The bridge sets from TNG.

[Bigjoe]

I'm curious.

Does anyone know what happened to the Enterprise bridge set after the show finally finished? Any of the sets for that matter. Do you think they were taken down and destroyed.

Have they been stored somewhere at Paramount studios?

Apologies if this has already been asked and answered.

 

[Lance]

I'm sure that I read somewhere that they deliberately took a sledgehammer to the bridge set for Generations, in order to really show the damage of the saucer crash. The end of that movie shows the familiar set in a pretty bad state of disrepair. So no, it seems that almost nothing of the Ent-D bridge survived - although the Reeves-Stevens' once claimed that the wooden "horse shoe" was retained. No idea what happened to it, though.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Fans salvaged what they could and are restoring it: http://newstarship.com/

 

[Lance]

Several of the sets were recreated for the Enterprise finale, but the bridge wasn't among them.

It always surprised me that Berman and co never took the opportunity to shoot a scene or two on the replicated version at the Las Vegas Hilton, not even for sequences featuring Galaxy Class ships (as in Voyager's "Timeless"). Admittedly, that version of the bridge probably wasn't properly built to be a 'shooting set'.

 

[ATimson]

It always surprised me that Berman and co never took the opportunity to shoot a scene or two on the replicated version at the Las Vegas Hilton, not even for sequences featuring Galaxy Class ships (as in Voyager's "Timeless"). Admittedly, that version of the bridge probably wasn't properly built to be a 'shooting set'.

Even while the set was still standing, it wasn't always used for other Galaxy-class ships (see the Odyssey on DS9). I'm not surprised they didn't pony up to go do what's essentially location shooting for "Timeless".

 

[trekker670]

Fans salvaged what they could and are restoring it: http://newstarship.com/

NO. That is NOT the original studio set, as discussed numerous times on these boards and even mentioned on their site, their set is a recreation used for one of the travelling exhibits. It's basically a portable version of the set from STTE.

 

[trekker670]

I'm sure that I read somewhere that they deliberately took a sledgehammer to the bridge set for Generations, in order to really show the damage of the saucer crash. The end of that movie shows the familiar set in a pretty bad state of disrepair. So no, it seems that almost nothing of the Ent-D bridge survived - although the Reeves-Stevens' once claimed that the wooden "horse shoe" was retained. No idea what happened to it, though.

I believe it's at "The Hollywood Museum," or at least it was at one point

http://www.seeing-stars.com/ImagePages/HollywoodEntertainmentStarTrekPhoto.shtml

 

[F. King Daniel]

Fans salvaged what they could and are restoring it: http://newstarship.com/

NO. That is NOT the original studio set, as discussed numerous times on these boards and even mentioned on their site, their set is a recreation used for one of the travelling exhibits. It's basically a portable version of the set from STTE.

Ah, ok.

 

[Warp Coil]

After filming for GEN wrapped, the sets for TNG were either destroyed (like the bridge, ready room, and multiple other sets) or gutted and re-vamped for VOY (the basic framework for the corridors, for instance, may have been used for VOY, but I am not certain of this). The TOS-era movie sets were designed to be taken apart, put into storage, and then pulled out and re-assembled for each film. The TNG sets were not designed this way. So the Enterprise-D bridge, for instance, could not just be disassembled and stowed away for 2 years until it was time to film the next movie. The studio needed that space to build the VOY sets, and since the Enterprise crashed and was destroyed in GEN, they figured they could just build all-new sets for the next movie, anyway.

I think the only significant piece of the Ent-D bridge that was saved was the horseshoe railing, though they ultimately didn't re-use it.

 

[Maurice]

Several of the sets were recreated for the Enterprise finale, but the bridge wasn't among them.

It always surprised me that Berman and co never took the opportunity to shoot a scene or two on the replicated version at the Las Vegas Hilton, not even for sequences featuring Galaxy Class ships (as in Voyager's "Timeless"). Admittedly, that version of the bridge probably wasn't properly built to be a 'shooting set'.

Expense. You don't ship an entire film crew to Vegas for a few shots for a show like that, have to pay to rent the facility, teamsters to move equipment, etc. Cheaper to reuse something already in the scene dock at the studio.

 

[Christopher]

After filming for GEN wrapped, the sets for TNG were either destroyed (like the bridge, ready room, and multiple other sets) or gutted and re-vamped for VOY (the basic framework for the corridors, for instance, may have been used for VOY, but I am not certain of this). The TOS-era movie sets were designed to be taken apart, put into storage, and then pulled out and re-assembled for each film. The TNG sets were not designed this way. So the Enterprise-D bridge, for instance, could not just be disassembled and stowed away for 2 years until it was time to film the next movie. The studio needed that space to build the VOY sets, and since the Enterprise crashed and was destroyed in GEN, they figured they could just build all-new sets for the next movie, anyway.

Actually the same basic sets that were built for the abortive Phase II TV series in 1978 were kept standing for decades and used in the TOS movies, TNG, and VGR. Since they were originally built for a TV series rather than a movie, they were designed to be permanent, not struck and reassembled like movie sets. They were revamped and modified for each consecutive series, but the underlying superstructure of the sets on Paramount's Stage 9 remained standing from 1978 to 2001 -- a record for the longest continuously standing sets in Hollywood history. They were finally torn down when VGR ended because the wooden beams that had been in place for 23 years were finally rotting through.

