66
66 color
key frame with tattoos.
69 pencil/pen
rough color
final approved version
Enterprise Episode #93 (Bound) To finish off the Gorn/Orion architectural arc, Here are the ship concepts for the massive Orion slave vessel. The ship is heavily armed and is decorated with a teeth and alien tattoos. The following sketches lead up to the final approved art and color schemes. This was almost the end of Enterprise and having Manny as the driving force behind the fourth season brought new life to the series and made the final season a real treat to be a part of. besides the Zindi, these were among my favorites of new alien ships.
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
Excellent! I would have approved of #66 already if I had been in charge, but there is something special about the clumsier design #69.
Wow, thanks! What a cool design!
Here it is in its full glory:
Sadly, for the actual appearance in the episode, the teeth were removed and replaced by more generic tattoos as can be seen on the first screenshot. Would have established a cool design motif for Orion ships. Still way cool anyhow.
It kinda works.. maybe the Orion military has teeth, and the Orion trade clans have their own distinctive ‘tattoos’?
and two more:
Wow what a fatty!! I had never seen the final version and I didn’t know it’s teeth had been pulled,,,,, well I guess when you have to eat soft food you get fat!!!
Ah, very cool. It seems the final model was a bit ‘chubbier’ than your design. I just love those old-fashioned turrets, I don’t think we saw those kinds of very visible weapons a lot.
Talking about favorites.. I think one of my favorite ENT designs you did (I think) is Shran’s Andorian battle cruiser.
Early posting today 😀
I really like all the different shapes on this one. Curves intersecting and making for a visually interesting subject. First sketch is a bit linear in line, and not as exciting to me. It also lends some queues to the Klingon ships of this era with the darted nose. I did notice in screen caps posted yesterday that on the cg model it looks like the model studio just grafted the K-bops head guns to the upper mounts behind the bridge blister. Was it done in the need for speed and deadlines or was this done on purpose to show black market purchases of non-native parts?
MKF-
Interesting. The first pics look like you tried to give the original Insurrection holo ship (one of my favorites) a second chance.
I like the top one…ya, pick that one. What? I don’t get a vote?
MKF, I like the linear look, as you describe it because it fits with the aesthetic look of the attack vessels we saw yesterday. The final version is interesting, but doesn’t add anything for me…the cool visible weapons are present on both designs. And I second your question:
” Was it done in the need for speed and deadlines or was this done on purpose to show black market purchases of non-native parts?”
The idea of black market parts is a good one.
Wow, thanks! What a cool design!
Sadly, for the actual appearance in the episode, the teeth were removed and replaced by more generic tattoos. Would have established a cool design motif for Orion ships. Still way cool anyhow.
Somehow, adding links to a comment doesn’t work, I’ll try it one at a time:
Okay, works that way:
Okay, works that way:
Okay, works that way:
Cool concepts! I like the final version, but that earlier “66” concept looks a *lot* like one of your holoship concepts for Insurrection. Same basic structure, just updated a bit for the Orions. A picture of it is on this page (http://www.starshipdatalink.net/art/insurrection.html), fifth image down.
Wow!!! what’s this site??? learn something everyday, and I had forgotten about that Holoship,,, does have an uncanny resemblance.
The articles on that site are mostly copies from Star Trek: The Magazine (including the images), AFAIK.
very cool Love the Tatoo desgins on both ships.
Though I am liking the first one more than the second.
Hm. 66 reminds me of the second version of the holo-ship you did for Insurrection – the one between the saucer and the brick.
Subconscious or intentional? 😉
Cool stuff dude. 69 reminds me of WWII large aircraft like the PBY and the B-17. esp. the PBY though.
Now where are the green girls? 😀
PLL,
deg
69 seems to have a “Starblazers” vibe going on, but I can’t figure out how…
Wicked!
The shape of 66 vaguely reminds me of the Klingon Raptor’s “head.”
By the way, John, I left a comment in your “about” section. Apologies … I meant to post it here. I was hunting for sketches of the retro BoP and, particularly, the Klingon attack ship seen in “Affliction.” It looked a lot like this:
Some people think it’s a kitbash, but on close inspection, I think it’s an original ship. Sadly, there’s no reference material on the thing — and aside from my own, seemingly very little interest in that ship 😦
Thanks for any info you might have!
-Sean
Hi John, nicew blog you got going here. I just love the behind the scenes stuff and the progression of design. Speaking of #66 looking like a concept of the early holoship for insurection, any chance you have more of those sketches around to share with us? I’d love to have a good profile look at that early holoship so I can try my hand at scratchbuilding her…
Thanks again!