> Transmit Date: 03.09.2008
> The Gravity Rotor [Data Source: admin]
In creating Serenity’s look, Joss gave the production team one simple direction: Make It Real.
As the ship was developed, each rev got more roughed-up, grungier and looked more and more like it was cobbled together from spare parts. “Too slick,” was The Boss’ feedback. “Make it look more real.”
The result is a ship design that could be described as the anti-Federation starship: Held together with equal measures of love and duct tape, Serenity makes me think of the space-faring equivalent of a 20-year-old Volvo wagon. Rusty and rough around the edges, she still gets the job done.
I say all this because today’s update is focused on the one part of Serenity that violates Joss’ “Make It Real” rule: The Gravity Rotor. Even her designers admit that the grav rotor is there because it has to be, but unlike the rest of the ship, has no basis in current tech or even physics (one of the most impressive things about Serenity is how much of it could be built with today’s technical know-how). It’s Serenity’s Heisenberg Compensator – a MacGuffin that exists so that things the producers needed to be true – like artificial gravity or a ship that can hover menacingly outside a bar – have an excuse to be true.
The grav rotor is also the next component in the rotor and skid assembly, and a darned tricky bit of sculpting:
The Inside Track: This is the upper half of the rotor frame. Notice the detailing along the edges – yet more greeblies that will be almost impossible to see in the finished replica.
The upper half of the grav rotor frame.
In this shot you can see more of the front detailing.
The frame and rotor, about to be assembled.
And here it is – the two primary sections fitted together.
03.09.2008 at 10:53 am
Sweet! Detials I never implemented in my version of the ship.
03.09.2008 at 10:53 am
So that’s how it connects. It amazes me with this build about all the details they put into the ship that really weren’t needed. Where do the blue lights from the rotor come from? Is it on the inside of the wheel or on the front and back?
03.09.2008 at 10:53 am
The entire assembly looks great. I assume the rotor itself will NOT rotate but some sort or lighting effect will make it look like it is spinning. Hidden greeblies,,,,,, no kidding!
I would love to see those early design concepts that Joss rejected.
Jim in Amsterdam
03.09.2008 at 10:53 am
Yeah, me, too. We bought Tim’s entire portfolio of drawings, except those. He doesn’t remember exactly what happened to them, although there’s a good chance they got shredded because they were “rejects”.
On a more positive note: Amsterdam? Man, I had some truly memorable blackouts there (okay, well, not really “memorable”…)
03.09.2008 at 10:53 am
Awesome sculpting as always.
It looks like Serenity is housing a Stargate! Now there’s a crossover that would give fans a smile and a headache.