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Visiting the TOS filming locations

Botany Bay

Botany Bay

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Rear Admiral
Hi all, apologies for the lack of recent posting. Of late I've been more overworked than Gene Roddenberry's couch on yeoman casting day.

Heading stateside soon, and it's looking like I may have a day to myself in LA.

I'm thinking of visiting some of the filming locations we sometimes discuss here.

Anyone been to the Gorn planet? The Roman planet? The Kirok tribe planet? Hard to get to? Worth the trip?

Does the Paramount studios tour offer anything for us TOS lovers?

What other great TOS experiences are there to be had in LA these days?

Thanks in advance guys :techman:
 
"The Gorn planet" (either Cestus III or the Metron asteroid -- they were different parts of the same location) was the famous Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park near LA. It was also seen in "Shore Leave" (the Kirk-Finnegan fight portions), "The Alternative Factor," "Friday's Child," The Voyage Home (as Vulcan), TNG's "Who Watches the Watchers," VGR's "Initiations," ENT's "Unexpected," and the 2009 feature film (as Vulcan again).

I visited Vasquez Rocks once over a decade ago. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately, the "Cestus III" fortress was torn down a long time ago.
 
The Roman planet was filmed in Bronson Canyon and the Kirok tribe was in Griffith Park, both in the LA area. The outdoor scenes from "Operation:Annihilate" were shot at TRW headquarters. I wonder if the location used in "Shore Leave" is still in existence???
 
Just reading the words "shore leave" triggered the Irish music cue in my head.
 
You must visit Vasquez Rocks if you can. Everybody has filmed there-- ads, TV, movies. Plus, it's just a really beautiful place to roam and hike. And yes, you can climb up to where where Kirk and numerous others have stood on that diagonal ledge, if you dare-- it's steeper than it looks. I never had the gumption (I have vertigo).
 
Beautiful and Terrible said:
You must visit Vasquez Rocks if you can. Everybody has filmed there-- ads, TV, movies. Plus, it's just a really beautiful place to roam and hike. And yes, you can climb up to where where Kirk and numerous others have stood on that diagonal ledge, if you dare-- it's steeper than it looks. I never had the gumption (I have vertigo).
Click to expand...

Not to mention it's where Bill and Ted died, and then met Grim Reaper Sloan before he got a job at Section 31.
 
Botany Bay said:
I'm thinking of visiting some of the filming locations we sometimes discuss here.
Click to expand...

"Tall tales of a time travelling tribble" by Jörg Hillebrand:
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/tall-tales-of-a-time-traveling-tribble-%E2%80%93-a-tribble-travelogue/

I helped Jörg find a few of the locations when he was preparing his epic trip to LA. (A set of ST III call sheets I owned gave a fairly good set of directions on how to "climb the steps of Mount Selaya".)

And, though not LA, recently someone over in Fan Productions posted about what they called the "Double Dumb-Ass Tour" of San Francisco:

The scene was to be shot on the east side of Columbus Street, at the intersection of Columbus, Kearny and Pacific...basically the spot where they found the newspapers after "double dumb ass". You can see the distinctive Sentinel Building (now owned by Francis Ford Coppola) in the center background. Chinatown is on the other side of Columbus from this location. This is really across the street from it.

Most of the San Francisco stuff was shot at this intersection and a few blocks north in North Beach, the historically Italian neighborhood.

Mind you, it's walking distance from Golden Gate Park...if you're willing to walk 5 miles.

Map of walk from Golden Gate Park to Double Dumb-Ass corner.
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=p...AC5zWYXaThw&vpsrc=6&dirflg=w&mra=ltm&t=m&z=13

Oh, and here's a map... which takes you to all the shooting locations in the city.
A. Corner where the crew starts across the street. Also where the "Exact change" scene occurs.
B. Double Dumb-Ass corner
C. Yellow pages ad
D. Nooclear Wessels
E. Too much LDS
F. I believe I was able to communicate our intentions:

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=k...PDuz-A&vpsrc=0&dirflg=w&mra=ls&via=4&t=m&z=14
Click to expand...
 
