Here are some concepts from JJ’s Star Trek that came out a whole year ago last month, HOLY COW!!!!
Howdy all that time frame is unbelievable, man already a year old,,, Anyways, here are some fun ideas for Kirks escape pod from Star Trek. This one changed a lot in the script so new versions would apply them selves to the new dialog. Scott Chambliss would have me do a series of roughs as the story would indicate and then the architecture would also be in a state of flux as the films look was getting a grasp on how everything was going to look for the final film. the initial sketches where basically wedges that as time went on turned into an actual shuttle looking vessel and at one point they were similar in design to the ST(motion Picture) inspection pods designed by our good friend Andy Probert. from there we had a pause in sketches till the more final description came to be so on that mark came the cylindrical idea which had a variation of seat configurations and weather or not it was pilot-able or just automated. the cylinder was the final design and as the show went on the scale changed drastically due to budget. Fun process to see how this ship came to be and I really enjoyed collaborating with Scott on this design process.
OK enjoy and have a good one.
j
pod versions
the wedge look begins
here are some fun wedge designs with a detail taken right off our submarine fleet and thats the inset round detail that on a sub is a bouy that is launched if a sub goes down and sends out an SOS of the vessels location on the sea floor.
shuttle style versions
clynderized #!
and the final
This is cool. Makes me want to watch the movie!
me too!!! I haven’t seen it in a while! Thanks
I am constantly amazed by the amout of thought, design, and work that goes in to even the smallest of scenes! Beautiful work and thanks for posting these for us!
your welcome!! It is amazing how much goes on behind the scenes, you would be amazed at the amount that gets developed and later scraped!!!!
Nice stuff, the final version reminds me of the cockpit for the Phenix.
Was that used? We really did not get a good look at pod as it was barried in snow and ice.
no Phoenix this time,
Very interesting development. Always curious about how things evolve in the design process.
yeah and this one really had some broad strokes as far as styles were concerned!
Large-canopy Enterprise Escape Pod (A) is a really cool small-craft design in its own right. What a great shape it would be for a TOS shuttlepod.
HOOOO WAAAH your right, a few of these could go directly over to a TNG episode
Now I’ve gotta watch the movie again (like I needed an excuse.
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These are great. I love seeing the progress of what had to be a long period of time laid out in a few images. I especially like your shuttle-ish designs, though those would make better shuttles than escape pods. They definitely have an Andrew Probert TMP (Spock’s shuttle) look to them. I also like the final version a lot. It’s nice actually seeing the whole thing instead of just part of it buried in a bunch of ice and snow.
BTW, do you know whose idea it was to put NCC-1701D on the side of the pod? That was a pretty cool nod to TNG.
Very nice. I like the second one it reminds me of the work bees.
those were my fav two of the whole lot and the bee’s were sorta the underlying inspiration
I really love the design process of seeing what came to be the final shuttle or pod. It is truly inspirational. Great work John.
WOW thanks for the kind ones!!!
John I can see Andrew’s influence on these.
yes it really has a strong influence throughout
Wow. The approaches couldn’t possibly have been more diverse. And it is interesting that except for the flat wedge design (may I call it “Snow White’s coffin”?) every one of them fits into a certain design lineage (TMP travel pod, TNG Nenebek, TMP Vulcan shuttle, Enterprise inspection pod).
HAAAA! Snow Whites coffin it is
I really like the TMP style work there.
I don’t recall catching much of the pod used in the film, I might have to make the excuse to watch after I’m done rewatching BSG..
there wasn’t a lot of it except what shows in the ice
the second wedge design seems to look a lot like the narcissus from ALien
I didn’t catch the similarity till you mentioned it but yes it does!
I don’t know if Titan magazine would permit it, but Scotts early drawing on the Enterprise (when it was even more refit like) might look nice with a page of their own. I wonder if he has more drawings around. I wonder if a puddlejumped inspired travel pod, with mini warp drives coming out from the sides, might look interesting, or perhaps the travel pod docked to the Vulcan shuttles docking port as a hybrid.
I just returned from a trip to Amsterdam, and once again I am just so impressed by your inspiring work!
I’m sure you explained this before, but what do you use to draw?
Probably his hands. But I could be wrong.
Echoing what others have said, I really appreciate how a lot of these designs draw inspiration from Andrew Probert’s work. Really nice to see that connection with Trek’s past, even if the final design didn’t reflect any of that.
It’s funny how the last two sets of sketches look like they’re designed for re-using that Phoenix cockpit again, even though it was a completely new production. Maybe being asked to “refit” that design so many times got it stuck in your head?
Nice to see the concept art of the Pod in more detail, it was such a brief scene. Would’ve been interesting to see Kirk being shoved in the pod, before being ejected.
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