RobertScorpio
Pariah
Agreed...Its fun to find this trivia out. Kudos to those who have this knowledge and can pass it to us...keep it coming indeed!!!
Rob
Props Re-used
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Agreed...Its fun to find this trivia out. Kudos to those who have this knowledge and can pass it to us...keep it coming indeed!!!
Rob
There is a prop that I believe we've seen only once in The Original Series (so forgive me for posting about it in the "Props Re-Used" thread. Although it was never indicated what this thing was, either in dialog or in script directions, a few Star Trek prop-heads have started calling it a "Meditation Orb."
Lieutenant Sulu has this thing on the table with him in the "Life Sciences Department--Botany Section" (which was just a re-dress of the Sickbay Examination Room) as he is enjoying his meal that Yeoman Janice Rand brought him in "The Man Trap" after he missed mess call. Here are two different angles on it:
That's it. I believe that's all we ever saw of it in Star Trek.
And here is my "Meditation Orb:"
We've used this a few times over at Phase II. We didn't have it in time when we showed Sulu's quarters in "World Enough and Time." But we did use it to decorate Peter Kirk's quarters in "Blood and Fire."
So what was that thing in real life?
Well, you can see from the screen shot (barely) that there seems to be some bump, knobby-latch-thing, right at the equator of this egg--and it looks like the top half of the egg is separated from the lower half by a tiny crack.
It turns out what we have here is what's called a "beverage set." (It's a bit of euphemism: the beverage is, of course, alcoholic--probably schnapps.)
These things were made in Czechoslovakia in around the '20s and '30s. I picked one up the other day on ebay.
It's a beautiful amethyst-colored mercury glass container. (Mine is hand painted with some gold leaf leaves or flowers or something.)
This container is hinged right at the equator and opens to reveal a small decanter and six tiny shot glasses. You would fill the bottom half of the egg with ice to keep the beverage chilled.
You can make out the little latch better in this shot:
This thing is lovely as it is; it seems almost a shame that someone thought it would look better to take this antique and spray paint it gold.
Lieutenant Sulu has this thing on the table with him in the "Life Sciences Department--Botany Section" (which was just a re-dress of the Sickbay Examination Room) as he is enjoying his meal that Yeoman Janice Rand brought him in "The Man Trap" after he missed mess call. Here are two different angles on it:
That's it. I believe that's all we ever saw of it in Star Trek.
And here is my "Meditation Orb:"
We've used this a few times over at Phase II. We didn't have it in time when we showed Sulu's quarters in "World Enough and Time." But we did use it to decorate Peter Kirk's quarters in "Blood and Fire."
So what was that thing in real life?
Well, you can see from the screen shot (barely) that there seems to be some bump, knobby-latch-thing, right at the equator of this egg--and it looks like the top half of the egg is separated from the lower half by a tiny crack.
It turns out what we have here is what's called a "beverage set." (It's a bit of euphemism: the beverage is, of course, alcoholic--probably schnapps.)
These things were made in Czechoslovakia in around the '20s and '30s. I picked one up the other day on ebay.
It's a beautiful amethyst-colored mercury glass container. (Mine is hand painted with some gold leaf leaves or flowers or something.)
This container is hinged right at the equator and opens to reveal a small decanter and six tiny shot glasses. You would fill the bottom half of the egg with ice to keep the beverage chilled.
You can make out the little latch better in this shot:
This thing is lovely as it is; it seems almost a shame that someone thought it would look better to take this antique and spray paint it gold.
Well, now you know what Sulu was having with his lunch... and it wasn't meditation.
So Sulu was drinking off of his shifts?
There certainly was a lot of drinking paraphernalia around that set...
So, the prop department just got into the habit of keeping the empties?
Meaning they had to dress sets for characters to be drinking all the time. Ever watch Bewitched? "Sam! I need a drink!"
number6
Vice Admiral
It's also a well documented fact that ST's prop department routinely sifted through the dumpsters of other shows for their props!!
Well, they looked through the dumpsters for interesting looking cast-offs they could use as set dressing or detailing or could use as a prop. I doubt the other show actually threw away anything they thought might be usable. Styrofoam packing pieces are useless on The Lucy Show or Mission Impossible, but make dandy wall details on a starship.
I love this thread. I bought the Diamond Select science tricorder, and was bummed that they had made up a scanner to fit the science version. I hadn't realized that it was (loosely) based on a real prop!
OK, here's a prop re-used question. I noticed the "Tantalus Field" (spelling?) device from Mirror, Mirror was also in a shot in the sickbay behind Amanda in Amok Time. Is it anywhere else, and Greg, do you have a copy yet?
And by the way, are you sure Sulu doesn't have a mermaid clue egg from Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire?
Kevin
And by the way, are you sure Sulu doesn't have a mermaid clue egg from Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire?
Kevin
Yes, the Tantalus Field device seen in Evil Kirk's cabin in "Mirror, Mirror"
and used by Lt. Marlena Moreau to make Sulu's security team (but not Sulu
himself) "disappear" is also seen five episodes later in "Journey to Babel."
