The current mindset of the scale modeling community

    Upon recent visit to one of my favorite modeling forums; I came upon a conversation about a certain Star Trek producing model kit company. The conversation roughly revolved around said companies propensity to produce the same subject (The original Enterprise), in multiple scales and how frustrated the poster was about the dearth of new subjects.

The counter argument stated that anything beyond that subject did not sell well enough to justify the continued expenditure on subjects that do not turn a profit; and while this is a correct assessment of the situation from a buisness perspective; it hardly seems like the perspective of a simple hobbyist! When did the consumer become so enamoured with the inner workings of the companies from whom they purchase that they would spout their talking points in casual conversation? Has the mentality of corporate America so seeped into the minds of the people that people justify the stagnation and the stunting of their own hobby?

I can understand the benefits of being aware of what causes such a lack of subjects, but I just get a kind of "Stepford wives" vibe from people that spout corporate lingo. That sounds more like corporate programming to me.

Perhaps I'm being too critical; too judgmental.

I support any comment that pushes the expansion of the scale modeling hobby.

-Space out blogger 

   

Thoughts on the recent deluge of Star Trek TOS fan films

    Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II; Star Trek: Continues; Starship Farragut; Starship Exeter, etc. 

    Those are just the names of a few of the 1960's Star Trek based fan series. For whatever reasons people seem intent upon reliving the same characters and designs ethos' over and over again; I'd love to see a Star Trek based series with it's own unique look and style. Now Star Trek: Renegades seems to have done so, but it is post-TNG which would account for the differences in appearance. Don't misunderstand, I love the look and feel of the original (And I think the best) Star Trek series. But enough is enough, I'm starting to tire with seeing the same ship layouts and the same tired old characters being played by people interpreting what had been perfected fifty years ago.

I know I have the option to not watch them but I look at all the money, time, effort and love that has gone into recreating the original sets and wonder - could they have made more of all of that if they'd stretched their creative legs? Create something! Not recreate. Now, I wouldn't mind seeing a minor redesign; keep the essential elements and change the rest. Does every fan series have to be set on a Constitution class starship? Does every Captain have to be Kirk?! I've seen Kirk, I've seen the original Starship Enterprise. Show me something that predated TOS with new characters with their own styles and idiosyncrasies!

I guess I'm just burned out. I'm starved for Star Trek and the only outlets are a shitty film series and an overabundance of TOS-centric fan series. 

Why not go out and put my money where my mouth is?!

I can't afford to do so. I would love to create my own Star Trek, I simply don't have the capability. No money and most importantly; no space.

Please, if you're reading this and considering making your own Star Trek series? Consider setting it in the familiar; branch out; be different!

- Spaced out blogger

Thoughts on Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek into darkness

    Way back when, in 2007; I had heard the unthinkable; Star Trek was being remade. I was worried, I've seen other reboots and with one exception, none were palatable. J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movies have been no exception, from the childish humor of the first movie to the homage (*cough* rip-off) of The Wrath of Khan in the second one, they've proven to be less than stellar outings for the venerable Star Trek franchise.

With that said, I have found some minor reasons to appreciate some of the ideas presented in both films.

Black-hole escape: The ending of the first film features the Enterprise escaping from a black-hole. I found this sequence to be very reminicent of something one might see in the original series, specifically the Enterprise's 'slingshot' through time; everyone being physically thrown around and from side to side, Scotty's line "I'm givin' 'er all she's got Captain!" was a nice moment that hit me square in the chest.

The breaking of the "Prime directive" from "Into Darkness". This was a great plot-line in the film and one I think they explored well; they didn't build the plot around it but it none-the-less has an impact. It also allows the audience to ponder what they would have done in the crews' position. I've actually thought about this more than I've thought about the first film in it's entirely. Were I in a position to save an entire civilization, I would have made the decision to save them, just as our protagonists do. But - I do see the wisdom of the Prime directive; it was never explored better than it was in The Next Generation; that series asked the same question and offered a humanitarian answer. Protect and save life if at all possible, which is how I see the organization of Starfleet and the Federation; as humanitarians.

