The TOS Recreation Room(s) Sets

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by GSchnitzer, Jun 3, 2013.

  1. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    Much like Will Smith ("Feek61") has done with Auxiliary Control (hi, Will!),I put together a little write up about the TOS "Recreation Room"--both the first and second season appearances of the redressed Briefing Room and the two appearances of the new third season Recreation Room set.

    There's not much to say about the sets, actually, but folks are welcome to read a bit more.

    http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/?p=2825

    Feedback is always welcome.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013
  2. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    :techman: :drool: :techman:

    Great summary, beautifully illustrated.

    Bob
     
  3. Irishman

    Irishman Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Really well-done article.

    Bravo! As I read through it, I appreciated the concept art for the set you showed us. Little gems like that raise this article above many other fan attempts.
     
  4. alchemist

    alchemist Captain Captain

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    I think it's excellent! Wonderful attention to detail.

    :techman:
     
  5. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    Thanks! So much of the content was actually yours; I just regurgitated it, or, at best, put a slightly different spin on it.

    Thank you for allowing me to grab those unused "Elaan of Troyius" shots. The whole article would have been just about pointless without them.
     
  6. feek61

    feek61 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Great job Greg. As I'm sure you can imagine I really enjoyed the read (it's right up my ally) :)
     
  7. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It sounds painful to be your friend.
     
  8. sbk1234

    sbk1234 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well done. After nearly 50 years, it's nice to still be able to learn something new about Star Trek.
     
  9. Mr_Homn

    Mr_Homn Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    can't wait to read this!

    thanks
     
  10. Praetor Baldric

    Praetor Baldric Lieutenant Commander

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    Truly well-done!:techman:
     
  11. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That first rec room is SO stark I would rather not go there. Looks like the godforsaken break room of the supermarket I worked at in 1986. Bleak.
     
  12. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    Well, when screens were very small and black and white and there was lots of over-the-air transmission snow, making things fairly stark is understandable and appropriate, since details were going to get lost anyway. When transmission gets better and brighter and clearer and more colorful on larger screens, greater detail males more sense. And even more so in a large, digital, wide-screen, flat screen era

    But yes, it was stark--just appropriately so.
     
  13. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    I like to think the ship had a number of recreation rooms or more accurately crew lounges as well as a main recreation room as seen in third season. Similar it's easy to believe the ship has more than one six-man transporter since we've seen the set dressed differently a number of times.
     
  14. GSchnitzer

    GSchnitzer Co-Executive Producer In Memoriam

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    Yes, although I don't think the ship has, like, 30 different transporter rooms, and 5 different engineering rooms, three different briefing rooms, two different auxillary contol rooms, two different anti-grav/pressure chambers, and four different sickbays. It sounds like it migh become a ship that only has enough room for all the different permutations of every set we saw and no space left for all the stuff we didn't see.

    I don't know if "crew lounge" actually is more accurate a term. I've never seen a script (or characters) call them that--only "Recreation Room."
     
  15. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    Going by onscreen dialogue we do have the "Briefing Lounge" rec room in WNM (was the Briefing Lounge converted into a rec room but kept its original name?), a "Crewmen Lounge" Lokai and Bele passed between Deck 3 and Deck 5 in LB and a "Crew Lounge" where Kang and Klingon company waited for something to happen in DD.

    Bob
     
  16. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    Arent't you feeling too pesimistic about that? Deck 5 does have plenty of space that still needs filling, not to mention the large Deck 6.

    So is it you "don't think" or you "don't like"?

    • considering the different variations of transporter rooms and their adjacent corridors (blue pressure door vs. red turbo lift door), we are looking at least at three different versions. The one from "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" is opposite "Briefing Room 2", the one from "This Side of Paradise" is opposite "Computer Statistics" and the one from "Elaan of Troyius" is opposite "Electrographic Analysis".
    • The Season One engine room ("Engineering Control Room") differs noticably in many regards from the Season Two engine room ("Engineering Section"), e.g. height, alignment with the central ship's axis, outside corridors etc. In "The Naked Time" Scotty makes a ship wide call, apparently from the ECR, addressing "engine rooms" thus there are at least two or possibly three.
    • assuming the "conference lounge" seen in WNM was actually Briefing Room 1 (removed along with Main Deck 2 prior to "The Corbomite Maneuver"), Briefing Room 2 moved up in rank and substituted for Briefing Room 1. I'm not aware of a "Briefing Room 3" door sign
    • I only see one Auxiliary Control Room. Life Support Control ("By Any Other Name") featured a different position of the master control table and had two features on the wall ACR did not have (in "I, Mudd")
    • The hyperbaric chambers suggest two different locations. The one from "Space Seed" "faces" the door of the Season One engine room, the one from "The Lights of Zetar" faces the briefing room.
    • The "astro-medicine ward 4" door sign made its first appearance in WNM, the second pilot. Apparently there have to be at least four medical wards.
    • And last but not least we have at least six recreation rooms judging by the door sign "Recreation Room 6". According to "Mark of Gideon" RR 6 is at a strange corridor intersection (my guess: Deck 4) where there's an "environmental ladder" on the mirrored side, too. This one is different from RR6 in "Let That Be..." where Spock listened to Lokai's speech though he open door. I presume this one to be near ACR ("And the Children...") and in the engineering hull as I don't believe myself that each deck has 6 rec rooms (just for the fun, I'd like to see all of these visualized on Deck 3... :D)
    Bob
     
  17. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    You've watched a bit of Star Trek in your time!
     
  18. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    I did back in the '70s and '80s, but my current project to reproduce onscreen accurate deck plans has given me a great opportunity to rediscover TOS and the glory of all its little details. ;)

    OT: There is a growing suspicion I can't get out of my system.

    Looking at your comments and those of other TOS old-timers it almost seems to me that we prefer our lady to look nicely dressed with interiors that do not feel sterile but inviting so that we could picture ourselves taking an adventure cruise with her to explore the wonders of space.

    In contrast there seems to be another faction that prefers the ship to be armed to the teeth with all kinds of weaponry, prefers a sterile look more reminiscent of a submarine and tries to rationalize exterior windows away on behalf of sensors and the like.

    I don't think the latter one is anything Gene Roddenberry or Matt Jefferies ever had in mind...:rolleyes:

    Bob
     
  19. plynch

    plynch Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I definitely prefer the rarely-used S3 rec dec as an inviting place rather than the bleak room with bare tables. I always thought people's quarters always look too neat and not lived in. I suppose they're military folks and it has to be ship shape. (Though the Coast Boat I toured was a pit inside.)
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2013
  20. Robert Comsol

    Robert Comsol Commodore Commodore

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    In the "Space Art in TOS" thread GSchnitzer provided some original interviews, according to which Gene Roddenberry himself felt the cabins to be too sterile which is why they bought these (lost :() space art paintings by Mike Minor to add some color and warmth.

    It would have been nice to see more cabins in a fashion similar to Spock's in "Amok Time" and later.

    Bob