#romulan bird of prey

[defconprime]

Romulan Bird of Prey

#star trek tos #star trek cards #romulan bird of prey

[chernobog13]

CGI-version of the original Romulan Bird of Prey in the remastered Star Trek: The Original Series episode Balance of Terror.

Other than re-used footage in second season episode The Deadly Years, the Bird of Prey model was never seen in the series again. Instead, when the Romulans re-appeared in the third season episode The Enterprise Incident, they were using Klingon D-7 cruisers outfitted with cloaking devices.

Spock's line in that episode stating that intelligence reports indicated Romulans had acquired Klingon ships suggested an alliance. however brief, between The Klingon and Romulan Empires. This explained why later on in the Star Trek films Klingon ships were all equipped with cloaking devices.

This alliance might never have come to be if it were not for the fact that the original Bird of Prey model was destroyed by its creator.

Producer Robert Justman loved the work of prop builder Wah Chang. Chang had designed and or built several props for the show, including the communicators, the Salt Vampire, and the Tribbles.

There was just one teeny weeny little problem, though: Chang was not a member of the prop makers' union, nor was he eligible to join. Star Trek, as a studio production, was obligated to only use items designed and built by union members.

However, Justman considered Chang's work superior to that of studio prop makers. He conceived of a scheme to have Chang design and build the Romulan ship, but the studio would be invoiced for a pre-existing item, not something built specifically for the production. That would allow them to bypass the union requirement.

Chang built the 2 1/2 foot-wide, internally lit model out of vacuum-formed plastic, plaster, and metal in approximately two weeks. It was delivered to TOS production studio and filmed for the Balance of Terror episode. Because he was non-union, Chang would not get a credit for building the model.

Eventually the prop makers' union found out that Chang had built the model and filed a grievance. After much wrangling between the two sides, the union agreed to drop the grievance as long as Chang was not paid for his work. The studio agreed and Chang received the model back instead of the money he was owed.

Understandably angry, Chang smashed the model with sledgehammer when he returned home. Chang apparently confirmed this in 1982 during a radio interview.

When The Deadly Years was filmed stock footage of the Bird of Prey was used because there was no one to rebuild the prop (Star Trek's budget kept getting slashed each year). By the time The Enterprise Incident was being prepped the producers decided to forego the limited stock footage they had, and instead made use of the Klingon D-7, the model of which was still in the warehouse.

And thus, the brief Klingon-Romulan Alliance was born.

#Star Trek #Star Trek: The Original Series #Balance of Terror #Romulan Bird of Prey #Romulans #Baird of Prey #Robert Justman #Wah Chang #starships

[spockvarietyhour]

Romulan Bird-of-Prey and its new plasma weapon, “A Quality of Mercy”

#Star Trek #SNW #A Quality of Mercy #Romulan #Romulan Bird of Prey #plasma weapon #flashing gif #snwedit #startrekedit #GIF #my gifs #Danny and Renae watch SNW #Hide and Queue

[ship-o-rama]

Romulan Bird of Prey

Profile: mainstay of the Romulan Navy, stealth over speed.

Pictured: A Romulan Bird of Prey intercepts a starfleet shuttlecraft that crossed the Neutral Zone in 2259

Appeared in Star Trek Ongoing Vol 2. "Vulcan's Vengeance" IDW Comics

#Star Trek #Star Trek Comics #IDW Comics #spaceship #starship #Romulans #Bird of Prey #Romulan Bird of Prey

[urban-disco-bones]

Star Trek Micro Machines and Eaglemoss 🚀

#star trek #micro machines #eaglemoss #hero collector #uss enterprise #klingon d-7 #deep space station k7 #tos #star trek tos #star trek the original series #collectables #toys #models #90s toys #miniatures #sci fi #science fiction #retro #retro toys #romulan bird of prey

[thisshrimpisfryingrice]

How to enter the neutral zone without entering the neutral zone.

