TOS (& other) fan-owned standing sets

[chardman]

This is long, but please bear with me.

Recently, the folks at Starship Farragut announced that they were putting the final touches on their full TOS-era bridge set, and it got me to thinking about how many Bridge sets (and other Trek sets) have been built in fandom to date, and particularly about how many such sets still exist in one form or the other.

In addition to Farragut's sets, the folks at "New Voyages: Phase II" have duplicated not only the Enterprise's Bridge, but most of the other standing sets used in the show. Likewise, Starship Ajax is in the process of restoring the bridge and other sets originally built by the folks who gave us "Starship Exeter".

What other Trek sets do you know of, which have actually been built. Not virtual sets, mind you, but full sized physical sets.

I'd be interested in ship sets from any era or series, though I'm most interested in TOS era. I'm also interested primarily in sets that still exist, and which were built to last. Basically, I want to catalog what sets are out there, which might be used in fan productions, either directly, or as reference for other fan-built sets yet to come.

Thus far, we have those sets I've already mentioned, but I know of at least one or two others. Like the set built for "ENT's "In a Mirror Darkly", which was auctioned off at that big Christie's Auction of Trek memorabilia a few years back. This obviously isn't a fan-built set, but whoever bought is is, presumably a fan. So...who owns it now? If you know, let me know.

And what of the set built for "Yorktown: A Time to Heal" from back in the 1980s, or the bridge and other sets from "Paragon's Paragon" way, way back in 1974. Do either of those sets still exist somewhere? If so, who owns 'em? Are they intact? Destroyed? Or are they mouldering away in a storage unit someplace, or someone's garage, just waiting for someone to come along and restore them to their former glory, ala Ajax's renovation of the Exeter sets?

Share your knowledge. I wanna know about any fan sets you know about, or any actual sets from Trek itself, that have found their way into fannish hands. And while I'm mainly interested in those that still exist, and might be utilized in fan productions, I'd also be interested in learning what happened to those that are no longer around.

I'd also be interested in any info anyone has about large props/set-pieces that are Trek related. Has anyone built a full sized shuttlecraft that's suitable for filming? Lazarus' one-man saucer ship from "The Alternative Factor"? Or perhaps you know of someone who went crazy and actually built one of those meteor deflecting obelisk thingies from "The Paradise Syndrome"? If so, share that with us, here.

Eventually, I'll assemble a full catalog of fan-owned standing sets and large scale props/set pieces, categorized by era, with info on whether the designs are canon or original; fan-built or studio built, where they are located (approximately), and what productions they were used in. Also, if the owners are willing to let other fan productions use their props, sets and facilities, and if so, who to contact, and how.

 

[tobiasrichter]

There´s a guy in germany that has a huge collection - including a (partial) TOS bridge set (could be the one from Christies, but I am not sure)

http://www.filmwelt-center.com/

 

[MikeH92467]

The Ajax project in Oklahoma City is building sets with that exact idea in mind. They have a Facebook page and you can (shameless plug) read my story about it here. A few years back Phase II let the "Of Gods and Men" producers use their sets, so the concept has been out there for a while.

 

[chardman]

Tobias - I have heard this from others as well. I'll look into it, but as you're right there in Germany, anything you might be able to discover locally would be greatly appreciated.

Mike - I know about Ajax's plan to let others use their sets, and that Phase II has already let both "Farragut" and "Of Gods and Men" use their sets (as well as letting Paramount use a set-piece or two for the mirror universe eps of "Enterprise"). But I'm sure that there are others who'd be willing to do likewise, and it'd be nice if someone created a sort of a directory, compiling all of them together in one easy to search guide, don'tcha think?

 

[MikeH92467]

Tobias - I have heard this from others as well. I'll look into it, but as you're right there in Germany, anything you might be able to discover locally would be greatly appreciated.

Mike - I know about Ajax's plan to let others use their sets, and that Phase II has already let both "Farragut" and "Of Gods and Men" use their sets (as well as letting Paramount use a set-piece or two for the mirror universe eps of "Enterprise"). But I'm sure that there are others who'd be willing to do likewise, and it'd be nice if someone created a sort of a directory, compiling all of them together in one easy to search guide, don'tcha think?

Makes sense to me! Actually I had the same thought...for the money and time being spent on set construction there are enough sets going up in enough different places that the economics of such productions could radically shift.

