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It has always been a special interest of mine to try and ascertain, as nearly as possible at this late date, what Matt Jefferies' own concept of the Enterprise was. What had he intended the ship to be, before all of the inevitable compromises of the daily trench war of television production took their toll? Folks often glibly dismiss the idea that any vehicle in an SF show or movie could be well thought out or have a consistent design philosophy behind it. Well, after decades of studying his work, I am more firmly convinced than ever that Jefferies is an exception to this "rule." He took an uncommonly disciplined, real world approach to designing this other-worldly craft. Roddenberry's insistence that the ship must be believable was not lost on him.
Over the years I've heard many complaints lodged against designs seen on the show. The hangar deck doesn't fit; there's not enough headroom in the primary hull, the shuttlecraft is bigger on the inside than on the outside, etc. Yet in each of these instances (and more) I've found that once you peel away the production mandates and compromises to reveal what Jefferies actually designed, these objections evaporate into thin air.
Because of my interest in MJ's design methods and intentions, I'm always on the lookout for hitherto unpublished or neglected information. When I find something new that causes another piece of the puzzle to fall into place I like to share what I've learned with the dozen or so people on earth who care about such trifles.
Due to a recent opportunity to study the Enterprise construction blueprints I can now offer some new primary source data on the original Enterprise design. Specifically, a look at Jefferies' original specifications for the bridge dome on the First Pilot Enterprise! I should say that there is a small amount of interpretation involved with this drawing. I had to rely on a knowlege of drafting to project out a couple of details that, while not explicitly noted on the BP, must be added when reconciling the two views.
The drawing in the following link summarizes what I've learned. I have included three separate scales; one showing the small "approval model" specs, one showing how those specs would have been scaled up for the large model, and finally, what this means for the full size ship.
Once I had completed the drawing, I decided to size the McMaster bridge blueprints to the same scale and see how they stacked up against it. What I found set me back on my heels!
Now keep in mind that we're looking at what Jefferies planned for the ship, not exactly what was built -- although I must say that I've come away from my overall survey of the plans with an even deeper respect for the talents of Richard Datin and his crew than I had before. Along those same lines, I offer the McMaster drawing as a comparison because it is a pretty good match for the official studio drawings of the set (aside from the minor 1/2 degree added to all but one of the wedges to regularize the shape). There has been some debate recently that McMaster may not represent the true shape of the alcove as built. But we are not concerned here with that, but with how well Jefferies' intended designs for the interior and exterior compare with each other.
I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about that...
Click here for the blueprint.
M.
Over the years I've heard many complaints lodged against designs seen on the show. The hangar deck doesn't fit; there's not enough headroom in the primary hull, the shuttlecraft is bigger on the inside than on the outside, etc. Yet in each of these instances (and more) I've found that once you peel away the production mandates and compromises to reveal what Jefferies actually designed, these objections evaporate into thin air.
Because of my interest in MJ's design methods and intentions, I'm always on the lookout for hitherto unpublished or neglected information. When I find something new that causes another piece of the puzzle to fall into place I like to share what I've learned with the dozen or so people on earth who care about such trifles.
Due to a recent opportunity to study the Enterprise construction blueprints I can now offer some new primary source data on the original Enterprise design. Specifically, a look at Jefferies' original specifications for the bridge dome on the First Pilot Enterprise! I should say that there is a small amount of interpretation involved with this drawing. I had to rely on a knowlege of drafting to project out a couple of details that, while not explicitly noted on the BP, must be added when reconciling the two views.
The drawing in the following link summarizes what I've learned. I have included three separate scales; one showing the small "approval model" specs, one showing how those specs would have been scaled up for the large model, and finally, what this means for the full size ship.
Once I had completed the drawing, I decided to size the McMaster bridge blueprints to the same scale and see how they stacked up against it. What I found set me back on my heels!
Now keep in mind that we're looking at what Jefferies planned for the ship, not exactly what was built -- although I must say that I've come away from my overall survey of the plans with an even deeper respect for the talents of Richard Datin and his crew than I had before. Along those same lines, I offer the McMaster drawing as a comparison because it is a pretty good match for the official studio drawings of the set (aside from the minor 1/2 degree added to all but one of the wedges to regularize the shape). There has been some debate recently that McMaster may not represent the true shape of the alcove as built. But we are not concerned here with that, but with how well Jefferies' intended designs for the interior and exterior compare with each other.
I leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about that...
Click here for the blueprint.
M.
