The corridor set: how high?

[Esteban]

Something I've always wondered:

In season 2 the corridor got the (really cool) tri-ladder, which we first see at the very beginning of Amok Time as Kirk climbs up it and moves onto the corridor.

Well, that means that the main corridor had to be at least 6 feet or so above ground.

Was that normal for a standing set like that to be built up that high? Didn't it make it a bitch to get the cameras up and on to it?

I mean, directors used to bitch about the Bridge set being 2-level...but I would think this would be even tougher...

Somebody who knows something about 60s soundstages please enlighten me!

 

[Myko]

They could have a basement you know.

 

[Maurice]

Some soundstages have a "pit" that can be used for exactly the kind of thing like a ladder. It doesn't mean the entire set was elevated, just that there's a section of the floor that has a hole in it. Chances are, the ladder was placed where it was because the soundstage had a pit that allowed for it at that location.

 

[Kirk1980]

It did make it seem more 'realistic', though. Nothing like tricking the eye!

 

[FormerLurker]

There was also the fact that the whole soundstage floor was on an incline from one end to the other. I think the difference was about two feet. Have to check Making of Star Trek to be sure. They had to build a scaffold to even it out.

 

[Esteban]

Good memory on the slope thing...but was that at the original pilot's Gower St or the later series one (whose name escapes...the mind grows dim...)

 

[FormerLurker]

From what I remember, they used the same one throughout the series.

 

[Cyke101]

I love some of the optical tricks the old set used. For example, there aren't really ceilings to the ship's decks for the sake of lighting. But it's disguised by having barriers a few feet apart which prevent one from seeing the ceilingless set. The barriers look like they're pat of some sort of corridor support structure (like a door frame), but in reality just mask the top of the set! Genius, I tellz ya.

 

[Maurice]

^^^A pretty standard film trick, actually.

 

[JoeD80]

Good memory on the slope thing...but was that at the original pilot's Gower St or the later series one (whose name escapes...the mind grows dim...)

Culver City is the Desilu branch you're thinking of (currently Culver Studios on Washington Blvd); but you have the order backwards. The Cage was filmed there and the rest of the series at Gower Street. Gower Street is in Hollywood where Desilu's main studio was (currently Paramount).

 

[Cyke101]

^^^A pretty standard film trick, actually.

Yes, but within a sci-fi context, it's genius. And if anything, sci-fi's always had the best hallways.