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Original 11' Star Trek Enterprise Model Being Restored Again

NormalVisual (565491) writes The original 11-foot U.S.S. Enterprise studio model from the original series has gone back into the shop again. The Smithsonian owns the model and has had it on display in a gift shop at the National Air and Space Museum for the last 13 years, but will be placed on display in the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall in 2016, to coincide with the museum's 40th anniversary. In the meantime, the model will be undergoing its fourth restoration to address a number of issues. The last restoration in 1991 was performed by Ed Miarecki, a professional modelmaker well known for his work in "Star Trek: The Next Generation", as well as films such as "Event Horizon". This previous restoration had Trek fans up in arms owing to the paint job, which many feel doesn't represent the way the model looked originally. Hopefully this next restoration will bring her back to her former glory.

16 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Saw it at the Smithsonian a few years ago by dpilot · · Score: 5, Informative

    We took the family to DC for a vacation, and of course one of the things I had to see was Smithsonian Air and Space. I didn't know that the original Enterprise model was there, and was surprised to see it on the lower floor.

    The next surprise was that the model was never finished. One side had all of the lights, striping, and everything. The other side had a little striping, and was otherwise pretty much blank. I remembered reading that in one of those books, and how all shots were of the finished side, or mirrored in post-processing.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
    1. Re:Saw it at the Smithsonian a few years ago by Teresita · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Lucas had created Star Trek rather than Roddenberry, then the Original Series model at the Smithsonian would have DS9 era warp nacelles ret-conned on it and the phasers could never be fired until the shields were below 50% strength because of course Kirk never shoots first.

    2. Re:Saw it at the Smithsonian a few years ago by plopez · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Lucas had created Star Trek; Uhura would've have been a northern European princess, Chekov a darkside villain, Kirk a 20 something whiny white boy, Spock a droid, and Scotty an ethnically insulting alien based on Mexican stereo types.

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    3. Re:Saw it at the Smithsonian a few years ago by NormalVisual · · Score: 3, Informative

      I saw it there around 1980, probably before the first restoration.

      The restorations took place in 1974, 1980, and 1991. I agree that the pre-1991 treatment the model got wasn't that good. As I remember they just hung it from the ceiling and mostly ignored it afterwards. The model had some major structural issues when Ed got hold of it, mostly because the model was designed to be mounted on a stand and couldn't deal well with the stresses from being suspended from above.

      --
      Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
    4. Re:Saw it at the Smithsonian a few years ago by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...Kirk never shoots first.

      Uhura might have something to say about that...

      Kirk: This sort of thing . . . has never . . . happened . . . to me . . . before!
      Uhura: I just wish you could have held out until I removed my uniform...

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
  2. Zoolander by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is this? A spaceship for ANTS?!

  3. Cecilia Gimenez by wylderide · · Score: 5, Funny

    She took a crack at restoring it, but it was deemed to be not entirely successful.

    --
    This is the best restaurant I ever eat in
  4. Event Horizon by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    One of the best science-fiction movie ever made, if you stop watching before it all goes to hell.

    1. Re:Event Horizon by NEDHead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or, perhaps more objectively, one of the worst movies of all time.

  5. I'm just glad by Pikoro · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm just glad all of us Atheists will now have our own religious symbol to hang on the wall and worship.

    --
    "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
  6. Re:Restoration by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why is it that if you copy something it's called a fake, but if you also destroy the original it's called restoration?

    Interestingly, that's how transporters might eventually work:

    Scan you, transmit scan data, reassemble you at the other end based on the data, confirm checksum, then destroy original.

  7. Re:Restoration by NormalVisual · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not to mention you'll have the TSA rifling through your wallet's contents in the pattern buffer.

    --
    Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
  8. Crude? by fnj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Judging from STTOS on TV, the original model was almost toy-like crude. The STTNG model was much more convincing, and that one already looks pretty crude compared to a good movie. The modelwork in 2001: A Space Odyssey stll impresses.

  9. optimistic vision of a future by Fnord666 · · Score: 3, Funny

    unique for its optimistic vision of a future where men and women of all races and ethnicities, not to mention non-humans,

    Obviously created by a man whose "optimistic vision of a future" includes women wearing mini skirts and gogo boots.

    --
    'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
    1. Re:optimistic vision of a future by Beamboom · · Score: 5, Insightful

      whose "optimistic vision of a future" includes women wearing mini skirts and gogo boots.

      To be fair, for a good many that's close to the very definition of an "optimistic vision".

  10. Re:WTF by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No. Fuck this. It's not a milestone of flight, and it doesn't belong there in the least.

    I disagree. The original Star Trek, which I watched as a child, was one of the inspirations for me getting into aerospace and later working on the actual Space Station. The milestone isn't a particular flight it performed, but how many people it inspired, who later achieved great things in aerospace. In a prior generation, Wernher von Braun read Astounding magazine *while working on the V2 rockets*. There has always been a strong connection between science fiction stories and bringing those stories to life later.