• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

Are we sure they didn't just build a new helm console for TFF?
Btw, this is from Memory Alpha, regarding whether or not the helm in TFF was the same one used in the previous films:
"The Enterprise-A bridge is mostly a new set, except for the turbolifts, Sulu and Chekov's helm console, the handrails, and some of the platforms on which the portions of the bridge stood."

It goes on to say :
"According to the Collector's Edition DVD text commentary, a new bridge set was necessary due to the original movie bridge set being mostly damaged by a sudden windstorm while in temporary storage at the Paramount studio parking lot (other sources have the reason for the new bridge set's construction as being because it had been extensively modified for use on TNG to the point that it could not be converted back), and only those few pieces used on the Enterprise-A bridge were salvaged from the original set."

Dunno how accurate any of that is, of course, so take it as you want.
 
I had a feeling that much of the helm console was recycled from the first four Trek films but was rebuilt/redressed to suit the new set. I do have to say I liked the TFF/TUC version better than the TMP-TVH version myself.

Well, there always is a lot of confusion. I know some sources say that Data's cybernetics lab in BOBW Part II was a redress of the old movie bridge set, but that cannot be true; that frame was actually used for the battle bridge in said episode.

One thing I've wanted to see perhaps is an Odysseus-class (Ingram) variant of the TVH bridge; the prime difference being the helm and nav being the same type used on the Excelsior in TUC.
 
The hangar deck was built around the structure built for the throne room for Coming to America and was on a different stage than any of the Trek sets, or are you claiming they movie bridge was stored in that stage?

There were two different hangar deck sets. The main one was indeed a reuse of the Coming to America structure, but for the "barricade" sequence a 1/6 scale set was needed built, and that required them to make room by removing the bridge, at least according to Memory Alpha. It would be good to locate the original Cinefantastique issues to see what they actually say.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Galileo_type_shuttlecraft_model
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_bridge

Initially it was hoped that all the flight-deck sequences, and most notably the crash scene, could be done using the full-scale hangar deck set and the Galileo-type shuttlecraft mock-ups, but as cinematographer Andrew Laszlo ruefully noticed, "To do the effect practically on stage would have involved a bit of wire work, but to try to suspend a shuttlecraft that weighed in excess of 8,000 pounds would have not required wires but cables, which certainly would have photographed. It would have required reinforcing the ceiling of the stage to support that weight. We thought of attaching the shuttlecraft to the boom arm of a large crane as we did for the landing on location in the desert, but unfortunately below this stage was Paramount's antique furniture collection which contains such valuable pieces that not even a standard crane is permitted on that studio floor." (American Cinematographer, issue July 1989, pp. 66-67) Reluctantly, because of problems caused by matching frame-rates involved with miniature filming and live-action (set) filming, the latter differing from the former, the decision was made to have the crash sequence done as miniature effects. In order to alleviate the frame-rate matching problem, a larger scaled miniature of both the shuttle as well as the shuttlebay was deemed necessary, in this case a 1/6 scale.
Restored by Herman Zimmerman as the USS Enterprise-A bridge, the original set had, after the bridge scenes were shot for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, been temporarily stored on the outside studio parking lot, in order to make room for other, new sets for the movie – more specifically, a massive, one-time-use-only shuttlebay set. A freak weather event completely wrecked the set beyond salvation, save for some parts such as the two turbolifts and the bridge platforms.
 
So, wait - let me see if I've got this straight:

The TMP bridge was partially restored into the TVH bridge, then modified into the TNG battle bridge and used for various other sets. While it could (theoretically) have been put back into something approaching its TVH form, Shatner decided it wasn't worth trying and instead splurged on a whole new TNG-style bridge for TFF - and that was the bridge that then got destroyed in the freak weather event, forcing them to start over for TUC? Is that right?
 
^ My understanding is that the re-re-re-re-dressed Star Trek IV bridge was the one that was destroyed. The Star Trek V makers were essentially forced to create a new set. (They weren't forced to give it a new design, but I'm glad that they did.)
 
So, wait - let me see if I've got this straight:

The TMP bridge was partially restored into the TVH bridge, then modified into the TNG battle bridge and used for various other sets. While it could (theoretically) have been put back into something approaching its TVH form, Shatner decided it wasn't worth trying and instead splurged on a whole new TNG-style bridge for TFF - and that was the bridge that then got destroyed in the freak weather event, forcing them to start over for TUC? Is that right?
No no, many of the original TMP bridge pieces, of which had been converted into the TNG Battle bridge, were destroyed by the freak weather accident, prompting the build of the bridge we first see in TFF. The TFF bridge used parts of the TMP bridge that survived, namely the rails, turbolifts with alcoves, helm console, and floor sections.
 
No no, many of the original TMP bridge pieces, of which had been converted into the TNG Battle bridge, were destroyed by the freak weather accident, prompting the build of the bridge we first see in TFF.

That's what we thought, but that's clearly not what the story about the 1/6 shuttebay says.
 
