from the film
Howdy all It’s been a few weeks but I’m back for a quick post,, BUSY BUSY SHOW and not a lot of free time to spare!!! So without hesitation here is a a speedy story about the flying police cycle from JJ”s Trek 09. The concept began as a pretty big bike, more of a helicopter size craft and it took a few long passes at the drawing board to get the copter version layed out and approved. As time, story changes, and budget revisions took place the cycle had to scale down drastically to fit the new constraints and thus the flying speed bike came to be. As much fun as would have been to see the big version I have to say this smaller bike really was a very cool departure and one big treat to see on the screen. The size screamed police more so than the previous and it was a good call on all fronts. The bike went through a few design changes and what you see in today’s sketch was the final design. At Comicon 09 the prop was in a corner of the Mattel booth and it was great to finally get some pictures of her. SO with all that said time to get back to work so enjoy today’s post and have a great weekend.
the early copter sized concept version of the cycle
the smaller cycle designs
from the 09 con
#2
the back view
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
Awesome. I would have loved to see that hover car in the movie though.
Yeah me too, then at my house for safe keeping..
Lol. Maybe you can squeeze it in for the next movie 😛
I really love this design kind of reminded me of the 2015 Back to the Future Cop Cycles, wished they made a model kit of it. Great work John
I don’t remember the BTF cycles,, I’ll have to go watch that one again…
OH THATS SO COOL!!!!!!!
This is so freakin’ cool. I loved this thing in the movie. I really like the hover car concept, especially the one with the wheels, but the bike is definitely better. I always love how detailed and precise your design drawings are. The finished piece looks just like your drawings. And, of course, I love the pictures of the finished piece. We didn’t get to see it enough in the movie for my taste. 😀
Thanks and it was really odd to see it at the con in the Mattel booth, it was just in the corner and there was no sign or anything attached ,, I looked at it twice before I realized that it was the Trek piece!!!
It’s weird that they didn’t at least have a sign saying what it was. Imagine how many people didn’t know what it was. After all, you had to do a double take and you designed the thing.
Yeah it was an odd set up, the same was true with the Green Hornet car,, No one knew that they were using the old car in the new movie so when it was revealed everyone thought, HEY it’s the old car from the 60’s!!!
Hi John:
Happy Friday! That motorcycle was one of my favorite designs from the last Star Trek movie. Not surprised at all that it was one of yours! Beautiful work and thank you for posting.
Have a good weekend,
Richard
Hey Richard, Thanks,, Hey if you could do me a favor re email me what print I was to send you and your address too.
THANKS!!!
Hey John – will do! Which email address should I use – juno or gmail?
Thanks again,
Richard
here is a behind the scenes shot of John in front of his design before he boldly tore down the cattle guards for a clean snap of his hoverbike. J-dog I made sure to photoshop down your belly girth and increase the size of your arms as usual to offset the horrors of age.
Nice photoshop work you did making me look younger n thinner, Thanks ya old goof!
Very, very cool! Thanks for that. I really liked the cops uniform too and was surprised I didn’t see any cosplay of it.
Yeah that outfit was pretty cool!!! especially the face mask!!!, that is if it was a face mask and not a robots face
Love that hover car, but the bike is a really cool desgin. Would have been fun to see more of it.
I wanted to ride it on the rig!!!
Was there ever any discussion in production or script about what the police officer really was? There’s been a fair amount of discussion (maybe you’ve encountered it before) but I don’t think it was ever clearly stated if he/it was human, cyborg, alien, or full-on android.
So was that ever mentioned? I’m dying to know.
It was not established in the film. But in an interview with one of the writers, he said that in his own personal view, it was not a robot. I am sure this was either in an interview reproduced on TrekToday or in a Q and A session I read on Memory Alpha.
NO ONE KNOWS the truth behind this character!!! I’ll ask J.J. next time he comes through
As soon as I saw that hovercycle in the movie my first thought was, “I want one!” I was hoping there would be some behind-the-scenes secrets about it on the Blu-Ray because it’s obvious that it was really there when they filmed major parts of the chase scene, but whatever rig it was attached to was digitally erased. No such luck, though.
inknday: Very cool photo! Too bad you couldn’t wrangle a shot of John riding it. 🙂
Simon: There has been much speculation about the police trooper, and JJ Abrams has deliberately been vague about it, but my personal belief is that it’s a human (or at least a humanoid alien) under the mask. Cyborgs and androids have always been something of an anomaly in Trek, not something you bump into every day … so without direct evidence to the contrary, my choice is for a living being.
YEAH I’ll be sure to ask JJ about it, he comes through the office often,,
AWW I missed the email notification of this post…I LOVED the bike in the movie!! Looks so fun, I added it to my list with the Scorpion of must haves for my personal garage. HA
I miss keeping up with you John…must make time to catch up. 🙂
Desert D!!! I miss you be sure to give me ago sometime,, & new phones later I no longer have your info!!!
How fraking cool is that to see your pen ‘n’ paper rendering come to life as a full-sized Trek prop! Way to go, bro! 🙂
peace & bananas | deg
Ps. Hi to everyone, hope all are doing well! 🙂
It’s always a thrill!!!!! Hey can you, Doug and Matt go to dinner this Thursday???
So sad I missed dinner with you guys! It sounds like it was a lot of fun! Needed to get back and visit my wife and kids. Would have been big time trouble for me if I had missed our 9 year anniversary! ;D
Hey John! Love the Artwork and Photos! Am I the only one who hears the Theme to Cops when I look at the photos! 😀 Thanks again for the post!
Thanks JOE!!!!!!! Hey tell me again what programs you use and what you can do with them!!!!
Hey, I use 3D Max, But my day to day software is Adobe Software Illustrator and Photoshop.
You can see some of my work at http://joseralat.com/wp/
Here are a samples of Trek Illustration. It was my version of the reboot Bridge station.
Awesome! So are you going to be working on the sequel?
Woo! I always love looking at your drawings, John! They’re always incredible – so detailed that you can actually picture them in real life! It has to be so cool to see them become a prop or a CG model and then see them on TV or the Big Silver Screen!
The drawings look awesome, I’m curious though, are these images actually drawn all together on one piece of paper, or do you draw them on several and place them together in photoshop afterwards? Also, how large are these images, I’m guessing A3, maybe A4?
Really love the way you shade your drawings, still trying my hardest to nail it! 🙂
Too bad these aren’t equipped with a low-power tractor beam or a grappling hook at least.