- 4 minutes ago
Today is a good day to deep dive.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Hello, hello, and welcome back to this latest video of
00:03We are going to be going through one of the most famous ships in all of Star Trek history now in a
00:10moment. Before we do that, please don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. We are so close to
00:15250,000 subscribers. You are amazing and awesome, and we massively, massively appreciate your
00:22support. Thank you so much, everyone. Remember as well to give the original article that this
00:27video was based on a read. It was written by the astounding Paul Sutherland, who I fully believe
00:34will be running Utopia Planitia shipyards given half a chance. Now, as you've probably guessed
00:39from the thumbnail, we're going to be going through the Klingon Bird of Prey, which is probably the most
00:44famous alien ship of them all. This ship is almost as recognizable as the Klingons themselves, famously
00:51beginning life as a Romulan vessel before being retconned to being part of the Empire. This has
00:57gone through several different iterations and sizes. We will be going through the Birel, Kvort, and D12
01:03class ships as well. Grab yourself a gallon or two of blood wine, and let's get to it.
01:10Welcome to 10 secrets of the Klingon Bird of Prey. Number 10, Romulan retcon. Now, as I just noted,
01:22the Klingon Bird of Prey was originally intended to be a motion picture era style redesign of the
01:28classic Romulan Bird of Prey from the original series. Initial drafts of the ship would refer to
01:34the ship as Romulan, and that's where the Bird of Prey title came from. However, as the scripting
01:40process went on, the Romulans were swapped out for Klingons, and their proprietary Bird of Prey
01:46was swapped out to be a stolen one. Ultimately, in the version of the script that was filmed and
01:51released, the Bird of Prey was simply a Klingon Bird of Prey with no reference to the Romulan
01:57connection whatsoever. There was, however, an in-universe explanation. According to writer-producer
02:02Harv Bennett, I didn't change their ship because I remembered a piece of trivia that stated there was
02:06a mutual assistance military pact between the Klingons and the Romulans for an exchange of
02:11military equipment. Bennett's explanation would remain as part of Fanon for decades, and like the
02:18Romulan use of Klingon battlecruisers in the original series, it was simply a way of explaining
02:23it away. That is, until Star Trek Enterprise came along and showed the Klingons using 22nd century
02:29variations of the Bird of Prey, thus completely retconning that in-universe explanation.
02:36It was nice while it lasted, though. Number nine, wonderful muscles. While you can easily trace
02:42the configuration and inspiration for the Klingon Bird of Prey back to the original series episode
02:47Balance of Terror, the filmmakers didn't rely solely on Hua Chang's original design. In a somewhat novel
02:54move for Star Trek films at the time, the art department itself was bypassed and Leonard Nimoy
03:00handed off design of the Klingon Bird of Prey to ILM, which was doing the effects for the film.
03:07During early discussions with Nimoy, ILM's Nilo Rodas, David Carson and Bill George were inspired
03:13by the director's imitation of a predatory bird, arms outstretched like wings. Nimoy's guidance also
03:19included the directive that the ship should possess an elongated neck, again a characteristic of an
03:24attacking bird and one that would be incorporated in Klingon starship designs for decades to come.
03:30Further exploring various concepts for this ship, Nilo Rodas drew a vague impression of a muscled
03:36man and then based the Bird of Prey as this man flexing his muscles in a downward position. Model
03:43maker Bill George then designed the ship around that with the railed vents above the wings as the
03:50shoulders of this muscle man and the wings down in attack position like the arms being outstretched.
03:55There was even red piping added around the head of the Bird of Prey to simulate the chin guard on a
04:01football player's helmet. As instantly iconic as the ship would become, it started life with Leonard
04:08Nimoy pretending to be a bird and modelling it on a football player. Number eight. Honourable movement.
04:15A first for the franchise, the Bird of Prey model featured mechanised wings that could be lowered and
04:21raised as per command. There were three different configurations displayed in the search for Spock.
04:27Horizontal for flight configuration, down for attack configuration and then raised for landing
04:34configuration. Now while all three were on show in the search for Spock, they would be used again
04:39over the course of the TOS movies but they would become less and less frequent going into next
04:44generation and beyond. This is because the physical model itself began to break down and the mechanised
04:51components stopped working which is why for the most part you see birds of prey in the next generation
04:58permanently in a horizontal flight position. This would eventually change with the move to CGI in
05:05Deep Space Nine. Number seven. Down Periscope. Continuing on with the franchise's long-running effort
05:11to save money, the Klingon bridge from Star Trek 3 The Search for Spock was actually a reuse of a set
05:17from another series, the name of which has unfortunately been lost to time. Now it incorporated various elements
05:24that have been left over from the motion picture and the Wrath of Cannes and such futuristic elements
05:29as plastic sandwich boxes. I'm actually serious. But the main feature of Crooge's bird of prey is the
05:37monstrous looking dog that was sitting beside the captain's chair for the majority of the film. This was a
05:43practical model that was operated by Ken Ralston who was the ILM VFX supervisor who hid under the floor and
05:51moved it with his arms. Bizarrely, the set was totally redesigned for Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home
05:56when the very same ship, now dubbed the HMS Bounty, was used by the renegade crew of the USS Enterprise
06:02for their titular Voyage Home. More than the design used in Star Trek 3, this version from Star Trek 4
06:09would effectively set the template for all Klingon ships to follow. Newcomer Mike Okuda also contributed to
06:16that design. In Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier, the set was more or less the same, although
06:21they added a periscope that could be lowered over the gunner's chair. Number 6, Kalos take the wheel.
