Information Preservation - The New Enterprise Photo Survey

Information Preservation - The New Enterprise Photo Survey - By Phil Broad

April 12, 2021

Hi, Everyone!

Here is another blog article that I put together in order to preserve modeling information originally posted on other sources.

Back in the 2000s, Star Trek fan and archivist Phil Broad posted various black and white photos of the Enterprise refit filming miniature. Since detailed photographs of the Enterprise refit filming miniature during the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture's production are generally scarce, Phil's pictures are unique in that they were taken by him after the completion of TMP but before the production of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This makes the photos quite valuable as reference images to anyone who is researching the miniature as it appeared in TMP.

Phil put up his pictures on his now-defunct website hosted by now-gone service provider Cloudster.com. The pictures themselves have not been considered rare for quite some time and can be found elsewhere, but through the magic of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine his website posts were found! This allowed me to get a bit more context to the photographs. I wanted to create a blog article to preserve Phil's posts, so here it is...

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The New Enterprise Photo Survey

This photo survey was taken at a time after the first motion picture had been completed and the miniature was in storage. I had the opportunity to see the model when it had been unpacked and to take these photos. Unfortunately I had no flash for my camera so a tripod and work light had to take its place...

The Apology

These negatives were processed at home and therefore display many water stains from improper drying. I apologize for this defect in the attached images but I believe that the visitor will find the photos sufficiently interesting to excuse this fault.

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The New Enterprise Filming Miniature

The revival of Star Trek as a new series, later changed to a new feature film, brought the requirement for a new filming miniature. The new art direction staff was given the mandate of updating the ships "look" as well as increasing the surface detail present on it. Since the ship was now going to be seen on 40 foot wide motion picture screens it needed greater detail to realistically convey its size. The new miniature had originally been built with a new TV series in mind and when it was decided to produce effects shots for a feature film instead, special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull found the miniature far too "miniature". The studio did not want to pay the costs involved in building a larger miniature so the existing one had to be brought up to feature film quality.

The Highest Water Mark in Model Building

This is where the stops were "pulled out" and the result was the finest built miniature ever produced in Hollywood! This model represents a high-water mark of craftsmanship that has yet to be surpassed. The model builders turned out a filming miniature approximately seven feet in length that was so finely crafted the cameras could be placed within one eighth of an inch of its surface in any location and maintain believably. Tiny docking ports no more than one quarter of an inch across featured working recessed lights. I had the extreme pleasure of seeing this model with my own eyes and I have never seen a model as perfectly crafted as this one. What a pity that its beautiful finish would be ruined in the next Star Trek feature film when most of it was repainted to represent battle damage. The photos seen here in the B&W gallery were taken by me shortly after the first film had wrapped up production. You will notice in these shots that the ship appears real even in these poorly lit photographs, a testament to the ultra-high quality of the builders efforts.

What Color Is It?

This is a question often heard among fans of this ship. Having seen it with my own eyes I can tell you with authority that the ship is white overall. Not different shades, just white. The panels which appear to be different shades are actually just different amounts of gloss or flat finish, the basic color underneath is white. Some of the panels also included a pearlescent finish which introduces a reddish cast when seen from certain angles. There are some areas that have different colors, most trim colors were light blue and medium blue with red pin stripes and yellow boxes where phaser banks were mounted. There was also a very very light blue dusting applied in some areas, almost like weathering. This was particularly visible on the forward portions of the engine nacelles.

Please contact me if you have comments about these images or corrections to the information presented here via E-Mail (c367516@yahoo.com and pwbroad@yahoo.com).

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The New Enterprise Photo Survey - Overall Views