They also had to hide a puppeteer for Kruge's pet.
Reused sets in the TOS movies
- Thread starter JonnyQuest037
- Start date
They also had to hide a puppeteer for Kruge's pet.
Good point. It's easy to forget that in those pre-CGI days they had to do this stuff live.
Interesting you mention that.
I heard the BOP bridge in TSFS was made for some other movie around that time and they re-used it.
I think I read that in Nick Meyer's book.
Any idea what movie it was?
Perhaps because the same set was reused in TUC and he learned about its history then?
Or maybe Borjis is misremembering a comment about TUC reusing a Klingon set built for TNG.
As I understand it, the TSFS BoP bridge wasn't used for anything else, while the TVH bridge was the one reused in TFF and TUC.
I know the Klingon bridge was changed between TSFS and TVH (which creates continuity questions among fans who aren't willing to accept it as simple poetic license), but I had the impression they merely expanded and reworked the existing set, not that it was a whole new set.
I think the confusion comes from Nimoy (not Meyer) mentioning that the BOP set "came from somewhere else" or "was built for something else" on TSFS dvd commentary. He doesn't specify where and this could mean "it was built for some other Trek movie" or something entirely different.
He goes on to talk about how tight the budget was on TSFS and how all the sets were small, with everything being re-used. On the flip side, he adds that his familiarity with these sets (and actors) helped him in directing.
You can tell from the framing of shots in the finished film how tight everything is. Almost everything in TSFS was recycled: sickbay as the alien bar (where there's never a master shot) Regula I corridor as the Starfleet brig just painted flat gray with no detailing (the console Sulu blows up came from engineering) Regula I transporter room as "old City Station". They didn't even want to spend the time and money to re-light the engine room, so Scotty was in the Jefferies Tube for the shot where he talks to Kirk during the docking sequence.
As for new sets, all we got was the sparse Excelsior bridge, the officer's lounge, the tiny merchantman bridge (which I believe was a re-dress of the BOP bridge) The Excelsior turbolift and the Vulcan temple -- all of which were never used again. The entryway to Mt Seleya was also cobbled together from the Genesis cave "bubble" set.
I guess all the production design cash went to the various Genesis landscape sets. By the time IV came around they built a new BOP bridge since so many scenes took place there. That set became the Klingon standard for years to come with it being re-dressed or altered for most of the remaining movies and later TNG and DS9
I think Nimoy said in Shatner's Movie Memories book that he originally wanted to shoot the initial Genesis scenes on location but he didn't have the budget to do so. Interesting that there are no location shots in any of the Trek movies until IV (as far as I know, that is).
I think they just revamped the design because they had a fair number of scenes that took place there, and they probably wanted something that didn't look totally unlike the Enterprise bridge, layout-wise.
The introductory shots of Spock on the Plains of Gol in TMP were shot at Yellowstone National Park.
Golden Gate Park.
I have call-sheet instructions on how to get to the Steps of Mount Selaya (ST III), which were located at a university in Los Angeles.
filming locations...
TMP
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/locations
WOK
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/locations
SFS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088170/locations
TVH
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092007/locations
TFF
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098382/locations
TUC
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102975/locations
TMP
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/locations
WOK
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084726/locations
SFS
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088170/locations
TVH
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092007/locations
TFF
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098382/locations
TUC
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102975/locations
Okay. So I think we've established that I wasn't just wrong, I was really, really wrong. 
The Vulcan steps were shot at Occidental College near the fountain there.
http://www.filminamerica.com/Movies/StarTrek/03TheSearchForSpock/occidental01.jpg
Also on the Trek III dvd, cinematographer Charles Correll says he pushed for the Genesis scenes to be shot in Hawaii but that it was deemed too expensive.
This "re-use" what we have mentality originally came from Harve Bennett who needed to prove to Paramount that he could make Trek II for a much smaller budget after the financial fiasco of TMP. And since Bennett's background was in TV (where every dime is stretched) it's easy to see why the Trek films he was involved in were produced the way they were.
Funny too that Bennett, Meyer, Nimoy, and Ralph Winter, in their comments on Trek 2009, all have been quoted at some point saying that "they would have loved to have had Abrams' budget
Okay. So I think we've established that I wasn't just wrong, I was really, really wrong.
No, I'd say only slightly wrong. The location work in the first three movies was minimal and easily overlooked. The Vulcan locations in TMP & TSFS are somewhat concealed by their incorporation into matte paintings, and in TWOK it's just a few shots of forest at the end of the movie. It's not enough location work to change the studio-bound feel of the films. So it's an understandable mistake.
Okay. So I think we've established that I wasn't just wrong, I was really, really wrong.
No, I'd say only slightly wrong. The location work in the first three movies was minimal and easily overlooked. The Vulcan locations in TMP & TSFS are somewhat concealed by their incorporation into matte paintings, and in TWOK it's just a few shots of forest at the end of the movie. It's not enough location work to change the studio-bound feel of the films. So it's an understandable mistake.
Thank you, Christopher. My ego is now sufficiently soothed.
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