Earlier today TrekMovie.com posted a supposed ‘leaked design sketch’ of a reimagined Enterprise for Star Trek XI. Word of this sketch spread around the Internet like wild fire. It is being discussed on StarTrek.com, TrekWeb, TrekBBS, SomethingAwful, WordForge, Bethesda, and even in the TreksInSciFi podcast. After thorough research TrekMovie.com has learned that this sketch is indeed an Apirl Fool’s Day joke. The scheme was hatched by TrekMovie.com owner Anthony Pascale who was unavailable for comment but was seen walking the streets of Los Angeles giggling maniacally. We have also learned his accomplice was artist Jason Lee (who also goes by the name ‘Vektor’) who actually created the so-called leaked sketch. When questioned Mr. Lee would only say "we just thought it would be kind of funny." Funny indeed.
Apparently TrekMovie.com aren’t the only ones who think this kind of thing is funny. StarTrek.com also appears to be perpetuating a number of suspicious stories on poor Star Trek fans. They claim a new show is in development called the Deluxe Star Trek Remastered which will insert material from their library of other shows (such as I Love Lucy) into Trek. They are also reporting that JJ Abrams will be using YouTube to have fans help edit Star Trek XI, and that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga are making a fan film. Perhaps most cruel of all, SciFi Haven are reprting that Star Trek Enterprise is being renewed on the CW.
UPDATE: High Res version of Jason’s Foolerprise
It won’t be much of a joke if we end up with something much worse in the actual film.
It was really a nice job by Vektor, but he always does excellently.
Well done to all at TrekMovie.com for pulling the wool over so many people’s eyes. I think what’s worse is many people believed it.
Now comes the beat down!
Doh!!!
Hey, for all we know Abrams and team may come up with a design for the ship that makes us LONG for this debunked design!!
(in Elmer Fudd’s voice) Shhhh,….be very, very quiet…..I’m hunting Pascale! Heh, heh, heh, heh…..
re: 1. The Gospel Truth – April 1, 2007
” It won’t be much of a joke if we end up with something much worse in the actual film.”
It will not be surprising at all if whatever shows up in the movie will be worse.
I think Abrams and crew will probably end up using a ridiculously detailed version of the original Enterprise, down to fingerprints on the outer hull from dockyard workers, smears, and shit stains from the guy that got space sick the day she departed drydock.
There could also be a thin layer of sulfer that has accumulated on the ships skin giving it a slight red hue, akin to the Discovery in 2010.
#8 “it will not be surprising at all if whatever shows up in the movie will be worse”
Hey, gotta love that positive attitude of yours, as in you’re POSITIVE the new Trek film will stink! As Q would say, “Oh you’re good,… you’re really good!”
#9 “and shit stains from the guy that got space sick”
Wow, what a coincidence! I hear that’s the colour they’ve picked for the new command uniforms! Of course medical personnel will wear diarrhea yellow.
:( that was very cruel. I had already burned all my Star Trek merchandise b/c of this prank. Now I don’t know what to do. Naaahhh I’m just kiddin’
I also checkout 3d meshes web site and I realized that I had seen the design before by an artist name Vektor……Funny I made the same comment to Vektor about the design I made here. Still a nice drawing, the real thing will be out soon…..be prepared!!!
Hey gang, hope there were no hard feelings over our little April Fool’s Day put-on. When Anthony called me up and pitched the idea, I just couldn’t resist. What made it really challenging was that we first talked about on Thursday and that only left two days to come up with a design and draw it in a form that would look plausible enough to keep people guessing. It’s been fun and immensely gratifying to see just how many people actually took it seriously.
And for the record, this sketch has NOTHING to do with my own preferences for how the Enterprise should appear in Trek XI. If anything, it’s not quite as far over-the-top and Anthony and I originally intended, but that probably helped to sell the illusion a bit. To all the people who gasped and choked and branded it an abomination and a personal affront to Trek fans everywhere, I thank you for the affirmation that we succeeded in exactly what we were trying to do! To those of you who took it apart piece by piece and analyzed its merits–or lack thereof–in precise detail, I’m glad it turned out to be so thought-provoking. To those of you who are now disappointed that this (probably!) won’t be what you see on the screen in 2008, well, you didn’t really think they’d do “battleship style” phaser turrets, did you? LOL!
Oh, and to the folks at Paramount and the Trek XI production team, if you’re looking for any guidance at all on what the existing crop of Trek fans will or will not accept design-wise for the Enterprise and the film in general, I suggest you bookmark this page. ;)
My work here is done.
re: 10. Michael Appleton
It’s a gift. I can’t help it. :)
The people I don’t understand are the ones who seem so starved for new Star Trek that they are willing to blindly accept whatever comes down just because it has the Star Trek name on it.
