Design development

As I was sorting out my design responsibilities,... Richard asked me, as I worked, to submit any additional concepts of new craft that I thought would visually support the show.  Almost immediately, I thought that we should see tiny craft moving about, pushing things, pulling things,... all to prepare this new Enterprise for it's first mission.  They'd all be "busy as bees",... which brought to mind an image of worker bees swarming around a nest, or in this case, the Dry Dock.  Thus was born: the Work Bee. Excited by this new idea, I quickly scribbled out this page of some first thoughts, ideas that struck me at that moment, before I was to start my first design assignment,... the Space Office Complex.

As you see above, my first idea was that this little two-place vehicle would carry a pilot and an operator.  Two days later, I started refining my thinking with this sketch, below, adding an RCS system and a clamshell-type door for the two crew persons. This drawing also points out a very interesting detail... Even this early in the design process, it was evident that our new Enterprise was going to be quite  different from the ship  Kirk commanded on television.  And being that different, it seemed logical that it would qualify as a new vessel class.  I, therefore, proposed that it be the first in a line of new 'Enterprise Class' starships, initiating a new number series starting with: NCC-1800.  By placing those kinds of graphics on sketches like this, I was hoping to suggest that our new Enterprise would also carry its own  Work Bees for smaller missions in deep space.

With work progressing on the Space Office Complex, I continued to evaluate how this little craft would work and what it would do,  Keeping the same proportions as the two place vehicle, I reduced it's size further by making it a single-seat craft that would  now serve as an operator's cab.  This 'cab' would be plugged into various tool units, as initially conceived (top image), thus providing a familiar environment for the operator, and a modular consistency for the viewers.  This modification also included lights, one in front and two at the top corners, and much larger window areas.

Speaking of consistency, it is no accident that the Work Bee, when viewed from the front/back, has the same basic shape as the Travel Pod.  By employing this unity of design, I was hoping to subliminally evoke the acceptance that both vehicles were developed by the same division of StarFleet. Once I'd determined that a single-seat pod was the right direction for this craft, I started to lay out the interior spacing,... especially important because of those large window areas.

But also important because I wanted people to believe that this craft, along with all the others, could really work.  I've always felt that it's easier to believe an obviously fictitious story if the surroundings, at least, are believable.  For that reason, I always address cinematic design assignments as a real life industrial design assignment,... pursuing viable design solutions.