06:28Now as stated, the bridge for Captain Klaa's bird of prey in Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier
06:34was a new build, although based on the build from Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home. It would be used almost
06:40wholesale again in Star Trek 6 The Undiscovered Country. It was given a bit of a different colour
06:46scheme to represent General Chang's bird of prey. Remaining largely unchanged, the green lighting
06:52scale depicted the ship while at battle stations, there was a console added behind the General's
06:57chair, and there was something else that was a first for this ship as well. A steering wheel.
07:03Described by director Nicholas Meyer as an enormous thing that was impossible to move,
07:07the bird of prey's steering wheel is barely visible in the finished film, but an unnamed Klingon
07:12officer can be seen operating the antiquated technology in the background of a couple of
07:16shots during the movie's climax. Sadly, while many aspects of both Klaa's and Chang's bird of prey
07:21bridge were incorporated into future versions of the Klingon bird of prey as well, this steering wheel
07:27was gifted to Meyer when production wrapped on Star Trek 6, and it has since long ago disappeared.
07:34Number 5, everybody remember where we parked. Because of its relative small size,
07:40we'll get to it. The Klingon bird of prey turns up in various different locations in Star Trek 4
07:45The Voyage Home, including landing in Golden Gate Park, hovering and intimidating a Norwegian whaling
07:52ship, and of course crashing into San Francisco Bay. To achieve this last shot, a version of the
07:58bird of prey was built and crashed into a water tank combined with footage of a miniature Golden Gate
08:04Bridge. However, the final section of the film required Kirk and crew to escape the sinking bird
08:11of prey into the bay, which required a full-scale section of the ship to be built. Obviously unable to
08:18actually film the scene in open ocean, the filmmakers instead constructed the bird of prey's nose section
08:23in Paramount Studio's disused water tank, at the time being used as a parking lot. As Mike Okuda described the
08:29location, this parking lot at Paramount Pictures was known as B-Tank. With short walls on two sides,
08:34raised beams on the other two, and the blue sky backing behind, it could be flooded to simulate
08:39an open ocean. One of the very rare times that a full-scale section was built for Star Trek and it
08:45was parked in Paramount Pictures parking lot. Appropriate. Number 4, size matters. Long before fans were left
08:54scratching their heads about the TARDIS-like interior of the Discovery A, people have been wondering what
09:00in the name of Grethor is up with the various sizes of Klingon birds of prey. There's been many in-depth
09:05articles and YouTuber EC Henry has actually done a fantastic video breaking down just how exactly two
09:12humpback whales could fit inside a Klingon bird of prey. The bird of prey seems to fluctuate between 50 and
09:18150 meters long in the voyage home itself, and then in several episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation,
09:25for example, Reunion and The Defector, it could be up to 350 meters long. To clear this whole mess up,
09:32the writers of TNG and Deep Space Nine have referred to two types of bird of prey, the Burel and Kvort
09:37classes, and Star Trek Generations introduced the retired D12-type bird of prey, which also retroactively
09:43appeared in DS9's past prologue. What's the difference between these three styles? Well,
09:49the episodes and movies themselves, along with Michael and Denise Okuda's Star Trek Encyclopedia,
09:54don't really help matters. Initially telling us that the Burel is the larger of the three variants,
09:59then saying it's the Kvort, Rick Sternbach's Star Trek Deep Space Nine technical manual muddies the
10:05waters even more by suggesting there's a 685 meter long jumbo bird of prey that's roughly the same size
10:12as a galaxy-class starship. But sure, no, go on and tell me how Discovery is the one that ruined
10:19continuity. Number three, Klingon keepsakes. As we've previously mentioned in this Dolphin series,
10:25it's always loads of fun when Star Trek merch turns up on screen. Now, for example, there's the AMT
10:31model kit of the Enterprise that turned up on screen in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country,
10:36and then there's Playmate's Borg cube, which turned up as definitely not a toy in the episode Dark
10:42Frontier of Star Trek Voyager. Now, we've got one more for you, Hallmark's Klingon Bird of Prey
10:48turned up in the DS9 season 4 Klingon extravaganza, The Way of the Warrior. While the producers
10:54initially commissioned illustrator John Eves to create a batch of new Klingon starships for The Way of the
10:59Warrior, the massive scale of the episode's centerpiece battle sequence meant the budget was tight and
11:04existing models would have to suffice. To fill out the Klingon fleet, Deep Space Nine's in-house VFX crew
11:10brought the Old Bird of Prey, Vortja-class attack cruiser and Katinga-class battlecruiser filmy models
11:15out from storage and quickly recalled the All Good Things Nagvar model from a touring exhibition.