I have nothing against new Star Trek adventures. I do have something against having new actors pretending to be Kirk, Spock, etc.
I know the decision has already been made, but I would think that people interested in all these changes would be more happy with a new starship and a new crew in a later time period.
Even if they do stick sufficiently close in terms of design, it still remains that with a fake Kirk and a fake Spock you have fake Star Trek.
#13 – “I also checkout 3d meshes web site and I realized that I had seen the design before by an artist name Vektor…”
Not THIS design you didn’t. This baby was made from scratch starting Friday afternoon. though I won’t deny that there are probably subtle elements of my other designs thrown in here and there.
It’s good work Jason…looks almost like a John Eaves drawing..
Knew it was a hoax since NOTHING, not the smallest morsel of info, is even seeping out of the Trek XI camp .
Of course, nothing could ever be stranger than the Ralph McQuarrie sketch for ST:TMP.
Great work, Jason. It’s not our Enterprise, but I’m sure it could find a home in Starfleet somewhere – especially during wartime.
Well, at least the sketch looked very good.
A good April Fool’s Day joke.
#17 – “It’s good work Jason…looks almost like a John Eaves drawing.”
That is not only high praise in and of itself but also understandable since I used some of Mr. Eaves’ sketches, among others, as style references while I was creating this one. Steal from the best. ;)
People actually bought that sketch? NEVER believe Trek news on April 1.
I am vindicated.
An excellent April Fool’s prank, Jason! Like I admitted on the other thread it had me completely snowed until I remembered the date.
And the design itself isn’t bad, as long as it isn’t the Big E. =)
-Ed
Nice job Jason and Anthony.
I LOVE that someof you still think this may happen despite the confessions.
Happy April, Fools.
LOL
“3. Adam – April 1, 2007
Well done to all at TrekMovie.com for pulling the wool over so many people’s eyes. I think what’s worse is many people believed it.”
No one believed it, check from comment #1 on. But their still gonna nitpicky anyway just fer grins.
#22 “I am vindicated”.
Oh yeah? Well, …I am vaccinated, so there! I guess I told you!
You mean Anthony was just screwing with us? As Pacino would say, “kiss me, I like being kissed when I’m being f#*%ed!”
Hey, was it good for YOU?
Wow. OK , ya fooled me. But I hope we get some scoops in the future. Nice art though. When I saw the mini-logo banner I thought it was real.
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/5557/entmod2vj3.jpg
Loved this one, though. Hope they go along these lines. Still respectful, but with more ‘balls’ to the design.
^ Hey CmdrR, posted it in the other thread but I added the intercoolers to the nacelles from TrekMasters request. And a comparison of the versions of the 1701…
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/2285/enterpriserendersdc0.jpg
…Bah. If he *really* wants to make amends, he’ll make that mesh available for download :pP
It was a good gag. I was enjoying reading the frantic “Is this real” comments. And the “Of course its real” comments. Hahaha. Zathras tried to warn them, Zathras did, but no one listen to Zathras.
I stand corrected but you did take a number of elements from that design, it’s what gave it away for me.
Other than the fact that it was April Fool’s Day, the most obvious tip off to me that it was a gag was the ““battleship style phaser turrets”. It might as well have had a big key sticking up out of the back labeled “wind-up style propulsion unit”.
And I agree with whoever said it reminded them of a John Eaves sketch, because that was exactly my first reaction.
It is very excellent work, no doubt about that. When I first saw the news item, I thought there might be a possibility that this was legit (although I kept in mind what day it was), but my bullshit alarm sounded the minute I saw the drawing itself.
That said, though, this would make a great design for a show or film set during the TOS era in a parallel universe or alternate timeline. There’s certainly no reason to believe that the NCC-1701 wasn’t a battleship in some part of the multiverse (not counting the mirror universe, of course). I especially like the idea of the ringed saucer; it reminds me of the habitat ring of DS9 (that may have been the intention). It’s essentially an amalgamation of the NX-01, the Enterprise-E, and DS9, with a little bit of Kirk’s Enterprise thrown in. I’m not too fond of the uber-long “nipples” on the nacelles, but all-in-all, a frickin’ sweet design.
PS: Not that I would have wanted to see this as the NCC-1701 in Star Trek XI, of course. No no no no no… ;)
Thank God. Those phaser turrets were abhorrent.
I like it better than I ever liked the Galaxy class….
Seriously. The TMP Enterprise had phaser turrets because Franz Joseph put them in the blueprints for the TV version. The TV model never had them. If the movie version can have them, why not a re-think of the TV version.
Still I’d rather see something that much closer to the TV version.
