- 7 hours ago
If there's one thing that Star Trek can do well, it's counting those pennies to make a saving.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00Did you know that Squarespace are offering a free trial and 10% off your first purchase
00:04if you use our discount code? Squarespace.com forward slash Triculture. What are you waiting for?
00:10To anyone watching, particularly those who have worked in any production or in film or
00:16stage or television, you will understand the importance of keeping costs down. Why blow a
00:20ton of money on the backgrounds when it's the writing and the acting that should be taking
00:24centre stage, correct? Well, sometimes it really is worth dropping a few extra euros. Wait,
00:31did Sean write this? Sometimes it really is worth dropping a few extra pennies on the surrounding
00:37actors so that frankly they don't stand out so much. And let's spare a thought for the production
00:41teams behind these examples. There is, to be fair, a lot of very savvy examples of how they cleverly
00:47reuse bits and then there's one where they just kind of plonk it in a different direction. But I
00:51can't judge though. I've been using this same green screen since 2018. I'm Marcus Bronzi,
00:57this is Trek Culture and this is 10 times they reused sets in Star Trek and hope you would not
01:03notice.
01:05Number 10, 10 forward slash the president's office. The cheek, the gore, the gumption,
01:11the audacity to think us the audience would not notice. I mean, they even left the diagonal paneling on
01:15the walls. But anyway, to be fair, we bloody love it here at the Trek Culture Towers because 10 forward
01:20is one of our favourite spots. I mean, it was introduced in the Next Generation second season,
01:25serving as the base for the lovely Guinan. This was Roddenberry's answer to an old west saloon,
01:30although far less piano playing and more synthahole, which would also serve as a function room when the
01:35situation called for it. I mean, I think we all remember Riker hitting that trombone a few times in
01:40there. It was a large standing set, so it made sense to try and get as much use out of
01:44it as possible.
01:45Therefore, when the undiscovered country, oh yeah, you'll see that film on this list again,
01:50went into production, 10 forward was quickly adopted by the theatrical production.
01:55The space setting was swapped out for Paris and the bright sunshine flowed onto the president's table.
02:01In the scenes featuring the discussion of Kirk and McCoy's arrest, this was the setting of the large office,
02:06which Starfleet and Federation representatives gather to watch the show trial. It's also where we
02:11catch an early glimpse of the beloved René Auberjonois, depending on which version of the film you're watching.
02:16Number 9. La Sirena
02:18Slash The Shrike
02:20Star Trek Picard's third season served as a bit of a soft reboot to the series,
02:24one which had been largely fractured as it was. The first and second season saw much of the starship
02:29action aboard La Sirena, which was Cristobal Rios's unregistered freighter. La Sirena would appear,
02:35albeit briefly, in the third season, now under the command of Rafi Musica. The entire cargo
02:40section of La Sirena appeared several more times throughout the series. Captain Vodick obviously
02:45had a thing for Rios and Musica's ship, but she borrowed the cargo section to transform it into
02:50the bridge of her vessel, the Shrike. While the transformation is fairly extensive, there is
02:54some positivity to this. The third season of the show clears many of the characters from the first
02:59two seasons. But this inclusion of La Sirena could in a way be seen as retaining a little bit of
03:04Rios,
03:04even if the Shrike is desperately trying to kill our heroes.
03:078. St. Clair slash Fairhaven
03:12Star Trek Voyager's fourth season was enormous in terms of scope. It opened with the concluding
03:18part of Scorpion before barrelling forward into the year of hell, which was quite literally a year of
03:24hell. Other episodes like Prey saw a large amount of digital work being realised, so the killing game
03:29may not have been met with the same enthusiasm granted to other scripts, but it was a big one.
03:35The Hirogen were going to take control of Voyager, forcing everyone into holographic death matches.
03:40The first part opens with Janeway taking on a Klingon dagger to the chest before suddenly
03:44appearing in a French village. This village of St. Clair was filmed on Universal Studios' European
03:50Street or Little Europe set, which actually offered the cast and crew a chance to get away from stage
03:54work and get to shoot on location. Roxanne Dawson and Jerry Ryan were both very glad for a change of
03:59scenery.
04:00When it came to Fairhaven, in the show's sixth season, the crew once again returned to Universal Studios,
04:06the sets were redressed, though the same physical buildings were used in both.
04:10As an Irishman writing this article, however…
04:13I knew it was Sean. I knew it was Sean.
04:16If I was an Irishman, however, the reuse of sets would be the least of Fairhaven's issues.
04:21Number 7. Enterprise E Shuttle slash Runabout Cockpit
04:25Our recent list on the secrets of the Runabout has covered the multiple times that this durable
04:30little ship has been used in Star Trek. It was reconstructed for Deep Space Nine,
04:34which needed additional support craft to allow the station's crew to actually trek through the stars.
04:38While the Runabout itself would appear in many episodes of the series, it would also pop up in
04:42both The Next Generation and Voyager, as well as an animated appearance in Lower Decks.
04:48Star Trek Insurrection was released between Deep Space Nine's sixth and seventh seasons.
04:52The Enterprise E Shuttle, along with the captain's yacht and the mission scout ship,
04:56all saw materials carried over from the Runabout set.
04:59The Shuttle is perhaps the most noticeable, as the layout is almost identical to the older ship.
05:03There's even a transporter directly behind the pilot and co-pilot seats,
05:07though the colouring is slightly different in the theatrical version.
05:18Hi, I'm award-winning journalist and all-round truth seeker, L.E. Fontana.
05:26If you go to squarespace.com forward slash trek culture, you can get a free trial and 10%
05:33off your first website purchase. Squarespace's fluid engine really is the TNG of website designers.
05:41Build from scratch or be inspired by professional templates.
05:46Save time and Latinum with their integrated merchandise store.
05:50We are skipping impulse and jumping straight to war.
05:54Seriously, who wrote this?
05:57Don't wait a year, do it yesterday.
06:00That's squarespace.com forward slash trek culture
06:03for a free trial and 10% off your first website purchase.
06:09I'm L.E. Fontana.
06:11Stay safe out there and remember, the truth will set you free.
06:176. Enterprise D Engineering slash Enterprise A Engineering
06:23Look, sharing sets between ongoing productions just makes sense,
06:27from both a financial standpoint but also an aesthetic one.
06:30Though the stories may be set in differing points of history,
06:33Star Trek has attempted to keep something of a uniform look between Federation starships.
06:37Star Trek IV, the undiscovered country, borrows rather heavily from the next generation.
06:42So much so that there are three separate entries from the film in this list here.
06:47Here, there is the fact that the main engineering set is borrowed wholesale from Enterprise D.
06:52Nicholas Meyer does use the space in a clever way though.
06:56Rather than filming the core itself as it would be seen in the next generation,
06:59he aims the camera from the core looking down on Scotty and the rest of the team.
07:045. Voyager's Sickbay slash Enterprise E Sickbay
07:08When it came to introducing a new starship for the fourth live action Star Trek series,
07:12Star Trek Voyager updated some of the designs on the interiors of the Starfleet vessel.
07:17The bridge and the engineering sets were revamped, modernized and made to look as futuristic as mid-90s
07:23would allow it. The Sickbay set, complete with yellow glowing walls and a new bio bed and an office
07:28for the chief medical officer, was constructed and proved to be so popular that the production team
07:32on Star Trek First Contact said, wait, we're going to be borrowing that for the Enterprise E.
07:38First Contact was in production between Voyager's second and third seasons,
07:41so the sets were just standing there, not making the production team any money,
07:44so they redressed them, repainted them, but they kept them structurally intact,
07:48so that when the series began production again, they literally transformed them back.
07:51Robert Picardo makes a cameo in First Contact as the Enterprise's emergency medical hologram,
07:57so one would argue that the team borrowed everything from that stranded ship, including the holograms.
08:02Number 4. Enterprise Bridge slash Valdor Bridge
08:07Director Stuart Baird may have been named many things by Star Trek fans, but we must say this for
08:12the man. He knew how to get the most out of his props and sets. Star Trek Nemesis arrived in
08:172002,
08:18and Voyager had wrapped production. So this meant that sets like Sickbay were no longer available
08:23to borrow, and thus they had to be built from scratch. Baird ordered the construction of a new
08:27bridge set for the Enterprise E. This differed from all previous iterations because it was built on
08:32gimbals that shook when needed, which means the crew could realistically lurch upon weapons fire.
