Video and Pix Of Paramount Rose Parade Float With USS Enterprise

As reported earlier, Paramount Pictures had their first float today as part of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. Celebrating their centennial, the studio’s float featured some icons from Paramount films, including the USS Enterprise soaring over the Paramount mountain and gate. See video and images of the float below.

 

Star Trek Part of Paramount’s Rose Parade Float

Paramount Pictures featured the U.S.S Enterprise from Star Trek amongst other Paramount Pictures icons such as the Grease car and Transformers Bumblebee at the 123rd Tournament of Roses Parade. The “100 Years of Movie Magic” float included the Star Trek 2009 version of the U.S.S. Enterprise. (As a note of correction to our earlier article, TrekMovie was originally told by Paramount the float would include the original series ship design). The float also featured a person dressed as Mr. Spock waving to crowd with a Vulcan salute!

UPDATE: Video from NBC coverage (Al Roker does brief Kirk impression, saying "Bones!")

Check out video of the float from Hallmark Channel.

The float is 55 feet long and 26 feet tall, and the Enterprise was decorated with rice, silver leaf protea, and black seaweed and it included blinking lights. The makers of the float also released images of the build in progress on Flickr.

Rose Parade Paramount Float-10

As a “six degrees of Star Trek” trivia note, the Paramount float also features the plane from Wings, the 1927 film that was the first to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was direct by William Wellman. Wellman’s son, William Wellman Jr. has appeared as a Bajoran on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s episode “Favor the Bold” and played Charlie Evans in the Tim Russ directed fan film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.

Congratulations to Paramount Pictures on both its 100 Anniversary and its Tournament of Roses float.

Seattle celebrates new year with some Star Trek

In other Star Trek/New Year news, the celebration at the Seattle Space Needle included some music from Star Trek. Watch the festivities…

 

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NOOOOO!!!

It’s the Faker-prise!

Oh they went with the 2009 movie version. The original concepts looked like the classic TV ship I thought…. Anyhoo still cool looking.

Nice.

But why is the Enterprise strafe-bombing Hollywood?

i agree..you’d think with six movies with the refurbed and E-A, that would have been the one to use!

At least there were no flames coming of the Warp engines. I saw that there were blinking running light too on the Primary Hull. Nice touch!

and NuTrek bashing will begin in 3…2…1…oh wait, it’s already happening. should i even be surprised anymore?

Not trying to be a smart a$$, but the float Enterprise actually looks better than the movie Enterprise. I think the nacelles look smaller and seem more in proportion to the rest of the ship.

Would have like to have seen the classic TOS ship on the float, it did start it all.

i always thought the opening theme from first contact and ‘enterprising young men’ from 09 are two of trek’s best pieces of music for a good fireworks show. jmo.
and seriously though, i love all you guys and your comments. even the ones that get under my skin. we wouldnt be trek fans if we all agreed on everything.

@ 6. Nope, you should know better.

Again, nice job, Paramount. Don’t forget, So Cal residents all the floats will be on display for a few days before the head off to the shredder….

Hey. The Big E looked good for a float. Paramount did a good Job.
But. I dopn’t think this is canon. Lol. Ok I said it. I kids because i loves.

sorry for the misdirection last week regarding the TOS enterprise. That is what Paramount told us so that is what we reported. I think the PR person I talked to just didnt know or maybe the float builders decided on their own. THe original sketch looked like the TOS enterprise so maybe it was last minute decision to go with all movie stuff.

Anyway I think it looks pretty good.

Thanks John for the article

The announcers didn’t even discuss Trek and the Enterprise.

@Anthony: It was decided after the concept rendering to do the ’09 version for commercial purposes. Also, the Enterprise was covered in rice, poppy seeds, and red pepper tree berries, not seaweed or silver leaf, although those items were on other areas of the float (like the bars holding up the fireworks and the car). I have many photos of it during the decoration process as I was there to help out. =)

I watched the coverage on the HGTV network and their commentators did mention Star Trek as part of their description of the Paramount float as it went by. Not sure about any other networks who covered the parade.

OK… looks good……… :-) :-)

12. You mean they were treating Trek like it was “the elephant in the room”? ;)

Nice work on the Enterprise, looks great hovering over the crowd. Awesome float…would love to attend one of those parades in person.

#14 I guess I should have thought about that and that other networks would have mentioned Trek and the Enterprise. Allthough I am not sure why multiple networks had to cover the same event?