Thanks Skippy.
As I say, that’s the direction I’d love to see… Respectful of the original but with detail we never have seen before. The coolest part of TMP is when they ride up the cargo elevator to the saucer section.
35. ChuckAmuck – April 1, 2007
“That said, though, this would make a great design for a show or film set during the TOS era in a parallel universe or alternate timeline. There’s certainly no reason to believe that the NCC-1701 wasn’t a battleship in some part of the multiverse (not counting the mirror universe, of course).”
If this was a fellow fleet ship of the NCC-1701 we know and love, and a parallel adventure series was spun off based on that ship’s adventures (or rather, action;adventures) in the TOS-TMP gap…I would be glued to my set.
Then one could introduce new characters and toy with old ones (A young Admiral (Captain) Cartright, the never seen Admiral Nugura, Johanna McCoy) Plus, due to modern technology, we could see limited CGI of Kirk and Co.(extremely limmited)
The DS9 Tribble episode shows that the TOS has a lot to offer; same for the Voyager “Excelsior” episode.
Lose the turrets and the spikey things on the end of the nacelles, and I could totally see this as a small explorer type vessel in the later Picard era. I see hints of the Enterprise E in there, and yet it still sticks to the basic style seen time and time again throughout Trek. It was an excellent attempt for an April Fool’s Day hoax. Now to post this to another messageboard I visit to see if I can get some more mileage out of it, for my own amusement. ;-)
Jason,
Excellent design! Except for the cut-outs in the saucer, I really like it a lot.
Anthony,
A classic April Fool’s Day gag. The old saying still holds true, “there’s on eborn every minute.” Very nicely executed.
CmdrR. (#29),
I love Dennis Russel Bailey’s designs. In my opinion he makes the best Trek related 3D meshes out there. His version of the TMP Enterprise is perfect in every detail. I’d accept his “USS Phoenix” design for the Enteprise in Trek XI with no trouble whatsoever. Thanks to you and Skippy (#30) for sharing the photos.
Stanky (#15) At this point I’m wondering why you even bother visiting and posting to this site. You’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t like the idea of updating TOS for Trek XI. You don’t want to see new actors “pretending” to be Kirk, Spock, et al (nevermind that Shatner and crew were “pretending” when they played the parts), you don’t want to see the Enterprise updated or more detailed, you think the film is a big mistake and that JJ Abrams and his team will send the franchise to the deepest pit of oblivion.
You know it’s going to happen and nothing you say will prevent it, yet you still feel the need to voice your opposition over and over and over again. I mean no offense; you seem to be an intelligent person and a solid Star Trek fan. I can’t understand why you feel the need to disapprove so vehemently. I’ve received and understood your message numerous times. You’re dead set against Trek XI and you aren’t even planning to see it when it hits theaters. Fine. Why must you constantly remind us of that?
i am glad you all enjoyed the little joke we played. and I just want to thank Jason again for creating the whole thing. I even got an email from Daren Dochterman (who knew about the prank) that some of his industry buddies called him about it! if you can fool the pros…that is the ultimate commpliment for Jason.
Thanks for the joke..was quite a gag..
But for the upcoming movie, let’s get serious: Let Daren Dochterman do it. He knows it forwards and backwards and won’t let us down!
aside from the turrets, this actually looks really cool.
Mr. Pascale… your agonizer please.
A joke is…………a story with a humourous ending???
lame.
re:42. Buckaroohawk
You raise some interesting points, my little Buckaroo. Why indeed…
I guess among all of the posts I disagree with, there is the occasional bit of something which keeps bringing me back. There is some good stuff here, so I keep coming back.
I don’t understand at all the enthusiasm for this movie. If people want it to be so different from the series, why not just do a different ship, different crew, and different era? Yes, I know that decision has already been made, but I don’t see anything good about that decision.
To me, Shatner is Kirk, Nimoy is Spock, etc. and that will never change, hence the “pretending” comments. I realize they were also playing a part, but it is so ingrained that I could never believe anyone else in those roles.
As for changing the Enterprise, I could handle it being updated material-wise, but not design-wise. Even if they do come fairly close in that regard (and I’m not convinced they will), there is still the problem with the actors.
Why do I feel it necessary to repeat my opposition?… I don’t know, maybe it is because I need to voice my frustration. Lord knows there are plenty of people here who do that on a variety of other topics.
I have stated before that I know nothing I say will make any difference and that I am not trying to create a groundswell of protest against seeing the movie or anything like that. It has been implied that I will not see the movie, but as much as I don’t want to see it, I’m sure I will end up doing that out of masochistic curiosity. And who knows, I may be proven right. If not, nobody cares anyway.
Have a good week.
I bought it. Very funny!