanks,
Vidiot!! Does this mean I'm official now?? Huh?? :-) )
- Some of this material include anime references, hence the cross-
posting to rec.arts.anime. If you follow up, PLEASE edit the
Newsgroups line to whatever's appropiate. Unfortunately, there
aren't too many of them this year...they've been a little busy
this year.
- Belated credit: I didn't properly credit Carol Smith for her help
in putting together the Baycon '89 posting. In full (embarrassing)
public view, I herewith acknowledge her assistance for the Baycon '89
and Baycon '90 postings. Thanks, Carol!!
End of Comments...NOW FOR THE REAL STUFF -- Alan]
PANEL: Star Trek: The Next Generation Slide Show.
Rick Sternbach, Mike Okuda
+ Rick Sternbach is the Senior Illustrator. Mike Okuda is the Graphic
Designer. Both have now "acquired" additional titles (an upgrade
if you will. Both are now known as <Old Title>/Technical Consultant.
Well, *somebody* has to tell them how Warp Engines work!!
>>OK, OK...old joke...ack!! Put those tomatoes down!!<<
* In reference to the above, scripts will now come with lines like the
following:
Geordi has to fix the warp engines by using the <Tech>.
This is a signal for Rick or Mike to fill in the word with something...
well...techie. The actual example they used came from the "Captain's
Holiday" episode. The writers needed some gizmo that would provide
a motive for some scientist from the 27th century to come to the
24th century via the 22th century. Something REALLY big. Blowing
up a planet wasn't big enough. Well, we all know what eventually
came out of this...
* To provide a source for such techie gadgets, they made up 3 lists.
Call them A, B, and C. List A and B had adjectives and C had nouns.
Put them together and you'll have a phrase of the form:
<Adjective> <Adjective> <Noun>
Gee, with this toy the writers could come up with phrases like:
"Subspace Compression Modulator". Neat, huh? Pick a word at
random from each of the 3 lists, and you'll have a *new* gadget!!
Only one problem now...what do all these gadgets do?
BTW, if you DIDN'T know, "Captain's Holiday" had a "Quantum Phase
Inverter". It...uh...well...did something to stars...yeah, made
them go nova...that's the ticket!! :-) (The writers reaction:
"Is that a joke?" The Response: "Of course it is!! Put it in
the movie!!")
* Rick does NOT like doing storyboards, and doesn't...even though it's
in his union contract...the Production Staff have learned not to
give them to him... :-)
* Differences between Set Decoration and Props: if a character interacts
with it (e.g. pick it up), it's a prop. Otherwise Set Decoration takes
care of it.
* From "Menage a Troi", there is an audio anime joke...listen to what
happens when a Ferengi is talking. No, I DON'T know what it is...
but I'll follow up later after I've seen it!! ("Menage a Troi" has
not yet been shown at the time of this posting).
* Alternative title for "Menage a Troi"..."This is Troi's Brain".
(My *immediate* response: "This is Troi's Brain on drugs...any
questions?" :-) )
* The canonical answer to why there are no cloaking devices on board
any Federation ship. They've found that cloaking devices don't
work with the geometry of the starships shape. It has to do with
where the Deflector Emitters are on the hull relative to each other
and does not allow for that kind of field manipulation.
Why did the (old) Enterprise work with its stolen one? Due to
Scotty's work. However, the operation of the cloaking device
blew all of the Deflector Emitters on board the starship...and
replacing them *ain't* cheap!! They had to do it anyway, but
the Enterprise had no shield system for TWO WEEKS.
Current policy at Starfleet is "Never again..."...
* Why doesn't STTNG allow Federation use of cloaking technology anyway?
(Well, they CAN...after all, it's only a TV show!!) The real world
reason is that it's one of the facets that make the Romulans
different from the Federation. Also the fact that any resultant
space battles/warp maneuvers would be boring to watch.
"Gee, the invisible Enterprise is taking evasive action away from the
bow of the invisible Romulan ship which bearing down on where the
invisible Enterprise was originally." Easy to tape, though... :-)
Of course, invisible ships DO save money...you could have an entire
fleet of invisible ships out there, and not have to show it.
* Question to Mike Okuda: "What's your favorite episode?"
