I will definately find your interview and pre-production photos of interest, and look forward to you putting the “link” to it up here when you are ready to.

Great post. True, it was Trumbull’s idea to add the spotlights (and the detail around the upper and lower saucer domes) to the Enterprise.

I plan on having my interview with Mr. Taylor back up online soon — complete with pre-production art, set drawings and more. He was kind enough to loan a good portion of the original production artwork to me and I was able to take digital photos of a lot of it.

Once up, I hope you and other visitors find it interesting. It will be a true historical archive of that phase of TMP’s production. This phase of production is important because it was during this phase that MOST of the look and feel for Star Trek onward was established. I plan to make this archive as complete as I can make it at this juncture and with the artifacts I have.

And it’s interesting to see what had been planned for the film, yet was not accomplished…

Too bad Abel declined your interview request…a lot of excellent talent worked for Abel and contributed to Star Trek, Tron and other films. It would have been a chance to showcase their contributions to the franchise.

I think if the film had had a Lucas-like figure (setting up a permanent Trek effects house — a la’ ILM.) developing the film then perhaps Abel might have eventually pulled off the effects.

TTM

That’s answered a few things of interest. I am very glad that the late great Robert Wise got the chance to do his Director’s Cut of ST:TMP, as it is a big improvement on what was rushed in it’s original release.

Abel and Associates and Richard Taylor received credit on the film at the end contractually for actually ONE shot that was in the released film. The explosion of the asteroid at the end of the wormhole sequence. As far as I know that was the only finished effect that Abel’s people did that remained in the film. (there might have been some playback graphics on the control panels in the bridge, but I’m not sure.) As that shot has been replaced in the Director’s Edition, and since Mr. Wise when he was alive really disliked talking about Abel and his company, we didn’t mention him in the commentary. (For the record, we did contact Mr. Abel in 2000 when we were approaching cast and crew for interviews, but he declined. He passed away unexpectedly in October of 2001)

The Wormhole streaking lights sequence was done by Robert Swarthe and his crew for Trumbull. (Though something like it undoubtedly was planned by Abel’s Group)

Abel’s group, and Richard Taylor in particular, are responsible for the first phase of redesigning of the Enterprise herself. It was Taylor who came up with the “art deco” look of the new warp engines, though the self illumination and floodlight fixtures that are found on the final shooting model were handled by Andy Probert, one of the only holdovers from Abel’s art department, under the direction of Trumbull.

It is truly sad that a very dedicated team of artists and craftsmen fell short of completing their tasks on this film. Perhaps if there had been another year before release, they would have been able to bring their visually stunning ideas to the screen. However, the motion picture industry is one of deadlines… and that often clashes with the pioneering artistic spirit… as it did in this case. After a year of in depth research, development, equipment building, and spending a major portion of their budget, a paltry amount of footage existed. I have seen some of it, and it was enough to put the studio into a tailspin… partly due to a lack of vision, yes… but also due to a real concern over time constraints and the ability of a maverick effects company to fulfill their contract.

Very little of the development work that Abel’s company did saw through to the final film. And this is why they were, perhaps wrongly, not mentioned by us.

The Kirk Exit from the enterprise shot made it only to a still storyboard form in pre production of the director’s edition. Due to our own budget and time constraints, it never made it past that… and I personally was never pleased with what I had come up with for it. So, I’m afraid it will remain unseen.

Hope this clarifies our reasoning, and the information that we learned.

cheers.

drd

1.) If there was a mention of Abel and Associates I missed it.

2.) Darren, can we see that finished shot you rendered of Kirk exiting the airlock from the Memory Wall sequence? That would be cool.

3.) Error in crediting on the wormhole bridge shots. That was the ONE and ONLY sequence that kept Abel footage. Abel didn’t do the exterior wormhole effect, but did the bridge footage that was streaked. This is why Abel and Associates — and Richard Taylor in particular — have a credit during the closing credits of the film.

4.) The bridge footage with the V’ger light footage was shot while Abel and Associates was still working on the effects. I have talked to Richard Taylor about this and he described in detail the shooting for that sequence — and his plans for what the V’Ger probe was going to look like (nothing like what is in the final film, btw).

5.) I hope to have my articles on the work of Robert Abel and Associates back up online in the near future — and at that point, you’ll be able to piece together the true history of the visual effects. This is something that has never been presented — either on a DVD extra or in a book. It goes a long way in dispelling the myth that the visuals began and ended with Trumbull and Dykstra (even though I admire those two greats tremendously!). The groundwork for their work (MOST of the miniature work, design, etc.) was laid out long before they arrived on the film.

I second that! Perhaps it will come with some scratch ‘n’ sniff cards :D

Same here, I love having the first film on in the background for some reason. Great soundtrack and nostalgia to go with it I suppose. I always stop and watch it when it’s on cable as well. The other films just aren’t as enjoyable, perhaps it’s the 70’s vibe that many of us here all seem to miss.

Mike :o