Wow. New George Pal/Star Trek connection

Onigiri

Onigiri

Sr Member
I was reading an article about George Pals planned War of the Worlds TV series he was working on as a follow up to his movie in 1953. Here is a pic of Pal with a model from that never produced series.
Does it look familiar?
It should. It sure looks a whole lot (like100%) like the Tholian cruiser from Star Trek TOS.
pal_war_worlds2_x.jpg

Interesting yes? This was in the 70s and he was also looking at the Leif Ericson to be the starship in the show. This WoW TV show would take place a long time after the initial invasion.
http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/war_of_the_worlds_tv_pal.htm
 
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too bad.
Betting the execs thought it was too close to Trek at that time and they already had Trek starting to resurge.
 
Wow, that is incredible!
I have a question though. If this was in the 70s, wouldn't that make the Tholian ship a model that was considered for this, later series?
Maybe this is explained in the link... Going to read it now. Thanks, this is cool!


Okay, so I read the link, very interesting and Matt Jefferies was also on board, another great trek tie-in.
So, let me throw something else out there.
The Leif Erickson ship design from this series... Does it look to anyone else like the "Alien Spacecraft" model kit by AMT that was part of the Star Trek line in the 70s? As I recall, it had a little ship that came out of a bay in the belly and "Glow-in-the-dark" parts.
I remember getting this because it was a "Star Trek" ship but I never could find out where it was from ( as a kid) since I knew it was never seen on the TV series.

Maybe this has all been discussed and I am just really late to the party here.
I love this kind of stuff though, thanks again!
 
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Of course it is. Pal worked out of Paramount Studios. It was probably lying around the prop department and the dressed up that office for the shoot. Look at the other stuff sitting around in that pic.

That pic of concept art for the Leif Erikson is upside down.
 
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You think that photo is interesting - take a look at this one from that site:

attachment.php


What the hell is a nacelle from the Enterprise doing just propped up against the wall???!! :eek

Gene
 
Yeah I found this about a year ago, cool stuff. Sounds much better than the
series that was done in the early '90s.

Here's some more info on the Leif Erikson www.projectrho.com
 
Well, anyone else remember the old AMT kit I was talking about?
If my connection comes back up again for more than a minute, I'll try to find a pic.
 
That nacelle pic is AWESOME!
The model kit, "Interplanetary UFO", was released as a Glow In the Dark Kit. I had one as a kid but never had the Leif Erikson version. Its supposed to be re-released later this year and Im psyched!
 
The nacelle against the wall is a big question. I recall when we first saw this information a few years ago, and nobody would believe it was true.

Nevertheless, there it is... the Enterprise must have been just kicking around in a warehouse on the lot, at that time. Or else there were EXTRA nacelles made, but that seems preposterous. :eek

The Leif Erickson is going to be re-issued by a company called "Round 2", which has been re-popping the old AMT and Polar Lights kits. The ship will sell under the "UFO Mystery Ship" name.

- k
 
The Enterprise model definitely was just sitting around the studio, until it made that first appearance at a college. Recent pictures shown in the Majel Barrett memorial slideshow on Rodd.com showed pics from home where you could see the smaller Enterprise model sitting around. Sort of giving a little more weight to the stories that it ended up at Gene's house, in the bottom of the pool.

I definitely had the Leif Erickson kit in gray, before it became that glow in the dark thing.
 
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Their painting of the Pegasus (aka "Leif Erickson") was on display at Worldcon 2006... They basically turned it upside down and made the engine intakes smaller so that there are four instead of two. Also the nose shield has been enlarged and the cutouts have been filled in. The wingtip fins are reduced to two from four as well.

dsc04684ui9.jpg


Another angle in this painting. It seems the Leif Erickson's large topside hangar bay doors have been moved to the bottom of the ship. Also the doors are much smaller, indicating that the Pegasus is probably a larger spacecraft than Leif Ericson but similar in layout.

pegasus04si1.jpg


original box art

leretio7.jpg

amt960ufoaa1.jpg
 
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Pegasus Bridge.

waroftheworlds2jm3.jpg


waroftheworlds6am2.jpg


Hangar bay.

waroftheworlds10fp1.jpg


Landed scout craft.
waroftheworlds11rh3.jpg


Matt Jefferies' design for the Pegasus scout craft reflects ideas he wanted to use on the Galileo shuttlecraft for Star Trek but was unable to due to budget constraints.

pegasus03yj1.jpg
 
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Wow, I never knew about this proposed series. Looks like it had a lot of potential.

Since the Leif Ericson is being reissued, I think I just might use it for a BSG rag-tag-fleet custom.
 
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