Answer from Mike Okuda: "Good question"
* STTNG Milestones:
+ The 6th episode of season 4 will be the 80th episode made of
STTNG. This is the point where they exceed the total number
of episodes made for STTOS.
+ The last episode of season 4 will be the 100th episode.
+ The end of season 4 will mark Mike and Rick having the LONGEST
tenure with Star Trek with the exception of Gene Roddenberry
and a couple of other people. Rick noted that this was a
"scary statistic".
* Rick has "acquired" something that he definitely DIDN'T want. One
of his jokes during STTNG's First Season (might have said it at
Baycon '88...don't remember) was the fact that he didn't want his
headstone to read: "He Worked on Star Trek".
During a modelling session (they were building a Form-Core model),
a Foam-Core headstone appeared at his drafting lamp with the
inscription: "He Worked on Star Trek".
Mike's immediate reaction: "I've no idea who did it".
* The Enterprise on STTNG is "NCC-1701D". The "D" stands for David
Lynch, the Line Producer...(well, it COULD have been a joke :-))...
* On the Enterprise Dedication Plaque..."The Fifth Starship to Bear
the Name". Mike got it from "The Blues Brothers" where the movie
said "Third Bridge at this Site"...
* Often, human figures are used for scale on preproduction drawings
of items. For "Ensigns of Command", who should be leaning on the
dam workings? Why, it's Kei of the Dirty Pair!! In full color too.
Funny, since two of the dams were just pencil sketches... :-)
* From "Captain's Holiday", the basic design of the pack used by
Picard came from "Robinson Crusoe on Mars". Remember that one?
* Due to cost constraints, alot of compromise has to be done between
what Rick draws, and what Fabrication can do. It also means that
sets have to be reused as much as possible. (OK, so this one is
a *slight* repeat from Baycon '89...). Compound curves in props
is definitely OUT.
* The fusion reactor from "Who Watches the Watchers" reappeared in
"The Vengance Factor" slightly redressed. Stickers were added to
the reactor...with a variety of anime jokes on them. The camera
never got close enough, however...*sigh*
* From "Boobytrap", the original model in the holodeck was suppose
to be a mockup of the actual inside of a warp engine. Time (5 days)
constraints forced them to be somewhat more modest, and the sliding
panels idea was ultimately used for Geordi's model.
* Many items on the drawings are referred to as "GNDN". An example
of this is the "GNDN Engineering Tool" which appeared on one of
the drawings for miscellaneous tools. This is a reference to the
old series (STTOS) where many of the pipes had "GNDN" written on
them.
If you're wondering, "GNDN" stands for "Goes Nowhere...Does Nothing".
* From "Who Watches the Watchers": the 'Snoop Scope' used by the
observation post (it's by the window) is based on the video cameras
used by the TMA-1 team from "2001: A Space Odyssey".
* From "Hollow Pursuits", the Transporter Test Object used by O'Brien
to show that the transporter isn't working is actually a Navy Sonar
Buoy Transport Case. For some reason, the STTNG production staff
has a lot of those...
* From "The Emissary", K'Ehleyr's specially modified probe was a redress
of a photon torpedo tube (ST:TSFS) which in turn was a redress of
Spock's coffin (ST:TWOK).
* From "The Schizoid Man", preproduction drawings of Ira Graves' casket
were shown. The drawings were credited to "Casket Concepts", and the
'brochure' was displaying "The Starfleet Collection". Nobody could
figure out, though, why Ira Graves needed a window...
* A poster of Kei and Yuri actually did appear on Wesley Crusher's wall.
Complete with double stick tape and everything. David Livingston
came onto the set, took one look at the poster and said: "Awww, c'mon,
you're kidding!!". Needless to say, the poster came off. This close,
we were THIS close... :-) :-)
* What DID appear in Wesley's quarters were fan-built reproductions of
a phaser and a communicator. Well, OK, this one was kind of mentioned
at Baycon '89 too...
* From "Peak Performance", blue candle wax makes great antimatter...
* From "Measure of a Man", Data's arm was made up of whatever happened
to be lying on Rick's desk at the time...Exacto knives, model parts,
a little R2-D2, etc. Then they gave it to Mike Westmore. (Rick *was*
going to say: "We gave him a hand...")