(It's not in "Amok Time," but I think you just got your Vulcan episode
titles mixed up.) You can, indeed, see it behind Amanda in a couple of
shots. It's on a seldom-seen wall in the "Dr. McCoy's Office" portion of
the four-room Sick Bay set.
I've gone through every episode (which is what I do for fun and games) and
I've never seen this Tantalus Device set piece in any other episode
(although I notice new things every day, so maybe it'll turn up). Also, Dr.
McCoy's Office was redecorated a bit at the beginning of the Third Season.
So, if I do spot this Tantalus Device set piece again in some other episode,
it probably won't crop up in the same spot in Dr. McCoy's Office like it was
in "Journey to Babel."
I/we don't have one of these over on our sets at Star Trek Phase II, mostly
because we don't have Dr. McCoy's office as a regular standing set. If we
ever really needed to show this room, we'd pretty much have to build the set
from scratch--including the Tantalus Device thing (if we show that same wall
that we saw behind Amanda). We'd also need to scrounge up all the proper
skulls Dr. McCoy keeps on his shelves and the odd stuff alligator lizard
that's mounted on the wall and the three small acrylic paintings done by
artist Mike Minor that were added in the Third Season.
When it comes to Sick Bay set pieces, the thing I'm currently working on is
this surgical instrument display cabinet seen in "Space Seed:"
A bit more information about it is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/1165215735/in/set-72157601532365516/
God help ya if you find yourself needing Engineering.
Must be a brewery nearby.
How embarrassing!
I watched both episodes recently and wasn't thinking.But as I think about it, it's kinda sad that Amanda didn't come to Spock's wedding. I can maybe understand Sarek not coming, but you'd think Mummy wouldn't miss her boy's wedding day.
Since part of the festivities involve the potential for mortal combat, I think I can understand Amanda taking a rain check on the ceremony and waiting until the reception/notification from the local emergency room.
She thought her future daughter in laws was a bitch, so she claimed to be off planet. Plus there was that drunken Dynasty style cat fight with T'Pau at the last wedding.
How embarrassing!
But as I think about it, it's kinda sad that Amanda didn't come to Spock's wedding. I can maybe understand Sarek not coming, but you'd think Mummy wouldn't miss her boy's wedding day.
There's an Engineering-related prop we saw only a couple of times that we recently picked up thanks to the hard fabrication work of Mr. David Wardale over in the UK.
The prop is a small, hand-held pice of clear plexiglas with a couple of rods jutting out of the side and some red doohickeys on the handle (much like Scotty's wrench spanner thing).
The first time we see this (unless I can find some earlier appearance at some point) is in "The Ultimate Computer." Mr. Scott and Mister Spock are up in the Jeffereies Tube trying to re-route the M-5 computer. You can just make out in the darkend Jefferies Tube that Spock has this clear tool with the two micrometer-like rods:
We see this tool again in the Third Season (in "Elaan of Troyius") and, again, Mister Spock is using it:
The way he's holding it, he appears to be taking some measurements of the size of the dilithium crystals being inserted into the dilithium crystal converter assembly.
Mr. Scott uses the tool again to hook up the stolen Romulan cloaking device into the deflector shield mechanism:
And then finally we get a look at the red greeblies adorning the handle:
And in its final appearance it seems to be used as some kind of handle or crank-thing to turn a valve of some kind on one of the plant-ons during an "Intruder Alert" in "The Lights of Zetar:"
So, it's not much to look at, but here is our Micrometer-Thing:
It has a clear handle with some engraved lines/markings about every centimeter or so. The business end has a diagonal (not a right angle) cut on it. The two long pins jut out from the side and the handle has ten raised red honey-dripper type greeblies.
I'm not sure when we will get a chance to use this. But I'm sure we'll work it into our productions eventually.
Slideshow is at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/sets/72157621932309901/show/
The prop is a small, hand-held pice of clear plexiglas with a couple of rods jutting out of the side and some red doohickeys on the handle (much like Scotty's wrench spanner thing).
The first time we see this (unless I can find some earlier appearance at some point) is in "The Ultimate Computer." Mr. Scott and Mister Spock are up in the Jeffereies Tube trying to re-route the M-5 computer. You can just make out in the darkend Jefferies Tube that Spock has this clear tool with the two micrometer-like rods:
We see this tool again in the Third Season (in "Elaan of Troyius") and, again, Mister Spock is using it:
The way he's holding it, he appears to be taking some measurements of the size of the dilithium crystals being inserted into the dilithium crystal converter assembly.
Mr. Scott uses the tool again to hook up the stolen Romulan cloaking device into the deflector shield mechanism:
And then finally we get a look at the red greeblies adorning the handle:
And in its final appearance it seems to be used as some kind of handle or crank-thing to turn a valve of some kind on one of the plant-ons during an "Intruder Alert" in "The Lights of Zetar:"
So, it's not much to look at, but here is our Micrometer-Thing:
It has a clear handle with some engraved lines/markings about every centimeter or so. The business end has a diagonal (not a right angle) cut on it. The two long pins jut out from the side and the handle has ten raised red honey-dripper type greeblies.
I'm not sure when we will get a chance to use this. But I'm sure we'll work it into our productions eventually.
Slideshow is at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/sets/72157621932309901/show/
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