 

[chardman]

I'm also wondering if maybe I shouldn't limit this to Trek alone. After all, Trek isn't the only fandom to produce fan films. So, if you have a TARDIS, or know someone who does, speak up. Or a Lost In Space Robot. Or if you know the lucky bastard who won that contest back in 1968 where the grand prize was one of the work pods from "2001: A Space Odyssey". Or the Revell contest the year before where the grand prize was a full-sized mockup of a Gemini capsule (be great for a SF period piece). Then again, maybe you built your own Interociter from "This Island Earth", or maybe a Stargate that spins, with light up locking cheverons and everything! If so, for goodness sakes, let me know about it, particularly if you're willing to $hare it in $ome way with fannish filmmaking community.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Farragut has a fully-detailed TOS shuttlecraft interior.

 

[chardman]

Ooh. Nice. Now to find an exterior mock-up to pair it with.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

According to fan lore, there was 1:1 replica of the TOS bridge built by Michael McMaster, who drew the incredibly detailed and accurate bridge blueprints. The oft-repeated anecdote about pictures of his replica fooling Gene Roddenberry is given on that Memory Alpha page.

A little Googling last night uncovered http://forums.startreknewvoyages.com/index.php?topic=8367.0, a thread at startreknewvoyages.com. Unfortunately, the information given in that thread is a little sketchy (was the Polaroid taken at the Hotel Americana in 1978 or 1973???).

In any case, that thread seems to confirm that there was a sighting of a bridge replica of ambitious quality in the 1970's. What happened to it? Who knows.

 

[Captain Atkin]

The Yorktown film never had a bridge. They did build a very small bridge for the enemy ship in that film, but it no longer exists. I am working with Stan Woo to finish the film right now. We have a few scenes that we need to film on a bridge, but he haven't decided yet if we will do it on a bridge set, or with greenscreen. If we do film on a bridge set, we would have to film it on an already existing set.

 

[Maurice]

Just to be clear, neither the Farragut nor Exeter bridges are full 360 degree sets.

 

[MarsWeeps]

Just to be clear, neither the Farragut nor Exeter bridges are full 360 degree sets.

Starship Farragut has plans to eventually make it a full 360° bridge and Starship Ajax's restoration of the Exeter bridge is a full 360°.

 

[Maurice]

^^^Neither of which are the state of the bridges when they were being shot to date.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

A couple of slightly clearer pictures of the McMasters bridge:

This would have been in 1973 rather than 1978.

 

[GSchnitzer]

I think one of your pictures got flipped. I think it should be like this:

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Maybe. I don't remember where the pictures came from originally; they've been on my hard drive for four or five years.

AFAIK, a lot of the construction of this set was fairly light.

 

[chardman]

The Yorktown film never had a bridge. They did build a very small bridge for the enemy ship in that film, but it no longer exists. I am working with Stan Woo to finish the film right now. We have a few scenes that we need to film on a bridge, but he haven't decided yet if we will do it on a bridge set, or with greenscreen. If we do film on a bridge set, we would have to film it on an already existing set.

Yup, I realise that now. I always seem to confuse the details about those early fan films, and was probably thinking of pics I'd seen of either the McMaster, bridge, or the one from "Paragon's Paragon", and mistakenly associating it with Yorkton. Oops!

Just to be clear, neither the Farragut nor Exeter bridges are full 360 degree sets.

Yup, I knew that. The Exeter/Ajax bridge is open on the opposite side that the TOS bridge had its wild/removable section, right? I also know they plan on making a wild section to fill in the empty space. And while Farragut's bridge isn't a full 360 degrees yet, I heard they plan to make it thus at some point in the near future. (MarsWeeps beats me to it!)

I think one of your pictures got flipped.

Yup, definitely flipped. That's not the Science station, but the Engineering station. Doesn't look nearly as clean and precise as I remembered it being. That's often the case when remembering the view through the rose-colored beer-goggles of nostalgia.

 

[USS Jack Riley]

Hate to beat Randy to the punch, but he is currently painting a transporter room.

The fan film Project: Potemkin has a full 360 degree bridge. You should be able to see pics of it at www.projectpotemkin.com.

Sorry for the promotion. I don't have any pics, but the website does.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I daresay that Potemkin is probably the only ones with a movie era bridge, so promote away!

 

[Melonpool]

Back when I was in high school. I built a movie-era bridge (helm/nav, captain's chair, science station and turbo lift). It was as faithful as I could muster up as a 15-year-old and it stood for ten years in my parents' garage.

Unfortunately, it had to be demolished to make room for my father's vintage cars. Over the last few years, I've been building a 1/2 scale or so puppet-sized bridge set that's heavily-influenced by the Star Trek TMP-TVH era bridge design. Here's a pic of the current set.

I'll have to scrounge around for pics of the other one.