CT Secrets of the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV unveiled

Hernalt

Thank you for your suggestions. As a matter of fact - without having logged in to my Photobucket account - I just followed the first image link now posted in my last post (# 99) and instantly could see the design evolution visualization - and here is where it gets mysterious - and all the others I couldn't watch yesterday.

As if that wasn't strange enough, I just went to post # 51 - http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...de-runner-tantive-iv-unveiled.50045075/page-3 - and to my surprise all the (hotlinked) images can be seen again (However, all the images you hotlinked in your post # 59 - http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ive-iv-unveiled.50045075/page-3#post-54341492 - still just reveal the Photobucket crap-o-meter).

Could it be possible that Photobucket performed a 180° turn, realizing that their Photobucked-kicks-our-buckets maneuver wasn't such a smart idea??? Stay tuned...

 

I posted this site in another thread but it could go here too.

I love the sense of scale and the geography of this image.

 

Used my PC at home last night and realized that from there I couldn't recreate the (positive) experience I described in post # 101.

Just learned of an alternative, Bazinga'd could you please copy the following and paste it to the beginning of my post # 51 in this thread?:

NOTE: Because Photobucket has removed third party hotlinking, the upcoming images have been replaced by Photobucket icons. Try watching the missing images (Lt. Hija posts) here: http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/Hija-Comsol/media/bWVkaWFJZDoxNTAyODMxMzc=/?ref=1


For today here's a new visualization:



It partially illustrates the difficulties I'm still having with the deck plan of the hammerhead section (compare to the draft - overall length at 148.8 m - illustrated in this post: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ive-iv-unveiled.50045075/page-2#post-54314282 )

Even at 155 meters overall ship's length the cockpit 'suite' helm & navigation (& radar?) shouldn't be that much deeper than the hallway is wide (10 feet / 3 meters), so that the pentagonal hub can still be near the back of the hammerhead (without stickling out from it).

However, the images from the documentary "The Princess and the Governor" (Rogue One video release bonus feature) suggest the 'cockpit box' to be at least 4 meters deep (add to this the anteroom between the hallway and the cockpit). I'll guess it's best to 'unlearn' the top images and go for a cockpit suite that's less deep (and more in sync with the wide but slim cockpit of the actual Tantive IV VFX model) because we didn't get to see that much in the actual film.

(Nevertheless the production design is interesting. Panels are mostly blank / white to be painted over in post production with the missing elements)

The other thing is that the L-turn we saw in RO (as the guards are heading towards Antilles and pass him) effectively obliterated the port side access hatch - http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...blockade-runner-tantive-iv-unveiled.50045075/ - that had been established for the Tantive III in ROTS. The easiest thing would have been to simply mirror-invert / flop the footage (and of course place Antilles rank badge on the other side), according to the unwritten production design rule "Get two different sets for the price of one".

All that would have been left to rationalize was that Leia's Tantive IV is the international version (with the steering wheel on the port side) while Bail preferred the British Version (with the steering wheel on the starboard side, further down the corridor).

P.S. Do yourself a favor and don't compare the height of the cockpit window with the one of the actual VFX model...

 

Bazinga'd

You misunderstood, I merely meant the bold two lines in post # 103 (the rest of that post is a new contribution). i.e.

"NOTE: Because Photobucket has removed third party hotlinking, the upcoming images have been replaced by Photobucket icons. Try watching the missing images (Lt. Hija posts) here: http://photobucket.com/gallery/user/Hija-Comsol/media/bWVkaWFJZDoxNTAyODMxMzc=/?ref=1 "

Please just these two lines with the link at the beginning of post # 51, so that the readers of my posts from # 51 onwards have (easy and instant) access to the images the text talks about. Thanks for your help!

 

Bazinga'd Thanx!

Mange and others, I guess I could use some feedback for the hammerhead deck plan:

In case you watched the program "The Princess and the Governor" you may have noticed that the pentagonal hub seen in the background behind Antilles (and Leia) wasn't a physical set but a CGI creation (you can shortly see the bluescreen behind the doorframe opposite to the cockpit).



So were we looking at a physical pentagonal hub "in-universe" (suggested by the guard turning there having received Antilles' orders to "secure the airlock" and "have the escape pods ready") or merely a large monitor screen, happening to show a particular pentagonal hub elsewhere in the ship?

