We Preview Star Trek Concept Art

Paramount screened more than 20 minutes of footage from J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek movie this week in Los Angeles, about which much has been written. But the studio also previewed concept art that offered a glimpse into the top-secret story and the way Abrams' Trek universe expands the original series. The art, which ran as a slide show on TV monitors placed around the lobby of the Paramount Theater on the studio lot in Hollywood, revealed designs for uniforms, ships, command bridges, sets, a Starfleet Academy lecture hall and weapons, including phasers. Many of the drawings appeared to be based on the designs from the original series, particularly the uniforms of the Enterprise crew and the phasers they used. Others were completely new, including a large military transport shuttle, which looked like a much larger and more complicated version of the original shuttlecraft from the TV show, and a medical evacuation shuttle, like a shuttlecraft but with red and white markings, a la a terrestrial ambulance. The drawings also revealed designs for Klingon war birds, which retained the general shape of the ships from the TV show, but with altered details. Other interesting reveals: --What appeared to be a Starfleet Academy lecture hall, with high broad windows that revealed the tip of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, consistent with Trek's mythology that Starfleet is based in San Francisco. --Several different drawings of ship bridges, including a red one that could be either Romulan or Klingon; a white bridge that was likely the Enterprise command center; and a third of indeterminate origin, possibly the U.S.S. Kelvin. --The Enterprise shuttle bay interior, which featured the familiar scallop-shaped hangar doors, but which otherwise resembled the immense open flight deck of the Battlestar Galactica, with many shuttles inside. --A drawing of a starship nacelle with "quantum warp ports," whatever they are. --A medical tricorder, which looks very much like the communicator props from Galaxy Quest. --A sketch of young James Kirk's futuristic motorcycle, a green-highlighted BMW trademarked two-wheeler with no spokes or hubs in the rims. --A "time warp" ship that was generally circular and blue, with a crescent-shaped element at the front. Star Trek opens May 8, 2009. --Patrick Lee, News Editor