So Kirk breaks the prime directive and refreshingly, we see him pay the price. He faces judgment and loses his command. I thought that was a beautiful way to set up the film; I just wish they'd done more with it - to have it's affects ripple throughout the story; instead, Kirk immediately gets his command back with nary a slap of the wrist, so it is not terribly well paid-off (We should see our heroes have to earn their gifts.); but the plot needed Kirk on the Enterprise and in command for the later drama of his decision to trust Khan. 

One odd thing...

Why in God's name was McCoy testing Khan's blood on a dead Tribble? What the hell kind of Frankenstein-esque Doctor is McCoy in this new Universe? Not only is he testing on a dead Tribble he just happens to have lying around, but he's doing so in the middle of a crisis! I don't even think they were out of Klingon space yet. It just struck me as odd and was clearly a clumsy foreshadowing device. Childish writing. 

"A five year mission, Spock!"

  Yes, in this film the five year mission of the original series is a new concept! This is something I would have never even considered as an idea; one just takes for granted that everyone goes out on five year missions into the unknown. This film makes it special, something to strive toward, something one must earn.  And it makes sense and I hope becomes a part of the Star Trek canon. It also perfectly sets up the forthcoming Star Trek beyond, whose title I find quite inspiring and I hope that the writers are similarly inspired and take the title to heart while crafting the script.

The Enterprise refit:

The end of Into Darkness sees the Enterprise refitted, albeit mildly. The Impulse engine has been widened making the detail fit better with the established design than it's predecessor. The ship, thanks to the closeness of the Nacelles, appears wider and the new engine only reinforces that. If anyone reading this has any influence over the model kit company Revell, please have them make a model of this refitted version of the Enterprise; I have the previous version and love it. 

That sums up my positive thoughts of these two new rebooted Trek movies. I haven't the time nor the energy to discuss the negatives, I'd be here the rest of my life.

Enjoy life, take it by the hand full and love every moment of it!

- Spaced out blogger

Thoughts on Avengers: Age of Ultron (spoilers)

    Just caught Avengers 2 the other day and on the whole I liked it. Things that I remember most:

 * The love story between Black Widow and Hulk/Bruce Banner; I found it not only a pleasant surprise but quite touching. As a dorky weirdo with anger issues whose been crushed on by beautiful Women, I can totally relate.

 * The battle between Hulk and Iron Man. Amazing. The part where Iron Man is just punching the living shit out of Hulk saying "Go to sleep, just go to sleep." was awesome, there was weight to it; amazing what Foley can do these days.

  * James Spader. It's been quite some time since I've heard an Actor make so much of their voice. I had no idea it was him until the credits, he was amazing. 

The rest of the film was packed with stuff but by the time I got to the final battle I was "action scened" out. I'd just had too much of it so I kinda tuned out a bit. I love to see characters devoted to the saving of lives but was shocked by the treatment of collateral damage in these films, millions dead and the characters are still quipping away. Perhaps I'm dwelling too much over non-existent deaths, but it just hit me that way.

This film made me fall for Scarlett Johansson, I just fell for her.

I'd recommend seeing it if you've not yet done so. 

- Spaced out blogger

Moebius Colonial one

So I just picked up the Colonial one from the updated Battlestar Galactica produced by Moebius models and just from an engineering standpoint the kit is outstanding! I love it, thank you Moebius!

If you've got any interest in this ship at all I would highly suggest getting one, it is a real knock out of the park by Moebius. Sadly I don't have a camera these days or I'd do a build-blog but perhaps someday.

Don't buy from "Big bad toy store"

  So I ordered the NX Excelsior from Star Trek III from Big bad toy store and it's produced by Diamond select toys, now if you know anything about DST you know that their quality control is lackluster at best, especially when it comes to items that have been released previously; look no further than their TOS Phaser for proof of that.