* The PADDs are those little information pads that everyone carries around.
They have LEDs and chase circuits built in to simulate activity. An
exchange for all you Macintosh people:
Rick: "What do you think the memory capacity of the PADD is?"
Mike: "It's not quite adaquate, but with System 7.0, it'll be ok."
* Tricorders have gotten to be very complicated props. They have a
ton of LEDs in there controlled by variable potentiometers (and
probably more chase circuits...they didn't say that though). They
also have a working hinge so that they can *really* open and close.
The original Tricorders had a spring loaded mechanism (based on some
toy). When they open or closed, the hinge makes a click-click-click-
click noise. With the new props, the hinges are silent, so the
Sound department is DUBBING the clicks back in...
* Alternative name for "Transfigurations"..."The Tricorder Venture".
There is a new design for the Medical Tricorder which is seen first
in this episode...and Beverly Crusher is holding it every other shot...
In a tribute to the original Trek, *maybe* the sound effect for Dr.
McCoy's Feinburger scanner will be used for this new tricorder. We'll
have to see...(at the time of this posting, "Transfigurations" has
not yet been shown...)
* A new phaser has been designed. It's to replace the "Dustbuster".
You get the feeling that somebody didn't like the old design? :-) :-)
* The Medical Hypo is based on a present day inhaler. After all, you
can spray the inhaler, it has removable cartridges, and is amazingly
useful. Rick thought that basing the Hypo on his inhaler was a
*great* idea...at least his doctor is thrilled with the design... :-)
* From the audience: the best common-man description of the Enterprise
that I've ever heard. It goes something like this:
"The 60's Enterprise looks like it was designed by Chevy.
The 70's Enterprise looks like it was designed by BMW.
The 80's Enterprise looks like it was designed by Mazda."
* From "Evolution", preproduction drawings use Yuri for the scale figure
on the model of Dr. Stubbs' "Egg". Of course, Yuri didn't appear in
the episode itself, but the front of the "Egg" *is* based on Nanmo's
green eye. "Nanmo" is the Dirty Pair's robot...
The "Egg" itself was based on the Virus Containment Unit from
"The Child".
* The Shuttle Pod has been used extensively in STTNG (if you hadn't
noticed :-)). There has been some lobbying from the Art Department
to allow them to start using a full-sized shuttle again, a la 'Galileo'...
The Shuttle Pod is mounted on wheels, so it is easy to move.
* From BAYCON '89 and "Time Squared", the shuttle was named after a
NASA geologist: Professor Farouk El-Baz. I had messed up the spelling
last year, so I'd thought I'd correct it.
Something new: when "Time Squared" was shown, Prof. El-Baz was at
home with his children. The kids' response: "Dad, it's us!!"
Of course, Mike Okuda got a call from Brown University the next
morning...
* Other prominent names for Shuttle Pods:
ONIZUKA -- for Ellison Onizuka of the Challenger Seven.
LEY -- for Willie Ley (?)
PIKE -- for Captain Christopher Pike (NOT John Pike, the president
of Paramount Pictures)
* The LAW on starship engines: there are *never* odd numbers of engine
nacelles on starships (from Gene). Rationalization (from the 'Technical
Advisors'): it has something to do with Warp Field geometries...
* From "The Defector", the Romulan Scout has a nose which can detach from
the rest of the ship. The separated nose can serve as a lifeboat.
* From "Tin Man", the final product was something that looked like a
pine cone, and felt like tree bark. The model maker added some wood
knots to it for some reason (for the "authentic" feel? :-))...
* From "Sins of the Fathers", the shot where there is a data mismatch
between the starship log (the Hood, I think) and the data from the
captured from the Romulan is known as "The Nixon Shot". I wonder
why? :-)
The actual data was all random numbers...
* Often, Mike has to design alien type faces. When doing so, he never
assigns an 'A'=, 'B'= match up to his characters. He's found that
if he does so, then from a distance, his alien typeface looks just
like English. Even he doesn't know what his letters mean, and he
prefers it that way...
* From "The High Ground", Mike had to design YAAT (Yet Another Alien
Typeface) for the police display shown on the Enterprise. When he
was done, he realized that he had designed an alien Macintosh,
complete with windows and a cursor symbol in the middle...