 

Since over at the Rogue One section I've been 'chastized' for having erroneously written "Return of the Sith" instead of Revenge of the Sith (that's what you get for being an old fossile, too aware that Revenge of the Jedi had been changed into Return of the Jedi, back then...) I have corrected the spelling mistake in the recent visualization:



In other sad news I just learned from my friend, who's been uploading my visualizations on his Photobucket account in the past which affects many visualizations in my posts prior to post # 51, that he, too, received his 'marching orders' as he put it so eloquently, i.e. that many of the Tantive IV exterior images in the first part of this thread will soon be replaced by these Photobucket crap-o-meters, too. (enjoy these while they last...).

 

I've been away, sorry for not replying sooner. I do believe that we're looking at a physical pentagonal hub. It looks as a standard door opening.

 

Bazinga'd

As I'm going on vacation tomorrow (back August 13th) and since it's no use denying the inevitable (i.e. Photobucket will sever the hotlinks to the Rebel Blockade Runner images in the first part of this thread any moment now) please be so kind and place the following notification at the beginning of my very first post in this thread:

"NOTE: Because Photobucket has removed third party hotlinking, the upcoming images are no longer visible. Try watching the missing images (Lt. Hija posts) here: http://s757.photobucket.com/user/Mytran77/library/?sort=3&page=1 "

Thank you in advance for your support.

Mange

No problem, I'm about to be gone, too, for some R&R and Star Tours rides. Yes, I agree, we are looking at a standard doorframe which would look like the last place where to put a video wall.

One thing I really wanted to do before going on vacation was to draft the hammerhead main deck, I hope the visualization reveals some of the issues I hinted in previous posts:



https://vgy.me/7xon2A.jpg

Comparing the positioning of helm and navigator both in ROTS and RO seemed to suggest that the RO filmmakers used the cockpit film set from ROTS as a basis for the RO set (only Bail's chair has been moved further to the rear to allow the guard on Leia's ship to have a control console in front of him, presumably the 'radar' operator as IMHO he should be in the same booth as the helm and navigator - https://vgy.me/F7777m.jpg (I'm now adding the image links, too, better safe than later sorry).

Matching the film's cockpit door with the one of the VFX model expectedly had the adverse effect that the L-turn of the RO corridor set no longer matches the angle of the original ANH set, but it curiously and perfectly matches the angle of the ROTS set, although we never did see that L-turn in ROTS!

Although I reduced the depth of the anteroom to the cockpit where Antilles was standing, I'm now rather thinking to reduce the width of the RO cockpit corridor to match it with the width of the L-turn. The one thing that positively surprised me was how well the pentagonal hub aligned with other structures on the port side.

And I think it's pretty obvious that the L-turn must provide access to a stairway to another deck, otherwise it'd be completely redundant. I'm pretty certain the stairway leads down to the lower deck and the computer room where we saw Vader and his lieutenant last and talking to Commander Praji in ANH - before both proceeded and ascended to the main deck.

 

A good effort! There are however a few things I'd like to comment on:

MH: I think that should be more centered.
SL: Feels very random.
SB: I believe the breach occurred much further down, possibly where the ramp was located when it was still the Pirate Ship (an auxiliary boarding area?). It is difficult to reconcile with Rogue One. So many missed opportunities there...
OB: A perfect rationalization (especially in light of Jaeger's comment)

 

Interesting. I wonder what drove the modelmakers to put that Star Wars poster in the cockpit in July 1988 of all times?

And though I'm not sure about the placement of the EVA suit lockers so far from an airlock, they're a good idea. Never know when an alien lifeform might invade the ship and try to take over its crew.

 

Good to be back from France and Star Tours. I still haven't really figured out why they closed Star Tours in Disneyland (Paris) last year, the waiting line arrangement was still the same with the Mon Calamari overhead hangar control room to the left and the Starspeeder 1000 with Artoo and Threepio on an adjacent platform to the right. Really liked the orbital spaceport destination board (weather forecast: meteorite showers ) and the VFX film they played there: I spotted at least one variation of the Corellian Corvette outside the orbital spaceport with a smaller engine but bigger midship / payload section, suggesting that the Tantive IV variation is mostly built for speed and passenger transport.

