I think that's a terrific shot, one I'd never seen before. Thanks!
The back forty, old Earth set for Star Trek
- Thread starter Gary7
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That's very cool, thanks M'Sharak
Thanks for that screenshot, M'Sharak. Very cool "reframing" of those familiar Vasquez angled cliffs captured in TOS.
Credit for that capture goes to Forbin, if I'm remembering right, and it comes from the first few minutes of the WWW Season 1 ep "The Night of the Flaming Ghost".
It's not really that far away, though. At the time the fort set was built and even at the time Star Trek and The Wild Wild West shot there, it was out in the country, certainly, but still not much more than about an hour's travel time from most of the studios in Hollywood. As filming locations went, it was pretty conveniently close by - out and back in the same day, and all of the actors and crew went home at night. Now, of course, commute traffic goes right past the rocks on the freeway from Lancaster/Palmdale to the SanFernando Valley and Los Angeles (or vice versa.)
It's still being used in filming. CSI and NCIS have both had episodes out there in the not-very-distant past.
Curtis Lanclos visited the location last year and wrote this article about it, including a comparison shot between 1967 and today:
http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/la_trek.htm
http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/la_trek.htm
It looks sandier today to my untrained eye, but that last comparison is definitely the money shot for the article.
Around 1967 or ’68, my family took a trip to Vasquez Rocks for some Boy Scout event. Someone mentioned an “old Spanish fort” on the property and I went to investigate. When I walked inside the fort, I noticed it was made of nailed-together two-by-fours, chicken wire and plaster — not exactly authentic Spanish Colonial architecture!
BTW, I find it interesting that the park is named after one of early California’s most notorious bandits.
It's far more likely that it was a set decoration added for "Arena." I don't recall seeing it in other TOS episodes that used the same location, nor is it in evidence in the Wild Wild West screencap M'Sharak posted. And it doesn't really fit the context, this isolated tree in the middle of an otherwise lifeless, sandy flat area. That part of Vasquez Rocks has long been kept flat and bare, for the convenience of parkgoers and filmmakers alike. (When I went out there in the late '90s, there were a couple of park benches there.) The script of "Arena" required that there be natural materials around to make weapons from, including tree branches for use as clubs, so they put in a fake tree or two to set the scene.
And plenty of rocks that don't belong in that geological setting.
^Well, it was an artificial asteroid set up as a testing site, so the geology didn't have to be consistent. I mean, whoever heard of a "charcoal deposit?" Charcoal is a manmade product.
You're lucky you didn't bump into a Gorn, or Finnegan, or a Samurai, or a Capellan hunting party, or a Mugatu. Vasquez was a dangerous place in those days...
Thanks to all for the great info. I really want to visit this place one day.
I'm more interested in the little cave with a very advanced-screen-technology computer with scientific questions pre-loaded!
I suppose there was always a chance of meeting a Gorn or a Capellan hunting party, but not Finnegan, a samurai, or a mugato! Neither “Shore Leave” nor “A Private Little War” used Vasquez Rocks as a filming location. “Shore Leave” was shot at Africa USA, and the location for “A Private Little War” is uncertain — possibly the old Iverson Ranch.You're lucky you didn't bump into a Gorn, or Finnegan, or a Samurai, or a Capellan hunting party, or a Mugatu. Vasquez was a dangerous place in those days...
Referring to what?
That doesn’t sound like any Trek TOS episode.
You're forgetting the extended Kirk-Finnegan fight in "Shore Leave." That was unquestionably shot at Vasquez Rocks, just on the opposite side of the big cliff from where "Arena" was shot. And some of the earlier scenes set in a rocky area, like when Spock beamed down, appear to be at Vasquez as well.
Referring to what?
It sounds like the opening of The Voyage Home. We saw Spock standing atop the Vasquez cliff, and then he entered the aforementioned cave.
I assumed it was OK to discuss because it was a TOS movie; was I right?
Who would stick a educational testing computer in a cave near the peak of a cliff? I would think it would be a tourist site or something. I guess Trek really liked their Vasquez Rocks!
Who would stick a educational testing computer in a cave near the peak of a cliff? I would think it would be a tourist site or something. I guess Trek really liked their Vasquez Rocks!
^ Those sharp angled rocks at Vasquez are very "other worldly," so it's not all that surprising it got utilized a number of times for Star Trek. Another good place would be Zion National Park, with those windswept sandstone formations. Pity we never had any TOS planet settings there.
Good point about the tree @ Vasquez, Christopher. Kirk does break a branch off of it, so yeah, makes sense it was more of a prop (designed to break properly, support his weight, etc).
Good point about the tree @ Vasquez, Christopher. Kirk does break a branch off of it, so yeah, makes sense it was more of a prop (designed to break properly, support his weight, etc).
Other locations commonly used for otherwoldly or foreign lands are in the Owens Valley (the Alabama Hills and Owens Dry Lake, where parts of Generations and Trek V were shot), as well as the Trona Pinnacles, and even the Valley of Fire north of Las Vegas (Generations). I was just out in the Alabama Hills a few weeks ago and some of the vistas are just plain alien.
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