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KirksStuntMan said:
The Roman planet was filmed in Bronson Canyon and the Kirok tribe was in Griffith Park, both in the LA area. The outdoor scenes from "Operation:Annihilate" were shot at TRW headquarters. I wonder if the location used in "Shore Leave" is still in existence???
Click to expand...

Shore Leave was filmed at Africa USA which was destroyed by a flood. It was re-opened years later by Tippi Hedron as Shambala.

A detailed view can be found at startrekhistory.com and http://chaseclub.com/Dabo/dabo69/DABO693.HTM
 
Stompy said:
Shore Leave was filmed at Africa USA which was destroyed by a flood. It was re-opened years later by Tippi Hedron as Shambala.

A detailed view can be found at startrekhistory.com and http://chaseclub.com/Dabo/dabo69/DABO693.HTM
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.:) From this website comes a photo of what the "Shore Leave" planet looks like today. Wow! It looks like the "conservationists" have bulldozed most of the grass, vegetation, and trees that once surrounded the lake. What a shame!

africausa.png
 
I think DS9 "The Ship" or "Rocks and Shoals" was filmed at Bronson Canyon. "Rocks and Shoals" had obscenely high temperatures during filming (hottest filming conditions during any Star Trek episode).

This should extend to all Star Trek episodes filmed outdoors because a number of them used interesting locations, notably "The Ascent". Edit: Oh yeah, Tyree's Planet in "Shadows and Symbols".

Anyone know where in Vasquez Rocks was the classic fight scenes between Kirk & the Gorn? Someone should recreate it with a good Gorn halloween costume.
 
DeepSpaceWine said:
I think DS9 "The Ship" or "Rocks and Shoals" was filmed at Bronson Canyon. "Rocks and Shoals" had obscenely high temperatures during filming (hottest filming conditions during any Star Trek episode).
Click to expand...

According to The DS9 Companion, "The Ship" was filmed at Sand Canyon, "Rocks and Shoals" at a quarry in Sun Valley.


Anyone know where in Vasquez Rocks was the classic fight scenes between Kirk & the Gorn? Someone should recreate it with a good Gorn halloween costume.
Click to expand...

It was mostly in the main open area next to the big famous cliff. Most of the stuff you see at Vasquez Rocks is shot in that same area. You just drive in from the road and you find yourself in this big flat place with the famous cliff on your right. When I was there a decade or so ago, there were some picnic tables in the main area. Back when "Arena" was filmed, the Cestus III fortress would've been pretty much right behind the camera when it was pointed at the cliff.

And the battle scenes in "Arena," "Shore Leave," and the like didn't really correspond to the real lay of the land -- you'd see characters running toward one part of the park and then cut to them heading in another direction at another part. The main rock formation was passed off as several different formations in the same sequence, I think (it looks rather different from different angles).
 
KirksStuntMan said:
The Roman planet was filmed in Bronson Canyon and the Kirok tribe was in Griffith Park, both in the LA area. The outdoor scenes from “Operation:Annihilate” were shot at TRW headquarters.
Click to expand...
The exteriors for “The Paradise Syndrome” were shot at Franklin Canyon Reservoir, just about ten minutes outside of Beverly Hills. The same location was used for the shots of Andy and Opie in the opening titles of The Andy Griffith Show.

The TRW office complex in Redondo Beach is still there, but the company and property are now owned by Northrop Grumman. The decorative pools, fountains and sculptures are long gone.

59trw_redondo_beach.jpg
 
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Say, if you're going to do this ...

How 'bout taking along a modern smartphone or GPS? Mark your GPS coordinates and then publish the whole shebang in Google Maps for other fans to use.

Something like this would be fun for fans: http://www.doctorwholocations.org.uk/

Dakota Smith
 
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