#Star Trek #star trek shitposting #hello??? #romulan warbird #Romulans #uss cerritos #bird of prey #star trek lower decks #they can do that fr fr #spaceships #starfleet #Star Trek meme

[alphamecha-mkii]

Romulan Bird of Prey Cutaway by Matthew Paul Cushman

#Star Trek #Romulan #Bird of Prey #Cutaway #Sci-Fi #Mecha #Spaceship #Matthew Paul Cushman

[nerds-yearbook]

The December 15, 1966 episode of Star Trek introduced the alien race the Romulans and their bird-of-prey ships. It was also the last appearance of Janice Rand in the television series. The character wouldn't appear again until the motion picture. ("Balance of Terror", Star Trek TOS, TV, Event)

#nerds yearbook #real life event #december #1966 #paul schneider #gene roddenberry #vincent mceveety #st #star trek #star trek tos #sci fi tv #romulan #bird of prey #space ship #alien #mark lenard #william shatner #bill shatner #captain james t. kirk #spock #leonard nimoy #yeoman rand #grace lee whitney #paul comi #lawrence montaigne #uss enterprise #deforest kelley #doctor mccoy #bones #george takei

[lithiumseven]

Literally the most difficult part of being a Trekkie is trying to remember which one is the Warbird and which one is the Bird of Prey

#like come on #why #klingon bird of prey #romulan warbird #romulans #klingons #Star Trek

[alphacomicsvol2]

Borderguard by Blabberdock

#Star Trek #Star Trek: The Original Series #TOS #Romulan #Bird of Prey #Sci-Fi #Mecha #Spaceship #Blabberdock

[defconprime]

Romulan Bird of Prey from Star Trek Timelines

#star trek tos #star trek video games #romulan bird of prey #star trek timelines

[chernobog13]

Romulan Bird-Of-Prey Cutaway.

Cutaway diagram by Matt Cushman. Blueprints by Gary Kerr and Petri Blomqvist.

#Star Trek #Star Trek: The Original Series #Romulan Bird-Of-Prey #starships #Romulans #cutaway diagram #Matt Cushman #Gary Kerr #Petri Blomqvist

[spockvarietyhour]

Farragut ‘s violent end, “A Quality of Mercy”

#Star Trek #SNW #USS Farragut #Romulan Bird of Prey #A Quality of Mercy #starship #Federation #Starfleet #Romulan #flashing gif #snwedit #startrekedit #GIF #my gifs #Danny and Renae watch SNW #Hide and Queue

[nekolein-on-bricks]

Da entarnt sich ein romulanischer Bird-of-Prey

Wer kennt ihn nicht den Bird-of-Prey der Romulaner aus TOS in Mini-Size von BlueBrixx.

Wer die Folge kennt, weiß, dass auf der Unterseite ein Adler aufgemalt war. Auch dieser ist im Modell zu finden. Natürlich als Brick-build.

Hier nochmal ein Bild der Verpackung. Die 238 Steine waren schnell verbaut.

#BlueBrixx PRO Star Trek - Romulan Bird-of-Prey (Mini)

[sshbpodcast]

Vessel detected: Alien ships in Star Trek: Part 2

By Ames

We saw some Birds-of-Prey last week when we invited the Klingon ships onto the lot, and this week we’re seeing some birds of a different color: Romulan green! These ships are even more avian in shape and nature, and they’re sneakier to boot!

So lift your glasses of Romulan ale as A Star to Steer Her By welcomes the Romulan ships from across Star Trek to our shipyard. See them all decloak below and follow our chatter over on this week’s podcast episode. Don’t tell the Tal Shiar.

[images © CBS/Paramount, Ex Astris Scientia, Eaglemoss Ltd., Star Trek Shipyards, Star Trek Timelines, probably others]

Bird-of-Prey

The first Romulan ship we glimpse in The Original Series has the most birdlike resemblance, mainly because it has a giant orange bird painted on its underside! And though the cartoon bird image may look more like a goofy turkey than a threatening bird of prey, it’s still instantly recognizable and a feast for the eyes. The shape itself kinda looks more like any of the Federation ships we’ve discussed previously, with a round hull and tubular nacelles with orange bussard collectors sticking out on the side, but how much can we really ask from an era spent mostly fighting the budget?

D’deridex class

Famously, the Romulans are back in TNG’s “The Neutral Zone,” and they’ve got a new warbird to intimidate us in. Like the BOP, it cloaks, it uncloaks, it juliennes fries. It’s also the first in a line of Romulan ships to brandish their trademark green color. The general bird shape is still there, especially when viewed from above where it quite greatly resembles the Klingon Bird-of-Prey’s wings-neck-head structure. But the real pièce de résistance is its huge, hollow area in the body, which is such a unique design we don’t really see anywhere else!

Valdore

Say what you will about Star Trek: Nemesis (and boy howdy, we have), we do get to see some pretty fantastic ships. Let’s start with the Valdore, the Romulan warbird we see Donatra (among others) flying around in. It’s a much fiercer bird than we’ve seen from either of the Romulans or Klingons so far, partly because it just looks so sharp. This ship is like an osprey made out of steak knives. In space. And despite its sleek and narrow design, it manages to not look like it will break in half like some skinny-ass ships I could name.

