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President Forward
During the Next Generation multiple set pieces were re-used and recycled from the set pieces built for the film franchise. From the obvious re-use of internal corridors, to smaller pieces such as Dr Crushers office being McCoy’s, it’s hard for a keen eye to ignore how much the productions shared between them. But as The Next Generation became the dominant forcer with ongoing production and full standing sets, eventually the turn tabled and by the final original cast instalment, it was the TNG stages that became the obvious redress solution.
The most jarring of the films set re-uses was the office of the president. As Kirk and McCoy were charged with assassination, a political poop show begins and the Federation President considers all his options from the calm and logical approach from Ambassador Sarek, to a full on military extraction from special ops. All through the briefing however, and in every single scene, curtains and trinkets can’t quite hide the distinct and unique windows and decorative panels of the Enterprise-D Ten Foward looking over Paris.
Defiant Design
Deep Space Nine hosted some unique sets that were hard to use as redressed locations due to their large and unique designs that couldn’t really be hidden away. Following the shows run various bits and pieces would end up in the background, most visibly the large cog-like airlock doors would be squeezed in to some Enterprise background scenery. But only the Starfleet sets were kept in storage ready to be revived.
When Captain Janeway and her crew discovered imposters posing as the Voyager crew, they grappled with a fake Delta Flyer which… well, didn’t look anything like Voyager or the Flyer at all. And inside, it looked oddly like the Defiant… Recycling the Defiant set for episode ‘Live Fast and Prosper’, the rear section was hidden with more bulkier internal walls, but the rest of the set – from the columns to the chairs – were instantly recognisable to the Niners in the audience!
Section By Section
In 2017 we were introduced to the USS Shenzhou, a hero ship who’s story would end in the dramatic two part opener for Star Trek Discovery which saw Shenzhou abandoned after taking extensive damage from the Klingons at the Battle of the Binary Starts. The Shenzhou’s bridge was unique, located under the saucer section with transparent panels showing the external space and sensor dome below.
Seen again only briefly, Shenzhou’s set was elevated form ground level to help show the void underneath the bridge. When it came time to build a new bridge for Section 31 in the second season, the money spent on the Shenzhou wasn’t wasted. Using that void, the centre section was removed and a lowered ground floor built to show a multi-layer intelligence centre. While the bulk of the set would be removed following season 2, the core structure would be used again and given a massive overhaul to become the 32nd Century Federation Headquarters for the following three seasons.
Redress of Khan
While some sets are recycled across multiple shows in different era’s, sometimes they’re recycled multiple times for the same film! Reviving the sets used for the Motion Picture, the Enterprise bridge was given a little bit of recolouring and tweaking to give darker tones for the more tense script.
The film spent a lot of time on the bridge with Admiral Kirk and his crew trying to out-maneuverer Khan while neither actually shared a room, communicating face to face only through the viewscreen. Kahn’s stolen ship, the Reliant, was just the same set mixed around. Thanks to its modular design, each section could be swapped and replaced just enough to give the Reliant it’s own unique layout.
To make it more fun, the same trick was used for the USS Grissom in The Search for Spock and yet again another redress and a lick of paint for the Enterprise-A in The Voyage Home. But that was only the beginning….
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Battle Stations!
Possibly the most long serving structure in the entire franchise, the bridge itself had more lives than an androids cat! Originally designed and constructed for the abandoned Phase 2, then recycled through various films, the film-era Enterprise set would be used as the base for the Battle Bridge on the Next Generation in 1987 with some very obvious components from it’s original structure.
The bridge set’s life wouldn’t end there. The bridge wouyld be modified and recycled multiple times to become the Stargazer, have new wall panels added to act as the Hathaway and Bozeman bridges and more. With plain walls the base structure would also become everything and anything, from Data’s cybernetics lab to the court room in Measure of a Man.
Unfortunately the everlasting bridge set’s life came to an end due to a storage mishap that saw most of it destroyed. But it’s legend lived on with it’s replacement, the Enterprise-A set build for The Final Frontier, continuing the mission and being re-dressed for the Excelsior and Enterprise B.
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