It was fried fish and clam chowder friday at Paramount, and we had just got the advanced rough draft of #009. The story called for an alien attack vessel and little shuttlecraft to pick up some cargo off of a planet’s surface. Being that it was seafood day it was only appropriate to base this one off of something nautical. Crossed between a catfish and a sunfish, came the first ideas. The early concepts were accepted and more detailed versions were produced. Dorsal blades and twin pectoral fins were tied together in both the main vessel and the shuttle craft to keep the architecture in line. The next meeting gave a go-ahead for another version of both shuttle and starship — minus the wings and fins. Somehow the upper twin blades snuck thru to the model… SHHHHHHHH I have no idea how this happened! HAAA! Anyway, the final products turned out OK but the heavy tie-in between the two ships strayed a bit, but not enough to separate the aesthetics. Here are the sketches and be sure to visit Drex Files to see the CG model of this one. Enjoy and Happy Wednesday!!!
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/malurian-starship
the exotic sunfish
mixed with the catfish formed the original look of the Malurian architecture
roughs
new details
first pass of the shuttle
the dreaded red X's!!!
new and improved finless concept
a much simpler design!
Final CG render thanks to DrexFiles!!!
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
Thats a great ship but I perfer it with the fins and tail.
I notice that the wide short does not have the red cross and mark on it. do you make two copies of each drawing you do before handing it over to be approved?
YES!!! I learned the hard way to never send originals over or they would come back with marks all over them!!!So copies were always what went to the meetings!!
The look very cool with the fins! Who decided they wanted them to look more like everything else!? Nice job, ahem, whoever got those one on the final model!! 😉
Ya know, the first roughs are actually my favorite.
John
I dont know of another way to ask you this question but for this blog. What if anything can you share with us of the ill fated “Osiris Chronicles”? The Osiris and the Daedalus were both really great looking ships and there is next to nothing posted about them.
Thanks
E
I actually have the drawings from that show at my desk,,, Those are hopefully going to up next week sometime!!!
Wow, I was hoping you would post something on this one ever since I saw it over in the DrexFiles. All of these Enterprise posts have really reminded me of number and diversity of the ships designs the show had. Its also gotten me to rewatch a lot of the episodes – some great stuff.
With all this design work, was this a fun show for you to work on? How did it compare to working on DS9? [Speaking of DS9, I’m looking forward to some more Cardy/Jem’Hadar/Dominion ship days once things calm down for you ;-)]
As always, thank you and take care!
With all that you’ve got going on, I’m sorry if the way I dropped in that request came off sounding unappreciative or pushy – definitely not my intent.
Man, that’s great. I love it when you show where your inspiration comes from. I like that episode a lot and I always liked the alien ships, especially after Doug posted the images of the big ship CG model. 🙂
Hmm I like the version with fins more too ! However, it reminds me of that first sketch for the Xindi ship that held the sphere … Now I have to do something to get my hands on that episode because I think I skipped it every time it was airing (and it did 4 or 5 times actually …)
I really like the Malurian starship, fins or no. 😉
Very Cool, It has a seaquest feel to it! 😀
Great design, John! I am continually impressed with the way you draw inspiration from everyday life to make these fantastic designs. Though, I gotta admit, I’m no fan of seafood! ;D
I laughed that the fins made it to the model even though they got the infamous red “X”! Too funny!!
hey john, your work! wonderful. thats all i have to say
Yes, yes… I see the baby fins survived. Very good. John, thank you for this terrific site, I know it inspires many of us. Keep it up!