You can read about the evolution of the Stage 9 sets here, and see blueprints showing how they changed from series to series. A lot of sets retained the same role from one series to the next -- corridors, engineering, the transporter room, sickbay, crew quarters. The movie bridge became the battle bridge on TNG and was also used as various other bridges, Data's science lab (where he built Lal and worked on Locutus), etc.

However, the TNG bridge, ready room, observation lounge, main crew quarters, and Ten Forward were new sets built on Stage 8 (for most of the series' run). The crew quarters and Ten Forward sets were redressed for VGR (the latter becoming the mess hall), but the TNG bridge complex was evidently torn down and replaced with Voyager's bridge complex.

 

[ATimson]

Since they were originally built for a TV series rather than a movie, they were designed to be permanent, not struck and reassembled like movie sets. They were revamped and modified for each consecutive series, but the underlying superstructure of the sets on Paramount's Stage 9 remained standing from 1978 to 2001 -- a record for the longest continuously standing sets in Hollywood history.

Would the modifications to the TNG sets (I'm specifically thinking of the battle bridge/TOS bridge here - the modifications to the other sets were fairly trivial, limited to Okudagram changes from what I remember) have been designed to be struck, so they could be kept from V to VI? Or was the bridge in VI a rebuild from scratch?

 

[MickJo1701]

Since they were originally built for a TV series rather than a movie, they were designed to be permanent, not struck and reassembled like movie sets. They were revamped and modified for each consecutive series, but the underlying superstructure of the sets on Paramount's Stage 9 remained standing from 1978 to 2001 -- a record for the longest continuously standing sets in Hollywood history.

Would the modifications to the TNG sets (I'm specifically thinking of the battle bridge/TOS bridge here - the modifications to the other sets were fairly trivial, limited to Okudagram changes from what I remember) have been designed to be struck, so they could be kept from V to VI? Or was the bridge in VI a rebuild from scratch?

The bridge was rebuilt from the ground up for TFF because it had been modified to death for TNG. Herman Zimmerman designed an entirely new bridge, only the Turbolift alcoves remained from the previous TMP-TVH set.

I really wish they hadn't modified it so extensively on TNG, it was my favourite bridge of any series or film.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I believe it's at "The Hollywood Museum," or at least it was at one point

Not anymore. I was there a few weeks ago, but the museum certainly has exhibition space large enough to see how they once fitted it in!

Currently, they have on display, in a science fiction section: Kirk and Spock's fatigues from ST V, Scotty's engineering suit from the movies and Data's Season One/Two uniform from TNG (modified with the Season Three collar, for an extra to wear).

The bridge was rebuilt from the ground up for TFF because it had been modified to death for TNG. Herman Zimmerman designed an entirely new bridge, only the Turbolift alcoves remained from the previous TMP-TVH set.

Not quite "the ground up", because when the sets were finally dismantled after "Voyager", to clear the decks for "Enterprise" sets to go in, there were still wooden support struts, now rotting very badly, marked for their use in the bridge originally created for "Phase II" in 1977.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Even while the set was still standing, it wasn't always used for other Galaxy-class ships (see the Odyssey on DS9). I'm not surprised they didn't pony up to go do what's essentially location shooting for "Timeless".

In the case of the Odyssey, TNG had already wrapped on "All Good Things" by the time DS9 started on "The Jem'Hadar", but the bridge set was busy being refurbed for the GEN shooting and was not available. So DS9 trotted out and slapped together their "guest bridge" set (previously used as the bridges of the Saratoga, Norkova, and Prometheus, and itself cannibalized from pieces of the TFF/TUC bridge set), built a simple "horseshoe" console / railing, and shot it that way.

It's not like we saw that many guest Galaxy-class ships anyway (Yamato DID re-use the set) but it would've been nice to see that set in action again. Thing is, if we are ever to see it on an official Trek production again, it could be easier by that point to create a virtual set and greenscreen actors in for a guest shot; so the design may eventually come alive again someday.

Mark

 

[ATimson]

In the case of the Odyssey, TNG had already wrapped on "All Good Things" by the time DS9 started on "The Jem'Hadar", but the bridge set was busy being refurbed for the GEN shooting and was not available.

Well that sounds like someone planned poorly!

Thing is, if we are ever to see it on an official Trek production again, it could be easier by that point to create a virtual set and greenscreen actors in for a guest shot; so the design may eventually come alive again someday.

Maybe. They'd have to build the "set" from scratch, though. (Unlike BSG's Blood and Chrome, where the physical sets had been previously archived before they were torn down.) If you're doing that, I suspect they'd probably go with a new design closer to the Abrams movie instead of revisiting an old one.

 

[FalTorPan]

I don't know how thoroughly the BSG sets were archived, but many TNG standing sets were extensively photographed, although I don't know how high the resolution was, after "All Good Things" and before Generations in order to produce the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual.