Starship Corridors

[James Wright]

Does anybody know how wide the corridors on TOS Enterprise were, were they wider than the corridors of TMP Enterprise?
In the movies the corridors appear to have been narrowed up to look like the corridors on an aircraft carrier, minus the knee knockers!
Thanks!


James

 

[Mytran]

I thought they were about 8 feet wide in both cases - it's just that in the movies they added those large angled structures to create a more claustraphobic feel

 

[CuttingEdge100]

Mytran,

It was weird how they made the decks shorter isn't it?

 

[Mytran]

You mean down from 10' ceilings to the 8' ones? Yeah, I think there was some strong FJ influences there.

 

[Maurice]

You mean down from 10' ceilings to the 8' ones? Yeah, I think there was some strong FJ influences there.

It wasn't FJ influence. It was the desire to make the sets seem more real by giving them ceilings, rather than the impossibly high walls typical of sets.

 

[Mytran]

That's interesting to know. But it's certainly a stark visual contrast to the TOS corridors and rooms!
Also, from an in-universe POV it means they crammed an extra 2' of wires and machinery between every deck space. And this on a more advanced starship?

It's interesting to note that the 8' ceiling didn't last either. By the time of TNG the top height of the lighting alcoves was ... 10 feet!

 

[arch101]

Note the scene in TMP of Kirk and Decker speaking in the intersection outside the Transporter Room. Look at the walls of the intersection over Kirk's shoulder. You can see that, at the intersection, the original TOS corridor shape is implied.

 

[James Wright]

Who established the height and width of TOS Enterprise corridors and how much did the height and width change on the Enterprise-A?

James

 

[Mytran]

The corridors on the Enterprise-A were redressed ones from TNG...which in turn were redressed ones from TMP. Without digging out my books for the exact measurements approx 8' high and 8' wide.

The TOS corridors were made up of standard theatrical flats, 4' wide by 10' high. Apart from one brief scene in Charlie X the height of the corridors was never really made clear, although there are a couple of behind the scenes photos which nicely illustrate it.

The 8' width was apparently to facilitate getting a camera dolly down, but it's been something that's stuck with Trek over the years even after smaller, more modern camera fittings became available.

 

[Timo]

...Also, the wider the corridor, the easier it is to get off-centerline angles that don't show one end of the set or the other. TNG originally had a dull tendency to only shoot people walking along the corridor, with the camera dollying from forward or sometimes back (did they use trackless dollies?), but later TNG and DS9 used those sets from a greater number of angles.

Timo Saloniemi