* The Romulan symbol is a nasty looking bird of prey which is clasping
two glowing spheres in its claws. The spheres are supposed to represent
the two central planets of the Romulan Empire. The logo was actually
designed by an Bay Area artist named Monty Thrasher. Mike tries to
put the logo in wherever a Romulan appears...
* If the Enterprise is looking a bit different now, it's because a new
and more detailed model was introduced sometime in the middle of the
Third Season. Among other things, the new model accurately represents
where 10-Forward is (the front lip of the Saucer Section).
* Something that *didn't* make it onto the Bridge Plaque: "Built by
Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems".
* Purposes of the two forward bridge consoles:
CON (Wesley Crusher): Ship's Helmsman *and* Navigator
OPS (Lt. Cmdr. Data): Operations Manager in change of various nebulous
and undefined duties.
* Audience question (again): "Why doesn't Worf have a chair?"
Answer this year: The original plan was not to have the Tactical
Station continuously manned. When the utility of a full time
Tactical Officer became obvious, they put one there. Denise
Crosby *has* been known for coming up to the Art Department during
First Season, bat her eyelashes and say "Can you guys design me
a chair?"
* Stations on the rear of the bridge: Mission Operations, Science One,
Science Two, Environmental Systems, and Engineering (Geordi's).
* There are two little seen doors to the left of the Aft Stations. One
of them goes to the Conference Lounge, and the other one...well, the
sign on the door appears below:
---------||-------
| HEAD || 01 |
---------||-------
Mike: "...and the other one goes to..."
Rick: "...goes to a different kind of Conference Lounge..."
* On the topic of door labels, the sliding doors have signs which
identify both the room and the deck that it's on in the following
form:
------------------------||------
| TRANSPORTER ROOM 795 || 12 |
------------------------||------
This door would lead into room #795: the Transporter Room on Deck 12.
* The display behind the bar at 10-Forward represents a radio telescope
view of the Milky Way Galaxy edge on. Designed by Rick Sternbach.
* On the Enterprise cutaway in Engineering: a duck, a mouse, a DC-3,
a Porsche, a telephone, a stop sign...and the hamster in the treadmill
which actually is the one running the ship. Ahead warp 8, Mr. Crusher!!
* The Star Trek Technical Manual has been approved by Pocket Books for
release in the Fall (1990). Now, if only Rick and Mike will write
it...
* The reflected stars on the Conference Table (especially the streaking
stars which appear both in the windows and on the table during warp
drive) is done via Blue Screen effect. Remember that the Blue Screen
used in the windows is *also* reflected on the reflective table.
The effect is, therefore, relatively easy to do (but it's still
impressive IMHO).
* What happened to the bigger Klingon ships? Well, Rick and Mike have
been lobbying to bring them back, but the Producers have said: "Well
the last time we used the small ships, nobody complained..."
* Question: "What is Transporter Code 14?"
Answer: "Look at the Technical Manual :-)"
* Rick: "If we're limited to the speed of light, how is it than we can
use the Transporters while we're at Warp?"
Mike: "Ummmm..........whoops, we're out of time..."
PANEL: It isn't just movies (Anime Panel)
Rick Sternbach, Michael House, et al...
* How did the anime in-jokes get started? It seemed only fair, since
the "Dirty Pair" series (produced by Sunrise) had a number of Star
Trek references in their own series...
As a result, the Dirty Pair gets more air time than anyone else on
STTNG...oh no!! I *really* meant to say "Lovely Angels"! Really!
Wait! *ack*
* There is also an (unofficial) trading relationship between
Paramount and Sunrise. Rick did not mention what was being
traded, however...
Once again, I'd like to thank Carol Smith for her help in note taking,
memories, proofing and telling me what a "chase circuit" was.
Enjoy Enjoy!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alan Takahashi ! hplabs amdahl
Northern Telecom Inc. ! \ /
Mountain View, CA !UUCP: ...!{-----}!ntmtv!takahash
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"When you need to knock on wood is when ! ames
you realize the world's composed of !INTERNET:
aluminum and vinyl." -- Flugg's Law ! ntmtv!takahash@ames.arc.nasa.gov
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