Ok here goes, since the episode first aired " Best of Both Worlds ". there has always been contreversy about the
U.S.S. Tolstoy.
Ex Astris Scientia ran a great article with an email from Mike Okuda on the subject of the ships in Wolf 359, which I have read and re-read,and re-read. Then went back and watched the episode, comparing it to this article, and discovered that I need to disagree with some of Bernd Schneider's assumptions based on Okuda's answers to certain questions. I will insert parts of the article and assumptions in quotes as I go along......
Analysis
The burning ship in the graveyard was widely accepted as the Rigel-class Tolstoy for a long time. Still, it doesn't match the fandom description from Okuda's slide show very well; according to his recent statement the Tolstoy was probably not on screen at all, so there is no longer a reason to assume it is the Tolstoy. Something seems to be wrong with the model anyway. If Galaxy and Constitution model kits have been used to build it (which is already awful enough), why did they take such tiny nacelles for a massive ship? Maybe the saucer is taken from the 1/1400 Enterprise-D model kit, while the nacelles are from the 1/2500 model kit. This is the solution!
it doesn't match the fandom description from Okuda's slide show very well; according to his recent statement the Tolstoy was probably not on screen at all, so there is no longer a reason to assume it is the Tolstoy. WRONG !
Rigel: I don't think we ever came up with a ship design specifically tied to that name. (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm not remembering correctly. I don't have my notes here at the moment).
Fandom cannot apply if there
NEVER was a model, there can't be a discription to base hypothesis on.
We did the U.S.S. Chekov model because Riker (or was it Shelby?) had a line in the script in which he mentioned the ship in the graveyard. The line was filmed, but later, someone thought the reference to Pavel was too cute, so it was changed in postproduction to Tolstoy.
And later Mike Okuda goes on to say .....
The Melbourne, Kyushu, and Chekov were specifically labeled as such because of the script references to those ships. I didn't know about the re-voiced name (Tolstoy) until I saw the final episode on the air, so I didn't do a label for that ship.
Based on this I have to say
Obviously, because Mike Okuda didn't know the line was changed
BUT We did the U.S.S. Chekov model because Shelby had a line in the script in which she mentioned the ship in the graveyard.
. And there it is,
RIGHT THERE the solution.
The ships was specifically labeled the USS Chekov because of the original script. Had the original script read Tolstoy, THAT NAME would have appeared on the ship. The article goes on to try and ignore this by saying " We must dismiss Shelby's line because no one points to the screen.
The ships appear on the viewer in the order listed as per the line. Hence my little experiment, overwhelmingly, you folks identified the ships as they appear left to right. In the episode, the viewer see's the ships come into view from left to right.
IT DOES MATCH.
Now based on Mike Okuda's own words, Since the Chekov was labeled according to script, and the script was changed, The USS Tolstoy would have been a
SPIRNGFIELD-CLASS starship. Now I'm sure I'm gonna hear a back-draft about this but I'm using Mike Okuda's own words. The model (itself) wasn't important to Mike Okuda. He was going on script. What occured AFTER the episode aired and the powers that be tried to deal with all the discrepancies is unimportant. Was the Tolstoy supposed to be a Rigel class ? Fandom said
YES, Mike said
I don't think we ever came up with a ship design specifically tied to that name
. SO the answer is
NO. If the script HAD NOT BEEN changed, this would not be a debate. Shelby would have said "Chekov" and we all see it on screen, labeled as such, because Mike went by the original script.SO it's a cannon fact.
Original script or re-write really isn't the issue. The issue here is did Mike Okuda label the ship based on script.
YES. If the original script had read Tolstoy instead of Chekov would the ship have been labeled Tolstoy...
YES. Therefore the USS Tolstoy
IS a
Springfield -class starship. No ammount of fandom can tell me otherwise.
On a side note among the other problems of Wolf359 there are 2 ships labeled the Melbourne. Almost identical Nebula prototypes. One model is destroyed in the filming(prototype2), the other is just floating around in the screen shots(prototype1).
The undamaged mode(prototype1)l goes on to appear in other episodes to cement it as the cannon Melbourne. Now if ya like, the study model that was detroyed(prototype2) in the filming could represent the Tolstoy if you decide to dismiss my findings. Or you can continue to say the Tolstoy was a Rigel-class starship( Gal saucer/Gal nacelles/connie hull?)
. Ultimately the choice is up to the individual, I just wanted to explore another avenue other than the ones that have been floating around for years now.
Ok I'm done
-MP
Poll
Topic: OT : Proving a Theory ( My Findings 18 Oct 05)) (Read 4242 times)