I'm somewhat very positively surprised that Photobucket apparently and still hasn't touched my friend's account, as there are still hotlinked Photobucket images in my first posts of this thread.

Mange wrote

MH: I think that should be more centered.

Interestingly (once we get there ) you'll see that the corridor on the lower deck where Leia was hiding has to be on the port side and features a pentagonal hub at its beginning, i.e. there will be two pentagonal hubs on the lower deck (the one to the stern where Threepio and Artoo crossed to get to the port side lifepods and the one further to the bow which Leia crossed to meet Darth Vader) with a clear propensity towards the port side. If we were to center these (although they'd admittedly look better deck-plan wise) we'd be looking at a hull diameter only compatible with a Tantive IV with a minimal length of 200 meters!

SL: Feels very random.

Well, as a matter of fact all these corridor alcoves or anterooms look somewhat random and lack a known or established purpose. In the main hull (as we shall see) they can be explained or rationalized as a transition point or space between the rectangular hallways inside the (curved) main hull and the corridors or sub-hallways in the outer midship section. However, in the hammerhead the Rogue One cockpit anterroom looks somewhat redundant, unless there is a purpose to it. Since these tiny anterooms feature mostly bulkhead doors on both sides, they look like some kind of airtight "panic room" to me, which should feature EVA suits as an emergency measure in case of sudden decompression or the like.

SB: I believe the breach occurred much further down, possibly where the ramp was located when it was still the Pirate Ship (an auxiliary boarding area?). It is difficult to reconcile with Rogue One. So many missed opportunities there...

Perhaps you recall, I described a main hallway corridor coming from the starboard boarding ramp in one of the previous posts (difficult to relocate because of all the Photobucket crap-o-meters) but the L-turn would then lead out to the starboard exterior of the Tantive IV...Once I have the final deck plans ready for posting, I hope things become a lot clearer.

OB: A perfect rationalization (especially in light of Jaeger's comment)

Thank you. In Rogue One we definitely see the port side edge of the cockpit, but the starboard edge is (gratefully) somewhat obfuscated, allowing the rationalization of transparisteel walls separating the booths of the cockpit. As for the reason why I can only speculate that it's probably best for the Princess to have as few as possible listeners in the vicinity when she conducts long-range communications in the communications booth. It should be sufficient for the crew in the helm booth to receive orders where to take the ship next via the headsets in their helmets.

Nibelung wrote

Interesting. I wonder what drove the modelmakers to put that Star Wars poster in the cockpit in July 1988 of all times?

I'd like to know that myself. Kirk's original TV USS Enterprise got a makeover several years ago (that led to such a widespread and deserved controversy because of many retroactive and stupid exterior panel text changes, motivating the Smithsonian to commission another makeover to restore it to its original state).
Fact remains that there was a starboard bulkhead door (same as the one still visible on the port side) which I could see when Don Bies took me behind the cordon back in 1988, but I didn't get another chance to photograph it properly.
In the meantime more retroactive changes have been inflicted onto the original VFX model of the Tantive IV, i.e. Miss Deborah Borkman has been permanently evicted from the original cockpit.



(^ Tantive IV cockpit still featuring Ms. Borkman, but it's probably undisputed that she is not a reliable indicator concerning the in-universe size of the Tantive IV)

 

I almost forget, this rare compilation of ANH BTS footage has a couple of interesting scenes aboard the Tantive IV:



Go to 3:47' to watch different takes of the Antilles-Vader scene. The circular hatch in the standard bulkhead door frame (behind the Rebel round-up in the background) is clearly visible and the original dialogue from the final script (by Dave Prowse before James Earl Jones dubbed the scene in post-production) is audible.

One of the things that still perplexes me is this particular, original dialogue (that didn't make it into the film):

VADER
(Angry)
Where are those tapes?

REBEL OFFICER
Only… only the commander knows…

So the character we've all come to accept as Captain Antilles (and is a colonel according to his rank badge with the five blue dots, that look somewhat reddish in the footage) originally referred to a superior officer aboard the Tantive IV.

 

Traditionally, the commander of a ship is always addressed as Captain, even if they have a different rank. Small ships may be commanded by Lieutenants - but their commanders will always be addressed as "Captain" by the crew. Large or exceptionally important ships might have a higher-ranked character commanding them.