08:38I mean, up until this point, they simply would move themselves while the camera was shaken.
08:41With such an expensive set having been built, Baird wasn't about to waste the penny of it. He had it
08:45redesigned and redressed to serve as the bridge of the Romulan warbird Valdor, in a very similar
08:49move to the Wrath of Khan. Other examples of hidden redressing were those freestanding consoles
08:54on the Riemann Bridge, nicked from the old Deep Space Nine lockers as they were Cardassian in design.
09:00Number 3. Observation Lounge slash Dining Room
09:04This is one of the more obvious set redresses on this list, although it is still not the only one
09:08to feature
09:09in the next generation and undiscovered country. With the series in full swing at the time of the
09:14sixth film's production, it made complete sense that there would be a lot of crossing over,
09:18which also sets the stage for the evolution of the Enterprise lineage. Though of course the Observation
09:23Lounge was constructed for the next generation, the redress and transformation to turn it into
09:27Enterprise A's dining room was a brilliant and very simple move. Where else would the party dine in
09:34such style on a starship? Surely the mess hall would be a bit cramped and Kirkshead Courts were already
09:39depicted as being a far cry from the luxury of Captain Pike's stateroom. If there was one regretful
09:45part of that set share, it would be the destruction of that lovely dining room. I mean, the portraits
09:49adorning the walls, including the great Sarek himself, were obliterated by a torpedo from General
09:54Chang's Bird of Prey. But at least we were able to put the wall panelling back together again for
09:59Picard's next sit down briefing. Number two, Federation HQ slash the courtroom.
10:06Once the USS Discovery warped into the future, Starfleet had to adapt to a new 32nd century setting.
10:12Therefore, once the ship arrives at Federation headquarters, the crew and the audience are
10:15treated to an astonishing sight. The ship could break into several smaller support craft to aid
10:20in evacuation, as was shown in coming home. The interior of the vessel was distinctly circular
10:25in structure, often comprising of rings around a central hollow space. The look was so distinctive
10:31however, that when it shows up in strange new worlds, it is immediately recognisable.
10:35The courtroom at Starfleet headquarters, in which Una's trial takes place, is the redress of this set.
10:40Much like several other entries on this list, the general shape is what gives it away immediately,
10:46though perhaps the biggest clue is the large circular space in the middle of the room.
10:50This, having served as a stellar map in Discovery, is now only there to keep witness and
10:55prosecution as far away from the judges as possible. Despite its recognisable look,
11:00it was still fun to see where the USS Federation took its inspiration from.
11:04Number one, Enterprise Bridge slash Reliant Bridge.
11:08In a way, this is the ultimate example of hiding something in plain sight.
11:12Director Nicholas Meyer joined the Star Trek family with Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan.
11:16The stakes were high. Admiral Kirk and the rest of the crew began to feel quite old,
11:20and from the depths of space, a madman sought revenge.
11:23However, this madman wasn't just mad, they were cost conscious.
11:27First, it would appear as the simulation room during the Kobayashi Maru test.
11:31Then, it would appear as itself when Lieutenant Savick commanded it out of dry dock.
11:35Then, of course, it would serve as the Enterprise Bridge for the rest of the film.
11:38The bridge also served as the main bridge of the USS Reliant, commanded by Khan Noonien Singh himself.
11:44As the hero and villain of the film famously never ever met face to face, this was a clever way
11:48to get
11:49around the recycling of the set. As an audience, we're paying far more attention to the performances
11:53being given, rather than the deck plating underneath these actors' feet.
11:57Well played, team.
12:00Well played.
12:01So, there you have it. 10 times Star Trek have reused sets and hoped you wouldn't notice.
12:06But we did. We noticed, didn't we? Huh?
12:08Any others you can think of?
12:10Chuck them in the comments below.
12:11And, of course, make sure you like and subscribe.
12:13You can find us on Twitter, at TrekCulture, or on Instagram, at TrekCultureYT.
12:19I am on all social medias, at Marcus Bronzy, M-A-R-C-U-S-B-R-O-N-Z
12:22-Y.
12:23And my award-winning podcast, How To Kill An Hour, is out there.
12:26And another one, called Ain't Got A Clue, is a great listener as well.
12:28Get those wherever you listen to your pods.
12:30Until next time, peace.
Comments