Comic-Con: Paramount selling its only TOS-era set
Sunday, July 23, 2006
During a panel about various Trek issues, Mike Okuda (long time Trek graphic artist) told the audience that the set built for the Enterprise episode 'In a Mirror Darkly' is one of the many lots being auctioned off by Christie's this fall. The original series sets were of course destroyed decades ago, so Paramount spent a considerable amount of money recreating the TOS era bridge set required for that popular episode. Since then it has been in storage, but as Mr Okuda stated "storage is expensive". I spoke to the people at the Christies Star Trek Auction booth and they confirmed that the entire set is being sold as a single lot and they expect $25,000+ for it. They also said that a additional TOS era items (including uniforms) will be auctioned off, all seem to be replicas made for 'In a Mirror Darkly' or the Deep Space 9 time-travel episode 'Trials and Tribblations' What does this mean for STXI? No TOS-era movie?
Some in attendance who wanted to see that set again on screen were shocked. Many in Trekdom have felt the Christie's Auction indicates some kind of 'death of the franchise'. Some are questioning why they would sell a TOS set if they are about to make a TOS era film...making them wonder if maybe all the indications are wrong. My view is this...Trek XI may be set in the TOS era, but it will probably be updating the production design. It was fun to see those garishly colored sets in an homage episode on TV, but they wouldn’t work on the big screen. They even knew this when they made Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. Although JJ Abrams has stated he will respect Trek 'canon', and the teaser poster does harkens back to the TOS-era uniform colors and insignia, does this mean they should slavishly use the costumes, props, models and set designs from a 60s TV show. Some purists say yes...the rest of us in the real worlds say...hire a good Production Designer. I am sure the designs for Trek XI will have many of the same features; they will also be made for film and a 21st century audience
posted by Tony P @ 3:23 AM,
1 Comments:
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At 1:44 AM,
said...
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I agree. If this movie does take place in a Pre-TOS period, I hope they stay true to the original look, but at the same times I hope they update and revamp the look just a little bit. It has to be cannon, but it also has to work for a modern audience.
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