NuTrek is Paramount’s baby. No way they were ever gonna use anything other than the JJPrise.

Looks cool to me

I guess if Paramount does a new TV series that will be set in the new Universe and nothing in the old Universe anymore since the float has the new Enterprise?

Very pretty! Despite the occasional naysayers, Paramount knows that they have a cash cow in Star Trek and have invested a lot into our favorite sci-fi show over the years. Featuring the Enterprise as the penultimate sculpture on their signature float is a nice acknowledgment of Trek’s importance to the company. Let’s face it – if there was no $$ Trek, it would have died long ago and we’d all be grousing about “Babylon 5” instead.

The announcer spent too much time talking about his connection with Bumblebee. No time left for poor Enterprise.

@20

IIRC Paramount no longer own the rights to Star Trek on TV. I believe when Viacom split the Movie rights were retained by Paramount Pictures and the TV right went to CBS corporation (via Paramount Television).

I know both Nu-Viacom and CBS are both owned by National Amusements but aren’t they run as independant companies?
Could CBS produce a Star Trek Series without any permission, input or reference to anything from Paramount? If so then the would have a free hand on what was made

anyone know?

Yea, I understand why they went with the alternate universe Enterprise. This is all part of the marketing plan.

Would have been interesting if they had done one half TOS and the other ’09 Enterprise …

Regards.

JJ Prise. Blechchh.

#23 Sorry I forgot about CBS owning Trek TV. However if they see how well the reboot went I doubt they would want to go back to the old Trek Universe. I still think that confuses people and Paramount should own both Trek TV and the Trek Movies.

Youtube has the worse video player ever, It plays back faster then it loads , come on youtube don’t be aso dam cheap

the enterprise looks soo ugly here. Those necelles are too big, lol.

Awesomesauce. Enterprise looks great! I’m pleased they included Star Trek.

What has happened?

20+ years ago people would have accepted these simple asthetic changes. Now however, its an unfaithful abomination, its a case of ‘destroying ones childhood’ etc…

I think the internet has something to do with it. People have changed. Why?

No really, what happened?

#30

People were just as bitchy then, it’s just that you didn’t have to hear them.

The internet proved that negative opinions sell. It’s an environment that encourages and rewards conflict and controversy, and then when you add in a property as derisive as Star Trek… well, guess what’ll happen. I wonder often what happened to the fans that were around when the powers unveiled an industrial-deco starship revamp or a brand new, front-heavy tree-fungus of a ship.

Personally, I like the new ship. It’s exciting. ;)

THIS IS A DISASTER!

JJ Abrams has shown the model which will be in the next film!

As they say, any PR is good PR.

I guess.

31. Yep, we can be jerky contrarians (like the guys from the muppet show, but without actually being seen) who think everybody should read our opinions. And I”m just talking about myself.

And, I think having the ear of Bob Orci and others involved in Trek elevates our self-importance.

I’m looking forward to the new ship growing on me. My only real complaint was that I would have liked to see a) more of her, period… and b) a few more (more TOS-Style and not TNG’s Love Boat look) windows on the outside, to get a real sense of her size. And the big light panels going around the nacelles looked decorative and not-so functional… I guess I just want to be convinced that this could be an actual ship and not just a model (It looked pretty modelly to me in a few of the shots) — because, since I was 9, I’ve wanted all this to be real.

But we all have preferences. We’ve never seen a movie-quality TOS enterprise, and seeing an updated but relatively faithful version (that also looked more like it could actually be a real-world Starship, as much as anything could) would have been pretty amazing. But whatever, it didn”t happen.

And sometimes I wonder if we sort of think: “Duh, doesn”t JJ know that the Enterprise deflector dish wasn’t blue, or lit up, until…” and, yeah, of course he does, but he wanted his blue.

Hey, that whole TMP idea of having the deflector blue at certain speeds and golden at others… well, that was entirely abandoned after TMP (except for reused footage in Trek II), wasn”t it? I always wondered if that explanation was a retcon, because in the movie, it just looked like they”d changed the colour at one point but hadn”t corrected it in earlier scenes.

Heck, I was mildly annoyed, for 30 seconds, that they made the Enterprise-E’s deflector yellow — “I know engineers, they love to change things”). But it quickly grew on me.

P.S. Was watching Empire on TV last night. And the level of filmmaking craftsmanship, art direction and attention to detail is astounding. The sets disappear and you really do get immersed in another world. Lucas and Spielberg changed the way films were made (compare the Amityville Horror to Poltergeist, two years later [or Poltergeist to its terrible sequels, which look, mostly, like they were made 10 years before the first one]). if JJ can do that with Star Trek, heck, let him.