Yeah, that story is a bit misleading. The TMP-TVH/TNG S1 Battle Bridge was left in the parking lot and was damaged in this freak weather event. It appears that what they salvaged was:

Turbolift alcoves, helm console, railings, some platforms (maybe the center platform that the captain's chair & helm sat on?) ---> newly built TFF bridge

Front wall with viewscreen ---> TNG "swing" set (seen during TNG S2 as the front wall of courtroom in "Measure of a Man", back wall of Lantree bridge in "Unnatural Selection")
 
Front wall with viewscreen ---> TNG "swing" set (seen during TNG S2 as the front wall of courtroom in "Measure of a Man", back wall of Lantree bridge in "Unnatural Selection")

The whole front section of the TNG battle bridge (thus the Lantree bridge, et al) was purpose built for TNG, not part of the TMP set, so it was never "returned" to the movie production in the first place.

tadeo-d-oria-bridge.jpg
 
Yep they continued to use that same truncated set up for the Tsiolkovsky in “Naked Now” and the Stargazer in “The Battle” (both using the original STIV chairs), with the former having a stupidly-placed malfunctioning airlock in one of the bridge walls. In fact, it appears as if the Stargazer Captain’s ready room/quarters appeared to be in that missing front section on the other side of the view screen wall, which honestly would have made for some really cramped space.
 
Last edited:
There were two different hangar deck sets. The main one was indeed a reuse of the Coming to America structure, but for the "barricade" sequence a 1/6 scale set was needed built, and that required them to make room by removing the bridge, at least according to Memory Alpha. It would be good to locate the original Cinefantastique issues to see what they actually say.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Galileo_type_shuttlecraft_model
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Battle_bridge

Initially it was hoped that all the flight-deck sequences, and most notably the crash scene, could be done using the full-scale hangar deck set and the Galileo-type shuttlecraft mock-ups, but as cinematographer Andrew Laszlo ruefully noticed, "To do the effect practically on stage would have involved a bit of wire work, but to try to suspend a shuttlecraft that weighed in excess of 8,000 pounds would have not required wires but cables, which certainly would have photographed. It would have required reinforcing the ceiling of the stage to support that weight. We thought of attaching the shuttlecraft to the boom arm of a large crane as we did for the landing on location in the desert, but unfortunately below this stage was Paramount's antique furniture collection which contains such valuable pieces that not even a standard crane is permitted on that studio floor." (American Cinematographer, issue July 1989, pp. 66-67) Reluctantly, because of problems caused by matching frame-rates involved with miniature filming and live-action (set) filming, the latter differing from the former, the decision was made to have the crash sequence done as miniature effects. In order to alleviate the frame-rate matching problem, a larger scaled miniature of both the shuttle as well as the shuttlebay was deemed necessary, in this case a 1/6 scale.
Restored by Herman Zimmerman as the USS Enterprise-A bridge, the original set had, after the bridge scenes were shot for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, been temporarily stored on the outside studio parking lot, in order to make room for other, new sets for the movie – more specifically, a massive, one-time-use-only shuttlebay set. A freak weather event completely wrecked the set beyond salvation, save for some parts such as the two turbolifts and the bridge platforms.
I don't see anything there that says they put the miniature hangar in the stage. And miniature effects are generally not shot on the same soundstages as principle photography, so I am somewhat skeptical about this.
 
Last edited:
In fact, it appears as if the Stargazer Captain’s ready room/quarters appeared to be in that missing front section on the other side of the view screen wall, which honestly would have made for some really cramped space.
There does appear to be a room through that doorway, but it's not clear what it is.
http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x09/thebattle_hd_440.jpg

Picard's quarters on the Stargazer look like they're another redress of the junior officers' quarters set (looks like it's in the "office" half of Kirk's quarters).
http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x09/thebattle_hd_192.jpg
 
Correct, but I do specifically remember Picard walking through the open door on the bridge, to show up in his quarters in a later scene, implying that access to his room was through that way. Now, whether or not there’s a simple staircase that goes down to the B/C deck below back there is a different question. The camera never followed him from A to B, unfortunately.
 
I remember William Shatner onstage at Star Fest in Denver in April 1989, yelling "And nobody knows what they (the SFX) look like!" because Bran Ferren was on the East coast.

After seeing the film, there were some SFX I wish I'd never found out. Bran Ferren had a habit of producing one great effect per film, a bunch of so-so effects, and a few that really sucked. I think the shuttle crash in the shuttle bay was their great one in TFF.
 
His tea room! LOL
Well, I do agree that port door doesn't have to be his ready room, though that's usually what people believe.
 
Nice side topic! Now I'm feeling like adding the Stargazer bridge to my list...;)

I've been focusing on tying up loose ends with modeling the remaining structures before starting on the console control and display panels, namely the roll-out science consoles and the Reliant auxiliary consoles, the latter of which are particularly vulnerable to phaser fire :biggrin:

 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top