All the vehicles in Star Trek XI (2009) were amazing, but one that caught my eye was the Iowa police bike. It seemed so realistic and futuristic at the same time! Now production designer John Eaves has posted some drawings and a behind-the-scenes story about the project.
Turns out it was supposed to be much bigger till they shrank it to keep costs down. So, heeeere's Johnny!
The concept began as a pretty big bike, more of a helicopter size craft and it took a few long passes at the drawing board to get the copter version layed [sic] out and approved.
As time, story changes, and budget revisions took place the cycle had to scale down drastically to fit the new constraints and thus the flying speed bike came to be.
As much fun as would have been to see the big version I have to say this smaller bike really was a very cool departure and one big treat to see on the screen. The size screamed police more so than the previous and it was a good call on all fronts.
The bike went through a few design changes and what you see in today’s sketch was the final design. At Comicon 09 the prop was in a corner of the Mattel booth and it was great to finally get some pictures of her.
The second trailer form the movie has a good shot of the bike in the opening.
I can't say enough about John "Johnny" Eaves blog so you gotta check it out. http://johneaves.wordpress.com/
What do you think of the designs? Would you have preferred the larger version?