Discussion of things that might have worked better is fine on here, don’t you think?, as long as we don’t get into name-calling/ inventing the filmmaker’s motives…

I wasn’t a big fan of the FX for San Francisco, for example (too brutalist and menacing) or even the city on Vulcan, because of my Polyanna visions of an eco-friendly future of beautiful design that works with the surroundings. Same with giant factory farms that can be seen for hundreds of miles. And I get how the filmmakers, I”m guessing, wanted it to look grounded in real-world needs (finding somewhere for all those people), 60s architecture and a grittier, more industrial feel. But it fit the movie, I guess.

The big question is does anyone care?

No.

I doubt Rosebowl fans (whatever that is) even know that there are different versions of the Enterprise. Sports fans (I’m assuming) aren’t exactly aware of such details.

Do Trekkies care that Paramount used the “Ugly-prize”?

No. Not really.

That ship has already sailed; Abrams & co. ruined the ship in 2009, it’s been 3 years & still isn’t getting any prettier. We’re over it.

So, someone reported that it would be the real enterprise instead of this debacle. What else is new?

We’re Trekkies, we’re used to being lied to & having our dreams crushed in front of us.

They didn’t show the TOS Enterprise, and they didn’t make the Transformer look like the toy or how it looked in the anime . So everything’s fair. Yes?

Either way, loved the float.

Great to see Trek getting such a prominent position. Most people won’t know what movie the model came from but they will know its the Enterprise, and thats the important thing.
Not a bad recreation at all. Good work.

#35 “We’re Trekkies, we’re used to being lied to & having our dreams crushed in front of us.”

no….YOU are used to having YOUR dreams crushed right before your eyes. Mine remain quite intact, thank you very much. :)

“I think the internet has something to do with it. People have changed. Why?

Fair question. As someone who’s been around for awhile, and speaking just for myself, I can only say that J.J. Abrams and Ryan Church had every bit as much opportunity to win me over with their version of the Enterprise as Andy Probert and Doug Trumbull did with theirs. The difference–again, speaking strictly for myself–was that the TMP redesign was classy and stylish, yet believable, while the Abrams take is a malproportioned, industrial monstrosity. TOS “purists” were not bitching in 1979 because they were largely pleased with The Motion Picture version of the ship–more so, as it turned out, than with the film itself.

Still hate the new Enterprise.

#3 The Enterprise is strafing Hollywood cause Hollywood deserves a couple dozen photon torpedoes.

30 – Complaining about complainers always bugs me. If you paid someone to redecorate your house, and you didn’t like it… would you just accept it?

I really liked the 09 movie…but I don’t like the new enterprise… or the sets making up her interior. My opinion. Certainly. But, there is zero point to a message board like this if it’s only for fawning enthusiasm.

41- Yes. I preferred the more thoughtful Star Trek, but if somebody liked or disliked ST2009, that’s OK, too.

Here’s a pic of the Big E from the Festival of Lights in East Peoria, IL:
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t314/tcal047/EPFoLEnt.jpg

Hey, I’m glad that the JJ Enterprise was selected to be on that float. The other Enterprises can now retain their dignity by not sharing a float with the Transformers movies. That will always be a plus in my book.

While I don’t like the design of the new ship, I admit that Michael Giacchino,s heroic score plays in my head whenever I see this version of the Enterprise. The more I watch the 2009 film, I grow more impressed by the score. The movie takes flight thanks in large part to Mr. Giacchino.

@ #44–

Beauty! Now that’s a ship!

@30: Absolutely it’s the internet. When everyone has a voice, everyone thinks they need to scream to grab your attention.

#45 LOL

That new Enterprise…..still not sure about it. It’s got too many weird proportions.

Cool! Bummer the commentators didn’t even acknowledge the Enterprise or Star Trek, but whatevs. The old girl looks awesome regardless. Go Star Trek!

The complainers who hate the design of the J.J Abrams Enterprise are obviously under the delusion that their whining will result in a new design, when in fact, the sequel will most likely retain the same look, with maybe a few very minor detail changes at the most.

What we saw in ’09 is what we will be seeing in the sequel. J.J Abrams liked the design because it adheres to his vision, and he isn’t going to let a bunch of shit-pantsed nerds dictate what his ship should look like.

Get used to it, and stop your bitching.