So when 3PO says "Our last master was Captain Antilles" - he can be telling the truth, despite Captain Antilles actually having a different line rank.

 

Thanks for explaining that even somebody who doesn't hold the rank of "captain" can be the captain of a vessel, but I think you missed my point.

The line "only the commander knows" in the shooting script from March 1976 could have indicated anybody dressed up as an Alderaanian Guard with the black (Solo style) jacket.

When the scene was finally shot around June 1976 they put the actor in one of the top brass uniforms from the Yavin IV scenes and gave him Colonel Ristt's ("Bob Hudsol") blue rank badge. Because of that, I had been previously under the impression that the line "only the commander knows" line wasn't shot at all (the uniform clearly indicated the character to be the only higher ranking crew member we see in those scenes), but as the genuine BTS footage now reveals, he still said "only the commander knows" as if there had still been another and higher ranking officer on board.

Hence my confusion (perhaps Lucas noticed the oddity and left that particular line of dialogue deliberately on the editing floor).

 

That, or "the commander" was Leia, commander of that Rebel contingent?

 

Thanks for sharing this. This is amazing! Lots of interesting dialog lines that were (probably rightly) left on the cutting room floor.

Luke's line at 7:48, "No no no no no, Han, I've seen her, she's so beautiful!" is a remnant of a motif from the 3rd draft, where Leia's image in the hologram is in stark contrast to her "bloody and mutilated" appearance after Vader's torture.

Also noteworthy: the original in-camera lightsaber effects with white blades. And at the very end, a near-final C-3PO suit, with a different-colored undersuit at waist level. (Contrast R2-D2 with a pure silver paintjob, looking like he stepped out of a Ralph McQuarrie painting!)

 

Here's a first set of regraded frames for the Tantive IV sequence. These were all directly matched to a 1977 technicolor print scan with color matching software. I should also note, that technicolor prints of Star Wars tended to be somewhat green shifted, which is especially noticeable in darker scenes. Also the color balance of 35mm prints at the time tended to vary somewhat from shot to shot, which was just a consequence of the technological constraints of the day.

Bluray:



Bluray regraded:



Lt. Hija
I sent a set of frames to you via PM.

 

Glad you enjoyed your vacation! I was at home (in Sweden), far from the bright center of the universe this year myself.

Well, I'll wait and see.

Sounds a bit 2001: A Space Odyssey novel-esque (in the novel, Bowman never leaves the Discovery but manages to enter an emergency shelter with air tanks and EVA suits as HAL opens the pod-bay doors after having killed Poole and then trying to hide the fact that he had lied to Bowman and Poole about the true purpose of the mission by killing the scientists as well as Bowman. In the movie, HAL tried to accomplish the same by killing Poole and then killing the scientists while Bowman tried to retrieve Poole in a pod and then tried to maroon Bowman).

I don't think we've seen something similar in the SW-canon, but that doesn't mean it's not there...

Yes, I do indeed recall that. However, I still think some latitude can be given. Again, I'll wait and see.

Yes, that would be quite sufficient.

Too bad they didn't model the set after the spacious bridge in Battlefront 2.

DrDre, those look gorgeous! I can't understand how they could screw up the color timing on every home release since '04...

 

I was looking at that screenshot of the blu ray vs the color corrected version and it wasn't sitting right with me. The corrected one seems a bit too bright, with too much contrast, and the white walls, while now brighter, are also getting some yellow and red tinges depending on the shot.

I took the original into photoshop and did a few quick auto adjustments and I like the result much better, but it might be just my opinion. Mine is the middle of the 3 below:

 

That's what it looks like on the original 1977 technicolor prints. The original color timing is much warmer than the bluray color timing. Additionally technicolor prints tend to have somehat of a gren cast. There's generally also contrast and more variation in the color balance on a 35mm print. Here's a set of regrades matched to a technicolor print for the entire Tantive IV sequence:

 

Looks like I don't have any longer an excuse to delay the deck plans, illustrated with (correct) screencaps to help with orientation.

(Real life issues have delayed the plans, but hopefully things cool down, so I can finally proceed...)

 

Here's what the color grading would roughly look like without the technicolor print quirks:

 

Not much action in this thread. Have you come up with anything more, @Lt. Hija?