11:21Still, the sheer quantity of ships that were on show meant they had to reach out to other ways of
11:27getting them on screen, including model kits and, yes, Hallmark ornaments. In fact, quite a few of the
11:35Birds of Prey that are shown on screen in The Way of the Warrior are those exact same Christmas ornaments
11:42that could be hanging from your Christmas tree this Christmas.
11:46Number two.
11:49Paul, some of these titles work lovely on the page, but then you don't have to say them.
11:54After the destruction of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek III The Search for Spock,
11:58the Bird of Prey became the main starship setting of Star Trek IV The Voyage Home.
12:03To quote producer Harv Bennett, they had a lot of fun designing that one,
12:07and I think the colour selection, a kind of serpentine kind of green, went on to help us,
12:11not only there, but later. We utilised it in Star Trek IV because it's so dramatic a look.
12:17Now, the drama of the ship must have been contagious because it went on to appear in Star
12:21Trek V as Captain Klaa's ship, Star Trek VI as General Chang's ship, and Star Trek Generations
12:27as the Juros Sisters ship as well. Despite these major motion picture appearances,
12:33and the aforementioned Star Trek II The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager Enterprise,
12:37Shore Treks, Lower Decks, and Star Trek Prodigy, the ship was actually slated for more appearances
12:42than even that. The scripts for the TNG episodes Aequiel and The Chase, and the DS9 episodes Dramatis
12:48Personae and Crossover all indicated the use of the Bird of Prey. Though the ship was ultimately replaced
12:54with the Vortja-class attack cruiser itself created for TNG to replace the Bird of Prey,
12:59but only moderately successful. And to note, while General Chang's Bird of Prey was able to fire
13:04while cloaked in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country, there was an additional prologue planned
13:09that would have seen the HMS bounty being deconstructed and studied by Captain Montgomery Scott.
13:15Number one, Qalth. Now, roughly translated, legacy. The legacy of the Klingon Bird of Prey extends
13:22well past the movies, the episodes, the toys, the Hallmark ornaments, and goes into Star Trek design
13:28language to this day. Now, while Star Trek's producers commissioned Rick Sternbach to create a
13:33new Vortja-class attack cruiser to replace the Klingon Bird of Prey, the popularity of the ship ensured
13:41that it would continue to make appearances. In fact, it's one of Star Trek's longest lived ships.
13:46It was so popular, in fact, with executive producer Rick Berman, that he would often encourage
13:51illustrators and designers to use elements of the Bird of Prey when he felt other designs weren't
13:57working, including in the film's Star Trek Nemesis. Both the Valdor-type warbird and the Riemann
14:02scimitar incorporate elements of the Bird of Prey, despite them having Romulan as opposed to Klingon
14:08design. A seeming anachronism, Star Trek Enterprise featured a new spin on the Klingon Bird of Prey,
14:13designed by John Eves after several other 22nd century Klingon vessels were created for the show,
14:19but failed to meet the producer's approval. Even Star Trek Discovery featured a Bird of Prey in its
14:23Klingon-centric first season, a ship that was heavily influenced by Gothic architecture and H.R. Giger's
14:29biomechanical style, but still clearly bearing all the hallmarks of that very first Bird of Prey.
14:35It has since appeared in Star Trek Prodigy, and of course in Star Trek Lower Decks, most notably in the
14:41episode Way Dush, where a lot of the interior are recreated so faithfully, the only thing we're still
14:48waiting to see in live action again is another one of those dogs. Give us one of those monster dogs,
14:54you patawks! Thank you so much for watching this video, thank you so much Paul Sullivan for putting
14:59together an amazing article again, please don't forget to go and check that out. Everyone remember
15:03you can catch us over on Twitter at TrekCulture, you can catch myself at SeanFerrick on Twitter as well,
15:08at Sean.Ferrick88 on Instagram, and you can catch our editor at EditChrisEdit on Twitter. You are all
15:14amazing and wonderful, thank you so much, we'll see you again soon. Our friends in Ukraine, stay strong,
15:21our friends in Iran, we are so proud of you. Everyone, live long and prosper, we'll see you soon.
Comments