   Naturally, I get my Excelsior and it's shaped like a banana, with the saucer pitched up, gouges in the plastic, paint over spray and an overall poor appearance. So I email Big bad toy store. And they say they need visual 'proof' of the damaged item. Why? Can you not take the paying customers word for it? I've already paid for it! Send me a return slip and give me a refund!

After seeing the quality of this one I'm quite apprehensive about receiving another one that may be in worse condition. I've been down this road before and am not looking to traverse it again.

I would not suggest buying a DST item nor would I suggest purchasing from Big Bad Toy Store.

Relative age of the Oberth class starship

   The Oberth class. One of the more unique designs in Star Trek, very modern looking for its era. This design was used from the 2280's to the 2370's, clearly a very successful ship type. However there are a few factors which draw into question its age. I will use this page to review and analyze these factors.

Registry:

The registry of the U.S.S. Grissom (NCC-638) is the lowest on-screen registry of any ship seen until the NX-01 Enterprise. We know the original Enterprises registry (NCC-1701) is that of a ship of at least the 2260's and it is considerably higher than that of the Grissom. Were we to go by the registry alone, and assume that they are all sequential, then the Grissom herself could be far older than her first on-screen appearance.  The next highest registry of the Oberth class is (NCC-640) (Seen on a ship in Spacedock in Star Trek IV: The voyage home and later in Star Trek: The Next Generation). 

 

The Grissom model being shot for an episode of Star Trek: TNG. Notice the registry on the boat hull.

Design:

   The design, first seen in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), looks very modern and fits in perfectly with the ships designed for that movie including the U.S.S. Excelsior (NX-2000) with many horizontal grilles and vents being a very prominent design feature of the both ship types. The ship looks like it belongs in the Star Trek movie era. Speculation: Take away the decals and pennants, shoot it with the camera and SPFX technology of the 1960's; would the ship still appear as modern? Could it pass for a ship of the TOS era? Also notice the design does not feature a deflector dish, many MSD's (Master systems display) have the deflector behind the lower dome of the boat hull (Secondary hull or Engineering section). I find this location to be perfect and wonder,  from an in-universe perspective, why it would be hidden behind a cover? That to me suggests that it has one less weakness than the Enterprise and those of her Ilk. We also can't use that to determine the ships age, does it have a lit/glowing deflector? Or does it have an Antenna-style deflector?

Interiors: 

The interior of the Grissom is exactly that of the movie-era Refit Enterprise, only with the chairs and some consoles rearranged to suggest a smaller vessel. As we've seen with other Starships, such interiors could be plug-in, plug-out affairs. They could also be beamed in, so no real way of determining age that way. Let's look closely at the Oberth classes first appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation, that of the .S.S. Tsiolkovsky. (The .S.S. registry may point to a reason for the ships internal appearance). 

The SS Tsiolkovsky's interiors were fairly normal by TNG standards, corridors and the miniature bridge set all fall within the norms of early-TNG. There is however one glaring design detail which may suggest an Oberth class far older than one might think...

Look at the picture above, notice to the left of Geordie - the TOS style Burke chair. Were the set designers trying to tie this ship to the original series era? This, to my knowledge was the one and only use of TOS style set dressings in TNG.  It's tenuous, but this plus the relatively low registries of the early Oberth class starships we saw; I think, make these points fodder for the argument of these ships having been, if not built and produced in that era, at least present during that time. And that subsequent appearances of these ships were possibly of ships that were either refitted with new technology or newer builds.

1960's style "tulip" chair seen to the right of Geordie

 My own opinion is that these ships were likely new as of the 2280's, possibly brand new as of the first appearance of one with the U.S.S. Grissom. However, I do fancy the idea of these ships having been designed and built in the 2260's and why not? Being science ships they wouldn't need the power and technology of those ships on the 'front line' or those meant to explore the outer reaches of space. Even if they're new as of the 2280's they clearly had longevity having lasted at least a century.

The ship looks kind of 60's-ish and lacks a great deal of detail, like ships of the original series era (2260's). I'd love to build a model of one with TOS style registry and pennants.

- Spaced out blogger