The Ty'Gokor orbital facility
The Ty'Gokor orbital facility was a type of Klingon space station located in orbit of Ty'Gokor. At least two of these stations were in orbit of the planetoid in 2373. (DS9: "Apocalypse Rising")
Appendices[]
Background information[]
While the script mentions several "defense installations, ship docks and weapons platforms" in the scene, these "armored space stations" (as described in the Star Trek Encyclopedia) were the only installations to appear in the episode.
Studio model[]
The physical model measured 39×26×24 inches and was designed and kitbashed by Anthony Fredrickson. [1](X) Michael Okuda, who assisted, has noted, "I thought the crowning stroke of ingenuity on this model was that we stuffed the interior with strings of white Christmas tree lights. We didn't have time to mount them properly or even to attempt to arrange them inside the model, but in this case, the random stuffing of lights worked well, I thought." [2](X) Years later colleague and childhood friend Doug Drexler added, "The sewage strainer station! There were odds and ends, and Anthony was great at that. From time to time we'd do one together, we used to do that when we were 13! That was the thing he was best known for, being able to put together a bunker, or the Planitia model." (Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, issue SP29, p. 11)
The Ty'Gokor station studio model appearing in the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction as Lot 482(X), estimated at US$2,000-$3,000, was eventually sold on 6 October 2006 with a winning bid of US$7,000 ($8,400 including buyer's premium). However, the model re-appeared in a later Christie's auction, this time selling on 30 May 2007 for US$5,500 ($6,600 including premium). It is likely the first sale was not completed. The second has been confirmed by the buyer, American collector Anthony Sforza. [3](X)
CGI model[]
Considering the studio model's one-time only appearance in the live-action franchise (and therefore its subsequent and spontaneous kitbash nature), it was unsurprising that no digital counterpart was ever contemplated for production purposes afterwards.
The apocryphal fourth lower arm as seen on the display model of the Official Starships Collection
Nonetheless, when the station was slated for its own entry in the British Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection partwork publication, a CGI model was required, both for illustration purposes as well as to serve as the template for the collection's accompanying display model. Constructed in LightWave 3D – the software of choice of partwork publisher Eaglemoss Collections – , the magazine/model combo outing was released into the collection in March 2022. Modeler Ed Giddings however, took some artistic license when he switched the elaborate antenna array from the top (where it was located on the physical studio model) to the bottom of his digital recreation. [4]
More egregious was the addition of a fourth, lower arm at the rear of the CGI model, which had never been there on the production-used studio model (as was demonstrated on the photographs Sforza took of the model after he received his auction winning [5](X)), making the digital counterpart apocryphal.
Further reading[]
- Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, Special Issue 29, March 2022