Scimitar

The other villain ship of Nemesis to regard is Shinzon’s ship, the Scimitar, which we’re going to lump here because Romulans and Remans are inseparable. Don’t think too long about how this ship got made, just appreciate its complexity and dynamism. We don’t see nearly enough ships that have an action mode that just screams to be made into a toy, but the Scimitar’s change from a batlike wing to a whole bunch of spiderleg wings might be one of the highlights of an otherwise drek film.

Bird-of-Prey (ENT)

Let’s jump to Enterprise where we see an earlier version of the Romulan Bird-of-Prey, looking very much like a greet boomerang. I don’t know if I’d call it birdlike, per se. Possibly more like a manta ray. But it’s good to see that Romulan green color glowing eerily in the blackness of space. They’re also quite cute when you get down to it. The lines are nicely arced and the impression I get is that these things just look very zippy. Are they as good as the early Federation ships and early Klingon ships at indicating that these designs came before the more well-known shapes? That’s more debatable.

Warbird (PIC)

I forget why I ordered the ships in this way, but we’re jumping to the end of season 1 of Picard now and looking at the next incarnation of the warbird. While there are a lot of warbirds in that finale, we get the best looks at the flagship flown by General Oh. It’s the sleekest, feistiest warbird so far and looks incredibly flat. You could probably make a kite design out of this thing pretty easily. But we also see that trademark green lights and bulbous head on it, reminiscent of the D’deridex class we just looked at.

Narada

Again, my chronology was off when ordering these slides, so we’re jumping randomly to the Narada from Star Trek 2009 because someone reset the timeline or something. Like many things from the Kelvin movies, the design of whatever the hell this is (no way in hell am I calling it a ship) is so overdone and unnecessary that it boggles the mind. There just is no logical design to this thing. I can’t tell you where on this behemoth anything is. Where’s the bridge? Does it have any windows or airlocks? What propels it in any particular direction? Did JJ pull this thing out of a showerdrain? Just, what is going on other than having your artists make something really fancy looking and huge?

Bird-of-Prey (SNW)

Once again, Strange New Worlds doing it right. When we see the Romulan Bird-of-Prey in the season 1 finale (in this case, the same BOP that we saw in TOS), the design is just a cleanup and update of the ship we all know and remember. No need to reinvent the wheel here! The idea is clear: this is what the 60s ship would have looked like if they had had the technology, not a pure and unnecessary redesign like certain Kelvin Enterprises I could name. The plating is more grey now because our televisions are better at picking up contrast. The lights are green now because, frankly, they should have been green in the first place. And the bird on the belly is the same orange rooster it always was but less cartoonish and with more flair. This is a ship that, in other circumstances, we could have called friend.

—

That’s it from our two villain races who are the most visible (when they choose to be visible, that is). Next week we’ll open the gates for even more alien ships to park, put their hoods up, and let us inspect them. In the meantime, you can keep up with our full watch through Trek with our Voyager coverage on SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts, hail us on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t feed the warbirds.

#star trek #star trek podcast #podcast #aliens #alien ships #romulans #romulan ships #bird-of-prey #d'deridex #valdore #scimitar #warbird #narada #the original series #the next generation #nemesis #enterprise #star trek 2009 #picard #strange new worlds

[quasi-normalcy]

I think one of the big differences between Star Trek and Star Wars is that (intentional) silliness is baked into the canon on Star Trek in a way that it's really not on Star Wars.

Like, there are moments of levity in Star Wars (and things that aren't supposed to be funny but are), but it's written as a counterpoint to the big sweeping epic saga going on in the foreground. Like, behold Luke Skywalker, off on his Hero's Journey against the forces of evil! Also featuring a gay robot with anxiety and his peddle-bin pal. If the took the silliness out of Star Wars, it might not be as good, but it would still be legible as a series.

On Star Trek, on the other hand, there *is* no big, sweeping epic that's supposed to absorb your attention, and so the "serious" bits have no pride of place over the "silly" ones. Episodes where the Enterprise has to play a tense game of cat and mouse with a Romulan bird-of-prey or where Jim needs to let the love of his life die to save the future stand co-equal with episodes where the Enterprise is overrun with purring balls of fluff or where the crew needs to short-circuit a conman's sexbots by staging absurdist plays for them. And if you took the silliness out of Star Trek then it wouldn't be Star Trek anymore; you can't have utopianism where everyone is dour and serious all of the time.

#star trek #star wars